SVT-40

SVT-40
SVT-40 without magazine from the collections of Armémuseum, Stockholm, Sweden
Type	Semi-automatic battle rifle
Place of origin	Soviet Union
Service history
In service	1940–1955 (USSR)
Used by	See Users
Wars	Chinese Civil War Second Sino-Japanese War Winter War Continuation War World War II Hukbalahap Rebellion Korean War Vietnam War Cuban Revolution Yugoslav Wars First Chechen War Second Chechen War
Production history
Designed	1938 (updated 1940)
No. built	1,600,000
Variants	SVT-38, AVT-40
Specifications
Weight	3.85 kilograms (8.5 lb) unloaded
Length	1,226 millimetres (48.3 in)
Barrel length	625 millimetres (24.6 in)
Cartridge	7.62×54mmR
Caliber	7.62 mm
Action	Gas-operated short-stroke piston, tilting bolt
Muzzle velocity	830–840 m/s (2,720–2,760 ft/s) (light bullet arr. 1908)
Effective firing range	500 metres (550 yd), 1,000 metres (1,100 yd)+ (with scope)
Feed system	10-round detachable box magazine

The Samozaryadnaya Vintovka Tokareva, Obrazets 1940 goda ("Tokarev Self-loading Rifle, Model of 1940", Russian: Самозарядная винтовка Токарева, образец 1940 года) or SVT-40 is a Soviet semi-automatic battle rifle. The SVT-40 saw widespread service during and after World War II. Intended to be the new service rifle of the Soviet Red Army, production was disrupted by the German invasion in 1941 resulting in a change back to the older Mosin–Nagant bolt-action rifle for the duration of World War II. After the war new rifles were adopted by the Soviet Union, such as the SKS and the AK-47.

Fedor Tokarev created the basic design for the SVT rifle in the early 1930s. Tokarev gave up his previous experiments with a recoil-operated self-loading rifle and pursued a gas-operating mechanism instead. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin had a great interest in semi-automatic infantry rifles, and the Army held trials of automatic rifle designs in 1935. The winning rifle was designed by Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov, and was accepted into service the next year as the AVS-36. However, problems with the AVS quickly became apparent, and further trials were held to which both Tokarev and Simonov submitted their improved designs. This time, Tokarev's rifle was chosen and 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 were made: production was anticipated to be two million rifles per year by 1942. Production began at Tula Arsenal in July 1939 (production at Izhmash began in late 1939).

The SVT-38 is a gas-operated rifle with a short-stroke, spring-loaded piston above the barrel and a tilting bolt. This configuration gained wider acceptance later. There is some dispute about who exactly first developed this operating principle, as the SVT's mechanism (as implemented in 1935 competition prototype) closely resembles Dieudonné Saive's design of 1937; Saive eventually designed both the FN-49 and FN FAL, which employ similar operating principles.