First time Svt-40 owner

James1873

James1873

CGN Regular
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Location
McLennan, Alberta
Had an sks before, and sold it for some reason I can't remember. I was looking to buy another sks, and stumbled across a deal for an svt40 with a crate of 880 milsurp rounds + 3 boxes of soft points for about same price as an sks with a crate of ammo, so I figured why not.

It's I little tricky to take apart and clean but not too bad with help from YouTube.

Looking forward to seeing how it shoots.
 
I find them not hard at all to field strip. The muzzle break is the hardest part to clean. Iam sure it will shoot just fine lol. They are fun to shoot. Sounds like you got a good deal.
 
To get the stock retaining screw out I used a pair of locking needle nosed pliers and was careful to not mar the stock. It's not a job you need to do more than once a year unless it gets wet imho.

I actually find the SVT easier to service than the SKS oddly enough.
 
Beautiful shooting gun. Not as reliable as sks though. Picky on ammo sometimes. My didn't like the very ammo it was supposedly designed to shoot no matter what gas setting. Hopefully you got a lucky one.
 
I love mine. After a few times stripping it down, you learn the tricks to make it easier. Mine shoots very good with surplus ammo. Hit a 6 inch gong at 100 yards no problem on a good day for me.
 
Cleaning them can be a pain, especially if you accidentally launch that recoil spring across the room. If your lucky yours will eat any type of ammo. Personally mine doesn't like the vast majority of surplus and won't work with it, your experiences may vary depending on the rifles. This is also part of what makes these rifles get a reputation for being picky on ammo, some work like clockwork and others you have to fight with it all the way.
 
welder01 said:
Wow 3 inch groups no problem? you must be an amazing shot! Do you have it scoped?
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I'm a decent shot. I was using the factory irons set to hit approx 2" higher than the top center of the front sight so I can align the sight right on the bottom point of my target.

I also used the same accurizing technique that's used for Mosins by free floating the barrel and using cork as a single harmonics contact point. My particular refurb SVT40 was in a AVT stock and is a snug fit. If there was any forward and reverse play I would have shimmed it or even JB weld bedded it.

View attachment 64887
 
My favorite part about shooting the svt 40 is to me it almost feels like an old machine gun. The way it smokes out the hand gaurd, awesome! Yeah mine worked perfectly with Czech silver tip surplus on any gas setting but that super common Bulgarian stuff it was stove piping every 3-5 rounds and if you opened the gas up too much it would happen less but the hold open would'nt catch on the higher settings. Too bad, it was such a nice example otherwise.
 
welder01 said:
Wow 3 inch groups no problem? you must be an amazing shot! Do you have it scoped?
Click to expand...

I have a few that will easily do 2-3 inch 5 shot groups and others that do well to put 5 in a foot. Attached is a typical group from a refurbed original sniper with well used bore and heavily repaired stock! There is evidence that '41 snipers had barrels specially selected and installed on a separate assembly line but I have other non-snipers that will shoot with this one. What I have noticed is that the recent refurbs are all over the page in terms of quality of stock fit. Some come out of the crate really loose and should be shimmed. Some have barrel floating, some have forend tip pressure. Some are not even close to being zeroed, suggesting that this refurb process wasn't intended to yield rifles ready to issue directly. So- don't judge the brand by one or two bad performers. Fun rifles and easy to maintain.

milsurpo
 
Welcome to the exclusive SVT-40 club.

Mine loves any kind of surplus I throw at it... chicom, bulgarian, whatever !!!

It also loves the soft point stuff I use for hunting with my Mosin Nagant. In fact, I'm bringing my SVT-40 with me deer hunting this year.

P.S. Don't let anyone tell you they are hard to clean... that's simply not true.

Enjoy !!!
 
Those are some solid groups. If mine shoots that well ifs going to be taking some elk for sure. Either way it's a cool rifle. Any it being made in 1941 I bet it saw some action. That's pretty interesting just on its own. It's cool that's it's a small piece of history you can own and experience
 
Just took it out to the range today........ Probably the most fun I had shooting in a while lol. i got the rifle on 1.3 setting so I went with it like that. Shot a bunch of silver tip surplus ammo. Not sure of grain the bullet was but she liked them. Also fired some 203 grain soft points and it feed and fired them no problem either. About 120 rounds fired no failures at all. Very sweet.

It definitely kicks more then an sks lol but it's more fun in my opinion. Now I just need some more mags and a bayonet and I'll be all set
 
James1873 said:
Just took it out to the range today........ Probably the most fun I had shooting in a while lol. i got the rifle on 1.3 setting so I went with it like that. Shot a bunch of silver tip surplus ammo. Not sure of grain the bullet was but she liked them. Also fired some 203 grain soft points and it feed and fired them no problem either. About 120 rounds fired no failures at all. Very sweet.

It definitely kicks more then an sks lol but it's more fun in my opinion. Now I just need some more mags and a bayonet and I'll be all set
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Does it appear to be reasonably accurate?
 
It was a pain to take apart and reassemble the first time because well its a rather unique set up. But once taken down once other rifles are easier, Only thing is each rifle has slight variances so things slight ever so slightly differently. I have 4 of these rifles, they are fantastic pieces of history that you can store in your basement or in open unloaded display anywhere in your home as the law allows.... mine are not out in the open (kids).

Lol keep hunting for mags, your best bet is new. I almost sold a 4rd pinned mag the other day until a friend quickly talked me out of it and fixed it for me. In hind-sight I'm glad i kept it even at 4 it was an original mag better than any new mag replacement for an extra bullet. I cannot for the life of me find mags available online that are originals away from the rifle for anything less than a kings ransom and new ones recently sold for $95 on westrifle before i could buy it.
 
James1873 said:
yeah I think it's pretty cool, can't figure out how to remove the screw to take the stock off though. If it shoots decent I may take it along to get an elk this year.
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Take a 5/16 bolt and file a slot to fit the top bar of the cross bolt and then drill a hole through it and install a handle for turning (epoxy putty to keep handle from coming off). To make removing the springs easier, I use a wooden dowel (instead of a bullet) to hold the springs back to remove the receiver cover.

SVT%20Cross%20bolt%20tool_zps8a12z1sh.jpg
 
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