The Lilja Model 1943 is a prototype Finnish automatic rifle.
History[]
Inspector Erkki Lilja, a close colleague of Aimo Lahti, was interested in the use of intermediate cartridges (as Lahti was) around the time; as such, Lilja penned the design down for this automatic rifle in 1943. He ended up building the prototype in VKT's facilities without any official approval from VKT the same year; however, he left the weapon unfinished. The weapon remained incomplete until the 1970s when Lilja finished up construction on the rifle and retired.[1]
Design Details[]
Very little is known about the rifle's design so what is assumed is gleamed from the very few photographs available of the weapon. The weapon uses a detachable box magazine and most likely uses recoil operation.
Ammunition[]
The weapon uses the proprietary 9×40mm Lilja cartridge, essentially a lengthened version of the .30 Carbine[2] or 9×19mm Parabellum cartridges.[1]