I have repro sniper, scope and mount are apparently made in Russia, not China. Anyway, every single time I shoot that SVT at the range pretty much same thing happens. I fire first 2 mags at 8 inch gong from 200m with milsurp ammo. Most times I end up with 70-80% of shots hit on target, than gremlin wakes up. Rounds hit anything but the gong, maybe 2-3 hits after next 10 rounds. I shot it at paper. Hits are all over. Im pretty sure its not scope or mount issue because I take mount off, clean the rifle and lock it up. Next time at the range I install optics and exactly the same story happens. I thought it might be heat but 2 SVTs my friends have can be hitting that gong all day long. Maybe not as good as my first 10 shots because non of them have scopes but accuracy with iron sights stays pretty much the same.
Question about weird accuracy loss, SVT40
- Thread starter VuDu666
- Start date
justinb1981
Regular
- Location
- Hamilton, Ontario
Is your receiver notched on top for the scope mount or does it just use the rails on the sides?
BeaverMeat
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Nanaimo, B.C.
Temperature, wood, harmonics... etc.
This reminds me of articles on the U.S. M110 precision rifle. It’s a reliable and accurate platform under a slow rate of fire. When the gun is required to shoot at a high rate of fire under high stress combat, the gun starts to loose its accuracy and begins to malfunction.
I know nothing of the SVT-40. But it could be that your gun is starting to heat up and mess with the harmonics and stock/action figment.
This reminds me of articles on the U.S. M110 precision rifle. It’s a reliable and accurate platform under a slow rate of fire. When the gun is required to shoot at a high rate of fire under high stress combat, the gun starts to loose its accuracy and begins to malfunction.
I know nothing of the SVT-40. But it could be that your gun is starting to heat up and mess with the harmonics and stock/action figment.
Yup, rifle does have a notch and no, I dont think its related to scope moving inside rings. I usually dont need to zero in next time I go shooting, maybe a touch. I slide mount off before cleaning and slide it back on when Im at the range next time. Person who owns original PU Mosin tried re-zeroing after accuracy dropped. No dice. Another person who hits 6 inch pistol gong with his red rifles with iron sites shot my SVT at 8 inch gong. Scored a bit better than I did but not even close to what rifle does during first two mags.
That I know but 2 other non scoped SVTs dont really show accuracy loss. They are 1 MOA to begin with but both can still land about half of shots on the gong all day long while my rifle goes from about 80% to 20-30. Id be totaly happy if that thing was hitting half of the time.
Oh, forgot to mention, top handguard has small crack, about 3 inches long. I dont know how that can affect accuracy but digured I mention it anyway.
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maple_leaf_eh
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
The SVT is a bad design for accuracy. The designers hung too much crap off the barrel for consistency! Count all the rings, handguards, caps and other attachments. So? Make sure the metal handguard is snug on the rings. I've used paper shims to get things tight. As I recall there is a lever point on the recoil lug, so either press the heel of the receiver up as it pinches on the trigger guard, or put pressure pads under the tip of the foreend. The other issue may simply be heat. The barrel is buggy whip thin, and it won't take much to get it hot.
I did two weeks ago because it was consistenly shooting to the right and I wanted to adjust front sight. Moved it to the right a but and test fired it, got half decent group but gremlin didnt go away. Thats why Im pretty sure scope and mount are fine. I kind of thought that my rifle suffers more accuracy loss than other SVTs due to heat but figured I try my luck by posting here and its not heat after all.
Parts are not really loose, except that cracked handguard but I will most definitely play around with shims to make it even tighter
Parts are not really loose, except that cracked handguard but I will most definitely play around with shims to make it even tighter
BeaverMeat
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Nanaimo, B.C.
Some refurbs are fit better than others.
I would try to accurize it. Shim the stock and action using the classic Russian oiled cork or leather technique. Mess with it until you find the right barrel/stock tension.
I remember somthing about the German G43 sniper rifles having to be re-zeroed after the barrel is warm. So in combat the first shots with a cold barrel will be off until it warms up.
Your post got me thinking, maybe, just maybe rings or other parts of furniture start moving from recoil or heat. I left rifle on the rack to cool down for 3-4 hours and nothing changed but maybe whatever moves gets put back in its place after cleaning and stays there for couple of shots. Ill shim everything and if accuracy will still drop Ill strip the rifle on a work bench, put it back together and will try again.
BeaverMeat, thats the idea. Ill make sure everything is as tight as possible.
PinkyPlinker
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Kenora, ON
I’m almost certain your problem is heat. Either it starts stringing when hot or something contacts the barrel when it expands with heat, affecting accuracy.
Forget shooting at gongs and set up paper at 50 and 100 yds and see what it is actually doing when it gets hot. Test both with and without scope. That will be much more telling.
Forget shooting at gongs and set up paper at 50 and 100 yds and see what it is actually doing when it gets hot. Test both with and without scope. That will be much more telling.
Did that months ago, thats how I found out it was consistenly shooting to the right with irons. It produces reasonable groups and than starts going all over. No consistency in at all, bullet just hits somewhere on standard paper my range supplies, 1.5ftx2ft. Sometimes it hits ground when I aim at bullseye if target is located on the lower level of target holders. Sometimes no hits at all so I assume it goes higher. Its thats bad, thats why I posted here. Nobody I know could help, it bugs me, especially since this is not the first SVT I owned and probably something like 20th I fired. Never seen anything like that.
I scoped a non-notched SVT. It works without the notch since the repro mount is so tight on the receiver had to tap It on with a rubber mallot and it will likely be a Royal Pita to ever remove so it will stay on forever. I get a first round flyer with mine which can hit either 10 or 2 o'clock usually 2 to 3 inches wider than the next 4 shots which generally group within an inch or two at 100m. its pretty accurate with MFS 203gr SP. After shooting move than 20 rounds elevation gets to be a bit of an issue on the verticle plane with the rounds landing up and down a 8 inch area with very little horizontal movement. Once the barrel cools down the same thing occurs.
Still I enjoy shooting that rifle quite a bit.
Still I enjoy shooting that rifle quite a bit.
Definitely heat, it has a very thin unsupported barrel. Some svts just happen to be worse than others for the problem.
Other thing you may want to try is clean ammo that is still friendly to an svt pressure wise. The current 54r surplus supplies tend to be extremely dirty and may not help with the problem. A dirty chamber never helps.
Other thing you may want to try is clean ammo that is still friendly to an svt pressure wise. The current 54r surplus supplies tend to be extremely dirty and may not help with the problem. A dirty chamber never helps.
I've had individual SVT's that simply wouldn't group but never one that had accuracy fall off after a mere 20 or 30 shots. Part of the challenge with SVT's is that there was never a "National Match" version with associated accurizing tips like, for example, the Garand. You have to start with proper bedding as the refurb SVT's are all over the page in fit. You have two choices- either go for solid up-pressure at the forend tip (as in the earliest SVT 40's) or fully floated at the tip (as I see in some refurbs but more importantly in the '43 Bulgarian light refurbs I've owned). In the first type the barrel is supported by a metal ring in the lower guard and the Soviets concluded that the biggest problem was the lower guard (which just slips over the wood) being loose and moving after initial shots. You can try shimming the guard to make it really snug but the front end cannot be in contact with the flange under the gas block when cold or heating and lengthening of the barrel will alter the POI (same thing applies to Garand guards). I've seen improved accuracy with 5-7lb up pressure. Shims under the rear of the receiver are the easiest way to increase up-pressure. My best luck with accurizing came with fully floating the barrel at the front. This can be done by sanding if your rifle has the later lower guard without the barrel support ring but the best approach is to inlet the top of the upper rear deck of the stock to let the receiver sit down a bit lower which rotates the barrel up. This is how it was done by the factory on my "43's. Group sizes with my $200 Lever Christmas special gun dropped from 6" to 2" by floating. Note that many of the refurbs come with really marginal bedding- receiver free to move front to rear or side to side. It seems logical to tighten things up but it won't always improve accuracy. Can progressive heavy fouling (of bore and/ or gas system affect accuracy? I really don't know but I have observed POI of 5 shot groups changing dramatically (almost a foot) as I've changed the regulator setting which is pretty weird. The fact that SVT Sniper production was halted in favour of the PU probably tells us that the Soviets couldn't come up with any practical "fixes" for the accuracy issues.
milsurpo
milsurpo
