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I like this site because it is not full of people saying "Look what I just got!" about a stock refurbished 91/30 or M 44, and the trend is toward interesting questions. I wish more shooters would share their experience with those of us who are relatively new to these rifles, including pet loads, shooting techniques, and theories behind unusually good results. Also more information on the best sources for information on these interesting rifles, both Russian and Finnish, including personal descriptions of some of the rare rifles that people have had the good fortune to acquire. I wish more people would support the attractiveness of the site and post a little more. Just my two cents as a relative newcomer to this whole internet scene.
Kari

Dear RGRWJB, Have you read "The White Death" by Chew, and the "The Winter War" by Engle and Paananen? Both are out of print. Not about rifles but about the tactics and battles of the war. If you have not, check AbeBooks.com, that is where I found my copies, or send me address and I will loan them to you for a month. Both are a good read. You've probably got "A Frozen Hell" by Trotter, but if not, that's a good one, too. I have assumed you are interested in the war history, too. I was lucky to find Palokangas' three volume set at my favorite gun shop, they didn't want it because it was in Finnish, so I got it for $30. Best deal on books I ever made! Keep up the good work! Kari

Dear RGRWJB, Your last post is a good exemplar of the intent of these forums... I am privileged to learn something, you are privileged to have the knowledge, and at some point in the future the shoe may be on the other foot on some issue. Some personal background: I was never in the Military - 1Y deferred on account of a blood sugar condition called hypoglycemia (the reverse of diabetes) that was easily controllable by a special diet, but that wasn't happening in the US Army... So I avoided mud, leeches and rifles that jammed. I had plenty of friends who went (we were all teenagers from a small, rural town in Vermont,). Some came back changed for the better, some came back almost unrecognizably altered for the worse. Anyway, I never got to experience small-unit tactics personally, but have always been fascinated with this subject. My father was in the US mountain troops (10th Division, 87th Regiment) in WWII, the so-called "Ski Troops", and as a Swiss immigrant and world-class skier & climber he was bumped up to Master Sergeant in spite of his lousy English. (He said really all you needed to do as a sergeant was to be able to get mad and swear... he was of course kidding.) So I was never in the military, but love reading about military history and tactics from the Iliad up to the Korean War, and especially WW II. The Winter War was of great interest because if there is one thing I really do know a lot about, (besides a passion for firearms), it is cross-country skiing: XC racing, skiing in the woods, quietly sneaking up on deer, speeding around through the trees at a pace that a snowshoer could only dream of attaining, also skiing up and down mountains with very large packs for winter camping. He taught me how to shoot when I was seven or eight and by ten I was totally hooked! So naturally with this heritage and background, the Winter War was of special personal interest to me and remains so to this day. As a fairly literary person I have read pretty much everything I could get my hands on about the subject, talked to friends of my father who really knew a lot about it (I was too young to know what kind of questions to ask them). So the Finnish tactics that were so successful against the Russians definitely connected on an emotional level.
I have not done nearly the amount of research on the rifles in my collection that they deserve - running a business has taken a lot of time, but as I ramp down a little as I age, it is becoming possible to take a second look at what were emotional purchases and be more thorough in my research.
I guess the long & short of this is that there are other routes into understanding Finnish tactics besides having served in the military, particularly a long personal experience of woods living in winter, woods skiing/exploring without trails and all that it entails, applying that knowledge to understanding the Finnish ski tactics and the spectacular success of the Mottis in destroying much larger Russian forces. This is the only war I can think of, going all the way back to Alexander Nevsky and the Teutonic knights, where Winter was not the Russian's friend...Other topics that seem to get short shrift on the lists are the Finnish Civil War and the origins of the vast numbers of Mosins that formed the basis for the Finnish arms development, and the rehabilitation of Mannerheim to lead them at the beginning of WWII. It is a little reminiscent of Churchill - the right man for that moment in history. How did you come to be so fascinated with this subject and committed to the scholarship to understand it? Kari