Dragunov (SVD)

History of the SVD

The Dragunov was never intended to be a sniper rifle where the operator would settle down and pick off targets, instead its intended role was that of a squad designated marksman. A member of an infantry squad would carry it for special fire support, extending the effective range of a squad out to 600 meters. It is said the rifle is accurate out over 800 meters, 600 was just the requirement.

Soviet forces began looking for a new sniper rifle in 1958, but it wasn't until 1963 before the Snaiperskaya Vintovka Dragunova, more commonly referred to as Dragunov or SVD, was adopted into use as the standard sniper of the USSR. Every infantry squad had one man with an SVD, it was designed for heavy use and was extremely reliable in all conditions, it even had backup iron sights and a bayonet mount. It was capable of firing any 7.62x54R round but had specialty ammo designed just for it with a steel core bullet.

The Rifle was based off the Kalashnikov system but during its development became a whole new rifle design on its own. With accuracy as their goal, they reduced the reciprocating weight by changing from a long stroke piston to a short stroke design. The trigger was also reworked to give the operator a smoother response. The design was limited to semi-automatic fire as well. Originally the rifle was equipped with a PSO-1 series daytime scope, later 1PN51 & 1PN58 night vision scopes were also supported.

Over the years the SVD and its clones have been used by many countries some of which include Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bulgaria, Cambodia, China, Cuba, Czech Republic, Czechoslovakia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Finland, Georgia, Hungary, India, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Nicaragua, North Korea, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Sudan, Soviet Union, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, and Zimbabwe. Naturally with its widespread use it has seen many wars and conflicts.

Despite its age the SVD continues to be a favorite amongst trained military personnel, guerilla fighters, rebels, and sports shooters alike. It will likely be one of the rare firearms that sees a century of consecutive years in service. Even today despite the fact that the SVD is considered obsolete, and Russia has developed the new SVCh to replace it, they have increased production of the SVD rifle for use in their war with Ukraine.