Among the huge number of firearms used in the war of 1941-1945 by Soviet soldiers, none evokes as many diverse reviews as the SVT-40 (sniper rifle). Experts and the military considered it not very successful, so the release of the rifle soon ceased.
The development of such weapons took place during the war years, when, for the sake of quantitative indicators, the manifestation of quality decreased. There is an opinion of experts that if it were not for the war, then the rifle could have been designed without flaws, especially since many of those who used the weapon speak positively about it.
Description of the rifle
For a short stroke of the gas piston, powder gas is used, which is discharged from the barrel channel. A regulator is installed in the chamber to change the amount of exhaust gases, which affects the use of the rifle in different circumstances and allows you to change the conditions for the use of various types of cartridges.
The piston transmits the movement to the shutter, and the spring returns it back. The stem canal is closed by a shutter, which warps in a vertical plane. ATThere is another spring in the barrel box that serves to return the bolt on the frame to the opposite position. The stock of the rifle is composite, the mechanism is triggered by a trigger. The trigger is blocked by a safety lock.
Work in combat
The magazine is loaded without removing clips from the rifle. The sight is carried out by a front sight and a namushnik. The SVT-40 sniper rifle with a PU optical sight has a brake in the muzzle. The later modification has a muzzle mechanism similar to the ABT-40 and a bayonet-knife that looks like a blade for wearing in a special sheath on a belt.
If shooting from a prone position, the weapon is supported by the left hand and is placed on the palm in front of the magazine. The use of a rifle from a sitting, standing and kneeling position involves holding the weapon by the magazine. A well-trained shooter fires about 25 shots per minute if the magazine is pre-filled. If you fill the store with two clips, then the number of shots is reduced to 20 per minute.
Using a silencer
An SVT-40 sniper rifle with a silencer is being tested at a training ground in the spring of 1941. The device is designed only for bullets with supersonic speed, and it is not suitable for rifle ammunition with a reduced speed. This design of the silencer does not change the speed and combat accuracy given to the bullet, but the sound from the shot is almost not extinguished, and the brightness of the flash remains the same.
Gases from gunpowder after a shot do not exit the barrel, butare delayed by the silencer, which leads to the fact that when the shutter is opened, they hit the shooter with a dense jet in the face. The Silent Rifle Shooting Device was damaged during testing and was not further developed.
Self-loading rifle specifications
During the Finnish-Soviet war in 1939-1940, the SVT-40 sniper rifle was used for the first time. Features and specifications:
- rifle caliber - 7, 62;
- Weights weapon 3, 8 kg without bayonet and ammunition;
- cartridge caliber - 7, 62x54 mm;
- rifle length - 1 m 23 cm;
- standard rate of fire - 20 to 25 rounds per minute;
- initial bullet speed - 829 meters per second;
- sight range - up to 1.5 km;
- Magazine holds 10 ammo.
History of Creation
The desire to turn conventional weapons into an automatic analogue leads to the fact that Fedor Tokarev begins to produce the SVT-38 rifle, which, during the war with the Finns, goes through a harsh test school. The use in combat conditions allows you to identify all the shortcomings of the weapon. These are heavy weight, failures in operation, susceptibility to contaminants and low air temperature readings, as well as the need for constant application of lubrication.
The designer is tasked with making a lighter rifle and reducing the dimensions, while increasing the indicators of reliability and strength. Gunsmiths do not reduce the linear size of parts, which canlead to malfunctions in the operation of automation. They go through the manufacture of thinner parts, reduce the length of the bayonet, and the magazine, casing and forearm are undergoing structural changes. The SVT-40 sniper rifle appears. The photo below conveys the design changes.
In 1940, a self-loading rifle entered service with the army. The product has received the required characteristics, light weight, but the production of parts is carried out at the maximum level, the parts of the rifle are sensitive to manufacturing accuracy and compliance with technological rules. Weapons require complex maintenance, which in combat conditions is not always provided.
Sniper rifle
The Tokarev SVT-40 sniper rifle only ramps up production with the start of the war in 1940. During this period, about a million rifles were manufactured. Attempts are being made to equip the weapon with a sniper scope, but in order to create effective accuracy of fire, the design needs to be changed, so in wartime the designers abandon this idea, and the rifle is produced according to the old model.
Automatic weapons
In 1942, the automatic model SVT-40 was produced. The sniper rifle now fires automatically. But Tokarev's weapons are not designed for such a load. Self-loading rifles do not withstand tests in battle, due to the discovery of a number of shortcomings, production is reduced. In January 1945, the Defense Committee decides to retire the SVT-40.
Designer Tokarev is working oncreation of an automatic carbine based on the SVT-40. A 1940 model sniper rifle is converted into a carbine, the main function of which is single fire. The automatic carbine retains all the shortcomings of the rifle. Reports from the front indicate that the soldiers are not willing to use weapons because of the unreliability, complexity of the structure, lack of accuracy.
Positive characteristics of weapons
Despite the bad reviews about the SVT-40, the sniper rifle has a number of advantages. The lightweight design made it possible to move maneuverably in combat conditions and during forced marches. The sniper rifle differs from its ancestor SVT-40 3.5x PU sight, which is lightweight (only 270 g). The sight mount allows you to shoot at a distance of up to 600 m.
The achievement of self-loading weapons is the increased rate of fire compared to the Mosin rifle. Ease of use allows you to recoil in the shoulder when firing, rather than catching a tossing barrel.
Disadvantages of a self-loading rifle
The SVT-40 sniper rifle is not widely used in the ranks of the army due to the complexity of the design, which creates difficulties for manufacturing in production and operation in combat conditions. The requirement of constant maintenance cannot be fulfilled in the conditions of mass conscription in wartime. The disadvantages include an unfinished gas supply adjustment system and the possibility of losing a removable magazine, and an inconvenient design contributes to pollution and dust.
The desire to reduce weight leads to failures in the automatic mechanisms of the SVT-40. The sniper rifle retains its dimensions, but the weight is reduced by using thinner parts and increasing the number of holes in the casing, which leads to additional pollution.
Sniper rifle SVT-40 and its use
Initially it is planned that the self-loading rifle will be the main small arms of infantrymen and will greatly increase the power of aimed fire. The state is supposed to have several thousand of these weapons in each division, and the ratio of rifles with a self-loading mechanism and non-automatic devices was supposed to be brought to a ratio of 1: 2.
By the beginning of the summer of 1941, about a million SVT-40 weapons were being manufactured. The sniper rifle reviews of hunters received not only positive ones. Most of the weapons were concentrated in the western districts of the border zone. Simultaneously with these rifles, the American M1 Garand is being produced, which are equal in functionality to the Soviet copy.
German gunsmiths used captured samples of Soviet rifles, put them into service with the army, since they did not have such products. The middle of the Second World War was marked by the fact that the Germans are developing and producing a rifle, the details of which resemble the SVT-40. In the Soviet Union, the production of self-loading rifles is decreasing, and soon stops altogether. The complexity of production, a large numberstructural details make manufacturing expensive and unpromising. A rifle of 143 elements contains 22 springs. Several types of special steels are used in the manufacture of assemblies.
Variety of modifications
- SVT-38 produced before 1940, characterized by a mass of 500 grams more than the next model. Her bayonet has not yet undergone lightening changes, the stock has the original shape.
- SVT-40 is already an improved type with a shortened shield, it begins to be mass-produced in 1940. It is distinguished by increased reliability, lighter than the previous version by 600 grams.
- The SVT-40 sniper rifle, whose characteristics allow for aimed fire, was put into production in 1940. It is distinguished by the presence of a special stop for installing an aiming device and a more perfect processing of the stem surface.
- The AVT-40 is an automatic variant with slight modifications to the trigger mechanism, similar in appearance to the base model SVT-38. Despite the work of the designers, it was not possible to create a reliable automatic rifle, and the production of such weapons was curtailed in 1942.
- AKT-40 is an automatic carbine that does not take root in the army, although it is intended for aimed automatic fire.
- SVT-O refers to a hunting type of weapon, converted from weapons SVT-40, which was withdrawn from the armymobilization reserve. To date, the product is presented in the form of weapons for single shooting. Available to the general public since 2012.
In conclusion, it should be noted that for the production and improvement of the design of the rifle, not very successful years of the war are chosen, bets are made on the quantity of weapons, and not on their quality. If this happened in peacetime, then a better weapon for shooting would be produced on the basis of a rifle.
