The Soviets Never Built the Dragunov to Snipe — They Built It to Do Something Worse

Comments · 320

• FI

  @firearmsvault · 2 weeks ago · pinned

  Which firearm do you think had the biggest impact on history—and why? 🔥<br>Drop your answer below! 👇 I’m curious to see which one gets mentioned the most.<br>👍 Enjoyed the video? Hit LIKE and SUBSCRIBE for more fascinating stories from history!

  3

• DI

  @DiosdadoApias-f1y · 3 weeks ago

  the Dragunov is a designated marksman Rifle. Its job is to bridge with fire the gap which the standard infantry rifle(the AK 47) can not reach. Beyond the Dragunov effective reach is for the sniper rifle.

  102

• MA

  @marius_m. · 3 weeks ago

  One minor correction: a soviet style platoon (to include other Warsaw Pact countries) usually consisted of 3 squads, each squad having a designated marksman equipped with such a rifle

  31

• WW

  @WWIIValor-v2c · 3 weeks ago

  “The Dragunov did not close that range gap by making a few soldiers exceptional. It closed it by making precision ordinary.” That perfectly explains the SVD’s real legacy. The fact that Western armies later embraced the designated marksman concept says plenty. Do you think the SVD is still misunderstood today?

  52

• JE

  @jerrydonquixote5927 · 3 weeks ago

  I did not know this and what a brilliant concept! &nbsp;The sexiest two rifles ever devised hands down, were the M-14 and the Dragunov! &nbsp;Even though I used an M14 in the Navy in 1991-93, I think the Dragunov beats the M-14 in sexiness but barely.

  71

• CH

  @championknife · 3 weeks ago

  Finally, I heard a true description of the events.

  46

• 83

  @839photo · 2 weeks ago (edited)

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adh_JvbAmis&amp;t=1140">19:00</a> twist rate<br>• <b>Original twist rate: (1960s – 1975) 320 mm / </b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adh_JvbAmis&amp;t=72"><b>1:12</b></a><b></b><b>.6 inches.</b><br><b>Optimized for maximum precision with the 7N1 sniper cartridge.</b><br>• <b>Later Years (1975 – Present) 240 mm / 1:9.4 inches</b><br><b>”Speed up&quot; to stabilize heavier, specialized infantry rounds (e.g., armor-piercing incendiary and tracer bullets).</b>

  4

• IV

  @ivanstepanovic1327 · 3 weeks ago

  Yugo/Serbian versions never used Dragunov system. All of those used Kalashnikov system, set in semi-auto and scaled up. The first of those, M76 was even chambered in 8mm Mauser. So, while they do look alike and have the same purpose, they are quite different

  28

• TS

  @tsafa · 3 weeks ago

  In short ... it&apos;s a DMR rifle.

  46

• GA

  @garryb374 · 2 weeks ago (edited)

  It all depends on how you define sniper. The SV-99 is a sniper rifle in &nbsp;.22lr. It is used by snipers in urban areas over relatively short distances. In the west snipers shoot at very long distances and during the cold war they tended to shoot at greater distances than the Soviets. The SVD was a sniper rifle but it was a semi automatic rifle intended for combat situations where accuracy was needed, but not pin point accuracy. It needed to be rugged, use a standard calibre (even if it wasn&apos;t used with MG ammo) and it needed to be widely deployed. The Soviets didn&apos;t train a few hundred snipers during WWII and they knew WWIII was going to require a lot of snipers too. The Mosin rifle was their sniper rifle but with the development and production of the SVD they were replaced in service by snipers (GRU and recon units) as well as marksmen positions in every rifle platoon to extend the range of fire power, together with the RPK and PKM and RPG.<br>The US just took a standard battle rifle and put a scope on it and called it a sniper rifle like the M24. During WWII at the start there were SMGs in pistol calibres that had excellent short range fire power but no reach. You also had bolt action battle rifles that had reach and accuracy but lacked the fire power of the SMG or assault rifle at close and medium range.<br>The Germans introduced the assault rifle with the assault rifle cartridge because the PPSh-41 meant short range engagements were suicide for them.<br>In a sense they introduced the Assault Rifle calibre and weapons to out range the SMG.<br>The SVD is a battle rifle to out range assault rifles.<br>The Soviets in Afghanistan realised how useful such &quot;battle rifles&quot; allowed better reach over greater distances against enemies with assault rifle calibre weapons.<br>After getting rid of their FN FALs, G3s and M14s for small calibre assault rifles they found in Afghanistan that the extra range and extra reach and performance on target of the older calibres was worth bringing back in an infantry weapon.<br>The snipers role can be anything from 20m in urban areas from street to street, up to several kilometres these days. To say the SVD is not a sniper rifle because it can&apos;t reach much beyond 800m is a false argument because a good sniper should be able to get to 800m from their targets to shoot. &nbsp;Like most Soviet weapons it was not designed for extreme accuracy but was generally good enough to get the job done. If you needed more accuracy after the cold war they added rifles like the SV-98 in the same calibre in a bolt action for the role but the SVD continued to be used by snipers.

  2

• AL

  @albundy1104 · 2 weeks ago

  Prior to the dissolution of the USSR there were other scopes designated for SVD besides PSO-1. 1P21 and PO3.5x21p are just a few. 1P21 was (is) a variable 3-9x42 long shot scope for engaging longer distance (up to 1200m), and PO3.5x21P a wide angle scope for larger (vehicles and etc) MOVING targets...

  2

• EL

  @elchinpirbabayev5757 · 2 weeks ago

  Very good... but a couple of chapters missed:<br>1. SVD failed during testing due to semi automatic mechanism that was slamming bullets and deforming them in the chamber. Konstantinov test rival&apos;s rifle, saw its potential and conceded his own bolt carrier group (let&apos;s just call it semiauto mechanism) and SVD won.. That&apos;s brilliant story of a designer helping out his competition for the greater common good..<br>2. SVD was designed to shoot three separate types of rounds.. standard, tracing and armour piercing.. each required its own rifling thread.. so Dragunov had to compromise using average thread.. Chinese Type 78 and/or 85 optimized rifling for standard rounds only, thus significantly improving precision at the expense of tracing and anti-materiel qualities. <br>3. And Dragunov is single most beautiful gun I ever saw..

  2