The 11 x 40R Mäntsälän seppä is a wildcat and dates back to the 1930’s. It was developed by a blacksmith (= “seppä” in Finnish) who lived in a village called Mäntsälä. At that time there was a civil guard called Suojeluskunta in Finland. The member of Suojeluskunta had a service weapon, a Mosin-Nagant rifle, at his home but the use of the rifle was strictly limited to service, i.e. it was not allowed to utilize as hunting weapon. There was, however, need for a big game rifle for elk and bear hunting. The blacksmith in Mäntsälä (“Mäntsälän seppä”) accomplished a big game rifle by taking a surplus Mosin-Nagant action and rebarrelling it with a surplus barrel rebored to 11 mm. He made the cartridge case simply by cutting the shoulder off from the 7,62 mm Mosin-Nagant cartridge case and loaded it with a suitable lead cast bullet. (Thanks to Esa Paananen in Finland)