SVT-40

Drake · Post by **Drake** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 9:57 pm

A few photos of my 1940 Tula SVT-40. This is arguably one of my favorite rifles to shoot since it tames the 7.62x54R so well. It cycles well on the lowest gas setting but has an ejection jam every twentieth round or so so I normally keep it on the second lowest setting.

http://hooverae.com/upload/files/140308/9433808.jpeg[/pic]

Bayonet fixed. It took me a while to find one with handles that reasonably matched the stock. Obviously it's not serialed to the rifle.

http://hooverae.com/upload/files/140308/9462362.jpeg[/pic]

A closeup of the muzzle brake.

http://hooverae.com/upload/files/140308/9553635.jpeg[/pic]

http://hooverae.com/upload/files/140308/9600282.jpeg[/pic]

The muzzle flash at an indoor range. Firing this rifle outdoors is comfortable, but indoors I need to wear plugs and muffs to keep my ears from ringing. The muzzle brake has a nasty side effect of directing more of the report back at you.

http://hooverae.com/upload/files/140308/9623974.png[/pic]

Dutch Mosin · Post by **Dutch Mosin** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 10:11 am

Great rifle and fantastic pictures Drake.

Congrats.

I love to take mine to the range too.

Here are some pictures.

http://milsurpafterhours.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=3800

BTW: I just love the muzzle flash picture.

Met vriendelijke groet,

Martin

Drake · Post by **Drake** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 1:04 pm

Glad to find some SVT shooters here.

I've got a couple questions about this rifle if anyone can offer advice-

Given the reports I've read about the stocks cracking due to the lightweight wood the Soviets used I'm always interested in anything that might prolong the service life of this rifle.

I've heard the other 7.62x54R semiauto rifles are picky about ammunition weight, but it doesn't seem to be the case with the SVT-40 due to its adjustable gas system. I've been limiting it to ammunition in the 147gr-150gr range and keeping the gas setting as low as possible while retaining reliable cycling. I typically shoot 203gr loads in my Mosin Nagant but there is a noticeable increase in recoil force between those and any of the surplus loads.

At one point while disassembling the rifle, the recoil springs and guides exited violently and disassembled themselves. I haven't been sure which order the springs go in. One of them has a double coil at each end which leads me to believe there is a specific order. I've been looking at any disassembled SVT pictures I can find but the evidence seems to vary.

Dutch Mosin · Post by **Dutch Mosin** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 5:16 pm

Drake,

I've read about cracked SVT stocks too, but personally I have never experienced any problems.

I reload the ammo for my SVT myself and found out that she likes the lighter bullets best.

Here's a link

http://milsurpafterhours.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=4199

I also reload the ammo for my Mosin Nagants myself.

In these bolt action rifles I only use reduced loads.

The 220gn cast bullet with 18gn of VithaVuori powder behind it works just fine for both my M91/30 and my M39.

Met vriendelijke groet,

Martin

Drake · Post by **Drake** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 11:30 pm

The action on my SVT shifts a bit front to rear so I'm looking into bedding the stock to avoid cracking it.

I haven't moved into reloading yet, but the SVT-40 definitely poses a unique challenge since it's so hard on the cases.

http://hooverae.com/upload/files/150308/1984056.jpeg[/pic]

The two cases on the left are from my SVT and the two on the right are from my 91/30.

Drake · Post by **Drake** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 2:28 pm

I picked up an Acraglas Gel kit from Brownells and tried my hand at bedding the SVT's stock to get rid of the longitudinal movement of the action.

http://hooverae.com/upload/files/220308/3633990.jpeg[/pic]

Here's the patch at the rear of the stock, there was a bit of a gap there.

http://hooverae.com/upload/files/220308/3650716.jpeg[/pic]

The gaps were smaller in these spots than I thought, so I've got a bit of excess epoxy there.

http://hooverae.com/upload/files/220308/3675834.jpeg[/pic]

Here's just a shot of the action to show the spots where it contacts the stock.

http://hooverae.com/upload/files/220308/3692206.jpeg[/pic]

dhtaxi · Post by **dhtaxi** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 2:50 pm

Interesting stuff keep us up to date.

Drake · Post by **Drake** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 7:46 pm

A few more photos. I picked up a spare bolt carrier in the white and reblued the one I had. I never really cared for the plum color.

http://hooverae.com/upload/files/230408/7913700.jpeg[/pic]

Bolt in the white, as they were originally issued:

http://hooverae.com/upload/files/230408/7932487.jpeg[/pic]

http://hooverae.com/upload/files/230408/7953120.jpeg[/pic]

Blued bolt, a bit more stylish.

http://hooverae.com/upload/files/230408/7979795.jpeg[/pic]

http://hooverae.com/upload/files/230408/7995030.jpeg[/pic]

I picked up on the trick to post resized images, so I'll continue to do that from now on to prevent screwing up the forum formatting.

Post by **Niner** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 9:48 pm

Neat what you did with the bolt carrier, Drake.

Also really neat that you took the time to resize your photos.

Thanks.

Drake · Post by **Drake** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 11:04 pm

Some new SVT-40 photos.

http://upload.hooverae.com/images/DrakeGmbH/mg0588.jpg[/pic]

http://upload.hooverae.com/images/DrakeGmbH/mg0586.jpg[/pic]

The new sling is very similar to the PPSh/SVT-40 WWII era sling, but is adjustable. I believe it is Bulgarian. While it may not be period-correct it is very handy on this rifle and fits perfectly.

http://upload.hooverae.com/images/DrakeGmbH/mg0388.jpg[/pic]

http://upload.hooverae.com/images/DrakeGmbH/mg0389.jpg[/pic]

Some comparison shots between the SVT-40 and M91/30 PU snipers.

http://upload.hooverae.com/images/DrakeGmbH/mg0376.jpg[/pic]

http://upload.hooverae.com/images/DrakeGmbH/mg0383.jpg[/pic]

http://upload.hooverae.com/images/DrakeGmbH/mg0384.jpg[/pic]

The SVT's mount is far enough rearward to still allow the use of stripper clips, unlike the Mosin-Nagant's.

http://upload.hooverae.com/images/DrakeGmbH/mg0377.jpg[/pic]

SVT-40

SVT-40

Re: SVT-40