Initially losing to Simonov’s AVS36, Tokarev's design was later retried and adopted as the SVT 38, later becoming the SVT 40 after the Finnish Winter War debacle that the Soviet Union found itself in, just prior to the Second World War. The SVT-40 saw widespread service during and after World War II. The initial reaction of the troops to this rifle was negative. Among the issues were that the rifle was too long and cumbersome, difficult to maintain, and the magazine had a tendency to fall out. In service, SVTs frequently suffered from vertical shot dispersion. The army reported that...