Mechanical Problems with SVT 40's?

>still struggle to get the bolt recoil spring out

The big realization for me was that there are actually two recoil springs (rather than one long one). To install you first put in the inner one, with its half of the telescoping rod. Then you slide the outer one with its section of rod onto the part already installed. You use one hand to hold the inner half of the spring compressed while using the other to bring the second portion in.

In the videos it looks like more continuous than that, which makes it hard to pick up from watching them, but if you think of the two as separate actions it becomes easy. Same for removal.

This may have been self-evident to some folks the first time, but it took me a few cycles to figure it out, so I thought I'd mention it.
 
Robert Nicholson said:
Some of you guys know guns really well and probably have more natural mechanical aptitude than some others of us (me). I can take an SKS apart
in two minutes with my eyes closed, but when it comes to the SVT, my eyes have to be open and I still struggle to get the bolt recoil spring out.:wave:
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I found the svt sticky to be the best step by step dreak down I saw, it really gives you the tear down in order of what to do first. I'm sure you've looked through it, I routinely skim through it to pick up a new tip.
 
I remember when I bought my first SVT. There were a lot of videos on taking it apart but not a single one on putting it back together after cleaning her up. I think after I bought my fifth? Sixth maybe? I made a video for YouTube to rectify that imbalance. It ain't great, but it's helped a lot of people with that recoil spring :)
 
Never really had problems taking it apart/putting it together after watching it done once or twice by people I know. Now, here is the question. Is forward recoil spring the same length as rear spring? I keep getting conflicting answers: "they are the same, shorter goes to the front, shorter goes to the back, your spring needs replacement" and so on. One of mine is about one centimeter shorter than the other one.
 
VuDu666 said:
Never really had problems taking it apart/putting it together after watching it done once or twice by people I know. Now, here is the question. Is forward recoil spring the same length as rear spring? I keep getting conflicting answers: "they are the same, shorter goes to the front, shorter goes to the back, your spring needs replacement" and so on. One of mine is about one centimeter shorter than the other one.
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The Soviet manual for SVT-40 printed in 1940 does not mention any differences between the two parts of the spring, so it should not matter. In disassembly and reassembly instructions, the manual says just "remove the recoil spring" or "install the recoil spring" as if it were just one spring.
 
It is extremely important to clean the gas system and chamber very well on these rifles to make them as reliable as they can be. It seems to me that most people prefer the gas set at 1.3 for the best reliability. start high and turn it down as low as it will go and still cycle the bolt reliably. Remember that with svt's, 2 is 1 and 1 is none.
 
welder01 said:
It is extremely important to clean the gas system and chamber very well on these rifles to make them as reliable as they can be. It seems to me that most people prefer the gas set at 1.3 for the best reliability. start high and turn it down as low as it will go and still cycle the bolt reliably. Remember that with svt's, 2 is 1 and 1 is none.
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Ya, and its gonna be one those guns where every little part is 100$ +....
 
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