Tokarev SVT The Tokarev SVT - 38 and the Tokarev SVT - 40 were two soviets semi - automatic rifles issued to the Red Army during the World War II , in 1945 the SVT - 40 was replaced by the Simonov SKS carbine , that for it ' s time was replaced by the AK - 47 . Description . The SVT - 38 ( Samozaryadnaya Vintovka Tokareva - Tokarev Self - loading rifle ) was originally adopted in the 1938 after more than 20 years of the research and development , done by famous Russian arms designer Fedor Tokarev . It was not a first Soviet semi - automatic rifle - there were the select - fire Avtomat of 1916 by Fedorov and also select - fire Simonov AVS - 36 of 1936 by Simonov . ' Avtomat ' was chambered for Japanese 6 . 5mm Arisaka round and was declared obsolete , and the AVS - 36 showed some design deficiencies , so new rifle was adopted . After initial trials , it was updated and re - adopted in 1940 as a SVT - 40 . This rifle was made in relatively large numbers ( more than 1 million made prior to 1945 ) , and was originally issued as a standard infantry rifle , replacing the obsolete Mosin - Nagant 1891 / 30 bolt action rifles . Few SVT - 40 were also manufactured in the sniper variant , equipped with scope mounts and telescopic sights , but accuracy was not sufficient , so only about 50 . 000 sniper SVT - 40 were manufactured , and these were supplemented by the Mosin - Nagant sniper rifles . The SVT - 40 had a somewhat controversial reputation . It was highly regarded by the enemies ( Finns and Germans ) and it was a very sought - after war trophy , re - issued to both German and Finnish troops . On the other hand , it was often considered unreliable and over - complicated by the Soviet troops ( when comparing with old Mosin - Nagant rifles ) , but it was more to the poor training and maintenance , than to the rifle itself . Some better trained and educated Soviet troops , such as Sea Infantry ( Marines , which always were some kind of elite in the Soviet army ) used the SVT - 40 with great deal of success . After the end of the World War II , most SVT - 40 were quickly withdrawn from service and put into reserve stocks . Some rifles were later sold on domestic civilian market for hunters as a military surplus . Other than basic versions , there also were developed a shorter carbine SKT - 40 , and a select - fire AVT - 40 , but both seen very little service . Overall , the SVT - 40 was in general no worse than the German Gewehr 43 , and obviously better than earlier German Gewehr 41 semi - automatic rifles . It was the matter of training and education , and quality of the service of in the Soviet troops , that lead to the low popularity ( in general ) of this basically good rifle . SVT - 40 is a gas operated , magazine fed self - loading rifle . It uses a short piston stroke gas action , located above the barrel . The interesting feature of the SVT is that the gas block , along with front sight base and a muzzle brake , were produced as a single barrel extension unit . This greatly simplified the manufacture of the barrel , but the barrel extension itself unit was quite complicated to make . Gas chamber has 5 positions gas regulator to ajust the system for any conditions . The gas piston has its own return string and moved back for about 36 mm ( 1 . 5 inch ) when gun was fired . It gave a quick and powerful stroke to the bolt carrier , which carried the bolt under it . Barrel locking was achieved by the rear part of the bolt , that tilted down to lock into the reinforced steel insert in the floor of the receiver . Charging handle was permanently attached to the right side of the bolt carrier . Detachable box magazine was made from sheet steel and hold 10 cartridges . SVT could be reloaded either by replacing the magazine or by using 5 - round stripper clips of the Mosin - Nagant . Stripper clip guides were machined into the receiver top cover . Bolt system incorporated a bolt catch , that held the bolt group back when magazine was empty , to facilitate faster reloading , especially when using stripper clips . Both SVT - 38 and SVT - 40 were hammer - fired , with safety switch located behind the trigger . When engaged , safety locked the trigger . On the rare AVT - 40 select - fire rifles , safety had an additional setting for full - auto fire mode . The SVT - 38 featured a two - piece wooden stock with separate upper handguard with small steel insert at the forward end . SVT - 40 had an one - piece wooden stock with shorter forend and separate upper handguard . Front part of the stock was replaced by the sheet steel cover with cooling ports . Cleaning rod , originally stored in the groove at the right side of the stock at the SVT - 38 , was relocated under the barrel on the SVT - 40 . Sights of the SVT consisted of the post type front sight , mounted on the sight base with circular front sight guard , and a tangent type open rear sights , mounted on the rear part of the barrel . Sniper versions were equipped with special detachable , see - through scope mounts at the rear of the receiver , so the scope was offset to the rear , allowing to use a clip - charging facility . SVT - 38 was equipped with detachable , knife - bayonet . SVT - 40 was issued with similar bayonet , but with blade shortened to save weight . Unlike the Mosin - Nagant , the bayonets were routinely carried in sheaths , and attached to the rifle only when required .