In 1965 the Finnish Army adopted the 7.62x39mm Valmet RK62, and it has been produced in volumes over 350,000 by Valmet and Sako in Finland. As with many “modern” firearms, the RK62s have been in need of upgrades and modernization, and after years of planning [Read More…]
The Finish Army have release photos of their newly upgraded RK62 service rifle. The RK62M embodies a number of ergonomic improvements over the original rifle and allows more modularity. Finland adopted the 7.62x39mm Valmet RK62 in 1965 with over 300,000 produced by the [Read More…]
One of our readers from Finland, who preferred to remain anonymous, sent us three translated articles (dated 2013, 2017, and 2018) from Finnish news websites reporting about firearms seizures. These are apparently the reports of largest caches seized in the country [Read More…]
Paukatti Oy is a small company based in Finland. Their specialty is exporting shooting accessories, manufacturing and also reloading manual publishing. The owner is a long-time competition shooter in tactical military sniper competitions and in long-range shooting [Read More…]
The Finns have some of the best competition shooters around. Strange, as there are only around 5.5 million Finns around, and it’s dark most of the year. In some way they still manage to become World Champions in many of the practical shooting divisions. TFB has [Read More…]
The annual Sniper Competition in Finland is organized by Ostrobothnia Sniper Association – PohTA. Last year we covered Finnsniper with some very nice photos, like here for instance, as well as a video of 50 Sniper Rifles open fire simultaneously at one target. [Read More…]
The discussions were finalized during the IWA exhibition in Germany, and it’s now official that Stoeger Canada Ltd.will start selling Ase Utra sound suppressors in Canada. Ase Utra is a Finnish company which started in 1994, and one of the of the largest [Read More…]
At the 2018 SHOT Show Industry Day at the Range, Tikka brought out a surprising new product: The company’s first rimfire bolt action rifle. The T1x, as it’s called, is based in part on the successful T3 and T3x centerfire rifles, but with a redesigned action [Read More…]
The Cold War is famous as the squaring off of two superpowers: The United States, and the Soviet Union, and their duel-by-proxy in Asia, the Middle East, and the Americas. The standard rifles of each side, as well, became proxies: On the Soviet side, the famous AK-47 [Read More…]
Vihtavuori – just a bit hard to pronounce for anyone not born and fluent in Finnish – but they make great reloading powders. They have just released the N565, which is their new High Energy powder. The N565 is designed to fill the gap between the Vihtavuori [Read More…]
Today is December the 6:th and Finland’s Independence Day, a national public holiday to celebrate Finland’s declaration of independence from the Russian Republic in 1917. Today is also one hundred years since that original declaration and I suspect the [Read More…]
According to Yle.fi, Finland’s national public broadcasting company, the Finnish army will use video games/simulators for training purposes. By the end of the current year, they will purchase 1,200 computers for €3,000,000 (about $3.6 M) to equip the training [Read More…]
TFB is proud to add a new rifle to the list that the Finnish Police are using: AR-15. To our knowledge we are first to report this. This follows the trend we have been reporting for a while. German Police, Swedish Police etc. are going for AR-15 style rifles, at least [Read More…]
Halenius Holding Company of Finland has designed a bullpup side by side shotgun, which they’ve introduced in IWA 2017. So you think “bullpup SbS shotgun” already sounds unusual? Then how about this: it is also meant to be fired without aiming – [Read More…]
Osprey Publishing “Weapon” series is an excellent primer for those who want a book on a particular weapon system, but don’t want an overly in-depth version more appropriate for research purposes. The books aren’t intended to make you an expert on [Read More…]
Sako introduced two new rifles at the IWA Outdoor Classics press event held in Nuremberg, Germany. The Sako 85 Black Wolf (ergonomic) och the Sako 85 Exige (take-down). With the 85 Black Wolf Sako jumps on the growing trend with adjustable ergonomic cheek risers with [Read More…]
Mr. Raine Peltokoski from Finland is a three-time IPSC European Rifle Champion and has been one of the top shooters in practical competitions for decades. This includes shotgun and handgun. This list gives you an idea of his success. Below: To the best of my knowledge [Read More…]
Mr. Teemu Rintala is the Nordic Champion in IPSC Rifle 2016 and shoots for the GP Rifle Team. He just got the (fairly) new Swarovski Z8i 1-8x scope with the two different reticles BRT-I and LD-I to compare and he allowed TFB to share his views and photos. He has mainly [Read More…]
Photo of the day is a Tikka T3x TAC A1 with a 20″ barrel and a folding stock. Optics from Steiner Germany, that rides a bit high but most likely setup for Night Vision testing previously. This is a pre-production rifle, but very close to what the final product [Read More…]
Of all things on the AR-15, the original charging handle is probably one of the first things to break if it isn’t treated right. Sure, if you use two fingers, as I’m sure the design intended, and pull 50-50 on each side it’s hardly going to brake. [Read More…]
This is the first prototype of the Kalashnikov-AR, KAR-16, in 7,62×39 mm from Finland. Forget the large corporations, this KAR-16 has been designed and built by an enthusiastic gunsmith. I presume the “-16” stands for 2016. Below: Left hand charging [Read More…]
Beware, this is not your average TFB article. This post is over 3,000 words long, but it is well worth the read if you care the slightest about long range shooting and the gear being used. Please take your time. I’m not a long range shooter (yet), but I got very [Read More…]
At the 2016 NRA Annual Meeting, Tikka and parent company Beretta were showing off the new T3x rifle, an improved version of their T3 hunting and sporting bolt action rifles. The T3x is a system developed as a direct result of feedback from Tikka’s customers, and [Read More…]
Uronen Precision (or Ase ja Osa) is a small Finnish family owned company. I’ve been to see them a few times during the past years, and I’ve tested some of their rifles (AR-15s). Their rifles are focused on match grade and competition rather than mass [Read More…]
While I am one of the last people to condone the conversion of what are often valuable historical artifacts to a “sporting” configuration, in some cases these conversions themselves add value (both monetary and historical) to the firearm in question. Is the [Read More…]
The Finnish Commander of the Army has announced that the Nordic country will not be purchasing 5.56mm replacements for their existing 7.62x39mm caliber Rk. 62 rifles, but instead will seek to upgrade the venerable Kalashnikov-based Valmet. Altair.com reports (machine [Read More…]
DRD, makers of the “Paratus” takedown semi-automatic .308 caliber rifle have taken the concept to the next rung in the ladder, releasing the “Kivaari” takedown semi-automatic .338 Lapua Magnum rifle earlier this year. Guns.com reports that the [Read More…]
Finland’s special forces have announced the adoption of the SCAR-L, chambered, unusually for Finland, for 5.56x45mm. From Jane’s: Finland’s special forces have selected the Belgian FN SCAR-L assault rifle as a new standard firearm. The FN SCAR-L will [Read More…]
Last year we blogged about the Finnish 3HGR tree sling. Well, the guys in Finland sent us a video of their torture test. There were some concerns, from some of our readers, about the durability of the 3HGR since the attachment points were made of polymer. Check out [Read More…]
The Finnish rifle manufacturer Sako (now owned by Beretta) was started in 1921 and turns 90 years old this year. The 90th anniversary gun is a beautiful Sako Model 85 chambered in .450 Rigby.