The small European country of Finland always had a great reputation when it comes to arms production. For collectors, Finnish-made Mosin-Nagants are some of the most desirable Mosin rifles, but there is another rifle design that the Finnish took to a whole other level. It is called RK 62, the Finnish AK.
Developed 62 years ago, it remains the main service weapon of the Finnish military. Despite recent acceptance into NATO, there are no official plans to replace those workhorses any time soon.
The Creation of Finnish AK
After WW2, Finland had to replace its fleet of Mosin rifles with something more modern. However, Finns wouldn’t be Finns, if they didn’t come up with a meticulous testing program.
First, they had to decide which round they would use. There were three options: NATO 7.62×51, Soviet 7.62×39, and developing their own ammunition.
In this case, the Finnish Defense Forces managed to make better decisions compared to bigger and richer countries and decided that creating their own round would not make sense. NATO 7.62×51 was considered to be too large and heavy, and it left Finland with 7.62×39.
