[PMoz99]

Thank you for the details Juha.
Yes, I understand that claims with lack of witnesses are sometimes accepted, and at times circumstances can be such that there are or can be no witnesses. But if there is no witness and there is no other confirmation, then we are left with a probable. Depending on the pilot, some might be less probable than others (Welter and some others spring to mind here). I would imagine when you are in a melee, you only get split seconds to gain an impression on how much damage your hits have caused, and you probably haven't got the time or space to watch what happens after that. But simple things like a Me109 making lots of black smoke when under full power convinced many Brits they'd scored a kill.
My general impression is that the Finns were pretty reliable, so I would have little difficulty in accepting most or all the probables are actual victories.
Thanks again for all your time and information!
Peter