DESIGN
The SVD was not designed to be a sniper rifle.
It was designed to engage personnel beyond
the 300m range of the AK-47. It uses the
widely available 7.62x54mm round. Every infantry
squad had one SVD. ‘SVD’ stands for ‘Semipolarnya
Vintovka Dragunova’, or ‘Dragunov semi-automatic
rifle’. The SVD proved effective at a much
longer range than the 500m it was designed
for. It can be effectively used between 600
and 800 meters, the range of a sniper rifle.
Therefore the name was changed to ‘Snayperskaya
Vintovka Dragunova’, or ‘Dragunov sniper
rifle’. The SVD is fitted with a PSO-1 4x
scope. Its low magnification gives it a wide
field of view, but makes it harder to shoot
at a long range. |
| This version has a folding stock and a shorter,
thicker barrel. It has the same range as
the SVD. |
| The basic and most used of the Dragunov series.
It has a fixed stock |
PERFORMANCE
Like all Russian mass production weapons
it is cheap, reliable, effective and easy
to use. It is better used as a marksman rifle
than a sniper rifle. Its ammunition is widely
available. The SVD is accurate and the PSO-1
scope is one of the best ever built. It is
easy to estimate the range and to calculate
defections.
USE
- Russia
- Egypt
- Like all Russian weapon it is widely available
on the black market and is used in many third
world coutries.
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