I had a chance to shoot an LS26 once before, but without the benefit of a magazine loading tool – and so I could only get 4 or 5 rounds into the mag. This time, we have a proper loader, and we can give the gun a proper workout. And I’ll also show you how that loading tool works – it’s almost as neat as the gun itself!

Overall, I found the LS-26 to be a better shooting experience than I had expected. Properly cleaned and on a nice range, it ran without any problems (until I had a rimlocked round in my last magazine, which was a real problem to fix). As one of Lahti’s early designs, it is understandable that the gun had problems in field service, and I can certainly see why the DP-27 was eagerly taken to replace it at the first opportunity – but the LS-26 is not necessarily fully deserving of it’s very poor reputation.