Tag Archives: svt-40

Playing the hits

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Happy National Vinyl Record Day!

Finnish soldiers play a gramophone they found on 8 August 1941 in recently-liberated Jaakkima, Finland (today’s Yakkima, Russia), during the opening offensive of the Continuation War. The Karelian village had been lost to the Soviets in 1940 during the Winter War.

“Vallatulla gramofonilla soitetaan.” Via Sa-Kuva

The gentleman in the center three of the four helmeted men to the left appear to have the new Finnish M40 turtle-style helmet while the three to the center-right have Hungarian M38s. If you notice the man almost totally behind the NCO, standing by the tree, has a Stalhelm complete with a Great War style add-on brow plate, an item that was almost universally despised by those who wore one due to the added weight. There is also a Mosin rifle in the back. The undersergeant to the right with the cigarette looks to have a Polish wz. 33 (Granat Obronny) “screw top” grenade on his belt, no doubt captured by the Germans in 1939 and passed on as military aid. Meanwhile, the gentleman in the center, possibly a machine gunner, has a Lindholmin-style universal holster for the Lahti L-35 9mm pistol, or a rarer m/23 Luger in .30-caliber. Also, note the two brand-new Soviet SVT-40s which have been given a new home.

Can you imagine the struggle being a QM in the Finnish Army in 1941? We’ve talked about the confusing variety of helmets used by the force previously.

175 million self-loading military rifles made since 1896– and most are likely still around

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AK-47 style rifles accounted for almost half of the global production of self-loading rifles over the past century according to the study. (Graphics: Small Arms Survey)

AK-47 style rifles accounted for almost half of the global production of self-loading rifles over the past century according to the study. (Graphics: Small Arms Survey)

A new study released by the Small Arms Survey found that over half of all autoloading rifles ever made for military use are either AK-type or AR-10/15 type designs.

The 60-page study was authored for the Geneva, Switzerland-based SAS by N.R. Jenzen-Jones, director of Armament Research Services, an international policy-neutral technical intelligence consulting group.

The effort concentrates primarily on military arms issued as a primary combat weapon and not those built or marketed to the civilian or law enforcement user. As such it includes select-fire and automatic magazine-fed rifles such as the AKM and semi-auto battle rifles such as the M1 Garand made after the advent of smokeless powder. Excluded were crew-served weapons.

Starting with the Danish Navy’s order of 60 Rekylkarabin carbines in 1896 and moving forward, the study concluded some 175 million self-loading rifles have been produced for military use since then, noting this figure was “conservative.”

More in my column at Guns.com.

That SVT-40…

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Radna Ayusheev, an ethnic Bashkir sniper of the 63rd Soviet Naval Infantry Brigade, is photographed during the Petsamo–Kirkenes Offensive

Hero Radna Ayusheev, an ethnic Bashkir sniper of the 63rd Soviet Naval Infantry Brigade, is photographed during the Petsamo–Kirkenes Offensive. The Petsamo–Kirkenes Offensive was a major military offensive mounted by the Soviet Army against the German Wehrmacht in 1944 in northern Finland and Norway. The offensive defeated the Wehrmacht’s forces in the Arctic, driving them back into Norway. Ayusheev is credited with killing 25 German soldiers during the operation but was later killed in action at Kirkenes, Norway, October 1944 (Hattip bag of dirt)

Dig on the SVT-40, the original Soviet battle rifle of which Ayusheev almost surely has the Sniper Rifle variant that shared the same 3.5x PU optic that the Mosin 91/30 Sniper used– though if you note, our good Soviet marine is lacking an optic on his.

The Wermacht, liked these rifles so much they used captured SVT’s extensively with the preceding SVT-38 known as the SIG.258(r), the SVT-40 as the SIG.259(r), and the SVT-40 Sniper Rifle was designated the SIG.Zf260(r).

As for the 63rd, they carry the moniker of the “Guards Kirkenneskaya” brigade today due to this campaign. They earned it. Unlike some Frontoviks who fought against easy-going Romanians or Italians, the 63rd went into combat against tough German Gerbisjagers mountain troops and the Finns– on their home turf, which most invaders agree is never a good idea.