The Mad Russian

U

Unspoken

New member
I just bought this mean SOB from another TFL member.

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SVT 40, 1940 from the Tula factory. Finnish capture, SA stamped. They tried to deface all Russian markings. White bolt, no import marks, no electropencil.

This thing is just downright nasty. It always turns heads at the range.
Well worth the price of admission, if you can find one.




And hey Dave, thanks for trying to ignite a bidding war between the professor and I, you bastard :D
 
Yeah, ditto..
At current prices, I'd never buy one off GB or elsewhere unless I could verify condition. Read too many horror stories about the gas systems being trashed from corrosive primers/no maintenance.

Definitely a must-have collectible.
 
My brother and I bought a couple of SVT 40's back in the mid 90's for 218.00 each. Took it home and put it in storage with my other guns... never shot it. A couple weeks ago I opened a can of 7.62 X 54 and decided to give it a "audition" at the range. WOW, what a gun! Very pleasant to shoot, and it's a tack driver. At the time of purchase I also found a nice B-Square over the top bolt on scope mount and matted it to a nice 54mm Redfield. You're right about turning heads, this thing just looks awesome and it roars on the line.... best couple hundred bucks I ever spent.

Unspoken... I just noticed your cleaning rod is missing, did you remove it?
 
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These SVT 40s are like the yeti- I always saw pictures of them, but had serious doubts about their existence...until I bumped into one face to face. I was amazed to find one in my little backwoods neck of the world. Granted, I've only been in the shooting culture for a year now, so I'm sure you more experienced guys have bumped into them along your path.

When I was checking it out for the first time, I was lucky enough to be in the presence of a history professor who knew what every last stamp on the receiver meant, so I got a crash course on the rifle's history, the Winter War, SA marks, etc. He actually had serious intentions of buying it too, until I told him my entire mission of the day is to get that svt. He said "You're young, your collection is just getting started...it's all yours," which was a totally classy move, one I'll always be appreciative of.

No cleaning rod, I'm guessing the Finns highjacked it...the mag is a repro too, which bothers me some. No biggie. The gas port is a little rusty, but not serious enough to impact it negatively. This is my first experience with any gun that uses adjustable gas, so I've been having fun stripping the gas system to tweak the settings. 1.2 seems to be what it prefers.

Like Tahunua said, that red stock is strange, totally unlike all the ones I've seen pics of. I was a little suspicious about it, thinking it might be a bubba job, but I've recently been convinced otherwise.

Nonetheless, it's the sexiest & most interestingly historical rifle in my modest collection.
GO GET ONE! You'll thank me later.
 
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