Gunboards Forums banner

Non-import (?) SVT-40?

4K views 53 replies 17 participants last post by  Bugelson 
#1 ·
Anyone bite on this one?

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=417154320

I noted the seller's proximity to Mount Prospect, IL, home of an infamous forger, number grinder & re-stamper and import mark remover who is a former member here and thought the results might be interesting. Legit rifle and logistical coincidence? Or not?

SlimTim
 
#3 ·
I thought bolts were originally in the white and the ones that are colored are indeed refurbished post war in nature.
 
#4 ·
Rifle was imported into Canada in the 80s or 90s (my guess is out of Yugoslavia) and wandered into the US sometime later. Parts appear to be original to the gun but stock is sanded, refinished, and renumbered. Some of these have the metal refinished as well, but it is hard to tell from the pics. All of these are 43 dated AVT and most have the original factory metal parts (not all!) and some even have their original stocks though all of them will be renumbered vertically.

Price is absurd. I paid less for my untouched vet bringback.



All bolts were blued (most coming out in shades of cherry) after late 1941.
 
#15 ·
The stock is original and looks like all 1943 dated stocks supposed to look, maybe pictures are not super good with light reflection, and the same serial number stamped vertically was probably a requirement in whatever military unit so that it was visible in the rifle rack or wherever it was stored.

So are you going to post detailed pictures of your rifle? It may be worth $4000 IMHO.
 
#17 ·
Horilka,

It's been a month since I asked you to post pictures of your 1943 rifle
Still waiting. Regarding this one, sold on GB, this was the best 1943 rifle in original configuration known to exist in US. Yes, crack is a minus, but without it the price would be close to $4000
If anybody has a better one- please post pictures
 
#19 ·
Stock of the discussed rifle is sanded. Originally serial number or any other stamps were stamped over laquier.
In this case - at first original serial number was sanded, than vertical number was stamped, and looks like only after it was laquired. Here is picture of similar 1943 rifle with better pics. I agree with Ryan, that rifle was refinished not in Soviet Union



Here are pictures how originally serial number was stamped - over laquier

http://forums.gunboards.com/showthread.php?361364-SVT-40-original-stock-finish

 
#21 ·
#22 ·
Nice rifle, but this is not 1943 made rifle. And without seeing GB rifle I would not claim it is refinished.
There are many experts who claim they know how 1943 rifle should look but nobody has the righteous example
They also understand that the chances of getting one like this at the price of refurbed refinished rifle got much slimmer than two days ago.
 
#23 ·
Nice rifle, but this is not 1943 made rifle. And without seeing GB rifle I would not claim it is refinished.
There are many experts who claim they know how 1943 rifle should look but nobody has the righteous example
There have been numerous postings of original 43/44 rifles from Ukrainian and Russian collections including the photos Ratnik just reposted. You are simply choosing to live in denial.
 
#28 ·
The auction gun is a pretty much typical example of what I simply call the "1943 stamped number, non-import refurbs" These have been discussed before, and quite recently on this forum. The auction gun has the tell-tale "ghost" horizontal stock s/n, and the re-stamped but still matching vertical number. That being said, these are still pretty rare and desireable. Much, much less common than the electropencilled refurbs. A bit less common than typical Finn captures. Not quite twice as common as "original" "bringbacks". On average, perhaps 3-5 of these show up online any given year. You might see or 2 or 3 1941 dated originals in the same time period. The prices have been going up, though, now that folks know what these are. Just a few years ago, these 1943s would sell for maybe $1200, but just last year they climbed to $1600-$1800, and then finally $2000. I'm not surprised to see one sell for this much...simple supply and demand. "Bringback" 1941 dated guns were $1500 not long ago, but rarely sell for under $3000 any more.
 
#30 ·
!!!!!

Bring-backs were brought back, hence the name.
 
#31 ·
I find this thread interesting as I own what could be called a former 1943 AVT with the vertical serial number. First it is in very good condition including the barrel, all bluing appears original, all Tula parts, ie no mixing of parts, no import stamp, nor a refurb stamp. Bolt is some where between in the white with some platina with a slight red tint. ATV stock appears original, no sanding, has a red color and a very crisp vertical serial number stamp. However there no ghost serial number or cartouches on the stock. There is a single cartouche inside under the fore grip, by memory I think it is a very small circle T.

I bought this in 2010 for $1600, but it did include two magazines, a bayonet and scabbard, and an extra original cleaning rod. At market value for those extras I figured the rifle was $1100-$1200 and a bargain for it's condition. Never thought twice about paying that price.

And I apologize about not having expert photography skills or equipment.
 

Attachments

#33 ·
Your pics are fine and show what is needed, Yours is one of the "matching" 43 AVT Canadian imports. Metal parts are original to the gun though it is hard to tell if the metal was refinished. If there are no markings aside from the vertical number, the stock was heavily sanded during rework in Yugoslavia or wherever.

The price you paid was very reasonable for one of these.
 
#35 · (Edited)
Are there DOD docs that specify SVTs among the captured CommBloc weaponry there? Grenada wasn't really 'Communist(-leaning') for very long before Urgent Fury.

The vertical numbering on the stock suggests Yugoslavia, but I would have expected a stray '1.TRZ' or two to be found on these, as stocks received at least some attention upon refurb. This goes for MN M44 carbines and 91/30 rifles. I otherwise tend to doubt that Yugoslavia had many SVTs at all, as 7.62x54R was not really found in abundance there. Ironically, the US likely provided more military aid to Yugoslavia in the post-war period than the USSR did.
 
#36 ·
another "43'".

I recently bought a '43 SVT up here in Canada which has most of the characteristics of these '43's being discussed with one difference. Although stamped '43 it has side-rails and a ground off previous serial # is visible. Everything stamped matching except the bolt carrier which is electropenciled underneath. Interesting gun and a nice contrast to my other recent imports with few, if any, original parts. I'm curious, are there a lot of SVT's that appear to have been built from salvaged parts?

Ruprecht
 

Attachments

#37 ·
Interesting. I've never seen a 1943 with rails before. Looking closer, it appears that the receiver top has been ground/sanded/beveled and re-dated....presumably by the factory one would think, or hope. Also interesting is the blued bolt, and carrier in the white. Though the current thinking is that all bolts and carriers since late 1942 were blued, I am not 100% convinced that later white bolts are necessarily the result of misguided collector shenanigans.
 
#38 ·
The bolt carrier is obviously heavily cleaned, but isn't original in any case (EP'd).

An interesting receiver to be sure. Can you pull the receiver from the stock and take a picture of the machining under the wood line? I am curious what receiver type it is.
 
#43 ·
I usually don't click a lot of the SVT threads (only because I do not collect them; and as many threads as I do click, I need to pick and choose because of time these days), but I did because Tim posted this one, and that peaked my interest as he doesn't start that many threads on this forum as of lately. I only have to address one thing in this post, and that is that Northbrook IL isn't really that close to Mount Prospect IL. Besides, the Mount Prospect seller has been active with in the past year or so still in Mount Prospect.
 
#44 ·
RyanE: It is clearly a Type 1 and, unless I'm mistaken, I think I see a faint triangle with arrow under the Tula star (ie. Izhevsk). I wish I knew more about the inspection marks, etc on these rifles. Just received my copy of Chumak so hoping to learn a lot there (only 2 weeks from order to mailbox!). I would be surprised if, by '43, Tula wasn't re-using some components from junked rifles. Great info on this forum!

Ruprecht
 

Attachments

#46 ·
RyanE: Thanks for the info. As the sole remaining manufacturer of SVT's it seems to me logical that Tula might have been salvaging parts by '43. Surely there have been other examples like this seen by someone out there. The stock on this rifle, incidentally, is of far better quality/ condition than most of my re-furbs, some (most) of which have huge patches inserted in various places. The bore is also in pretty good shape with slightly dark grooves but sharp rifling.

Ruprecht
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top