Anvil 083: SVT 40 Refurbishment 

It is so cool to be able to watch someone who KNOWS so much and wants to SHARE that knowledge. Thanks Mark!!!

What an amazingly beautiful rifle. I am so glad that it was refurbished and conserved so that it can be shot for another 100 years...provided that it is properly maintained.

Just watched AGAIN, Mark. Partly because I own one, and mostly because it's an awesome video! Wish I could give you another Thumbs Up. Merry Christmas and a Happy (hopefully better) New Year!!

I should probably get my SVT out of the safe.... I had to do electrolysis to clean the bore out. The outside and gas system was really nice. It's super loud and kind of a pain to shoot because you have to strip it down to clean after shooting corrosive. It's fun to let new shooters play with something large but easy to shoot and with a lot of history.

Can't swing a dead cat up here in Canada without hitting an SVT or three.... I'm sure it is buried in the comments, but you don't need to loosen the gas tube to change the gas setting - yes, there is a tool , yes they are incredibly rare, yes there are reproductions (that tool BTW also is the wrench for the gas system, you can field strip with a cartridge, detail strip with the tool). Just turn the gas nut in the same direction (using the tool) as the threads on the tube & it won't back out. I really don't know if the average Ivan was issued the tool, hard to say. Cases mostly stick in those things because of the lacquer used on the steel cases and the gas system being set up wrong - too hot and it rips case heads off. You (we Canadians ;) ) learn to carry a case extractor - just drop it in, let the bolt slam shut on it, drop another case through the hole in the bolt handle and YANK HARD.

"as with most things Russian, this is simple and yet it's not." as a Russian, I couldn't agree more.

one should not visit you tube just before heading to bed. Never know when a new Vid by Mr. Novak will appear. Oh well, the bed can wait.

The cheesy Russian accent was the cherry on the sundae. Thanks, Mark, for another fine episode.

Is it a coincidence that Mark posted an Anvil twenty minutes after I finished working on my Webley? Probably, but I choose to believe otherwise.

Years back i did the same laping tool for a mauser sticky chamber and i thougt might never see someone do it as i did ,.. at that time i didnt knew there was a Mark Novak,,Outstanding!!!

What no “Down the rabbit hole” 🤷🏼‍♂️🤷🏼‍♂️🤷🏼‍♂️🤷🏼‍♂️

Surprised it wasn't mentioned that this was a Finnish capture. Finn SVT's came into the US decades earlier than the early 90's import Russian post war refurbs, and many of the Finn's were absolutely beat to hell. The Finn's used them very hard, got what they could out of them, and tossed them into storage after the war. They didn't make any spare parts so they are almost universally mixmasters, and it's not unheard of for sears and other parts to be seriously worn. It's entirely possible that much of the wear and damage was there even before this owner got to it. Also the "2" marking on the gas regulator is a Finnish modification to help make the rifles work with their ammo in their environment. They bored out the original Russian 1.1 setting and overstamped a 2 on it. This gun is shockingly elegant and fragile for a Russian weapon, and illiterate conscripts didn't know what to do with it. It seems German and Finnish soldiers really quite liked the gun though. I think it says something that of all the wartime pictures of SVT's being fielded the majority are in German or Finnish hands.

4:00 Here's how you take the rear dust cover on and off very easily: Push the top cover and recoil spring all the way forward, then put a 54R cartridge (or similar) in between the back of the receiver and the guide rod (which has a concave rear to catch the cartridge tip). This will hold the spring, allowing you to take off the top cover. Reverse the process to reinstall it just as easily!

I think Mark may have hit on something I've never seen explained before. One of the problems with the SVT-40 as a sniper rifle was that the first round tended to have a fair amount of randomness to where it went. Really bad when you may have one shot, and don't know where it will go. I've read about it in more than one source, but I've never read an explanation as to why and that bugs me - there has to be a "why". I think Mark's description of how little contact there is between the stock and the action may be the answer. The rifle spends most of its life being carried, slung. propped against stuff, etc. then it's suddenly called on to be precise. My thought is that with so little contact between the stock and action, there's a lot of room for randomization before shot #1 is fired. I'm not a gunsmith, so if you think I'm wrong, please explain..

Damn Mark, that's one of my bucket list guns! On a more serious note: you can see quite clearly where the SKS came from in this gun. The biggest departure is the gas system, which I suspect Simonov cribbed from Kalashnikov (or maybe Kalashnikov cribbed it from him). Really the SKS is very AK like from the gas block forward. It'd be interesting to see a detailed comparison (and by that I mean full teardowns) between this gun, the SKS, the AVS-36 (Simonov's original full auto design) the SVT-38 (Tokarev's original semiauto conversion/simplification), and Simonov's semiauto antitank guns that immediately preceded the SKS.

Good lord if you got a TV show I would buy the box set. It's like the Woodwright's Shop but for guns.

Congrats on getting this old war dog back in service!

No views, Mark Novak, SVT f'ing 40 Cha ching Then he breaks out a surprise. Niiice.

oh look............some bubba was shooting corrosive 7.62x54R and didnt know about cleaning out the corrosive salts that get left behind in the barrel and gas system.

From those of us that have "scrubbed the pi**" out of old gas systems and cruddy chambers, we salute you. Your humor, sir, is refreshing.

For the setting on the gas piston from one Russian shooter. 1.2 - Brass and hot weather 1.3 - Brass and room temperature 1.5 - Standard (bi-metal, brass ammo) 1.7 - Is either cold weather or dirty gun He also mentioned that 1.5 and 1.7 are typically winter settings.

Props to the extractor on that for ripping the entire case head off a steel cased 7.62x54R 😂 that must take a mental level of force!

@ 12:00 Mark, you are one of the few people I have ever heard mention using a double boiler to heat a low melt alloy. I use cerrobend (159) at work and for the last ten years I have used a double boiler to keep from overheating the alloy. In our particular application the danger of overheated metal is that it causes an electrical short in the cable. Since I started using the double boiler approach I haven't had any issues with melted insulation.

I had the same problem on my son's rifle; the bolt had pulled the case head completely off and he get forgetting to bring it to me for about 2 years. That actually worked to our benefit because by the time he got it to me, I had stumbled across an old Russian military issue, 7.62x54R cleaning kit with an old stuck cartridge case remover. It's in 2 pieces and goes in through the camber end and you screw/tighten the 2 pieces together. The "bullet end" of the remover is bullet shaped but its partitioned so that tightening causes the bullet end to expand which causes a tiny ledge to evenly engage the lip on the case mouth. Then simply put the Issue Cleaning Rod through from the muzzle and tap it all out through the chamber. Its quick and simple and it minimizes any danger of damaging the chamber. I checked the chamber afterwards and it was free of major damage but I did polish the chamber a bit to get rid of some perpendicular microscopic scratches that may have caused the problem in the first place. No trouble since then!

Nice video. Interesting at 4:19 how the trigger group is removed... The tab on my refurbished SVT-40 is MUCH harder to turn, and removal of the group is done by inserting a 7.62x54R cartridges nose into the rear of the tab hole, and pushing firmly... Pop, and now the TG is unlocked for removal. I wonder since it appears this rifle is a Finnish capture (white bolt, no refurb mark on the top square receiver flat near the chamber) that the components are so worn, that as you show is possible? BTW, you used to be able to buy the gas regulator wrench pretty cheaply, and now most are $$$ repos. Shame too it seems so may are seen with "sewer pipe' quality barrels, but will also say mine to this day could collapse world copper spot values, if I ever sold what it keeps returning.

Time to give the owner a side lesson on Russian corrosive ammunition.

You might ought to read Yuri Yakovlev`s comment down there. Here`s what he said: "Dear Mr. Novak! The fact that you managed to remove the valve together with the return spring indicates a malfunction of your SVT. Tokarev foresaw the impossibility of such manipulation. You have a faulty shutter or receiver. This is very dangerous, as sooner or later the bolt will fly out and the shooter may be injured!"

Woaah, mine is made in 1940 and the gas regulator says 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.5 and 1.7. Not 2! And this one does not look like a refurb, bolt is not plum color, mine is. Though I have an original spare gas regulator and it says Roman I I instead of 1.1, but the contraperture looks smaller than 1.2! Works on surp reliably 1.2 at summer and 1.3 at winter. On Barnaul it is good 1.1 at summer 1.2 at winter. Stovepipes heavy loads at 1.3 summertime. Love to Mark, Othias, Bruno, Mae and to all you guys, Yevgen from Ukraine.

For my money, I have to say that the SVT40 is the best looking rifle of the second world war.

It's really cool to witness you learning the way the gun works, and to have you show it to us without trying to pretend that you already knew everything beforehand.

In Canada: When I bought my SKS, the same importer had SVTs. The SKS was 160$, the SVT was 180$. I didn't buy the SVT because the range I used at the time didn't allow muzzle devices (we shot from indoors through sliding windows onto an exterior range). I STILL regret not buying one when they were cheap, they run 1000-1500$ here nowadays. Meanwhile my SKS is still a 160$ gun.

An implement to remove a stuck casing in Dutch is called a "weduwe bevrediger", or "widow satisfier"...

Always love your work Mark! It's a dream to watch such skill and natural care taking care of a firearm.

...when you were bubblehead did you EVER think you'd actually HOLD an SVT??? I remember having posters of Soviet small arms on my desk in Germany (battalion S-2 clerk) and NEVER thought I'd own any Soviet weapons...much less an SKS - prolly had no idea they existed...I wasn't a collector at the time...bud of mine retired from Sikorsky Aircraft now living in AZ had THREE of these one each from each manufacturer..Tula, Izshevsk and Kovrov...

It's ridiculous that the SVT-40 is banned from import. These things cost $400 in Canada, but here in the U.S. you can't find a decent one for less than $1,200 because of artificial scarcity.

I bought one in 1970. I fixed a crack in the stock wrist, but then it just sat until I got married. Sold it because I needed the money. Bought and sold for $100, if I remember. I never fired it. I saw it about 40 years later at a gun show. I think they were asking about $750.

I have both a Garand and an SVT40 and I find it interesting to see how two different designers conceptualized solutions to the problems inherent in trying to make a semi auto rifle that shoots a full power rifle cartridge. The SKS is in many ways a somewhat simplified SVT40 scaled down to shoot an intermediate cartridge. Simonov sure did like the tilting bolt concept for his firearm designs. Like the Garand, the SVT40 is fun to shoot and once you get the gas system adjusted to the ammo you are using, they are pleasant to shoot. Great video as always! I especially like your illustrated description on how the gas system works on a SVT40.

I bought my SVT in 1997. I went to the range, loaded a stripper clip and took a single shot, the fired case stuck and wouldn't extract. I managed to get it out but I never fired it again. Now, after 23 years I'm going to fix that problem thanks to watching what you did. PS .... Mine came with a tool kit and one of them happens to be a shell extractor for the issue the one you had where it ripped off the base with the extractor, seems this was a fairly common issue.

coolest part of the video for me is the end when he slaps the buttplate to make the bolt close.

Now that you briefly showed the 1895 Winchester hanging around you just GOT TO make a video of it! I've had few and really like them! The one i have now is rechambered to 9.3x53R to be a perfect moose gun :)

That's a genius way to lap the chamber!

nice seeing an ailing svt get some much needed love. yeah, doctrine called for svts called for them to be issued to ncos corp. or higher since it was felt they would likely be better equipped to understand the needs of the weapon. love mine. the only problem ive had with it. from the day i got it freshly factory refurbished, the cleaning rod walks out down the barrel until im worried its going to take bullet hits. the locking button isnt loose at all. when its in and clicked i can lift the entire weight of the firearm by it and shake vigorously and it will not come out. however, every time i shoot it the rod walks its way out. last time i shot it it was having difficulty feeding some round nosed ammo i had. never had any problems with spitzer though. its only other occasional vice is stove piping.

I told my wife I needed to buy an SVT40 when they were 800-900 bucks because importation was blocked...now you wont find one below 1800.

Awesome video. I learned more about the SVT from this than anything I've seen before. I wish more time would have been spent on that hand guard repair though. I have a couple rifles that need similar repairs and would have liked to see exactly how it was done.

58 seconds in, subscribed.

Theres nothing like a good variable orifice for your piston to run in .

So distressing seeing brave Soviet weapon of glorious masses repaired by capitalist tool! Question: is crocus cloth laid in with grit side down, towards wood, or up? Or does matter? (Asking for comrade.)

Russian rifle is stronk!

What's funny is that the US had the long-stroke gas piston M1 while Russia had the short stroke SVT40. But then afterwards Russia adopted the long stroke AK, and the west (mostly) adopted short stroke systems (AUG, G36, SCAR, FAL, HK416)

@ 25:07 Rather than hammering the piece to have it mushroom, or machining a new one , It would be instructive to see electroplating used to bring up the dimensions of worn parts.

Veapon is fine, but I prefer sound of American clip. lol!

That gas key trick works for a while: but all you did was swell the metal of the gasket head so it fit the piston better. That'll wear down fairly quickly because it's really only the edge of the head which was expanded. A slightly more intensive, but still fairly easy process which would offer a far more permanent solution would be to true that piece up then friction fit a small steel o-ring sleeve onto it by heating it up and letting it cool-friction-fit onto it. Then turn that down to near 1-to-1 fit with the gas tube which fits around it. That would provide a proper seal and take forever and a day for metal on metal contact to wear down.

The K43's gas system is a direct copy of the SVT-40. The German Army (Whermacht) had forbidden any semi-auto design that tapped gas from the barrel, so Walther and Mauser had to go through all sorts of dances to get a semi-auto 8mm working with other methods, meanwhile the Soviets were kicking their ass with the SVT-40. The SVT had a lot of parts for Russian conscripts, but the Germans loved them. Walther finally copied the gas and recoil system, pairing it with their locking lug design on the G43, later K43. Apparently Walther filed for a patent on Tokarev's design.

The Russian accent was priceless Also I'm a new person on your wonderful channel.

No way, what a gem in the mine. Thanks for this vid.

Mark, one of the things i love about your videos is how you solve problems! I don't know if they're typical trade techniques but it really helps to show there's a lot of ingenious ways to handle things.

The trick with the light and the chamber/bore was awesome!

Entertaining?, DA! Ping of Capitolist clip? Priceless!

Thank GOD for Mark and this video. I was going insane from all the rioting footage.

very nice, tell the owner if he doesnt want it any more ive got a 50 euro note here with his name on it

Could still get svt40 a few years ago here in Canada for about $400. Now guys want At least $800 since the surplus dried up

that chamber camera view was kickass

Even as some one with limited access to firearms, Australian. I'm still very entertained with your creative problem solving. Good job Mark.

Finally it isnt a wire wheel and rust remover fanatic doing what is needed to piece of history.

I wanted to get one of those surplus, but i was too broke even then to get one. Of course, 54r was cheaper back then too.

The piston has to be tightened with the wrench that comes with the tool kit, it has a square cutout that matches the square shoulder on the piston.The end of the wrench has a cutout that matches the five sided adjustment on the gas regulator. I found that if i didnt tighten the piston sufficiently, the regulator would rotate from the desired setting and that would cause cycling issues. Original tool kits are readily available on ebay, and the wrench is available separately on ebay as well.

Thanks for the video Mark. I have an SVT40, its the most expensive gun I own. It is in great shape, and of course when I bought it the first thing I did was take it completely apart (except for the staked pins in FCG) so I could learn how it works. These rifles scream "art deco" to me, they are sexy machines. My biggest issue with the rifle is that it vertically strings like a mofo. The first round hits where you aim it, then after that it goes up and up! I tried using some gasket material under the handguard to put downward pressure on the barrel but it was no help. I guess it is what it is? These things have pencil barrels and quite thin receivers.

4:00 I understand that SVTs are rare in the US, or at least FAR more expensive than here, but here in Canada they're actually pretty dang cheap! 10 years ago or so... what was it, $300-400? Similar or same price as a Chinese copy of the M1A, speaking of there's also cheap Chinese Norinco copies of the 1911, CZ75, Hi Power, P226, and so on. But I digress. I've owned a few SVT-40s before, and yeah the recoil spring can be finicky, but I find the easiest way is to simply bend it to one side or the other where there's that little 'corner.' You know how that metal block up on the back of the receiver that the recoil spring is pushing against? It rises up, curves in, but then rises once more and curves to make the final 'hump' on top where the recoil spring pushes? Yeah, push the recoil spring off to the side until it slips past the 'nook' of that second 'rise.' Just be sure to keep it from launching across the room lol You could use that method there of pulling the bolt back and lifting it from the receiver with the spring FULLY COMPRESSED, but that's not the method I would personally recommend based on my own experience. But well I'm not the gunsmith, you are, so I'd be awful ballsy to say you're goin' it wrong. And as seen, that method DOES work, but I think that leaning the tip of the recoil spring guide rod over to the side to one of those corners is much safer. Actually reminds me of the TT-33, because there's a couple different ways of dealing with that too. Depress the recoil spring 'cap' to rotate the barrel bushing and relieve pressure with the slide on the frame, or leave the barrel bushing alone and take the slide off with recoil spring compressed. Both ways are rather difficult/dangerous/clumsy in my experience. M1911A1 is a much more agreeable pistol to disassemble, even though the Tokarev pistol's hammer/sear/disconnect pack is more convenient than the 1911's loosey-goosey nature with pins, sear, out-of-battery disconnect, etc. Both suffer fairly equally from that 'thread the needle' move with the barrel link. Still love both pistols though, AND I still love the SVT-40 too :) Edit: I have also owned a 5-sided tool for the gas adjustment knob, I think it may have doubled as both gas adjustment and sight adjustment. Either that or one end was the adjustment hole and the other was a simple flathead screwdriver. One or the other I think.

I'm filing away the Cerro case removal and chamber lap technique. Looks like they could save a few firearms with sticky chambers without having to go to bumping it with a reamer or using a brush on a drill. I feel like the brush on a drill just is a little too aggressive and can create its own problems. As far as the stock problems, do you ever use Ishapore screws along with Acraglass to reinforce wrists that are splitting due to over-oiling or excessive recoil? If it's not a historical piece I think they can add some great mechanical clamping force without trashing the appearance.

This guy's pencils are always so sharp.

man, locking the bolt forwards by slapping the stock was a swagger move.

SVT 40 breaking the 1000 dollar barrier. I remember 350 dollars got a really good one back in the day. Really fun rifle to shoot. Thanks Mark for sharing this with us, I actually learned a few things here.

Hey Mark, that was hilarious at about 18:00 when you said, "Hit your 'I Believe' button, you Nucs out there know what I mean." Man, that just took me back to some Navy days (but I wound up having a whole lot more Army days). Too funny!

@32.30 'If you weren't one of the smarter guys in your unit...', I agree with you completely. I bet the majority of the events of poor reliability were a direct result of the soldiers either not cleaning/maintaining or setting the gas system correctly. When are we going to see more about the half Japanese, half Winchester rifle? Oh and definitely the Boyes! Great video! Take Care and be safe, John

Mark, when you say you boil all the small parts, are you just talking in water, or are you boiling in something else

Great video and amazing work. I loved the fun ending... When you have another Soviet firearm to work on, you should do the Russian accent for the whole video.

Sir ,you're videos are like tonic in trying times. THANK You

Very disappointed with this video. Yes it was informative, well edited, excellent workmanship and crystal clear explanations (graphics on paper towels was an A- but still clearly done) but all that said not once, not even once did he say “brute force not work, must use more brute force.” Very disappointed. Signed, trained rat.

I always learn something new watching Anvil.

Love the videos. I had a pre 64 Winchester 94 30-30 that I bought at a lawn sale back in the 80s when you could find and buy guns at lawn sales before the commies took over here in NY had the same issue had a stuck case with a missing head. I was like 14 at the time not knowing anything about Cerosafe my grandfather poured the gun full of lead and then drove the case out, he cleaned the bore out and then took a brand new shell pulled the projectile dumped the powder then fired the primer in another gun then he ran a dowel rod through the barrel pushing it into the case then coated the case with valve lapping compound and went to town on the chamber. It ended up being a great gun with no malfunctions still hunt with it today it was the best 40 dollars I ever spent.

Did you end up leaving the gas key set at 1.5?

Rifle breaks down pretty much just like an SKS

Tokarev loved him some pent up ready to fly/pinch springs

I'm a simple man, I see an Anvil episode, I clicky.

Man this made my day Patreon money well spent keep up the awesome work Thank you

Just brilliant, Mark. Regards, Marky

the stock smack to close the bolt made me smile and I had to immediately go and try it myself

RU-vid has a sense of ironic humor... I was watching the Minneapolis riots, then this comes...

The SVT40 looks so cool with all the vents, slots & ports, i had to get one in about 2001 for $250, in what must be rebuilt cond. Bluing is great wood is shiny, it came with sight tool, sling, ammo pouch. i found a bayo also that cost about what the rifle cost. Even have a broken shell extracter just in case.😊😊

The gun was called "Svetka" because it acted like a woman. If you neglect it, it will act up. But if you loved it and paid attention to it, it will work as it should.

Never seen an svt get charged with a hearty slap before...

This was excellent and I don't even own a SVT-40. I am now a subscriber - thoroughly enjoyable video. Thank you | Maple Leaf Up

You are indeed a craftsman.

This thing was abused with a corrosive ammo. Sad to see this much abuse.

Awesome video! That Cerrosafe trick was amazing

Very cool and enjoyable video. Pure genius in using the cerrosafe to remove the stuck case. Can we have more Russian accent impressions? 😜🤔

another thing that will cause head separation is a head spacing problem. just ask a lee Enfield owner,,,,,,,,,,,

@Mark Novak Disassembly of the bolt carrier is as follows: Slide dust cover/recoil spring retainer forward over the bolt carrier. It will be under spring tension. Holding it in the forward position, press thumb against recoil spring/guide rod assembly, and lift the dust cover from the front area by the stripper clip guide. Slowly release tension on recoil spring, and allow it to come to a rest against the rear of the receiver. Pinch the recoil spring just before where it is contained by the bolt carrier, and slide the ensemble towards the bolt carrier, which will allow you to then move the tail end of the recoil spring out the side of the receiver by angling it, as it is a two-piece guide rod. Bolt and carrier are now free to be moved rearward, tilted, and removed. See video at 1:30 for reference: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-yYiKIHMAeD8.html

sorry shape for a rare gun, only because it was used -- and then not cleaned

These videos are something TV can never give you