Oy Tikkakoski Ab was a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

company producing firearms and different

consumer durable In economics, a durable good or a hard good or consumer durable is a good that does not quickly wear out or, more specifically, one that yields utility over time rather than being completely consumed in one use. Items like bricks could be consi ...

s, most notably sewing machines. It was named after the

Tikkakoski Tikkakoski is a northernmost residential area of Jyväskylä, Finland, about north of the city centre. It has a population of 6,000. The Jyväskylä Airport, Aviation Museum of Central Finland, and a Finnish Air Force , colours ...

district in

Jyväskylä Jyväskylä () is a city and municipality in Finland in the western part of the Finnish Lakeland. It is located about 150 km north-east from Tampere, the third largest city in Finland; and about 270 km north from Helsinki, the capital of ...

Central Finland Central Finland ( fi, Keski-Suomi; sv, Mellersta Finland) is a region ( / ) in Finland. It borders the regions of Päijät-Häme, Pirkanmaa, South Ostrobothnia, Central Ostrobothnia, North Ostrobothnia, North Savo, and South Savo. The city o ...

where their factory was located. Their most known products were sold under the Tikka brand, which was purchased by

SAKO Sako or SAKO may refer to: People with the surname * Bakary Sako (born 1988), French-born Malian footballer * Hygerta Sako, Albanian beauty pageant contestant * Louis Raphaël I Sako (born 1948), Iraqi cleric, head of the Chaldean Catholic Church * ...

in 1983.

History

The company was founded by Martin Stenij as a metal workshop next to the Jyväsjoki mill and saw, but experienced several bankruptcies and changes in ownership as a result. From 1927 to 1940 the company made the M27 rifle, a rebuild of the Mosin-Nagant for the Finnish Army. In 1930, the company was purchased by a German armsdealer Willi Daugs and the next year the production of the

Suomi KP/-31 The Suomi KP/-31 ( or "Finland-submachine gun mod. 1931") is a submachine gun (SMG) of Finnish design that was mainly used during World War II. It is a descendant of the M-22 prototype and the KP/-26 production model, which was revealed to the pu ...

submachine gun was started. After 1933, Tikkakoski also produced machine gun ammo belts and the Maxim M/09-21.Hyytinen 1985, p. 191 During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, they manufactured the aforementioned submachine and machine guns and gun barrels. They also produced

.50 Browning The .50 Browning Machine Gun (.50 BMG, 12.7×99mm NATO and designated as the 50 Browning by the C.I.P.) is a caliber cartridge developed for the M2 Browning heavy machine gun in the late 1910s, entering official service in 1921. Under STANA ...

and

20×138mmB The 20×138mmB or Long Solothurn cartridge is a type of ammunition used mainly for anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons during World War II. The designation means the caliber is 20 mm, the length of the cartridge case is 138 mm and ''B' ...

Solothurn Long ammunition. After the war, Tikkakoski was considered to be a German-owned company and its assets were confiscated for the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

in 1947, discontinuing firearms production and focusing on sewing machines. Finnish businessmen however bought the company from the Soviets in 1957. Tikkakoski was merged into the other Finnish firearms manufacturer

in 1983 to form ''Oy Sako-Tikka Ab''.SAKO's entry in th
Joint business information system of the Finnish Patent and Registration Office and the Tax Administration
Later, Tikkakoski was omitted from the company name but SAKO continues to use the ''Tikka'' brand for a series of rifles, mostly the T3X model. SAKO's merger with

Valmet Valmet Oyj is a Finnish company and a developer and supplier of technologies, automation systems and services for the pulp, paper and energy industries. Valmet has over 200 years of history as an industrial operator. Formerly owned by the S ...

to form Sako-Valmet in 1986 led to the closure of Tikkakoski's arms division in 1987.

References

* Hyytinen, Timo: ''Arma Fennica: suomalaiset aseet (Finnish firearms)''. Gummerus, 1985. .

Citations

External links

Defunct firearms manufacturers Firearm manufacturers of Finland 1893 establishments in Finland Sewing machine brands Defence companies of Finland Defunct manufacturing companies of Finland {{Finland-company-stub