POTD: Jatimatic SMG with Laser Sight

For today’s Photo Of The Day, we have pictures of a Finnish Jatimatic submachine gun fitted with a Laser Products laser sight. Jatimatic is a very unique and rare firearm designed and produced in the ’80s. It is a blowback 9mm SMG with an angled barrel and bolt travel path to help control the gun, and a folding front grip that doubles as a charging handle and safety. This particular Jatimatic SMG is a pre-86 dealer sample and will be auctioned at Poulin Spring 2024 Premier Firearms & Militaria Auction (June 7-10). The auction house notes that chances are high this very Jatimatic SMG was used by Sylvester Stallone in the “Cobra” movie (1986).

Here is an excerpt from Poulin Auctions’ description of the lot followed by a video from the auction house’s YouTube channel.

The Jati-Matic SMG is a Finnish 9mm, open bolt gun designed by Jali Timari in the late 1970’s & first brought to the market in 1980. The concept was born during a malfunction w/ an earlier project, a self loading 22LR target pistol, that experienced a sear breakage due to improper tempering. After the breakage, it functioned as a fully automatic with noticeably manageable recoil & muzzle rise. Timari attributed the controllable muzzle rise to the upward angle of the bolt he was using, countering the recoil impulse, similar in design to the 1870’s Armstrong Cannon and other coastal artillery pieces. This principle lead to the design of the Jati-Matic SMG. It was manufactured in Finland at Tampereen Asepaja (TAP), a company previously specializing in sporterized military rifles, founded in the early 1920s. In the early 1980s, approximately 400 Jati-Matic SMGs were manufactured but due to the strict Finnish export regulations it was never allowed to be a commercially viable project. Any of the very few that were imported into the United States prior to 1986 are extremely collectable and highly sought after.