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The SVT-40 (Samozaryadnaya Vintovka Tokareva, Obrazets 1940 goda, "Tokarev self-loading rifle, model of 1940", Russian: Самозарядная винтовка Токарева, образец 1940 года, often nicknamed "'' Sveta''") is a
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
semi-automatic
battle rifle A battle rifle is a service rifle chambered to fire a fully powered cartridge. The term "battle rifle" is a retronym created largely out of a need to better differentiate the intermediate-powered assault rifles (e.g. the StG-44, AK-47, M16, ...
. The SVT-40 saw widespread service during and after
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. It was intended to be the Soviet Red Army's new
service rifle A service rifle (or standard-issue rifle) is a rifle a military issues to regular infantry. In modern militaries, this is typically a versatile and rugged battle rifle, assault rifle, or carbine suitable for use in nearly all environments. M ...
, but its production was disrupted by the German invasion in 1941, resulting in a change back to the Mosin–Nagant rifle for the duration of World War II. After the war, the Soviet Union adopted new rifles, such as the
SKS The SKS (russian: Самозарядный карабин системы Симонова, Samozaryadny Karabin sistemy Simonova, 1945, self-loading carbine of (the) Simonov system, 1945) is a semi-automatic rifle designed by Soviet small arms ...
and the
AK-47 The AK-47, officially known as the ''Avtomat Kalashnikova'' (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is a gas-operated assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms d ...
.


History

In the early 1930s, the Soviet Union requested the development of a semi-automatic rifle to replace the Mosin-Nagant, taking inspiration from the Mexican
Mondragón rifle The Mondragón rifle refers to one of two rifle designs developed by Mexican artillery officer General Manuel Mondragón. These designs include the straight-pull bolt-action M1893 and M1894 rifles, and Mexico's first self-loading rifle, the M1908 ...
. The design was left up to two individuals, Sergei Simonov and
Fedor Tokarev Fedor Vasilievich Tokarev (russian: Фёдор Васи́льевич То́карев; 2 June 1871 4 June in old Russian calendarref name=rFedor Tokarev – Brief History Tokarev.com. Retrieved on 2014-02-16. – 6 March 1968) was a Russian we ...
. Simonov, who had experience in developing the
Fedorov Avtomat The Fedorov Avtomat (also anglicized as Federov, ) or FA is a select-fire infantry rifle and also one of the world's first operational automatic rifles, designed by Vladimir Grigoryevich Fyodorov in 1915 and produced in the Russian Empire and ...
, created a prototype for the AVS-36 in 1931, which was used during the
Winter War The Winter War,, sv, Vinterkriget, rus, Зи́мняя война́, r=Zimnyaya voyna. The names Soviet–Finnish War 1939–1940 (russian: link=no, Сове́тско-финская война́ 1939–1940) and Soviet–Finland War 1 ...
but due to design flaws it was removed from service by 1941.


SVT-38

In 1938, Tokarev's rifle was accepted for production, under the designation ''SVT-38'' with hopes that it would become the new standard issue rifle of the Red Army. Ambitious production plans anticipated two million rifles per year by 1942. Production began at Tula Arsenal in July 1939 (production at
Izhmash JSC Kalashnikov Concern (), known until 2013 as the Izhevsk Machine-Building Plant (), is a Russian defense manufacturing concern and joint-stock company headquartered in the city of Izhevsk in the Republic of Udmurtia as well as the capital ci ...
began in late 1939). The SVT-38 is a
gas-operated Gas-operation is a system of operation used to provide energy to operate locked breech, autoloading firearms. In gas-operation, a portion of high-pressure gas from the cartridge being fired is used to power a mechanism to dispose of the spent ...
rifle with a short-stroke, spring-loaded piston above the barrel and a tilting bolt, a system that would later be used in the
FN FAL The FAL (a French acronym for (English: "Light Automatic Rifle")), is a battle rifle designed in Belgium by Dieudonné Saive and manufactured by FN Herstal (simply known as FN). During the Cold War the FAL was adopted by many countries of th ...
. The SVT-38 was equipped with a
bayonet A bayonet (from French ) is a knife, dagger, sword, or spike-shaped weapon designed to fit on the end of the muzzle of a rifle, musket or similar firearm, allowing it to be used as a spear-like weapon.Brayley, Martin, ''Bayonets: An Illustr ...
and a 10-round detachable
magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...
. The receiver was open-top, which enabled reloading of the magazine using five-round Mosin–Nagant
stripper clip A stripper clip (also known as a charger or charger clip, especially in British and in Commonwealth military vocabulary) is a speedloader that holds several cartridges (usually between 5 and 10) together in a single unit for easier and faster ...
s. The sniper variant had an additional locking notch for a see-through
scope mount Scope mounts are used to attach telescopic sights or other types of sights to firearms. The scope sight itself is usually made for only one of two main types of mounts, which can be classified as ''scopes for ring mounts'' (for example a 30  ...
and was equipped with a 3.5×21 PU telescopic sight. The SVT-38 saw its combat debut in the 1939–1940 Winter War with Finland. The rifle had many design flaws, as its gas port was prone to fouling, the magazine would sometimes fall out during use, and it was inaccurate, only being effective up to 600m. Production of the SVT-38 was terminated in April 1940 after some 150,000 examples had been manufactured.


SVT-40

With the removal of the SVT-38 from service, an improved design, the SVT-40, entered production. It was a more refined, lighter design incorporating a modified, folding, magazine release. The hand guard was now of one-piece construction and the cleaning rod was housed under the barrel. Other changes were made to simplify manufacturing. Production of the improved version began in July 1940 at Tula and later at factories in Izhevsk and Podolsk. Production of the Mosin–Nagant M1891/30 bolt-action rifle continued and it remained the standard-issue rifle to Red Army troops, with the SVT-40 more often issued to non-commissioned officers and elite units like the naval infantry. Since these factories already had experience manufacturing the SVT-38, output increased quickly and an estimated 70,000 SVT-40s were produced in 1940. By the time of
Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named afte ...
, the German invasion of the USSR in June 1941, the SVT-40 was already in widespread use by the Red Army. In a Soviet infantry division's
table of organization and equipment A table of organization and equipment (TOE or TO&E) is the specified organization, staffing, and equipment of units. Also used in acronyms as 'T/O' and 'T/E'. It also provides information on the mission and capabilities of a unit as well as the u ...
, one-third of rifles were supposed to be SVTs, though in practice they seldom achieved this ratio. The first months of the war were disastrous for the Soviet Union; they lost hundreds of thousands of SVT-40s. To make up for this, the production of the Mosin–Nagant rifles was reintroduced. In contrast, the SVT was more difficult to manufacture, and troops with only rudimentary training had difficulty maintaining it.
Submachine gun A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine-fed, automatic carbine designed to fire handgun cartridges. The term "submachine gun" was coined by John T. Thompson, the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun, to describe its design concept as an autom ...
s like the
PPSh-41 The PPSh-41 () is a Soviet submachine gun designed by Georgy Shpagin as a cheaper and simplified alternative to the PPD-40. A common Russian nickname for the weapon is "''papasha''" (), meaning "daddy", and it was sometimes called the "burp gun" ...
had proven their value as simple, cheap, and effective weapons to supplement infantry firepower. This led to a gradual decline in SVT production. In 1941, over one million SVTs were produced but in 1942 Izhevsk arsenal was ordered to cease SVT production and switch back to the Mosin–Nagant 91/30. Only 264,000 SVTs 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 around 1,600,000 rifles, of which 51,710 were the SVT-40 sniper variant. SVTs frequently suffered from vertical shot dispersion; the army reported that the rifles were of "flimsy construction and there were difficulties experienced in their repair and maintenance". The stock, made of Arctic Birch, was prone to cracking in the wrist from recoil. This was generally remedied by drilling and inserting one or two large industrial bolts horizontally into the stock just before the wrist meets the receiver. Many rifles were also poorly seated in their stocks, letting the receiver shift on firing. This led to a field modification that selectively shimmed the stock with birch chips, usually around the receiver and in between where the wood stock meets the lower metal handguard. For a sniper rifle, this was unacceptable and production of the specialized sniper variant of the SVT was terminated in 1942. Milling scope rails in the receivers of standard SVT rifles was also discontinued. Other production changes included a new, simpler muzzle brake design with two vents per-side instead of the six on the original.


AVT-40 automatic rifle

To supplement the Red Army's shortage of
machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles ...
s, an SVT version capable of full-automatic fire (designated the ''AVT-40'') was ordered into production on 20 May 1942; the first batches reached the troops in July. It was externally similar to the SVT, but its modified safety also acted as a fire selector allowing for both semi-automatic and fully automatic fire modes. When fired automatically the rifle had a rate of fire of approximately 750 RPM, faster than even the DP machine gun which fired the same cartridge at 550 RPM. To better resist the stress of automatic fire, the AVT featured a slightly stouter stock made of hardwood usually distinguished with a large “A” engraved in it; surplus AVT stocks were later used on refurbished SVTs. In service, the AVT proved a disappointment: the automatic fire was largely uncontrollable, and the rifles often suffered breakages under the increased strain.(Documents discovered after the war indicated that during testing, under continuous Full Auto fire, an AVT-40's barrel would be "shot out", meaning the rifling in the barrel would be completely worn down, in as little as 200-250 rounds.) The use of the AVT's automatic fire mode was subsequently prohibited, and production of the rifle was relatively brief; none were made after the summer of 1943. A shorter carbine version ''SKT-40'' (СКТ-40) was designed in 1940 and was submitted to a competitive test with a design of Simonov in the same year; neither was accepted for service. Later, a prototype version chambered for the new, shorter,
7.62×39mm The 7.62×39mm (aka 7.62 Soviet, formerly .30 Russian Short) round is a rimless bottlenecked intermediate cartridge of Soviet origin. The cartridge is widely used due to the worldwide proliferation of Russian SKS and AK-47 pattern rifles, as ...
round was developed, but was not accepted for production. An assault rifle based on a scaled-down SVT with 7.62x41mm chambering called the AT-44 was also put into development, competing with the
AS-44 The Sudayev AS-44 (Avtomat Sudayeva, ''Автома́т Суда́ева'') was an early Soviet automatic rifle that was designed in 1944 by Alexey Sudayev. It was produced in limited numbers and tested during 1945, but its development ended in 1 ...
design. It failed to be accepted for similar reliability issues as the AVT. A silenced variation was also experimented with, though it too ended in failure.


SVTs outside of the Soviet Union

The first country outside the Soviet Union to employ the SVT was Finland, which captured some 2,700 SVT-38s during the
Winter War The Winter War,, sv, Vinterkriget, rus, Зи́мняя война́, r=Zimnyaya voyna. The names Soviet–Finnish War 1939–1940 (russian: link=no, Сове́тско-финская война́ 1939–1940) and Soviet–Finland War 1 ...
, and over 15,000 SVTs during the
Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet-Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944, as part of World War II.; sv, fortsättningskriget; german: Fortsetzungskrieg. A ...
. The SVT saw extensive use in Finnish hands. The Finns even attempted to make their own clone of the SVT-38 designated ''Tapako'', though only a prototype was ever conceived. The Finns would continue to experiment with producing their own SVT based rifles until the late 1950s with the introduction of the RK-62.Germany captured hundreds of thousands of SVTs from the Eastern Front. As the Germans were short of self-loading rifles themselves, SVT-38 and 40s, designated respectively as Selbstladegewehr 258(r) and Selbstladegewehr 259(r) by the
Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...
, saw widespread use in German hands against their former owners. The study of the SVT's gas-operated action also aided in the development of the German
Gewehr 43 The Gewehr 43 or Karabiner 43 (abbreviated G43, K43, Gew 43, Kar 43) is a 7.92×57mm Mauser caliber semi-automatic rifle developed by Germany during World War II. The design was based on that of the earlier G41(W), but incorporated an improved ...
rifle. During the 1940s,
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
began looking into equipping its military with semi-auto rifles. Although never officially adopted,
W+F Bern W, or w, is the twenty-third and fourth-to-last letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. It represents a consonant, but in some languages it ...
produced an almost faithful clone of the SVT with 7.5 mm Swiss chambering and a 6-round magazine called the AK44. Italy also produced at least one prototype loosely copying an SVT, which is extant in Beretta's collection, but its designation or exact details are unknown.


Post-war

After the war, SVTs were mostly withdrawn from service and refurbished in arsenals, then stored. In Soviet service, firearms like the
SKS The SKS (russian: Самозарядный карабин системы Симонова, Samozaryadny Karabin sistemy Simonova, 1945, self-loading carbine of (the) Simonov system, 1945) is a semi-automatic rifle designed by Soviet small arms ...
and the
AK-47 The AK-47, officially known as the ''Avtomat Kalashnikova'' (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is a gas-operated assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms d ...
as well as the later SVD made the SVT obsolete, and the rifle was generally out of service by 1955. Only a few SVTs were exported to Soviet allies and clients. The
Korean People's Army The Korean People's Army (KPA; ) is the military force of North Korea and the armed wing of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK). Under the '' Songun'' policy, it is the central institution of North Korean society. Currently, WPK General S ...
reportedly received some before the
Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...
. The Finnish Army retired the SVT in 1958, and about 7,500 rifles were sold to the United States civilian market through firearm importer Interarms. This marked the end of SVTs in regular service. In the Soviet Union, some SVTs (without bayonets) were sold as civilian hunting rifles, although other SVTs were kept in storage until the 1990s, when many rifles were sold abroad, along with other surplus military firearms.


Users

* * : 1st Czechoslovak Independent Brigade in the USSR * Estonian partisans after World War 2 * : Captured from Soviet troops, AVT-40 version also used. Finnish captured SVT-38s, 40s and AVT-40s have a Aproperty stamp. * *
Italian Partisans The Italian resistance movement (the ''Resistenza italiana'' and ''la Resistenza'') is an umbrella term for the Italian resistance groups who fought the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and the fascist collaborationists of the Italian Socia ...
: Used examples captured from German soldiers * : Lithuanian civil Police used captured SVT-40s during the
German occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 ...
. * : Captured from Soviet troops, designated as Selbstladegewehr 259(r) * :
Polish Armed Forces in the East The Polish Armed Forces in the East ( pl, Polskie Siły Zbrojne na Wschodzie), also called Polish Army in the USSR, were the Polish Armed Forces, Polish military forces established in the Soviet Union during World War II. Two armies were formed ...
* * * * *


Museum exhibits

* One SVT-38 rifle, one SVT-40 rifle and one SKT-40 carbine are in the collection of Tula State Arms Museum in Tula Kremlin"''Кроме переданных в музей Ф. В. Токаревым опытных образцов и поступивших с военных складов штатных самозарядных винтовок образца 1938 г. и 1940 г. в коллекции есть оружие, имеющее мемориальное значение. ... Самозарядный карабин Токарева СКТ-40, редкий на сегодняшний день образец, был личным оружием В. Г. Жаворонкова, секретаря Тульского областного комитета ВКП (б), председателя городского комитета обороны Тулы осенью 1941 г.''"
Оружие боевое автоматическое
/ официальный сайт Тульского государственного музея оружия
*3 SVT-40 rifles and one SKT-40 carbine are on display at the J.M. Davis Arms & Historical Museum in Claremore, Oklahoma


See also

* AVS-36 *
FG 42 The FG 42 (German: ''Fallschirmjägergewehr'' 42, "paratrooper rifle 42") is a selective-fire 7.92×57mm Mauser automatic rifle produced in Nazi Germany during World War II. The weapon was developed specifically for the use of the ''Fallschirm ...
*
Gewehr 43 The Gewehr 43 or Karabiner 43 (abbreviated G43, K43, Gew 43, Kar 43) is a 7.92×57mm Mauser caliber semi-automatic rifle developed by Germany during World War II. The design was based on that of the earlier G41(W), but incorporated an improved ...
*
M1 Garand The M1 Garand or M1 rifleOfficially designated as U.S. rifle, caliber .30, M1, later simply called Rifle, Caliber .30, M1, also called US Rifle, Cal. .30, M1 is a semi-automatic rifle that was the service rifle of the U.S Army during World W ...
*
M1941 Johnson rifle The M1941 Johnson Rifle is an American short-recoil operated semi-automatic rifle designed by Melvin Johnson prior to World War II. Although the M1941 was used in limited numbers by the US Marines during the Second World War, it unsuccessfully ...
*
SKS The SKS (russian: Самозарядный карабин системы Симонова, Samozaryadny Karabin sistemy Simonova, 1945, self-loading carbine of (the) Simonov system, 1945) is a semi-automatic rifle designed by Soviet small arms ...
* List of Russian weaponry


Notes


External links


History and technicalities of the SVT-40

SVT-40 Pictorial

СВТ трудная судьба
Kalashnikov magazine, 2001/6, pp. 50–56 {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 7.62×54mmR battle rifles 7.62×54mmR semi-automatic rifles Short stroke piston firearms Tula Arms Plant products Semi-automatic rifles of the Soviet Union World War II battle rifles World War II semi-automatic rifles World War II infantry weapons of the Soviet Union Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1940