M28/76: A Finnish Competition & Sniper Mosin
Bolt Action Rifles
•
16m
The Finns developed several difference scopes rifles in the 1930s, but none were made in large quantities, and they were not really much used during the Winter War or Continuation War. The first post-war consideration was given to a new model in 1954, but that led instead to a decision to make a competition version of the M28 rifle using nice diopter sights; the M28/57. These were later modified by cutting down their stocks to be better biathlon rifles...up until international biathlon moved form full power cartridges to .22 rimfire.
In the mid 1960s, Valmet's planned semiauto 7.62x54R sniper rifle on the AK platform failed - it was far too inaccurate. Left in a bit of a lurch, the Army took the M28/57 setup and applied it to the M27 Army rifles, and the resulting M27/66 was an interim sniper rifle, as well as being the standard Army rifle for formal marksmanship competitions. These were supplemented by the old M28/57 rifles, which were rebuilt with new stocks as the M28/76 - which is what we are looking at today. Ultimately, these were all replaced by the TKIV-85 proper sniper's rifle in the 1980s.
Most M28/76 rifles were made with just diopter sights; only a small number were given scope bases as well. In addition, about 10% were made with left-handed stocks, and I am very lucky to have found an example with both of those features!
Up Next in Bolt Action Rifles
-
Remington M1903A4 Sniper at the Range
Today we are taking the Remington M1903A4 out to the range for some shooting. This was the standard US sniper rifle during World War Two, and I'm curious to see how one actually handles...
-
Argentina's Slightly French Model 190...
Argentina was one of the first countries to adopt Mauser rifles, with the Model 1891. These were replaced by newer Model 1909 rifles a couple decades later, and in 1913 they bought 500 telescopic sights to make sniper rifles. All of them appear to have been put on cavalry carbines like this one, ...
-
Finland's M39 PH Sniper from the Cont...
The basic equipment of the Finnish Army came from what was left in Finland by departing Russian soldiers when Finland declared independence. As the Russians had no scoped rifles at that time, Finland didn't have any either. The Finnish Army began experimenting slowly with the concept of a scoped ...