Arms, Armor & Militaria

20x105Bmm. 36.5" barrel length. SN: 4. Blued metal finish with polished bolt and horizontally serrated Bakelite grips mounting windage adjustable tangent rear leaf sight graduated from 0 to 1500 meters paired with a disc front sight. Recoil-operated semi-automatic Antitank rifle fed by detachable box magazines affixed to the left receiver, and mounting a muzzle brake and heavy rubber recoil pad. Item is registered as an S18-100 rifle with ATF, but appears to be the very similar S18-154 variant owing to the shorter length of the receiver forward of the ejection port. Rifle is sparsely marked, displaying the No. 4 serial number marking to the top of the receiver, and to other major parts, but some small parts have been mixed with other guns, including the number 11 to tangent sight slider. Further marks include the boxed SA mark indicating Finnish use and servicing, followed by the Bulgarian {Rampant Lion} coat of arms noted for its appearance on Antitank rifles exported to Finland. This marking most likely results from a substantial Bulgarian order for S18-100 rifles overlapping with the Finnish order. Item comes with a folding bipod, a spare barrel, the cleaning rod, and a green painted box stenciled INTERARMCO/301786/MADE IN SWITZERLAND. Also included are print-outs of assorted articles in German, Finnish, and English describing the service of these arms with Finland.

In the Spring of 1940, Finland placed an order for twelve Solothurn Antitank rifles using aid funds acquired in the midst of the Winter War, which had come to its conclusion that March. These rifles were serialized No. 1 through 12, and though they were too late for the Winter War, they served Finnish forces through the Continuation War and Lapland War, remaining in the Finnish inventory until the 1950s. Four rifles of this type were sold to Interarmco between 1959 and 1960, including this one. Few of the original twelve are known to survive, with one remaining in the Hanko Front Museum in Finland, and another in the Royal Armouries, Leeds. An artifact representing the international character of the arms wielded by a desperate Finland in the most devastating war in human history, this lot represents an opportunity to own an exceedingly rare firearm with an incredible history.
{Class III, Destructive Device}