Calgary Spring Show- lots of SVT's

milsurpo

CGN Regular
Rating - 100%
43   0   0
Location
Calgary
More Mosins and SKS's and SVT's than Lee Enfields this year. Two refurb SVT 40 snipers for sale at $1000.00 (hadn't moved by end of friday) and other snipers with, shall we say, somewhat unique notches also for sale. As far as I could see not a single non-refurb or Finn capture- these must all reside down east?

Milsurpo
 
I have seen those notches and im wondering if those guns are fake?

I was pretty dubious of the two "sniper" SVT's. It's not a 100% test, but when I was there and saw those two rifles on Friday, I ran my finger over the notches. Had that fresh cut "feel" to it, if you know what I mean. Very crisp sharp cut along the edges, not smoothed out from time and wear like I would expect.

A guy asking that much for them is a parasite regardless, even if they were for real.
 
I was there with a good friend, He was looking at a .270 Mauser 98 with the most impeccable bluing job I'd ever seen. It was $750. Early in the day we saw the 2 SVT snipers for $1K, and toward the other end we saw another sniper that the vendor had for $350. We went and asked the first guy what another sniper would be worth to him, and he gave us the roundabout answer involving how hard it is to find all the mounts and parts to make it work properly even if it WERE a sniper, so a new sniper SVT40 for him to buy wasn't worth 900 bucks. Go figure. Not like his 2 rifles had all the bells and whistles you'd also have to go find yourself, yet he was charging a ton anyway. Not cool.

Gotta say though. I wanted an SVT40 before I went to the show, and now that I've handled about 2 dozen of them while I was there.... I want one even more.
 
From the quick glance I took I would say the expensive ones were genuine while one of the cheap ones had a strange shallow notch with a Tula like star stamped in it. On another table was one of those very rare! Izhevsk snipers (could always be a field conversion). What potential buyers have to keep in mind is that these are former snipers. At refurb they may have lost most of the original parts that might have made them work as snipers and the bores may be quite poor. If you're looking for a practical SVT sniper the replica route may be the best way to go- start with a basic rifle with side-rails and a very good to excellent bore and very sound stock (they are out there for $300.00) and notch it yourself. The real notches are very distinctive in form and tough to fake so don't even try. When you go to sell it present it as a replica and show some (hopefully) impressive target groupings.

Milsurpo
 
Went I went to the Easter show a couple of years ago there was one SVT40 in the whole thing. I couldn't believe how many there are now, but good to see.
 
Back
Top Bottom