#Svt-40

In my last article on the K.43 I said that if I was able to get my grubby paws on an SVT-40 I’d do a comparison of the gas systems. Well, after getting extremely lucky on a GunBroker listing, I’m able to do just that.

Earlier we produced an episode on TFB TV about the Soviet SVT-40 semi-automatic rifle. In this episode, we examine the disassembly and assembly aspects of that same rifle. As mentioned earlier, the SVT-40 incorporated a number of very advanced features for its time such as a removable 10 round magazine, gas operated semi-automatic system, and a very simplistic but not so intrinsic method of field stripping. This was perhaps a downfall among the millions of Soviet conscripts coming into the Red Army during the Second World War, when taking apart the standard issue Mosin Nagant was just a trigger press and bolt throw away from a complete field strip.

Initially losing to Simonov’s AVS36, Tokarev’s design was later retried and adopted as the SVT 38, later becoming the SVT 40 after the Finnish Winter War debacle that the Soviet Union found itself in, just prior to the Second World War. Very forward thinking in many aspects of the design, the rifle featured a 10 round detachable magazine, short stroke gas piston operated tilt locking bolt, and an extremely lightweight construction compared to numerous other designs of the time. It was also the second most produced semi-automatic rifle of the Second World War after the M1 Garand, with over 1.6 million rifles manufactured during the war. Had it not been for the war itself, the SVT 40 was well on the path to completely replacing the Mosin Nagant. But with the changing infantry tactics against the German Army, and the severe shortage of manufacturing capability, in addition to some reliability and accuracy issues, led to the diminishing usage of the rifle during the war, with product ceased at the end. Of course, Simonov got the last laugh with elements of his AVS-36 being incorporated into the 7.62x39mm SKS, making the SVT 40 obsolete by the war’s end.

Before the famous Tokarev SVT-38 and -40 rifles of World War II, a Soviet engineer who would later become famous in the West for another of his designs developed a light weight select-fire infantry weapon in the standard full-power 7.62x54R caliber. That engineer was Simonov, and his AVS-36 was set in the mid-1930s to become the foundation of the future Soviet infantry rifle squad, supplanting the aging repeating bolt action Mosin M1891 rifle. A member over at Guns.ru posted pictures of his demilled AVS-36 to the forum, a few of which are presented below:

Hognose at WeaponsMan takes a look at an interesting photo in one of his most recent articles. He writes:

The SVT40 was Russia’s equivalent of the M1 Garand during the Second World War: a hard hitting semi-automatic infantry rifle that would have exponentially increased the firepower of a soviet section. But they were never manufactured in high enough volumes to fully replace the Mosin Nagant, and so remained the domain of squad leaders and snipers for most of the war. These surplus rifles are widely available in Canada for under $500, and are a favorite of collectors and plinkers alike.

While I am one of the last people to condone the conversion of what are often valuable historical artifacts to a “sporting” configuration, in some cases these conversions themselves add value (both monetary and historical) to the firearm in question. Is the example below one of these exceptions? I will leave it to TFB readers to decide that. From WeaponsMan: