Mikesm44: Looks like a nice example you've bought- look forward to hearing how she shoots. I have a number of these babies now and I don't find them loud or unpleasant to shoot. That super slo-mo video is great but I suspect a lot of our favorite rifles would show surprising things if similarly filmed You certainly get no sense of unusual barrel flexing when shooting them. Be sure to check your action to stock fit- I've found it to be all over the page on rifles right out of the crate raising questions about the standards of the factories doing the re-furbs. Some have been so loose I've had to shim them before use (both laterally and longitudinally).
Thanks Ridolpho. I have seen video of no4 Lee Enfields that did not look much better so I think you are right about the flexing in the video.
I do not know with the crazy weather when I will get a chance to go shoot it. It keeps "snowing" here. It's a great day today, but I can't get out to the range. But I will post as soon as I can.
Barrel whip is common knowledge. They all do it and thus heavy barrels came to be. They do it but not as radically. I'm glad these vids came to light so it can be illustrated. We've been talking about it for years and no proof...like this.
Watching the detail take down video really makes me think how elegant the design of John Garand was. I did not count the parts but it seems like a lot less in an M1.
Finally got a chance to shoot the SVT-40. Actually got to shoot it along side one from 1941. I had some Herter's 147 grain and some Golden Bear I believe 200 something grain. I can't find the box right now. I know it is supposed to use light ball, but it seemed to like the Golden Bear better. I got a light primer strike that didn't fire once one every second round with the Herter's. The guy with the other SVT had some I believe Bulgarian and Romanian surplus and it seemed to cycle fine. Both were set to 1.5 on the gas valve. Got very good groups although the windage needs to be corrected slightly. Very happy with these results in total however.
Mikesm4: I'm envious! Minus 30C here tonight so all I could do was tinker with my SVT's. Are you getting a feeling for what sort of level of accuracy your SVT is capable of in terms of groupings at 100 yards?
I will post some pics of the targets, maybe tomorrow. I already put everything away today. It groups very well, but it lands about 6-8 inches to the right. If I aim for the left side of the paper I can get pretty close to black.