Sir, if this inquiry is still active I may be able to help. Here's the story:
My (our) SVT40 came to us in pretty good shape, on the exterior and most of the interior. It was and is a fascinating bit of historical gun tech to behold and study and we often talk about its pros and cons that we as SVT "beginners" see them. We agree that in a post-war scenario, let's say it's somewhere in South America and they are hiring ex-soldiers to aid in or against this or that revolutionary guerilla movement. You're hired and told to draw a weapon from yonder pile of SVT40's and M1 Garands. We agree there's a lot in favor of selecting the SVT40!
As to the bore on our example. I'll bet there are sewer pipes laid the same year that are in better condition. There was no question that without addressing that, this gun was nothing but a wall hanger. I mean, it fired, it functioned, but we were getting about 30-40 MOA with it. Well that makes it just plain no fun.
Surely the majority of these guns suffers from the same condition, so, why is no one making barrels for them? I put a fair amount of time trying to find them, either NOS or newly made, and-- nothing. I'll bet that salt mine in Soledar, Ukraine, has crates of them!
I looked at whether or not one could be made from a Mosin barrel, and never really got to the bottom of that rabbit hole. The Mosin and SVT40 barrels do have the same thread at the tenon and my hope was that the Mosin barrel would have enough meat on it to be able to turn and thread for the front sight / brake unit. I mean it would have made a ton of sense to have as much similarity between Mosin and SVT40 barrels as possible. Never really determined yes/no on that. I looked at getting a PKM or other machine gun barrel and they are out there, but very expensive.
McGowen barrels makes turned blanks profiled for the Mosin in 10 twist / bored for X54R, but as I understand it, not finished Mosin barrels. There is a guy who specializes or specialized in Mosin re-barreling using these. Lost his info but he was kind enough to send me a couple of Mosin barrel stubs. I could not persuade him to make me an SVT40 barrel. I thought about buying the McGowen blank, but I had just had a bad quality / customer service experience with them and although I have threaded and chambered many rifle barrels, to do metric threads I have to change gears in the headstock and to do that I have to move the lathe!
I reached out to my contact at one of the country’s premier barrel makers on another matter and mentioned my SVT40 barrel quest. To my surprise he said they do test barrels in the caliber and I cajoled him into taking my old barrel, and duping the profile, threads, and short chambering it. So, “something interesting “(I hope), item #1:
I have an SVT40 with a Bartlein barrel. Well, an SVT AND a Bartlein barrel but give it another week or two....
We are not done with the install yet but 2/3s the way there. What’s left is get it socked up, find the top, drill a gas port and make a flat for the key, work the face of the tenon for the extractor, and finish the chamber. I asked specifically if it was OK for me to mention in public that they made me a barrel for the SVT40 and they said yes. I guess that surprised me a little because no way even with the best barrel in the world, can the final product make Bartlein look great, even though they are a leading choice for PRS and other high-end target shooters. I thought it was very kind of them to agree to do this.
Item of possible interest #2, the old barrel came out pretty easy. A barrel vise and hastily-rigged action wrench and—out she came. I am going to be very, very gentle putting it back in as, once apart, I see a weak spot in the design. Where the top of the barrel threads in the receiver comesso close to the bottom of the piston-rod pass through hole that there is only a very, very thin web between them. Wrenching and torquing on the receiver in the wrong spot I believe could cause some breakage or distortion here.
Item of possible interest #3, The barrel threads in the receiver have been selectively chromed. They are not bare, unfinished steel, they are white with chrome. I’ve never seen this before in any gun and I cannot see a reason for it unless it was a salvage measure, like, the threads took a no-go gage so they chromed them to reduce the diameter….? I mean, I know about chrome plating and it would not be much. I’ve used chrome and seen it used to build up a surface but it’s harder when it’s a bore and beyond the normal .0002 or so it may build up unevenly on a surface, especially something like a female thread. But it is definitely chrome. Anyone….?
As to chamber fluting, I’m gonna just try it “without”. My understanding is that not every SVT40 has it anyway. When we consider that several (at least) guns that have the same locking design, a tilting bolt, don’t have fluted chambers, it makes me think that the SVT40 doesn’t need it. If it turns out it does, I have a plan for that too.
Consider: SKS, BAR, FAL, STG44. All lock up like an SVT40.
If you want to discuss it offline, please advise.
