(Avtomaticeskaja Vintovka Simonova obr. 1936 g. AVS-36)

Automatic rifle using 7, 62 mm x 54 R ammunition had been in wish list of Soviet military from the start, development work had been started soon after revolution, but results were slow to surface. First tests were arranged already in 1926, but useful weapon was not found in it and situation didn't get better in tests of 1928 nor tests of 1930. Best weapons-developers, like Degtjarev, Fedorov and Tokarev participated to these tests, but none of the designs was impressive enough to get into production. However, 1930 tests led into decision that future automatic rifle should be gas-action weapon, because of this rifles with other action-systems were dropped from further tests and all those who continued development by concentrating to gas-action.

Yet another tests were organised in 1931, this time both Tokarev's and Simonov's rifles were promising enough for test series of 400 to be made in 1934 - 1935 and tested after that. Simonov's rifle became the one that was accepted to mass-production. Izhevsk arsenal started mass-producing AVS-36 year 1937. Most sources agree that only some 33,000 - 34,500 Simonov automatic rifles were manufactured before the production ended in summer of 1939. Only one source (Soviet Small-Arms and Ammunition) claims total production having been about 65,800 rifles and it to have continued until year 1940. Anyway, problems started to appear soon, the weapon proved to be difficult to manufacture and use because of its complicated mechanism. In use it proved to be impossible to control when fired on full-auto mode. Also its bolt mechanism was found to be sensitive to dirt and extreme weather conditions. As these would have not been enough variations in ammunition easily jammed the weapon.

As mentioned Simonov AVS-36 is select fire gas-action rifle. The selector switch is located to front part of trigger guard. The safety system isn't too secure - it just blocks the trigger movement. The 15-round magazine was removable, but could also be loaded from the top with same 5-round cartridge clips as Mosin-Nagant rifles without removing the magazine. The rear sight was tangent type with setting all the way up to (rather optimistic) 1,500 meters. The rifle had cleaning rod attached to its right side and very large muzzle brake in end of the barrel.

Soviet military soon got more than enough negative experiences, the new automatic rifle was not working as it should have. New tests were organised already in 1938. This time Tokarev's rifle, improved version of Simonov's AVS-36 and Rukavishnikov's rifle participated to tests and this time Tokarev won the tests. These tests and their aftermath proved to be quite a colourful play. Soviet high command (including Stalin) mixed into selection and Simonov ended up making accusations about selection having political reasons. Tokarev SVT-38 started replacing Simonov AVS-36 in production around 1939, but also AVS-36 remained in use of Soviet military. The Soviets issued also small number of AVS-36 sniper version, which was equipped with PE (PT) rifle scope. The PE (PT) scope used in this sniper version was installed off centre to left side of the rifles receiver. The Germans called AVS-36 "Selbsladegewehr 257 (r)".

Winter War was the high point of using AVS-36 among Soviet military, needless to say it offered just the extreme weather conditions, which had already proved problematic to AVS-36 already earlier. Finnish troops captured hundreds of AVS rifles both during Winter War and early part of Continuation War, but it never got very popular among Finnish troops either. Unreliability and shortage of spare-parts were seen such a large problems that during Continuation War AVS rifles were gathered off from troops and warehoused for repairs, but those repairs were never done. Instead large amount of AVS were scrapped around 1943 - 1944 and the rest soon after ending of World War 2.

(Samozarjadnaja Vintovka Tokareva obr. 1938 g. SVT-38)

(Samozarjadnaja Vintovka Tokareva obr. 1940 g. SVT-40)

(Avtomatizeskaja Vintovka Tokareva obr. 1940 g. SVT-40)

Finnish use: Finnish troops captured some 3,000 rifles SVT-38 during Winter War. Another 17,000 or so SVT-38, SVT-40 and AVT-40 were captured during Continuation War. Finnish frontline troops used these captured rifles, but their durability proved so weak that most broke or worn down and were warehoused for repairs, which were never done. Only about 6,000 or so remained in use of Finnish fronts until end of Continuation War.

This Tokarev rifle won the Soviet automatic rifle tests of 1938 and got accepted to use of Soviet military in February of 1939. It also replaced Simonov AVS-36 in production in 1939 - 1940 and the Soviet leadership made plans for really large-scale production (by 1943 the yearly production would have been 2 million SVT-38/year). Also a scoped version was introduced already in April of 1939. Just like with AVS-36, Winter War proved to be a high mark for SVT-38 in Soviet use. Experiences the Soviets gathered in battle also lead into designing of improved SVT-40, which replaced SVT-38 in production already in July of 1940.

SVT-40 was lighter, had a new kind of stock and basically was simpler rifle. Early on the rifle looked very good in tests so the Soviet leadership decided to put into mass production - later this proved to be serious mistake. Once started production of SVT-40 increased fast and largest production numbers were from 1941 (over million SVT-40 were made during that year). Once experiences started to pile up SVT-40 didn't look so good anymore. Its parts proved to have durability issues, the shooting accuracy typically wasn't too good either and also reliability proved worse then expected. However it took some time until the Soviets noticed the problems and before that they had SVT-40 production running in a full swing. They found that fixing the problems would have required so extensive changes to structure of the rifle, that they didn't make sense. Year 1942 Soviets started concentrating their resources to submachinegun production, so production numbers of SVT-40 started to rapidly decline and soon remaining SVT-40 resources were redirected to production of AVT-40 automatic rifle. In between 1941 - 1942 the Soviets manufactured almost 1.3 million Tokarev rifles. Captured Tokarev rifles seemed to have enjoyed some popularity among German soldiers, who knew these rifles as "Selbsladegewehr 258 (r)" and "Selbsladegewehr 259 (r)".

Just like Simonov AVS-36 also SVT-38 and SVT-40 are gas-action rifles, but they are capable for semiautomatic fire only. Tokarev SVT rifles also have similar tangent-type rear sight as in AVS-36. SVT-38 has two-part rifle stock while SVT-40 had new one-part stock. The two rifles can easily separated from location of their cleaning rod (located right side of rifle in SVT-38 and below barrel in SVT-40) and differences in front part of their stocks. Both rifles had 10-round removable magazines, which when the bolt was open could also be reloaded from the top with the same cartridge clips as used in Mosin-Nagant rifles. This reloading process was easy as after firing and ejecting the last round bolt stopped locked the bolt open. Both SVT rifles have similar muzzle brake, which had 12 vents - 6 per side. Safety switch is located in rear part of trigger guard.

Besides "plain vanilla" SVT-40 the Soviets introduced also two its special versions: SVT-40 sniper rifle and AVT-40 select-fire rifle. However neither of these proved too successful. Sniper version had short scope (basically the same as PU scope later used in M/91-30 sniper rifle, but with additional groove), which did not interfere loading and used cartridge case ejection processes of the rifle. In 1940 the Soviets stopped manufacturing of M/91-30 sniper rifles in favour of SVT-40 sniper rifle, but this proved to be bad decision. While bore of the sniper version was more high quality work then usual its other parts and structure were not at par for sniper use - the accuracy of SVT-40 sniper rifle proved less accurate then M/91-30 sniper rifle. Only some 58,000 or so SVT-40 sniper rifles were manufactured. October of 1942 the Soviets stopped manufacturing of SVT-40 sniper and restarted production of M/91-30 sniper.

AVT-40 automatic rifle was accepted to manufacturing in May of 1942 and the first weapons came out of production line already in July of the same year. The reason allowing advance as fast as this was rather simple - the changes required for making SVT-40 select-fire automatic were only minor. Only real changes happened in trigger mechanism. While in SVT-40 the safety switch had only two settings - (semi auto) fire and safe, in AVT-40 the switch had also full auto setting for automatic fire. However, likely AVT-40 were used mostly in semi auto mode, as full automatic fire was quite difficult to control and durability proved to be an issue. All the reliability issues of SVT-40 were still included to the design and now the automatic fire caused additional problems. The main visual difference between SVT-40 and AVT-40 is in their muzzle brakes. Muzzle brake of AVT-40 has only 4 large vents - 2 in each side. The Soviets stopped manufacturing of AVT-40 in summer of 1943.

Finnish troops captured over 3,000 SVT-38 rifles during Winter War. Additional 17,000 SVT-38 and SVT-40 were captured during early part of Continuation War. These rifles were very popular among Finnish troops (hundreds were estimated being taken home as war souvenirs), which often took immediately captured Tokarev rifles to their own use. Sniper versions of both Tokarev rifles were very rare finds among weaponry captured by the Finns. However shortage of spare-parts was constant problem with these rifles, so before end of Continuation War over 14,000 of them had been gathered off and warehoused. Most of these rifles had ended to warehouses because of worn barrels and/or broken parts and waited repairs, which were never done. One of the reasons behind these numerous breakages might have been Finnish ammunition, which most certainly wasn't designed for them. January of 1945 Finnish military ordered all not fit-for-battle Tokarev rifles to be scrapped. In 1950's remaining Tokarev rifles were used for training and some were repaired. Even plans about using their parts for new domestic automatic rifle surfaced. But as intentions focused to assault rifles the whole plan for domestic automatic rifle was buried. Year 1958 remaining Tokarev rifles were declared obsolete and sold to abroad between 1959 - 1961.

Finnish Army captured also few hundred select-fire AVT-40 rifles (mainly in summer of 1944) and as with other Tokarev rifles Finnish troops usually took them immediately to their own use. In Finland these rifles got the same fate as Tokarev semiautomatics. Finnish troops captured also small number of SVT-40 sniper rifles. As Finnish troops suffered constant acute shortage of sniper rifles these were pressed immediately to their own use. As usual the soldiers, who captured them also took many of the captured SVT-40 sniper rifles home as "war souvenirs".

Tests made by Sako factory to captured SVT-38 in year 1940:

Finnish military was so interested about captured Soviet automatic rifles, that it ordered research of them from Sako factory. Sako tested and researched captured SVT-38 rifle and reported back in November of 1940. While not mentioned in the report the timing of tests and certain details (such as mentioning two part stock and two barrel bands) indicate that the rifle Sako made this report from was indeed SVT-38. Findings of Sako testing personnel are quite interesting - even if they seem to partly reflect the (overly?) high accuracy standards set by Sako for military rifles. The main content of this report:

• Bolt: The bolt structure proved problematic. The locking shoulder in the bolt is too long from head of the cartridge case. When combined with structural weakness of the receiver the receiver bents. This causes poor accuracy of the rifle because it leads to considerable vertical dispersion of shots fired.
• Rifle stock: The rifle stock is two part. Presumably because the Soviets tried to eliminate the first problem with bolt and receiver (listed above). However as a by-product this created another more serious problem - attachment of receiver and barrel to the rifle stock is too weak. So now the rifle stock offers no support for the weak receiver.
• Rifle barrel: The barrel is too thin. When large number of shots is fired the barrel heats up and it bents causing point of hits in target to drift. Later observations have revealed how this seems to have been one of the leading factors for causing inaccuracy for these rifles.
• The rear sight: The rear sight is inaccurate and structurally weak.
• Gas-regulator structure: This one single part contains seat for the front sight, bayonet attachment and muzzle brake - making it unnecessarily complicated and expensive to manufacture.
• Method for carrying the rifle: The sling system is a failure. The magazine sticks out from the rifle making carrying the rifle rather unpleasant.

First SVT-38 based prototype made by Sako - "TaPaKo":

Sako report from November of 1940 also contained list of recommended improvements and Sako also manufactured from SVT-38 their own prototype rifle, which contained many of the suggested improvements. This Sako prototype rifle was unofficially named "TaPaKo", a name containing first letters from last names of the persons, who mainly took part designing it. These persons working in Sako were N. Talvenheimo (Ta), O. Paronen (Pa) and N. Koivula (Ko). This Finnish version makes interesting comparison with the improved rifle based to SVT-38 that the Soviets introduced - SVT-40. The Sako list of improvements and info about Sako prototype rifle compared to SVT-40:

• Receiver: Sako recommended modifying it stronger to reduce changes of its bending - this should have improved the accuracy. However Sako didn't do this modification to prototype sent with the report, because of it being too time consuming and expensive. The Soviets noticed the same problem, but didn't introduce modifications to the receiver with SVT-40 either - likely because it would have required basically redesigning the receiver. Sako also recommended improving attachment between receiver and rifle stock - and did this for the prototype.
• Rifle stock: Sako recommended heavier one part stock and made one extra heavy (with it the rifle weight some 4.3 kg) for the prototype. Sako estimation that when the lightening would be introduced to the stock of their prototype it would weight some 4.0 - 4.1 kg. The Soviets also introduced one part stock, but their was somewhat lighter then what Sako recommended.
• Rifle barrel: Sako recommended and installed thicker barrel to its prototype. The Soviets came aware of this problem also, but did nothing to fix it - likely they considered it too large change.
• Rear sight: Sako replaced the Soviet unprotected tangent-type sight with Finnish tangent-type sight. The new Finnish sight had protective ears in both sides - very much like in Finnish rifles M/28-30 and M/39. The Soviets didn't make any changes to sights.
• Gas-regulator structure: Sako replaced gas-regulator structure with a simpler one. While the prototype had still seat for the front sight and bayonet attachment as part of the gas-regulator structure, it also had separate muzzle brake / flash hider. The Soviets made no changes to this.
• Rifle sling arrangement: Sako left out second barrel band and equipped the remaining one with sling attachment point, which was located to left side of the rifle. It also added another attachment point to left side of the rifle butt. With these attachment points the sling could attached to left side of the rifle. The Soviets made no change.
• Front sight: Sako replaced the original front sight with a new one, which was adjustable both sideways and in height. The Soviets made no change.

Sako tested its modified prototype rifle before delivering it. The test results showed that the prototype showed the accuracy approximately the same as with M/28 and M/28-30 rifles, whom Sako had manufactured. Just introducing heavy one part rifle stock and improving attachment of receiver to it reduced vertical dispersion of shots in target to one third of the original. Finnish Army Ordnance Department tested this rifle against original SVT-38, VKT L-39 prototype and Pelo automatic rifle as comparison weapon in autumn of 1941. Only one prototype of "TaPaKo" was ever manufactured. Even if the Sako prototype had proved quite favourable in tests this didn't lead to further production. Finnish military captured some 17,000 Tokarev semiautomatic rifles year 1941. While this might have made sense modifying captured SVT-rifles with improvements suggested by Sako would have demanded much too work and would have been too expensive for limited Finnish industrial during the war. However the effect of Tokarev SVT rifles was such that Finnish industry kept designing new automatic rifle prototypes based to Tokarev rifles as late as year 1956. But in the end none of these prototypes saw production beyond prototype stage.

How well did the Soviet improvements from SVT-38 to SVT-40 succeed then? Difficult if not impossible without testing the both rifles. Based to writer's own limited experiences of shooting with SVT-40 the rifle has more than enough accuracy for hitting man-size targets from typical combat distances. The individual rifle that I have shooting experience could have easily done constant head-shots from 150 meters. While most scoped SVT-40 probably would not have passed the accuracy requirement of western sniper rifles the scoped version was accurate enough to fit use not very different to rifles used today in fire support sniper and designated marksman roles.