Introduction.

The purpose of this article is to provide beginner and intermediate collectors or curious parties with reference knowledge about SVT-40, debunk most common myths (like "Kovrov rifle" and "Navy stock") explain differences and variations of rifle's features and present various types of rifles available for collectors in North America. Unlike other sources of SVT-40 information this article is focused on how to understand the rifles that North American shooters and collectors have access to, and describes all possible variants and their features. This is my attempt to put together all up-do-date information available from sources such as recently published books and research presented on web forums. I hope I will have enough time in the future to develop this reference guide and elaborate on various subjects and add some topics for advanced collectors.
The "Tokarev self-loading rifle" (SVT) or "Самозарядная винтовка Токарева" has a very special place in the history of WW2 semiautomatic weapons with significant usage on the Eastern front. Intended to replace the Red Army's Mosin Nagant M91/30 it went through several stages of development - Model 1938 (known as SVT-38), Model 1940 (known as SVT-40), and was phased out in favour of the Mosin Nagant M91/30 as it was cheaper to produce and easier to learn for regular Soviet conscript. Possible factors that might have contributed to such an ill fate are:

1. Low level of training and often absence of training at all for conscripts of Soviet Army. Unfortunate men were often thrown into battle right after they had been conscripted. While this was not always the case, it was quite common. At the same time from some memoirs we know that there were Soviet soldiers who really liked and valued the rifle. We also know that German Wehrmacht and SS troops also liked and used SVT-40s. The Finnish Army successfully used captured SVTs. Ukrainian and Baltic insurgents also were able to provide better training for the troops and numerous pictures and memoirs praise the Soviet "ten-rounder" rifle. This proves that any person with sufficient training and discipline of regular cleaning was able to use this rifle successfully.

2. Second factor - very low level of development of Soviet metallurgy, manufacturing facilities and lack of qualified personnel. You probably would be surprised to know that to facilitate manufacturing of SVTs in 1940 USSR had to purchase some machinery and tools from USA (Source: 1. p.225). At certain stages of production the proportion of defective parts was close to 90% (Source: 1. p.224). Only in July of 1944 was factory N.314 at Mednogorsk (ex Tula) able to produce the first batch of SVT-40 rifles that fully met original Tokarev specifications and requirement, both in quality and in materials used (Source: 1. p.225). Just think about it - from acceptance to service in 1938 and initiation of production in 1939 it took 5 years to start producing the rifle the way she was designed. Of course hardships of the war also contributed here.

3. Third factor – USSR faced enormous losses of firearm during the first months of German invasion. The cost of SVT-40 production was 713 rubles in 1940, while cost of of M91/30 was 170 rubles (Source 3. p 6). To recover from losses and provide require level of supply of firearms decision was made in favour of cheaper, less technological product that also required less man-hours to be manufactured.

4. Fourth factor - it was the beginning of the era of self-loading rifles. WW2 was the first war where such rifles were tried on a large scale. It is worth mentioning that at the outbreak of the war there were no theoretical calculations for the process of re-using the energy of gases. M1 Garand initially had a gas trap mechanism which was later modified to a drilled hole. German Wehrmacht engineers did not believe that it was viable idea to design a self-loading rifle with a hole in the barrel to tap the gases, so technical requirements for designers clearly stated “no hole in the barrel for gases tapping”. To meet this requirement the G41 was designed with cone shaped gas trap invented by Søren H. Bang. Only after Germans were able to lay their hands on captured SVT-40s, was the G43 created with gas system similar to the Soviet rifle. SVT-40 production was stopped in Jan of 1945 when outcome of the war was evident and USSR had more than enough weapons. Gas systems similar to SVT-40 can be found in English SA-80 and AR-18, safety switch was copied in French FR-F1. Bolt locking similar to SVT was used in Swedish Lungman AG M/42 . SAFN 49 uses same locking mechanism and operating principle as the SVT however it could be coincidence. This proves that SVT-40 played important role in development of modern semi-automatic firearm.