Arms, Armor and Militaria

7.62x54mmR. 24.6" barrel length. SN: K31052. Blued metal finish overall with the bolt left in the white and set in a birchwood semi-pistol grip stock with perforated heat shield featuring seven ports in the upper handguard cover. Short stroke piston driven gas operated semi-automatic rifle featuring a tilting-bolt action and fed by detachable double stack magazines. The receiver displays the {Arrow within Triangle} marking of the Izhevsk arsenal below a date of 1941. Item mounts the early narrow triggerguard, perforated safety lever, thin wrist, and six-port muzzle brake typical of early SVT-40 production. Additionally, the receiver is cut for optics mounting, a feature common to SVT rifles that was later dropped during the latter days of 1941. Item mounts a non-matching stock that shows the Tula Arsenal {Arrow within Star} marking to the right stock and a serial number marking on the left stock corresponding to AN1166 in the Cyrillic alphabet. Item shows mixed serial numbers typical of SVTs captured by Finland and put through arsenal cleaning and refurbishment. Receiver shows assorted Soviet inspection stamps with the left stock displaying two marks below the serial number that appear to have been cut out. Magazine floorplate shows a boxed SA marking for Finnish capture and arsenal inspection. Comes with an unmarked leather sling in the pattern typical of Finnish SVTs, but comes without cleaning rod.

The SVT-40 was the most produced self-loading rifle design fielded by the Soviet Union during World War II, and represented an iterative improvement over the preceding SVT-38, based in part upon the experiences of Red Army personnel during the Winter War of 1939-40. This improved SVT saw service during what the Finns referred to as the "Continuation War" with the Soviet Union, in which Finland attempted to retake control of the Karelian Isthmus and reverse Soviet territorial gains from the preceding conflict. Finnish troops captured numerous Soviet arms during both conflicts, and pressed them into service to supplement their own modest arsenal. The serial numbers of these arms rarely match, as they were typically mixed up during refurbishment and cleaning, but they also evaded the post-war refurbishment that most Soviet SVTs endured.