Thinking of buying a svt40, What's your opinion?

Do it.

It's my one milsurp that I'm even remotely tempted to "Bubba" - I just haven't figured out how to make a drop in Dragunov style stock for it yet.

As for cleaning - yah, it's more complicated than an SKS or Mosin - but still not bad. Just remember to do a THOROUGH de-cosmo job on it. Any of the people I've seen have reliability issues with it, it all came down to not fully cleaning out the gas block properly (creates cycling issues) or not completely cleaning out the bolt carrier/hammer assembly (light strike issues).

But as mentioned above, to me that's a part of the MilSurp experience. Getting it out of the box, completely stripping it down to clean it out of all the cosmo, and in the process, you learn an absolute ton about how your firearm functions. My wife hates it when a new MilSurp shows up at the door. She knows it's going to lead to me spending an entire day of "quality time" with it in the garage cleaning it and getting to know everything about it.
 
grelmar said:
...or not completely cleaning out the bolt carrier/hammer assembly (light strike issues).
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That's exactly what happened to me... I did not have the proper tool at the cottage to disassemble the bolt carrier so I drenched it with brake cleaner and hoped for the best...

Well, it was -30 C when I went to shoot my SVT and I was getting light strikes. Once I got back to the city I was able to disassemble the bolt carrier and it was still full of grease. I guess the grease congealed and the firing pin was not traveling properly. Duh !!

It pays to disassemble and clean completely.

There are tons of youTube videos on the subject, as well as some awesome sites. Here are a few...

SVT-40 Complete Disassembly / СВТ-40 Полная Разборка

http://youtu.be/yYiKIHMAeD8

SVT-40 Complete Reassembly / СВТ-40 Полная Сборка

http://youtu.be/6F3RybJN-Mg
 
lalunette said:
That's exactly what happened to me... I did not have the proper tool at the cottage to disassemble the bolt carrier so I drenched it with brake cleaner and hoped for the best...

Well, it was -30 C when I went to shoot my SVT and I was getting light strikes. Once I got back to the city I was able to disassemble the bolt carrier and it was still full of grease. I guess the grease congealed and the firing pin was not traveling properly. Duh !!

It pays to disassemble and clean completely.
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I know EXACTLY what you're talking about. The brake cleaner method works fine on the SKS with that wide open firing pin channel... On the SVT, notsomuch. It's almost a sealed system.

But, again, benefits of inexpensive milsurp. If you have an expensive CZ or some other pricey, modern rifle, the temptation to dis-assemble the bolt group is a lot more limited - the tolerances are so tight that the concern of doing more harm than good is pretty high. With an old Russian, you pretty much have to strip it right down to components from the get go in order to make sure it's going to work right. And you learn so much about how everything works/fits together while doing it that in the long run, you're ahead, because you won't be afraid to take it apart down the road to solve your own problems.
 
Oh, and here's another great SVT disassembly video. No idea who this guy is, other than he's Canadian. Very understated shooter who really knows what he's doing.

 
Fun to shoot, the breakdown isn't bad once you get the hang of it. Not real "handy" as they are a bit long with the muzzle brake. Seem fairly accurate too.
 
I wouldn't buy a svt-40 because it the ammo is 50 cents a round. I also heard the svt-40's jam a lot, but there may be an easy fix for that. If I were you I would go with an SKS, because the ammo is half the price and the gun is about 100 bucks cheaper. It all depends on what you're doing with the rifle. If you are hunting deer, and other animals that size, the SKS is ideal. If you want to hunt moose then go with the svt-40. A 7.62x39 and a 7.62x54r is like comparing a .22 short to a .22LR.
 
dante_mags said:
I wouldn't buy a svt-40 because it the ammo is 50 cents a round.
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SFRC - $99 for 400 rounds = 24.98 cents a round

dante_mags said:
I also heard the svt-40s jam a lot, but there may be an easy fix for that.
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Not sure where you heard that... sure is not the case with the people I know that own and shoot them.

First, as with all firearms, make sure they are clean BEFORE you start using them.

Second, make sure the gas setting is set properly and at the lowest setting that will cycle the SVT-40 properly.

Having done these two things your SVT-40 should handle like a dream.

BTW, the proofreader with 20+ years of experience in me couldn't help but fix your 's error. The plural form of a word NEVER needs an apostrophe before the s.

Cheers !! :)
 
dante_mags said:
I wouldn't buy a svt-40 because it the ammo is 50 cents a round. I also heard the svt-40's jam a lot, but there may be an easy fix for that. If I were you I would go with an SKS, because the ammo is half the price and the gun is about 100 bucks cheaper. It all depends on what you're doing with the rifle. If you are hunting deer, and other animals that size, the SKS is ideal. If you want to hunt moose then go with the svt-40. A 7.62x39 and a 7.62x54r is like comparing a .22 short to a .22LR.
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lalunette beat me too it on both counts, but I'll expand on it a bit.

Ammo is cheap for these - 25cents a round for surplus, and you don't have to look hard for that. It's the ONLY semi auto full power rifle you can feed for that cheap. Keep in mind, it is a full power rifle, roughly equivalent to a .308 - not some intermediate cartridge like 7.62x39 or .223/5.56 NATO. That's a big jump in thumping power. And you can get hunting loads for as little as 60 cents a round. Again, for the power of the rifle, that's incredibly cheap, especially considering this is a power range that would be fully acceptable for Moose and other moderately large North American game - people have even hunted black and brown bear with 7.62x54R

Reliability - the reputation for this is far worse than it deserves to be. It was actually among the most reliable, best designed semi-auto battle rifles of WWII. The germans copied the entire gas system from it for the G43 to replace the G41, which had a gas recapture system that was horribly unreliable in practice. In fact, captured SVT rifles were so popular with German soldiers that they issued their own manual for it, and even had accuracy and testing acceptance standards for it that would earn it a Waffen stamp if it was inspected at a division armorer level - meaning it would be inventoried and issued as any other German made rifle - not bad considering this was right from the beginning when the Germans hadn't yet run into small arms supply problems.

Garands had the notorious "7th round stoppage" among other issues. Is it going to be as reliable as an M14 or SG540? No. But those rifles benefited from the lessons learned in WWII. Also, I don't need it for a "go to war" rifle because a) I'm never going to war, and b) if I was worried about SHTF/Zombies/Obamacare/Killer Tomatoes, I'd be better off saving my money for a therapist.

For a rifle that will be fun at the range, and even to take out deer hunting, this is a plenty reliable rifle. It takes a bit of getting to know, some time and care in the initial cleaning (if you burn cosmo into the gas block or firing pin channel by heating it up at the range before cleaning, you're going to have trouble with it in the long haul), and then you're down to a basic maintenance level that you should follow with all your rifles.
 
I love mine! I'd shoot it more if I didn't feel like I was being a #### when I'm blasting next to the precision shooters at the range... Muzzle blast is intense if you're beside one.
 
there is nothing to think about, I bought an svt40 and took it to the range twice and bought a second one because I liked the 1st one so much.
 
I have one and I find its ok, personally I would take the same money your planning on putting into the SVT-40 and get a Swedish Mauser or a K31, they are just much better guns for the money (though a bit more expensive to feed).
 
I got to try one a while back, yet another rifle on my to buy list. SVT40, K31, a mauser in 8mm, Lee Enfield, Garand and that's just the Milsurp list ;).

Eaglelord17 said:
I have one and I find its ok, personally I would take the same money your planning on putting into the SVT-40 and get a Swedish Mauser or a K31, they are just much better guns for the money (though a bit more expensive to feed).
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The only thing with both those rifles is the ammo costs, unless you reload which seems to be a must if you want to shoot a lot.
 
woobie said:
I got to try one a while back, yet another rifle on my to buy list. SVT40, K31, a mauser in 8mm, Lee Enfield, Garand and that's just the Milsurp list ;).
The only thing with both those rifles is the ammo costs, unless you reload which seems to be a must if you want to shoot a lot.
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Yes the ammo does cost more but the thing is for the SVT-40 is finding ammo that works well is the key. Today was the first time I actually got it working properly with military surplus ammo (Russian stuff), and it was a blast to shoot. If you do get a SVT-40 be sure to find ammo that works then buy a crate or two or fifty (which I will be doing soon) as when the surplus drys out (it will) you don't want to reload for it as it is rough on brass and you won't get many reloads out of it.
 
lalunette said:
BTW, the proofreader with 20+ years of experience in me couldn't help but fix your 's error. The plural form of a word NEVER needs an apostrophe before the s.

Cheers !! :)
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I liked my first so much I bought it two friends to stand beside in the safe.
Lalunette, you must love online forums. Some days it's all I can do to refrain from posting the difference between then and than in virtually every thread I read.
 
I have 3 SKS 's, one SVT 40, a Russian M91/30, a M44 and a Finn M91. I like them all, and in 10 or so years when they are scarce on the market, I will like them even more. They are like classic cars; they will only increase in value, just wish I would have bought a '56 Bel Aire when they were selling for $6000!!!!!
 
collector67 said:
I have 3 SKS 's, one SVT 40, a Russian M91/30, a M44 and a Finn M91. I like them all, and in 10 or so years when they are scarce on the market, I will like them even more. They are like classic cars; they will only increase in value, just wish I would have bought a '56 Bel Aire when they were selling for $6000!!!!!
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Same here lol,just missing the Finn,but I have an expertly restored Enfield that was given to me at christmas as a welcome to Canada gift by a damn good friend.
 
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