Barry, I think you are referring to the myth of the Finnish Hakkapelis in the Thirty Years War. There was a recent discussion of this on TMP in which Daniel Staberg effectively dispelled the myth - http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=147260 I think the problem that I have is the idea that ...
I can't answer all of your questions, but the Bavarians "abandoned" the pike ca. 1686. The same is true for all of the States fighting the Turks at the time (Austrians, Saxons and Brandenburgers).
You wrote, "Their Finnish regiments had a reputation for uncontrollabilty(is that a word?)". I don't want to be contrary, but I have never run across any reference to this. Could you share your source for this?
I just received a copy of the Tatarnikov book, and I heartily recommend it. Unfortunately, it is in Russian, but still worth the effort to translated. Here is the Table of Contents (I apologize for my less than perfect Russian translation): INTRODUCTION PART I HISTORIOGRAPHY OF THEME AND THE SURVEY ...