Notes: Also commonly known as the L/S-26, L.S.26, or PK-26, this weapon was designed in 1926 by the great Finnish small arms designer Ahmo Lahti. It is typical of the automatic rifles of the post-World War 1 period, being strong, rugged, and not too heavy. It unfortunately did not sell very well in a Depression-era world, and only the Finnish Army ever used it. The troops liked it, and it did not pass out of service until the late 1940s, when it was replaced by Soviet guns and other Finnish designs. It is noted for being a very simple weapon to use and maintain.

Operation of the m/26 was by short recoil and it used air cooling and fired from an open bolt. Some recoil mitigation was achieved by borrowing part of it’s operation from the differential recoil of the Swiss Fürrer system, where the barrel and bolt group are already moving forward when the weapon fires, and the recoil force has to overcome the inertia of the forward movement of the barrel and bolt. It requires a few more parts than a standard recoil-operated automatic rifle, but reduces the size of the receiver and does help with the recoil of the gun. The m/26 did have a field-removable barrel, though it is by no means a quick-replace barrel, as the barrel extension and bolt have to be removed before the barrel can be unlocked. The trigger unit is also a bit complicated, and only specially-certified armorers were allowed to work on it.

The m/26-31 and M-26-32 are almost identical; the first was designed for use in aircraft, while the second was an infantry weapon. These were rather rare, but could be fed by 75-round pan magazines in addition to the standard 20-round magazines. Other then the pan magazine, it is identical to the standard m/26.

Valmet KvKK-62

Notes: This is the standard automatic rifle of Finland, and also equips Qatar. It has high rate of fire but the weapon's relatively high weight keeps recoil down. It uses an unusual right-hand feed. The KvKK-62 is still in use by Finland, though there are rumors that at least some of them will be replaced by PKM machineguns, which offer greater firepower and range. A handicap of the KvKK-62 is the lack of a quick-change barrel. The KvKK-62 has no trigger guard, though there is a bar forward of the trigger; this allows for the use of mittens and heavy winter gloves. Prototypes of the KvKK-62 were able to feed from top-mounted box magazines as well as by belts; this was discarded before production started, but for some reason the left-mounted sights, made necessary by top-mounted magazines, were retained in production. Another unusual feature is that to the bottom right side of the tubular butt is a mounting for a cleaning rod.

Twilight 2000 Notes: Limited use of this weapon is made by the Latvians, even more limited use by the Swedes, and even more limited use by the Ukrainians and Norwegians.

Notes: In the same way that the RPK is an AKM enlarged into an automatic rifle, the M-78 is a Valmet M-76 assault rifle turned into a squad automatic weapon. The M-78 uses a 22.44-inch heavy barrel; it normally uses the same flash suppressor as the M-76, but sometimes is found with a muzzle brake. A folding bipod is attached under the gas block. The rear sight is moved to front of the receiver, and is a flip-type adjustable aperture. The front sight is similar to that of the M-76, but is at the end of the barrel behind the flash suppressor or muzzle brake. The receiver is mostly identical to that of the M-76, but built of somewhat tougher stuff, and has a folding carrying handle in front of the rear sight at the point of balance. The wooden, non-folding stock is of the "club-foot" design, where the underside of the stock is shaped like a very thick-soled boot; one grips the angle of the stock to help steady the weapon. A bayonet lug and sights with tritium inlays are optional.

The M-78 was not produced in very large numbers; PKMs were used for some roles instead, and RPKs were available at lower prices than M-78s could be built. Versions were made three calibers, all with an equal lack of success. Some were sold in various other countries, but mostly to collectors. You also may have seen them in some movies; in Red Dawn, the "RPKs" were actually M-78s, and in the movie Commando, Arnold Schwartzenegger’s character used an M-78 fitted with a synthetic stock similar in appearance to the SVD’s stock, complete with a recoil pad on the butt.