I was thinking the same thing. I do believe his kill number seems extremely implausible.

Especially if you look at the data from Wikipedia: “Some of Häyhä’s figures are from a Finnish Army document, counted from the beginning of the war, 30 November 1939: 22 December 1939: 138 sniper kills in 22 days 26 January 1940: 199 sniper kills (61 in 35 days) 17 February 1940: 219 sniper kills (20 in 22 days) 7 March 1940 (one day after he was wounded): total of 259 sniper kills (40 in 18 days)”

I don’t think it can be known now more than 85 years after-the-fact. Byt Häyhä was a good shot with a rifle and also a squad leader issued with a submachine gun, using the Suomi KP/-31 with a firerate of 750-900 rounds a minute would rip an enemy to shreds in suitable ranges. So a combination of fact and fiction (propaganda) will lead to such a number. I personally am not sure if I believe everything they tell us.

Possibly but most of his kills were with an SMG, not a sniper rifle, so his reputation is definitely exaggerated. It’s very likely he had a high kill count but there were probably a few Soviet sharpshooters from after Barbarossa who had more.