Mechanical Problems with SVT 40's?

M

milsurpo

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Since Canada is probably the country with the largest group of individuals currently shooting SVT's I thought it might be interesting to see what users are finding in the way of serious mechanical issues. According to various sources the SVT 40 was plagued by a variety of major and minor problems ranging from inconsistent grouping of shots to, at least in the early days, common case-head separation. It's the latter sort of serious issues I'm interested in. So, anyone out there have any interesting tales of mechanical problems that we all might benefit from? I can't personally contribute anything as the SVT's I shoot have been completely problem free to date.

milsurpo
 
The magazine on mine is in need of some material added to the front lip of the magazine. 7.62x54R FMJ surplus ammo is slightly longer than the round nose ammo and it would not feed into the chamber. I determined the mag is the issue and a friend is hot soldering the front of it for me.When I get it back I will need to file it down to get it to feed correctly.
 
Took mine out a few weeks ago got the first time. Not impressed with the mfs 203 grain ammo. I think I'll be buying corrosive milsurp instead. The cases were banged up pretty good and I had a few jams
 
I've got a bunch of them, and they all shoot and feed perfectly. I only had to adjust the gas on one. So I'm always surprised when I hear of issues.
 
ive had many many through my hands, and ended up with 2 that wont function properly. consistently leaves a case stuck in the chamber, both of them. don't all kindsa stuff to try and get it figured. nothing has worked so far
 
That's way too heavy for an SVT. Correct me if I'm wrong but soviet milsurp ammo is 150 grain, that' what rifle was designed to fire. I was told that heavy ammo can cause damage to the rifle.

Bucksnslugs said:
Took mine out a few weeks ago got the first time. Not impressed with the mfs 203 grain ammo. I think I'll be buying corrosive milsurp instead. The cases were banged up pretty good and I had a few jams
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Philthy1 said:
I've got a bunch of them, and they all shoot and feed perfectly. I only had to adjust the gas on one. So I'm always surprised when I hear of issues.
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I agree mine shoots perfect and it's a hand simple feature to tweek your rifles gas system. Most people think it should should perfect with all ammo out of the box. Back in the day it was one of the only gas operated semi auto rifle and looks 10 times better than a garand. And I hope people also know that the garand is finicky.
 
I've owned / own three.

1) 1940 Russian refurb : gas system is worn out enough that it won't cycle under 1.5 with any ammo. Judging by the bore it was used hard. Every feature is correct for a 1940 though so it's a keeper for me.

2) 1942 Russian refurb : Mint bore and gas system. Very tight stock fit. Cycled on 1.2. Shot 12" groups at 100 yards. I sold that one. I'm guessing the crown was damaged but I never removed the brake.

3) 1943 Bulgarian refurb : Near mint, runs like a top. Low gas setting but I forget which.
 
Svt was always and fore most advanced rifle design of its time. As such it always required constant attention, cleaning and fiddling. If soldiers didn't do those things then it failed them in combat. When SVT was properly cleaned and each rifle was set to operate with particular brand of ammo, then it had no rivals on the battle field.
Even though rifles we get are refurbished, they are essentially new and will require filing and sanding to fit parts to the rifle for them to function properly just as it was done in the field in 1940's.
The more you shoot the better it will be.
 
No operational problems with my two, but one required the removal of a small amount of material from the receiver to let the trigger group reattach without the use of a sledgehammer.
 
So far nothing of a terribly serious nature (ie no failures of any sort): problems with magazine fit, rifles that simply won't function properly, etc. One comment about the heavy ball use issue- I believe I've seen evidence that the Germans actually designated the heavy ball (M1930, heavy bullet Type D) as standard for their captured SVT 40's. I've personally used quite a bit of heavy bullet PRVI, etc (non-corrosive) in accuracy tests with no ill effects but then I'm not burning a lot of rounds.

Thinking back over the last year or so on CGN I seem to recall a couple of posts about main recoil spring problems with SVT's but not much else. Having a fairly large collection of them, I've noticed a lot of the refurbs have poor fit of barreled action into stock. I think I've shimmed just about every one I've had to the range. In contrast to that sign of sloppy worksmanship at the refurb facilities, the headspace appears to be fine on all my shooters. None of mine have shown any signs of issues on the brass (or steel) that would motivate me to bother trying to measure headspace. In the recent book by Chumak, the author mentions that, among a number of improvements, the factories manufactured bolts of different length to address headspacing in used rifles. I measured all of my bolts and found a difference of 0.015 inch amongst them which would suggest the refurb facilities were setting headspace (at least partially) with bolts of varying length. Good reason to keep the e-pencilled bolt together with the rifle it matches.

Still waiting for any examples of serious problems?

milsurpo
 
I've only had one issue and it was a worn front magazine lip. Once I migged a small amount of material onto the front feed lip and profiled it, rounds stopped getting hung up at the chamber mouth.
 
Bolt on my rifle randomly grabs dust cover, drags in forward and gets jammed. Doesn't happen during dry cycling. I posted a question on here and got couple of suggestions. I will try it out next time I go shooting.
 
I have shot 8 SVT 40s and all shot russian surplus just fine. One of them had trouble with Canada Ammos new Chinese stuff on the lower 2 gas settings and one needed the spring shortened on the mag release by half a coil. Besides that they are the best and most enjoyable surplus semi to shoot in my opinion. I love them so much I m putting one in a custom laminated stock I had made. Pictures to hit CGN shortly!
 
The only two issues I've had:

1) Getting it broken in/gas setting set properly. When I first got mine, and cleaned it thoroughly, it took a few trips to the range before I got the gas setting right and it really functioned smoothly. At first I had to have the gas set at 1.7 for it to cycle, but after a few trips and a hundred or so rounds of ammo, I'm down to 1.3 and it runs with pretty much everything I feed it. I attribute this to "working out the cobwebs"... As much as I was diligent when I first cleaned it, I'm assuming it took a few post-range trip cleanings to really get the last of the cosmoline out of all the nooks and crannies.

2) Aftermarket (repro) magazines. Man, what a colossal pain. I did eventual get them running right after a fair bit of fiddling, but it was anything but plug and play. I'm going to bug Martin from Corwin-Arms about the new batch he's brought in (but doesn't have listed on his site yet) and pick up a couple of those to see if they're any better. Couldn't be any worse than the others, for sure.

Beyond that, and both problems were solvable with time and attention, my SVT runs stunningly reliably. I suspect that the bad rap the rifle go comes from poor training and familiarization with the rifle in WWII (it is definitely a rifle you have to know and care for).
 
Bendeco said:
I agree mine shoots perfect and it's a hand simple feature to tweek your rifles gas system. Most people think it should should perfect with all ammo out of the box. Back in the day it was one of the only gas operated semi auto rifle and looks 10 times better than a garand. And I hope people also know that the garand is finicky.
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In what dimension is the Garand finicky? Side by side it beats the SVT hands down. The SVT is a ok firearm but when it is minus 30 degrees, which one field strips the best? There are many Axis troops who could not be worried about 'looks' while JC's design was firing upon them.

Utilitarian:

Looking good:

I also have a SVT-40 but only to keep the SKS company.
 
Put several hundred rounds trough mine without a problem ,cleaning the rifle was the only reason for dissasembley.Lots of fun to shoot but can burn trough ammo quite rapidaly
 
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