stripping the purple paint off SVT 40 carrier

[raym]

I love my svt 40 but cant stand the purple paint on its bolt. has anyone stripped off the paint and polished it back to silver?

 

[samsplacci71]

I just spk to another CGN member who used acetone to remove the plum colour.

 

[grelmar]

http://www.huntinggearguy.com/tips/polishing-a-refurb-svt-40-bolt-carrier/

Either vinegar or acetone works. Vinegar = much cheaper.

To polish it up once you're done, rub it down with a crumpled piece of tinfoil, then clean and polish with G96 or some similar.

I haven't personally brought my SVT bolt back to "in the silver" - but have used vinegar to clean off the corrosion from my SKS (the "plumb" is a poorly applied blueing, blueing being essentially a pre-emptive oxidation). The vinegar/tinfoil rub worked wonders to take the grey corrosion off my SKS bolt, it was really badly tiger striped once I got the cosmoline off it.

 

[grelmar]

p.s. As far as making it "original" - there is some debate as to whether or not "in the silver" was actually the original as issued trim. While it's difficult to tell from the old B&W photos, there is a fair amount of evidence that a lot of the SVT's were issued with a plum bolt originally.

 

[Ganderite]

When steel is blued it comes out blue - usually. However, depending on the nickle content of the piece, it can come out a plum colour. I have a number of guns where the colour of various parts is plumb because they parts are made of different steel compositions as the rest of the parts.

 

[Leviathan024]

from what i understand the "plum" was as-issued at the time of ww2

 

[DJdeadlyDALEK]

I have an SVT-38 and a Finn capture SVT-40 - neither of the bolts in those cases are plump. They're both "in the white"

 

[RMXC51]

Every SVT combat picture I've seen has the bolts and carriers in the white. I believe they were blued during refurb for long term storage. That being said, I'm leaving mine alone (2 plum, 1 gold) because that's how they came out of the crate.

 

[collector67]

Vinegar works great, but is very corrosive... just make sure and rinse it well (boiling water) and re-oil after you strip it. I think the plum color is from post-war refurbishment; I have seen quite a few RC K98's that have the bolts in the same condition.

 

[Mumbles Marble Mouth]

Every single Finnish captured SVT-40 I've seen doesn't have a plum bolt.

It should also be noted that the untouched SVT-40 that's on display at the worlds largest military arms museum in Sweden doesn't have a plum bolt.

I used flits to polish the plum off my bolt. I was actually just cleaning the gun and I had a cloth with some flits soaked in the rag and it started to polish off the plum really easily.

 

[Travis Bickle]

Aye, vinegar works amazing!
Let it soak for about 10 minutes, then scrub it down with steel wool.
I just rinsed it off with hot water and drenched it in oil and let it sit for a long while before wiping it down.
It looks way better in my opinion.

 

[Ratnik]

Of course,bolts on refurbed rifles were refinished at arsenals.
But plum bolts appeared in mass production in 1942, and all rifles since early-middle 1942 were issued with plum bolts. Actually, only one factory produceв SVT's at that moment #314 Mednogorsk (ex-Tula)
This fact is confirmed by documents, and described here
http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php/1032220-New-book-Tokarev-semi-automatic-and-full-auto-rifles



From museums

Unissued sniper rifle from St.Petersburg artilery museum, note that tint of bolt carrier finish differs from postwar examples


Finn catured 1943 rifle


Single rifles were observed with plum bolts in 1941



Fedor Tokarev

 

[The Kurgan]

I would leave them alone, as that's how they came. Whether or not it was WWII issue or refurb, changing them now certainly detracts from their value... and they look good as is. Of course, just my two pennies worth.