Hovea M44: Husqvarna Makes a Submachine Gun

The Hovea M44 was tested by the Danish and Swedish militaries in 1945, competing agains the Carl Gustaf M45. It was designed and produced by Husqvarna (yes, the chainsaw company) and just 10 of them were made for testing. It was designed around the Suomi quad-stack magazine, which was also originally a Swedish design. Sweden chose the Carl Gustaf, but Denmark preferred the Hovea – but with a couple modifications. Specifically, they wanted the grip and stock from the Carl Gustaf, and that ended up becoming the Hovea M49 which was adopted into Danish service.

Hovea M49 video: https://youtu.be/r4mRIDjUCQE

Many thanks to the Royal Armouries for allowing me to film and disassemble this rare prototype! The NFC collection there – perhaps the best military small arms collection in Western Europe – is available by appointment to researchers:
https://royalarmouries.org/research/national-firearms-centre/

You can browse the various Armouries collections online here:
https://royalarmouries.org/collection/