Introduced in 1939 and rushed into service for the Winter War, the Lahti L-39 fires a 20mm anti-tank round from a top-loaded magazine and was capable of successfully engaging the Soviet armor of the era. While overall progress in armor technology put anti-tank rifles out of their original job, the Finnish Army got pretty creative with the weapon. In addition to the standard anti-material function most AT rifles switched over to, L-39s were also pressed into service as fully automatic anti-aircraft guns, served as vehicle armament and were popular for counter-sniper work. "Counter-sniper work" being a fancy way of saying that if an enemy is hiding behind cover with a rifle, you shoot the cover with an L-39, hit the cover, the enemy, and anything behind the sniper, a tactic still used in the field to this very day by Barrett-equipped American soldiers and marines. Additionally, L-39 gunners were still able to harass heavier Soviet tanks by nailing vulnerable external targets, damaging treads and turret tracks, or whacking open hatches with incendiary rounds, causing burning phosphorous to splash onto any nearby crewmen. Measuring taller than a man and weighing in at close to 110 pounds, the L-39 is fitted with a ported muzzle brake, a long vented hardwood barrel shroud, left-offset blade and tangent sights, a dual-mode bipod with brass covered skids and swing-out spiked legs, crank-action cocking handle, smooth hardwood grips with an oversized steel handguard, wooden cheekpiece, and an adjustable rubber recoil pad. Included with the lot are six extra magazines with field cases, magazine cases for all, seventeen rounds of ammunition, a cleaning kit, and a vintage transport case for the group.

Very fine, with 80% of the black finish, showing some bright edge wear and handling marks overall. The case shows some modern repairs, with one of the hinges detached from the lid and some applied shipping labels. Mechanically very good. NOTE: This Destructive Device is a National Firearms Act (NFA), fully transferable Class 3, which is registered with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, (BATFE) under the provisions of 18 U.S.C. Chapter 44 and 27 CFR part 478.