SVT-40

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The Samozaryadnaya Vintovka Tokareva, Obrazets 1940 goda (Tokarev Self-loading Rifle, Model of 1940) is a Soviet semi-automatic rifle, which saw widespread service in World War II.

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SVT-38

Design of the gun traces back to early 1930's when Fedor Tokarev gave up his attempts to design a recoil-operated self-loading rifle, and concentrated on gas operating principle. Stalin had a great interest on semi-automatic infantry rifles, and in 1935 a design competition was held, which was won by the rifle designed by Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov, and was accepted into service next year as AVS-36. However, problems with the AVS quickly manifested, and another competition was held, to which both Tokarev and Simonov submitted their improved designs. This time, Tokarev's rifle was chosen (reportedly, partly because Stalin knew Tokarev personally). The rifle was accepted to production under the designation SVT-38, and it was hoped this was to become a new standard issue rifle of the Red Army. Ambitious production plans were made: the production was planned to be increased to two million rifles per year by 1943. Production began in Tula at 1939.

Technically, SVT-38 was a gas-operated weapon with short-stroke spring-loaded piston above the barrel and tilting bolt, thus being one of the pioneers of this configuration which became widely used; there is some dispute about who exactly came up first with this operating principle, as SVT mechanism considerably resembles Dieudonne Saive's contemporary designs: Saive would eventually design FN FAL, which employs same operating principle as SVT.

The SVT-38 was equipped with a knife bayonet and a 10-round detachable magazine. The receiver had open top, which enabled refilling of magazine using Mosin-Nagant stripper clips. Normally, three magazines were issued with each rifle. Fairly advanced features for its time were the adjustable gas system, muzzle brake and scope rails milled into receiver. The sniper variant had additional locking notch for a see-through scope mount. The sniper version was equipped with 3.5X PU scope, which was slightly shorter than the otherwise similar scope used in Mosin-Nagant sniper variants.

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Towards the SVT-40

The SVT-38 saw its combat debut in the Winter War. The initial reaction of the troops to this new weapon was negative. Among the issues were they felt the rifle was too long and cumbersome, difficult to maintain, and the magazines had tendency to fall off. Some of these problems can be attributed to insufficient training and incorrect maintenance, but others were obviously the result of design flaws. Production of the SVT-38 was terminated in April 1940 after some 150,000 examples were manufactured. Subsequently an improved design, designated the SVT-40, entered production. It was a more refined, lighter design incorporating a modified magazine release. The handguard was now a single-piece and the cleaning rod was housed under the barrel. Other changes were made in an effort to simplify manufacture. Production of this improved weapon began in July 1940 at Tula, and later at factories in Ishevsk and Kovrov. At the same time, production of old Mosin-Nagant M91/30 rifle was discontinued. As these factories already had experience manufacturing the SVT-38, production geared up quickly and an estimated 70,000 SVT-40s were produced in 1940.

By the time of German invasion in June 1941, the SVT-40 was already in widespread use in the Red Army. In a Soviet infantry division's TO&E, one-third of rifles were supposed to be SVT's, although in practice this was seldom achieved. The first months of the war were disastrous for the Soviet Union, and hundreds of thousands of these rifles were lost. To make up for this enormous amount of lost weaponry, production of the old Mosin-Nagant rifles was reintroduced. In contrast, the SVT was more difficult to manufacture, and troops with only rudimentary training had difficulty maintaining it. In addition, submachine guns like the PPSh-41 had proven their value as simple and cheap, but effective weapons to supplement infantry firepower. This all led to a gradual decline in SVT production. However, if German soldiers, with their initial lack of an amiable semi-automatic rifle, captured this weapon, they would usually prefer to use this instead of their own weapons. In 1941, over a million SVT's were produced, but in 1942 Ishevsk arsenal was ordered to cease SVT production and switch back to the Mosin-Nagant 91/30. Only 264,000 SVT's were manufactured in 1942 and production continued to diminish until the order to cease production was finally given in January 1945. Total production of the SVT-38/40 was probably around 1.6 million examples, of which about 55,000 were the SVT-40 sniper variant.

In service, it was noted that SVT's frequently suffered from vertical shot dispersion. For a sniper rifle, this was unacceptable and production of the specialised sniper variant of the SVT was terminated in 1942. At the same time, the milling of scope rails on the receivers of standard SVT rifles was discontinued. Other production changes included a new, simpler muzzle brake design. To supplement the Red Army's shortage of machineguns, a version capable of automatic fire was produced in 1943, designated the AVT-40. It was otherwise externally similar to SVT, but its safety also acted as a fire selector. A larger 15 or 20 round capacity magazine was reportedly designed for use with the AVT, but this is unconfirmed and no examples seem to have surfaced. The AVT featured a slightly stouter stock; surplus AVT stocks were later used in refurbished SVT's. In service, the AVT proved to be a disappointment - automatic fire was largely uncontrollable, and the rifles often suffered breakages under the increased strain. The use of the AVT's automatic fire mode was subsequently prohibited, and production of the AVT was relatively brief. A shorter carbine version (sometimes called SKT-40) was designed in 1940 and reportedly produced in small numbers, but again this is somewhat disputed. As a field modification, standard SVT's were sometimes modifed into a carbine configuration, with varying degrees of success and work quality. A prototype version chambered for the new, shorter M1943 round was developed, but not accepted for production.

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SVT outside of Soviet Union

The first country outside the Soviet Union to employ the SVT was Finland, which captured some 4,000 SVT-38's during the Winter War, and over 15,000 SVT's during the Continuation War. The SVT saw extensive use in Finnish hands, though malfunctions and breakages were common due to different Finnish ammunition and often an incorrectly adjusted gas recoil system. Germany and other Axis countries captured hundreds of thousands of SVT's during the Great Patriotic War. As the Germans were short of self-loading rifles themselves, the SVT (designated as SIG.259(r) by Wehrmacht) saw widespread use in German hands against their former owners. The Germans even issued their own operating manual for the SVT.

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Legacy

After the war, SVT's were mostly withdrawn from service and refurbished in arsenals and then stored. In Soviet service, new weapons like SKS and AK-47 quickly made SVT obsolete and rifle was apparently out of service by 1955. Only a few SVT's were exported to Soviet allies and clients. Reportedly, some SVT's were used by Cuban revolutionaries in 1950's. The Finnish Army retired the SVT in 1958, and about 7,500 rifles were sold to US civilian markets through Interarms. This marked the end of SVT in regular service. In the Soviet Union, SVT's were kept in storage until 1990s, when many rifles were sold abroad along with several other Russian surplus military weapons. Nowadays, SVT is fairly widely available for collectors and enthusiastists.

Despite its relatively brief service career, the SVT was a very prolific weapon in WWII Eastern Front, and it had considerable impact on European battle rifle design during and immediately after the war. Weapons like the SKS, Swedish AG-42 and the German G-43 show obvious SVT influence. The FN-FAL and its ancestor FN-49 employ same locking mechanism and operating principle as SVT, although as mentioned above, it is unclear whether they were actually influenced by SVT. As a service weapon, SVT had its problems but on the other hand, so did other contemporary semi-automatic rifles.

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See also

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External links

Template:WWIIUSSRInfWeaponsde:Tokarew SVT-40 fr:SVT40 ja:トカレフM1940半自動小銃 pl:Karabin SWT pt:SVT-40

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