SVT40- accuracy controls

[Ridolpho]

I'm curious about the anecdotal stories of accuracy problems including wildly errant first shot so I decided to begin a little accuracy test of my own examples. For starters I thought I'd strip each of the four and attempt to see how the action/ barrel are bedded in these refurbs. The rifles are Tulas (two 41's, one '42, and one '44). Two have the groove at top of the bolt cover and are probable original snipers. All have very well preserved metal surfaces and show signs of quality work in the refurb. To be brief, all four show consistant bedding points as shown on the photo. With the stock installed all four have significant (5 lb+) up-pressure at the tip of the stock. This pressure is either entirely on the ring in the lower metal jacket or, in one rifle, on both metal and about one inch of the wood. I don't believe the metal jacket assembly is rigid enough to impart any up-pressure at its tip but, rather, will flex as the barrel oscillates. The cleaning rod is also "along for the ride". Rearward, the barrel to barrel re-inforce are free while the receiver ring and small flat forward of the cross-pin bear on the stock. Of great interest to me, three of the four display absolutely zero longitudinal free-play of action in stock with cross-pin and trigger assembly inplace. The fourth (a non-sniper) has considerable free-play (at least 0.008") which is what I get the impression some feel could lead to the big spread between first and second shots and which could be solved with shims. To me, the biggest unknown seems to be the effect of all the junk hanging on the front of the barrel (ie. forward of the tip of the stock). These parts are probably highly variable in fit from gun to gun. So, question to the accurizing gurus out there: How well thought out is the position of the stock-end up-pressure from a barrel oscillation point of view and what approaches might be worth considering for optimizing one of these rifles? I plan to take a couple to the range this weekend to start some tests. Love the design- simple, logical.

Ridolpho

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