The SVT-40 (Russian: Самозарядная винтовка Токарева, образец 1940 года, romanized: Samozaryadnaya vintovka Tokareva, obrazets 1940 goda, lit.

[8] The SVT-38 is a gas-operated rifle with a short-stroke, spring-loaded piston above the barrel and a tilting bolt,[1] a system that would later be used in the FN FAL.

[9] The sniper variant had an additional locking notch for a see-through scope mount and was equipped with a 3.5×21 PU telescopic sight.

The rifle had many design flaws, as its gas port was prone to fouling, the magazine would sometimes fall out during use, and it was inaccurate, only being effective up to 600m.

In a Soviet infantry division's table of organization and equipment, one-third of rifles were supposed to be SVTs, though in practice they seldom achieved this ratio.

In 1941, over one million SVTs were produced but in 1942 Izhevsk arsenal was ordered to cease SVT production and switch back to the Mosin–Nagant 91/30.

[1][4][5] SVTs frequently suffered from vertical shot dispersion; the army reported that the rifles were of "flimsy construction and there were difficulties experienced in their repair and maintenance".

This was generally remedied by drilling and inserting one or two large industrial bolts horizontally into the stock just before the wrist meets the receiver.

To supplement the Red Army's shortage of machine guns, an SVT version capable of full-automatic fire (designated the AVT-40) was ordered into production on 20 May 1942; the first batches reached the troops in July.

[citation needed] The use of the AVT's automatic fire mode was subsequently prohibited, and production of the rifle was relatively brief; none were made after the summer of 1943.

[13][14] An assault rifle based on a scaled-down SVT with 7.62x41mm chambering called the AT-44 was also put into development, it came with a bipod and pistol grip.

[20] The Finns would continue to experiment with producing their own SVT based rifles until the late 1950s with the introduction of the RK-62.Germany captured several hundred thousand SVTs from the Eastern Front.

[22] Italy also produced at least one prototype loosely copying an SVT, which is extant in Beretta's collection, but its designation or exact details are unknown.

[24][25] The Finnish Army retired the SVT in 1958, and about 7,500 rifles were sold to the United States civilian market through firearm importer Interarms.