Dragunov

It is basically the Kalishnikov action, but it fires the much more powerful 7.62 X 54 Rimmed cartridge. Same round that the Mosin-Nagant and the PK machine gun fires. The barrel length is a good bit longer too at 24 inches.

Power wise it is about the same as the 7.62 NATO. It's scope is about 4X and has an interesting range finding reticle that is very similar to the WW I telescope sight reticle that the US Army used on the 1903 sniper rifles in the trenches of France and is again used as an alternate range finder in the Nightforce scopes on the latest Mk 13 SWS.
 
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nah

The SVD or Duraganov is not a big AK. I am far from an expert on the matter, but I am fairly certain that the trigger group and the action/gas system are far different from the AK, and the entire system was intended for accuracy. There is a passing cosmetic similarity, but that is all.

What complicates the issue is that the PSL/Romak-3/ssg-97, now readily available, is frequently marketed as a "Duraganov" is indeed no more than a big AK. And the PSL bears an even greater resemblance to the SVD. But, mags will not interchange, mag well placement is different, the forearm and butt stocks are different and again the trigger group/action-gas system is vastly different. The PSL and the SVD do share the same cartridge, the 7.62x54R.

We should hear more from others. The big AK sites address these issues pretty clearly.
 
It is basically the Kalishnikov action, but it fires the much more powerful 7.62 X 54 Rimmed cartridge. Same round that the Mosin-Nagant and the PK machine gun fires. The barrel length is a good bit longer too at 24 inches.
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Don't mean to be mean but that's completely wrong. The action and gas system of the Dragunov and Kalashnikov are completely different. They look alike to the untrained eye, but that is where the similarities end.

As has been pointed out, there are Eastern European rifles of the same class that are in fact just scaled up AK's, the Romanian PSL and Yugoslavian M76 being prime examples, these are often mistakenly called Dragunov rifles.
 
Saw a rifle listed for sale online once that said it was a Dragunov. Something like $16,000. Sure would be cool to own a real one.

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We shoot them a bit at work from time to time and once the "cool" factor has worn off, it's back to what we know best.

I've never noticed the accuracy from them that is claimed for them, but then we usually only get 7.62X54R ball to shoot out them. Might be fun to try a handloading project with one and the .311 SMK bullet, but that probably won't happed for me. It would be interesting to get an honest evaluation from someone who has done that.

The scope is a very usable piece of equipment, but for our shooters it seems a bit challenged after getting accostomed to the Leuopold M3 and Nightforce scopes. Still, for a battlefield weapon I think the SVD is a usable option and with its repeat fire capability has some advantages over our bolt action systems. I sure wouldn't turn one down if given one.

Take down and maintenance is pretty much like the AK. Probably a good idea for a conscript army or for extreme climates in the field.
 
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As already been said, the Romanian PSL and Yugo M76 are generally just beefed up to handle the 7.62X54R and 8mm rounds respectively. The true SVD (aka Druganov) is an entirely different creature although it looks like they might be related. With an AK, you have a long recoil design where the piston is part of the bolt carrier whereas an SVD is a short recoil design where the piston is seperate from the carrrier and doesn't involve the extra weight moving back and forth. Both the PSL and I believe the M76 use standard AK fire control groups but the SVD is entirely different and is easily removable from the receiver. This is what also gives you a far better 2-stage trigger that the others lack.
As far as the SVD itself goes, some are so-so in the accuracy department while others are pretty good. We had one captured SVD at the Special Ops school that my old NCOIC thought couldn't hit anything so we never fired it for demonstrations. However, during down time, I took it out to work with it and was able to get 2" groups at 200 meters so IMHO, that one did shoot pretty well. I also have a Chinese NDM-86 in 7.62 NATO I got years ago. When I first got it, I wasn't hoping for great accuracy but was quite surprised when Federal Gold Medal Match was giving me 3/4" groups at 100 meters!:eek: Because of the floating firing pin, I tend to not shoot commercial ammo in it after I found out about potential slam fire problems with the softer primers and because of having to move a lot over the last several years, I haven't had a chance to develop any match grade loads for it using harder CCI #34 military primers but the day I get settled down in one spot for a long time, I plan on trying to brew up some decent loads for it that will give me performance to the Federal match grade ammo yet include a harder, safer primer.
Here's my NDM-86 in a very unatttractive picture. Sorry, not very artistic.:(

SVDNDM-86.jpg
 
The WWII version is a piece of junk that you would be better off feeding by hand, if it is the same thing. It has a fluted chamber that destroys the case if it is brass and you could not hit the barn or the farm house. I don't know, is that the same design you are talking about? I would not pay thousands of dollars for one if it was Stalin's personal rifle.
 
The WWII version is a piece of junk that you would be better off feeding by hand, if it is the same thing. It has a fluted chamber that destroys the case if it is brass and you could not hit the barn or the farm house. I don't know, is that the same design you are talking about? I would not pay thousands of dollars for one if it was Stalin's personal rifle.
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Huh??? Uh, I'm not sure if you know what we're talking about here but the SVD goes back to 1963, not WWII. Also, no SVD, PSL or M76 has a fluted chamber. Did you reply to the wrong topic? Not trying to be a jerk here but your post makes no sense to me.:confused:
 
Fluted Chambers

Might mean the German G3 and G33 rifles from the Cold War. They had fluted chambers to allow a little of the high pressure gas from firing in and around the case to cushen their somewhat violent action and extraction due to the roller locking system that they used.

Saw them quite a bit in the 80s down in Central America and once in South Asia.
 
Saw a rifle listed for sale online once that said it was a Dragunov. Something like $16,000. Sure would be cool to own a real one.
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Dragunov's tend to fetch a high price because the importation of them has been halted, but $16,000 is several times more than what they typically got for!

Take down and maintenance is pretty much like the AK. Probably a good idea for a conscript army or for extreme climates in the field.
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No, not really... unless you use "pretty much like the AK" so loosely that it could apply to most semi-automatic rifles.
 
Interesting discussion. The stories of varied accuracy of the Dragunov it's variation seem to conform to what I have witnessed in Bosnia. Quite often, whether it was fighting in and around cities like Sarajevo and Mostar, we would witness groups of Serbs, Bosnians, and Croats going to and returning from the front. Some would carry the Dragunov or whatever variant they had. It appears to have been suitable for the urban fighting they were engaged it.....apartment to apartment, house to house, etc. We never saw the Dragunov in the rural/countrysides. All telescoped rifles in those areas were almost all exclusively bolt-actions (we did see both telescoped Mosins and K98s, or the yugo version if it).

We were forbidden to speak with these soldiers for their opinions of this weapon as we were curious ourselves, but from our observation the rifle appeared suitable for accurately engaging targets of 200-250m. Beyond that distance other weapons were generally used.
 
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Completely different rifles and actions altho maybe the bolt and carrier is kind of similar. The piston setup however is not even close. This one seems to shoot as well as USMCGrunt's, but mag availability and spare parts are like hunting snipe.
Accuracy rejection spec for a russian SVD from wiki...
"1.04 MOA extreme vertical spread with 320 mm twist rate barrels. The extreme vertical spreads for the SVD are established by shooting 5-shot groups at 300 m range."
Don't know how that compares to similar American systems but at just under 8lbs scoped it could be worse, and actual cost is likely far less.
 
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The SVD action has a short stroke piston with a long thin operating rod while the AK has a piston and bolt carrier all in one that reciprocates together. Quite different. :D
 
The guy may be some kind of phony; to say the SVD and AK are essentially the same gun in different calibers would be akin to saying the AK and M-16A1 are essentially the same gun in different calibers.
 
The guy may be some kind of phony
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I'd go with the benefit of the doubt because I've heard people with PSL rifles call them Dragunovs at the firing range.
On forums, I've seen people make claims only to then have it come out they are really talking about some type of PSL rifle.
As with anything there's alot of disinformation out there, and maybe fewer that care to discourage it.
 
one issue i see is people seem to always expect sniper rifle accuracy out of a Dragunov. The SVD is not a sniper's rifle and is not meant to be one. In the Russian and Soviet militaries it is primarily used as a DMR by a member of a regular infantry squad to extend the squad's range. So when comparing it to other western guns, keep that in mind. Putting it up against proper sniper rifles like Remington 700s is comparing apples to oranges. An M14 or AR-10 would make a more fair comparison. Russian snipers use more specialized bolt-actions.
 
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