1938 AUSTRIAN / FINNISH 40MM BOFOR
Truly unique live fire piece of history.
Transferable Serial # 40 functioning 40mm Auto Cannon.
1938 Austrian manufactured, Nazi War Captured, Finnish Arsenal Upgrade.
This is a registered Machine Gun. Although it is of 40mm, it is an automatic weapon and has a 1968 amnesty registered breach ring. The gun is a functional Auto Cannon that has been completely restored and includes all military issued support equipment, literature and spare parts in fitted original crates. Modern reloading components and custom tools and 72 years of history built in!
Provenance and history
This is the most successful medium AA piece of WWII. It was used by all combatants on both sides of the war and continues to see use today. The first full auto shots were fired by Bofors in 1931 and other countries were tooling up to produce 40mm guns under license by the mid 30’s. This was necessary as the 14 or so guns that the Swedish could produce a month were far less than the demand required. The Austrians and the Finns were two of these countries.
Bofors had started the development of a suitable towable carriage which they demonstrated in April of 1935 at a military show in Belgium. This carriage was a radical departure for its type as the gun could be fired from the carriage with no setup required and generated a large amount of interest. The gun’s crew used the tow-bar and muzzle lock as levers, raising the wheels off the ground and thereby lowering the gun onto support jacks front and back. Two additional legs folded out to the sides, and the platform was then leveled with hand cranks. The entire setup process could be completed in under a minute.
Orders for the Army style versions were immediate, starting with an order for eight from Belgium in August 1935, and followed by a flood of orders from other forces including Poland, Norway, and Finland. This is not to mention the immense interest that grew for Navel use from multiple Navies as time went on.
In 1938 the Germans got their first 40mm Bofors AA guns following Anschluss of Austria. The Austrians at that time had license to make over 130 guns.
The Germans considered the Bofors gun to be a superior weapon but the 40mm caliber was not an easily standardized caliber for their current supply train, so the extant guns were sold to Sweden.
The Germans did in 1939 decide to add the 40mm Bofors gun into their inventory as:
4 cm FlAK 28 (Bofors) which this gun is not marked as.
By March 1940 (the end of the Winter War) the amount of 40mm Bofors guns in Finnish use had reached around 100 guns. Finland’s next large acquisition occurred during the Interim Peace. Finland managed to buy 92 guns from Germany during the secret build up before "Barbarossa". In Oct-Nov 1940 Germany provided Finland with 92 captured guns being manufactured by Austria and other counties, these probably originated from Poland, the Netherlands and Austria. They arrived in November of 1940. From these 92 guns coming from Germany 56 arrived with S/S Lutjehörn 9th of November 1940 and 36 with the same ship 20th of November 1940.
This Gun is marked:
STAATSFABRIK 1938
4cm m36 FLAM KN
Nr 40
On the breach case door.
As evident by the markings on this gun: It was a licensed manufacture gun built in Vienna Austria (STAATSFABRIK WEIN) and was put into service prior to the Anschluss (1938). It would have been completed and remarked with the German designation if it had not made it out. It would have been one of the group of 92 Nazi captured guns that the Germans sold to the Finns in late 1940’s.
4cm Model 36 is of the original licensed designation with the M originally designating an Army or Navy gun. FLAM, Austrian designation for Flak and Nr40 is the serial # of the gun.
The Finnish Data Plate for the Gun is as follows:
40 ITK 36-59
No 40
This designates a non Finnish made Bofors gun of model 36 that has been updated to the most modern Galileo version that Finland put out while carrying over the original gun number.
The history of this gun from 1940 to 1959 is uncertain. It is quite likely that this gun, because of its time frame and history was fired in anger at every major combatant of WWII and most likely saw service in any post war conflict the Finns would have used the 40mm. Its life would have started as an aggressor against the Germans, Captured by the Germans and then sold to the Finns. It most definitely would have been employed in the Continuation War against the Soviets and then employed against the Germans after the Finns switched sides and sided with the Allied cause. This gun would have also been used against all other European combatants during the war dependent on the time frame of Finnish allegiance. In Finnish use 40mm Bofors antiaircraft-guns downed over 500 enemy aircraft during World War II. The total amount of Finnish Bofors guns peaked around 300 by the conflict’s end. This gun would have been in service the entire time. After World War II the Finnish military continued using 40mm Bofors AA-guns. The old version became known as L/60 (name coming from rough barrel length of each version) as opposed to the original M36 designation. The Finnish military kept the wartime 40mm Bofors L/60 anti-aircraft guns in training-use for a long time and then stored them for possible wartime use until the 1990's.
There were some guns that were Galileo P 36 counter equipped and made a modern version of L/60 called "40 ItK/36-59". These were introduced in 1959 to 1964 and remained in Finnish use until the 80’s. These guns remained in Finnish inventory until late 1999. This gun is exactly of this type and is still in current use in multiple countries in the L60 version while most other versions of the L60 were put up for long term storage or destruction decades ago in favor of the longer L70 version. This version has lasted roughly 50 years longer than any of its manual counterparts.
This gun was definitely used prior to being arsenal refinished and placed back into service. The service records with the spare parts kits with this gun have parts documentation starting in 1963 and continuing through the 70's, 80's, and 90’s with the last entry being dated November 3, 1997. The internals were covered in cosmoline to the extent that a tear down of all internals was required to make sure safe live fire operation could be achieved and debris that had stuck to the heavy grease buildup would not cause function issues. The major parts of the gun have visible wear marks from historic use and all parts were reparkerized and replaced as needed by the arsenal, then lubricated liberally for storage. The amount of original No 40 markings on the parts of this gun is astounding, probably numbering over a 100. There are also a number of original Austrian proof marks on the parts of this gun.
The gun and carriage was essentially mated to a modern breech and motorized, gyro stabilized joystick controlled control assembly. The generator and electrical controls are all new German Stromberg manufactured. The motor is a Ducati 2 stroke, single piston, direct drive. It is of the same type cylinder and piston head that Ducati offered commercially in their early line of scooters and evolved into the early 60’s motors that made Ducati famous. The Motor itself is a significant piece of history. The optical prism, gyro stabilized joystick control is Galileo manufactured. The same sight system used in the 30mm guns of later era. This is the same system but different model of design that is still currently used for multiple calibers and platforms from single to motorized multiple units through the world still today.
It is also highly unusual that this gun is the truly famous “Bofors 40mm” and it is serial # is 40. This of course has nothing to do with function, but definitely adds to a truly one of a kind piece and situation. This in itself is unusual but is also an incredibly low number. This attests to the early history that this gun possesses. To be put in prospective, Chrysler alone reached peak production of over 1500 guns a month and probably put out over 60,000 guns out. This is only one manufacturer of domestic origins. Most will put the total production of the 4cm Bofors gun at well over 100,000 guns. I have pictures of Finnish 38 variants in the 300 range alone. There are very few legally registered Full Auto Bofors guns in the U.S. There is no question mark with this piece and the gun will come with copies of the pre 68 amnesty paperwork.
One truly amazing feature of this piece is the accessories that accompany it. There is a complete set of four fitted wood crates with all arsenal issued factory tools and spare parts included. There is also a copy of the original Finnish manual covering the Galileo conversion.
The following loading components are included; 100 reloadable non fired steel cases, 250 projectiles with unused and undemilled drive bands and fuse cones, 5 original WWII U.S. Bofors ammo cans, 10 jugs of High Tech Ammo Super Slow commercial powder, 20 reloadable primer assemblies and a complete set of reloading tools. This includes a three piece sizing mandrel with hardened center section. This piece is also adaptable to be used with the flash tube installation and removal tools. Resizing and crimping is accomplished with a single tool using replaceable hardened rollers. There is also an; one piece three process disassembly and assembly tool for the primers. Also included is a single depriming tool for removing the primer assemblies from the case a 40mm open end slip fit shell holder and a complete adjustable shell holder. Also included is one Neck Sizing Tool made from a Bofors Projectile. All that will be needed to reload cases for this gun is 50Bmg primers and a press used in conjunction with the above tools and components. The gun has been fired over 30 times at this point with no gun malfunctions whatsoever.
This is a true pre war manufactured, WWII veteran, Machine gun that has been Arsenal cared for, refinished and updated to the most modern available ground mount still in service. This is as close to a Turn-Key Operation as you can find.
The history, restoration, accessories and function of this together make it possibly the nicest civilian legal artillery piece in the United States in any collection.
The construction of this firearm and the arrangement of the ring would also have the highly unusual and appealing distinction of being able to be used in multiple guns legally if desired. The end user could legally take the ring and operate it in multiple era and country of origin guns if available. It would be possible to shoot your very modern Galileo conversion today and then shoot your vintage WWII U.S. gun the next day with this registered piece.