Testing out the 'Finnish Boombeast' Lahti anti-tank rifle (VIDEO)

A would-be purchaser of a military surplus Finnish L39 anti-tank gun asked the gun store staff if the big rifle on skis actually worked. They obliged him.

Patrick and Nicole with the Kentucky Gun Company in Louisville dutifully took their Lahti out of the shop and checked it in live fire.

Aimo Lahti, the Thomas Edison of Finnish gun engineers, designed his 109-pound semi-automatic VKT-made rifle around the largest 20mm shell the in existence in 1939. Using the Swiss 20x138mmB Solothurn Long cartridge, the gun was readily capable of piercing 20mm of armor at 100-meters and 16mm out to 500 meters with enough pop to put most of the Soviet tanks of the era on the menu.

Patrick says they get them in for sale from time to time, ranging from $7-$12K depending on condition, and they are listed as destructive devices under the NFA.

Laugh now, but if early WWII Soviet tanks come by your house, you’ll wish you had one.

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