SVT-40 Tokarov

[rayg]

I had a refurbed one that had a scope notch added and a scope on it. First bench shot high as expected then all over the place. Thought maybe the scope was the cause, so shot w/out it on and the same thing. I played around with barrel/action shims, reducing wood pressure and nothing worked to improve the accuracy. I see other folks have the same accuracy problems w/SVT's also. Put it on a table to sell at a show and a buyer only wanted the scope and mount and offered me a few hundred dollars less then I paid for the rifle w/scope on it. I told him to add an extra few hundred and take the rifle also. I just wanted to get out of it what I paid for it a few years ago. Now in hindsight. I could kick myself for too quick a decision as I could have just sold the scope/mount and kept the rifle and sold that for another three or four hundred or more. Oh well, at the time, I just wanted to get rid of a problem rifle. Ray

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[mike radford]

There is a lot going on with trying to figure out how to make an SVT more consistent on Gunboards. The Soviets gave up before doing any serious efforts. They can approach MOA and less than 2 MOA with a little effort.

Remember, the M1C had many issues so it did not enter the conflict, if at all, till June 1945. The G43 was also a relative failure as a sniper, read "Sniper on the Eastern Front". Semi-Autos as a sniper was a long way from perfected. That remains true as we still use a bolt action as do most countries. The SVT 40 was quite a bit before the M1C and G43 time wise. Some Soviet snipers racked up impressive scores even with the limitations and problems like Ludmilla P. They were fielded in number in WW2 before the Garand. Semi-autos were not the norm.. They were used by the Germans when they could get their hands on them and later German designs kept them in mind.

The recent book on the SVT in Russian can help if you can read Russian. They are actually pretty amazing rifles in context. As a sniper, the Soviet decision to go to the PU was brilliant. A cheap and effective sniper with an available scope from the SVT, field it in large numbers. What a difference a simple idea and simple scope(used by the Germans to make the ZF-4) can make.

[Jason60chev]

I obtained an SVT-40 a few years ago. Lookeds like someone tried to add some kind of scope mount to it as it has three small drilled/tapped holes on the the left side of the receiver and a piece of the stock was trimmed in that area. It has no grooves in the receiver for the Russian scope mount. It shoots Ok; nothing to write home about, but I still keep it in my collection of Milsurp rifles. They are getting expensive.

[Bruce_in_Oz]

Do you have the nifty, five-sided "ring" wrench to adjust the gas regulator?

If you are running "random" ammo, it may be worth your effort to tweak the gas back a bit in the event you are trying to feed the old girl some of the more "interesting" stuff loaded for machine guns.

Endless info on this-here internet thingy about the different loadings for the 7.62 x 54R, and the packaging marks identifying the contents. I once had two variants of the SVT-40: one with the "Cutts Compensator" look, (but not as "pristine" as yours), and the later variant with the BIG square ports in the "muzzle thingy".

Best "store-bought" ammo I EVER used was from a batch of WW1 vintage WINCHESTER, brass-cased stuff that was floating around here in quantity in the 1970s.

[Bruce_in_Oz]

Tools and Gizmos for the SVT; here