KP m/44 submachine gun

The KP m/44 (Konepistooli malli 1944, Submachine gun, model 1944), nicknamed "Peltiheikki" or "Pelti-kp") was a Finnish 9mm copy and modification of the Soviet mass-produced 7.62 mm submachine gun PPS-43.

History
Starting in 1942, and becoming more common as the Finnish-Soviet Continuation War progressed, both PPS-42 and PPS-43 began showing up among Soviet units, and many were captured by the Finnish Army. The simple construction of these weapons immediately caught the interest of the Finnish arms industry. It was decided that they would try to copy the sheet-steel stamped construction process, but redesigned to use the 9x19mm Parabellum round instead of the original Soviet 7.62x25mm Tokarev and to use the magazine of the Suomi submachine gun, the standard SMG in Finnish service at that time. The new submachine gun was a much cheaper design than the Suomi submachine gun and could be manufactured much faster. All parts were made out of stamped steel (excluding the barrel, bolt and some wooden plates on the handle). The weight of the gun was almost halved compared to the Suomi (2.95 kg vs. 5 kg).

Similarly to the PPS, the k/44 was created in response to a Finnish Army requirement for a compact and lightweight weapon with similar accuracy and projectile energy to the Finnish Suomi submachine gun widely deployed at the time, with reduced rate of fire, produced at lower cost and requiring less manpower, particularly skilled manpower. During design, emphasis was placed on simplifying production and eliminating most machining operations; most of the weapon's parts were sheet-steel stamped.

The Finnish Defence Forces ordered 20 000 m/44 submachine guns from Tikkakoski Oy in August 1944. The end of the war saw the order reduced to 10 000 units and the guns were produced during 1945. The gun was used by the Finnish Defence Forces as a training weapon until the 1970s. The Finnish Border Guards and United Nation troops also used the weapon. The latter particularly during the Suez crisis.

Tikkakoski Oy, whose principal shareholder was a German named Willi Daugs, took the blueprints with him to Spain after World War 2. The gun was produced there at the Oviedo arms factory, who re-designated it DUX-53. In 1953, the West German border guards (Bundesgrenzschutz) adopted the Spanish-made DUX-53 and DUX-59 submachine guns, copied from the PPS-43 by way of the Finnish M/44.

Users

 * 🇫🇮 Finland
 * 🇪🇸 Spain
 * West Germany