sometimes the enemy has this annoying habit of staying really far away while maneuvering into a better position or setting up a machinegun
its pretty lame of them i think
what is an infantry squad to do
how can they reach out and touch someone
this is the svd
it can help the squad stretch real far
for when the enemy is being lame
so back in the early days the soviets had the mosin nagant
and according to their movies they had people using to to snipe since the very beginning
its a cool movie with great cinematography you can watch it free
but usually we think of soviet snipers really coming to the forefront in the seiges of wwii
you know the famous names
these guys were in the cities and taking out officers and pinning down squads so soviet infantry had an advantage in a firefight
after wwii there was an interesting dilemma
the soviets adopted the ak47 because it had a rapid fire capability like submachineguns with farther range than the pistol rounds of the smg
but its intermediate cartridge still had a shorter range than the weapons their snipers were using up to that point
they tried modernizing by putting a scope on the svt40 but it kinda sucked
the svt40 had some very good features but it also had problems which led to a short service life in spite of the large numbers made
so towards the end of the 50s the red army requested designs for a new sniper rifle
they wanted it to use the fullsize 7.62x54r cartridge and be semiauto
several designs were submitted including one from yevgeni dragunov
it was adopted in 1963
his design uses a short stroke gas system with a detachable 10rd magazine and detachable scope mounted on siderail
to provide a common manual of arms it uses iron sights and front post that function identically to the ak sks and mosin nagant
the magazine release and safety selector are similar to the ak
and disassembly lever on the rear receiver and removal of the fire control group is similar to the sks
but the weapons internals are all their own
the gas cylinder has a very short piston and separate operating rod that pushes on the bolt carrier
bolt is similar to an ak but with a third lug for extra repeatability for accuracy
the recoil spring and guide rod are connected to the receiver cover for easy removal and reinstallation
there is also a two position adjustable gas valve with slots to allow use of a cartridge case as a wrench
because is weapon is designed to be carried by an infantryman moving with the squard it needs rapid fire and ease of portability
the barrel is 24 inches long but pretty thin and light
it will heat up quickly but the rifle still gets around 1.5 moa which is plenty to hit a guy
soviet marksmen were expected to have a 50 percent hit probability at 800 m
and rapid followup shots make that very deadly
plus the light barrel helps the rifle weigh less than 10lbs
and thats with scope mounted
and the scope was cutting edge in the early 60s
the pso-1 scope has a fixed 4x magnification
turrets on the side giving 100 m increments between 100 and 1000 m
the reticle is pretty cool
it has a center chevron and addition chevrons for use beyond 1000 m at 1100 and 1200 m
a curved scale on the left side allows you to estimate range on a 1.7 m high target
this is based on a running soldier ducking slightly as he rushes for cover
and there are hashmarks allowing adjustment for moving targets and wind deflection
it can light up for night time use
and the most advanced feature is the infrared detector
in the 50s the west started using infrared illuminators on its scopes
this allowed a sniper to bathe an area in invisible light that could be seen by his equipment
the pso1 picks at up and let soviet snipers take shots at these previously invisible foes
this feature isnt really useful anymore but the scope is still pretty good
the rifle was pretty popular and remains in russian service to this day
now there are two noteworthy foreign rifles to briefly discuss as well
first is the chinese ndm 86
this is a reverse engineered svd
and i really mean reverse engineered
unlike the chinese sks or the original chinese ak the ndm86 was not built with any support from the soviet union whatsoever
by the time the soviets adopted the svd they were super mad at china for not saying stalin actually sucked and so the soviets didnt give them any of the technical data
it wasnt until after the sino vietnamese war that china captured soviet svds from the vietnamese and extensively studied it
it was an impressively succesful program as the chinese rifles are excellent
the other rifle to note is the romanian psl
now it may look similar to the svds
but it isnt the same
the romanian psl was created to fill the same role as the svd but it absolutely is not an svd
it is a recalibered kalashnikov and uses the ak system
long stroke gas system
similar fire control etc
same stamped receiver as the ak instead of the svds milled receiver
so pretty different from the dragunov
today the russian army has given the svd a few updates like adding polymer
folding stock
bullpup edition
and there are other rifles that are much newer and more accurate
but overall the svd is still doing its job really well and will likely see continued service with russia for a good while longer
pew pew
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ExpertShitposter ago
here is the thing.
i have decided.
i will never get one. its blyatiful, but a bit over rated and out dated. i would get it if i could afford a "gun collection". but i cant. so i will only spend my money on "optimal performance guns". (also known as ar15)
in addition, i object to your claim that the PSO reticle is "pretty cool" its complete dogshit. i can say why but...vodka and all that.
let just say this: russian SF use US optics when given the choice. ant thats counting modern russian optics.
clamhurt_legbeard ago
pfffffff
this is why you dont have a series of posts about to celebrate its two year anniversary
look at the pso-1 reticle
then look at the acog reticle which is the same thing except lacking rangefinding
and look at the new acss reticle which is found in new acogs
the russians use american optics but not because they have different reticles
but actually keep in mind that only some american optics are actually american
trijicon is in michigan
but aimpoint is actually a swedish company
i know what you mean about guns for collection vs guns for optimal use
and yeah
ar is where its at
i want an fn fal 50.63 because its fucking badass
except an ar10 would serve any actual use better
and honestly a 5.56 ar serves almost every role even better than that
its kinda boring lol
ExpertShitposter ago
all russian memes
maybe tomorow if i can remeber.
i will nbo9t fall for primary arms memes.