I often wonder about the fate of the soldiers who used such rifles in combat. First it was some poor kid assigned to be cannon fodder for the Socialist Utopia. Then it was issued for some heavily-outnumber Finn with his country's and his family's existence on the line. Then maybe used by some other Russian grunt, or maybe two or three more, on the glorious Motherland's march to Berlin.
It's been beaten to death here whenever we talk about war movies and such...that all good war movies are anti-war. Maybe these relic of ours are anti-war, too. As interesting to study and as much fun they are to shoot, they do represent the terrible waste that is war. Rifles are harder to kill than soldiers. They represent resources and treasure that would have or should have been directed at bridges or cars or refrigerators.
The Finns were right to fight back; they had really no choice. We Americans, Brits, Aussies, Kiwis, etc. had no choice but to fight back in WWII. But so much good is wasted.
