Small Nations, Big Designs: Weapons from Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden and Finland

The first production handgun to use a slide, designed by John Browning for Fabrique Nationale in Belgium in 1898. About 724,450 were made between 1900 and 1911, in .32 ACP with a seven round magazine.

Adopted by the Royal Danish Army in 1902 and widely regarded as the first true light machine gun produced in quantity. It was sold in as many as twelve calibers to more than thirty four countries and saw combat in over twenty conflicts.

Another Browning design from Fabrique Nationale, built from 1910 until 1983. Its recoil spring wrapped around the barrel, an arrangement later taken up by pistols such as the Walther PPK and the Makarov PM.

The Swiss straight-pull bolt-action rifle, standard issue from 1933 until 1958 with some examples serving into the 1970s. It fed from a six-round detachable magazine and used the 7.5x55mm GP11 cartridge.

Aimo Lahti designed this 9x19mm pistol to be made entirely in Finland. Its bolt accelerator helped it work in arctic cold and when fouled, and it served through the Winter War and Continuation War. Sweden built a licensed copy, the Husqvarna m/40.

A Finnish 20mm anti-tank rifle nicknamed Norsupyssy, the elephant gun. It was accurate and powerful but heavy, and once tank armor outgrew it, it was used for long range sniping and, in the L-39/44 automatic variant, improvised anti-aircraft fire.

The Swedish 9x19mm submachine gun adopted in 1945, designed by Gunnar Johansson and also built under license in Egypt from 1965. It was the standard Swedish submachine gun until 1965, and the Home Guard kept it until April 2007.

The Swiss locked-breech pistol made by SIG at Neuhausen am Rheinfall from 1948 to 2006. The Swiss Army used it from 1949 to 1975 as the Pistole 49, until the SIG Sauer P220 replaced it.

Designed by Rudolf Amsler around a roller delayed blowback action and adopted by the Swiss Army in 1957 as the Sturmgewehr 57 in 7.5x55mm. Its export family included a 7.62x51mm NATO version used by Bolivia, Chile, Monaco, Ukraine and Zaire.

The Finnish assault rifle, made by Valmet and Sako and standard in the Finnish Defence Forces since 1965. About 350,000 were produced between 1965 and 1994, chiefly in 7.62x39mm, and it is still in service.

The upgrade of the RK 62, developed by Sako between 1988 and 1990 and delivered to Finland from 1995. Production ended in 1998 after about 20,000 rifles, and the selector was returned to the familiar RK 62 layout.