Key facts
- Type
- Submachine gun
- Place of origin
- Finland
- In service
- 1931–1980s
- Used by
- See Users
- Wars
- Chaco War Spanish Civil War Integralist Uprising World War II ( Winter War , Continuation War , and Lapland War ) 1948 Arab–Israeli War Congo Crisis
- Designer
- Aimo Lahti
- Designed
- late 1920s
- Manufacturer
- Tikkakoski
- Produced
- 1931–1953
- Number span no built
- Approx. 80,000
- Variants
- Kpist m/37 Kpist m/37-39 Kpist m/37-39F Lettet-Forsøgs Madsen-Suomi Hispano Suiza MP43/44
- Mass
- 4.6 kg (10.14 lb)
- Length
- 870 mm (34.3 in) 925 mm (36.4 in) (SJR) 740 mm (29.1 in) (bunker version)
- Barrel length
- 314 mm (12.4 in)
- Cartridge
- 9×19mm Parabellum , 7.65mm Parabellum
- Action
- Straight Blowback
- Rate of fire
- 750–900 rounds/min
- Muzzle velocity
- 396 m/s (1,299 ft/s)
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Subclass of
- submachine gun
- Country of origin
- Finland
- Mass
- 4.6
- Manufacturer
- Tikka
- Designed by
- Aimo Lahti
- Conflict
- 1948 Arab–Israeli War
- Image
- Suomi submachine gun M31 1 (1).jpg
- Length
- 870
Show 6 more facts
- service retirement
- 1998-01-01
- Commons category
- Suomi M31
- service entry
- 1931-01-01
- ammunition
- .32 ACP
- total produced
- 80000
- inception
- 1931-00-00
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~12 min read
Encyclopedic overview
The Suomi KP/-31 (Finnish: Suomi-konepistooli m/31, lit. 'machine pistol Suomi m/31') is a Finnish submachine gun that was mainly used during World War II. It is a descendant of the M-22 prototype and the KP/-26 production model, which was revealed to the public in 1925. It entered service in Finland in 1931, and remained in use until the 1980s.
The Suomi KP/-31 is regarded by many as one of the most successful submachine guns of World War II. It also had a profound effect on the conflict beyond Finland as the Soviet authorities, who had been dismissive of submachine guns, were persuaded of their fatal efficiency by the Finnish forces in the Winter War of 1939–1940. Though a relatively early design, the Suomi was a formidable weapon: highly controllable and with accuracy similar to that of the mass-produced PPSh-41 but at the cost of a significantly higher mass to absorb recoil, with a lower rate of fire and an equally large magazine capacity. Its major disadvantages were its higher weight, high maintenance requirements and high production cost, which led to the later introduction of the KP/-44, a close copy of the Soviet PPS-43 but accepting the existing magazines and drums for the KP/-31.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Suomi KP/-31” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.