A day out with a Romanian PSL

fireball

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I went shooting with my friend in the states today and my rifle for the day was a Romanian PSL.

It is a very nice looking rifle and to shoot it felt very similar an SVT-40 or Valmet Hunter or M78. It has a 2 stage trigger but the second stage was very rough feeling, much like a really bad AR single stage.

From what I've been able to google the PSL is more of a designated marksmans rifle and not a sniper rifle like the SVD or NDM.

As far as design and build goes it's a glorified AK. The receiver is stamped sheet metal and it uses an AK type bolt carrier and bolt with a longer rod. The scope is 3x, I'm assuming due to its size.

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This group I shot was with surplus 7.62x54R, prone off the grass. It vertically strung which was I expected from a battle rifle with heavy operating system.

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The grass was long enough to be effected by the muzzle brake. If you look at the muzzle area you can see a "T" shape in the grass.

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I shot the same rifle last fall in Ohio. I also got to shoot the FN FAL. The PSL I found to be a fun rifle to shoot and it has a nice feature with the buffer in the butt stock.
 
The SVD was also designed as a designated marksman's rifle, or it would be in western tactical doctrine. The Russians made the rifle for marksmen to sit a few hundred metres behind the front line and pick of enemies while their buddies suppressed them with AK fire. That said, they're both quite nice rifles and I wish I could have them. The PSL in particular is an interesting example of adapting a known design to serve outside it's normal capacity.
 
The SVD is not meant to be a sniper rifle, it is also a designated marksmen rifle. I believe Soviet doctrine was to have at least one per platoon as when they moved to the AK-47 they completely lost any range capabilities they had (look at them in Afghanistan the Mujahideen were taking them out with old Lee-Enfields which worked pretty well for the long ranges needed in Afghanistan and that the AK-47 couldn't effectively return fire at the ranges required).

'Damn someone beat me to it' edited
 
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