Dragunov rifle accuracy

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liberty

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Just watched the hurt locker sniper scene where the badguys have a team of U.S and British?? guys pinned down and killed 3 guys at 850m, two shots were esentially headshots.

Badguys were using what appears to be a Dragunov rifle....

Are these rifles capable of this type of accuracy or more Hollywood BS ?
 
From worldguns.ru
"Dragunov SVD wasdesigned not as a "standard" sniper rifle in its Western meaning of theterm. In fact, main role ofthe SVD in Soviet / Russian Army is to extend effective range of fireof every infantry squad up to about 600 meters and to provide specialfiresupport. "

So i would hazard a guess at hollywood BS. At that sort of range a centre of mass shot would be more believable.
 
Poor accuracy

I have owned both dragunov and FPK tried everything army hard ball several different types and finally finished with handloads. The optics are no screaming hell and the best I could do was 3 inches at 300 meters and the extraction is a killer on brass would fling cases 50 ft. All in all it's a AK variant action with a longer barell. If you are 12.5 there out there but the money you will drop on one of them you can get a hell of a bolt gun
 
The ammo was a major source of inaccuracy in these. Apparently in the 1990's the Russians had issued some "Dragunov only" ammo for snipers, it was a different projectile and weight, more atuned to stability at long ranges, and apparently sub-MOA.

BUT...the gun has to be in good shape. AND a perfectly zeroed rifle. AND a truly skilled shooter who's putting his skills into it.

All that said, movies and TV are a horrible place to get an impression of weapons performance in the real world. From the 1950's to the 1970's, most actors in Hollywood were WW2 veterans. Today, you basically find no more than about 5 people who were former soldiers...in the entire industry, much less as stars or actors. From the writers, the directors, the actors and the stars...none have worn uniforms, do not know what it's like, have no clue about how weapons work or what they can and can't do.

When they want to "get it right", they hire outsiders who know. And then they proceed to ignore those outsider "technical advisors" if it interferes with the storytelling, or their "vision". Meaning what? Headshots at 850m...do you think that's realistic in real world conditions with ANY rifle, on the battlefield, much less a Dragunov?!? I think that's unrealistic with a top flight rifle/system/combo. Unrealistic for 3/3 targets, without a top rifle, top ammo, top scope, top shooter, and especially without a VERY skilled spotter. IMO.

Actually, ask this question in the Precision forum here, minus the "Dragunov" bit, just ask them how likely headshots are at that distance with a true precision rifle.
 
RickR1100 said:
The ammo was a major source of inaccuracy in these. Apparently in the 1990's the Russians had issued some "Dragunov only" ammo for snipers, it was a different projectile and weight, more atuned to stability at long ranges, and apparently sub-MOA.

BUT...the gun has to be in good shape. AND a perfectly zeroed rifle. AND a truly skilled shooter who's putting his skills into it.

All that said, movies and TV are a horrible place to get an impression of weapons performance in the real world. From the 1950's to the 1970's, most actors in Hollywood were WW2 veterans. Today, you basically find no more than about 5 people who were former soldiers...in the entire industry, much less as stars or actors. From the writers, the directors, the actors and the stars...none have worn uniforms, do not know what it's like, have no clue about how weapons work or what they can and can't do.

When they want to "get it right", they hire outsiders who know. And then they proceed to ignore those outsider "technical advisors" if it interferes with the storytelling, or their "vision". Meaning what? Headshots at 850m...do you think that's realistic in real world conditions with ANY rifle, on the battlefield, much less a Dragunov?!? I think that's unrealistic with a top flight rifle/system/combo. Unrealistic for 3/3 targets, without a top rifle, top ammo, top scope, top shooter, and especially without a VERY skilled spotter. IMO.

Actually, ask this question in the Precision forum here, minus the "Dragunov" bit, just ask them how likely headshots are at that distance with a true precision rifle.
Click to expand...

Yup, that's pretty well it. ^^^

My "Drag" was at best, a 3 moa shooter with ball ammo. I got a hold of some of the special Soviet sniper ammo (154 gr) and things tightened up considerably. I'd have to look it up in my records, but I think I got 3 shot groups of about 1.2" to 1.8" -ish. Remember, the Soviet spec for replacement of their Moison-Nagant snipers was that the Dragonov had to at least match the accuracy of the rifle it was replacing (which was pretty accurate at the time).

I then did some"mexican match" type handloads using a molycoated (myself) hornady 303 174 gr match bullet (.311 diameter), and got about 1.1 moa or better (3 shot grps).

In either case, it's "good enough for government work":)

Although the optic "blows", but has subsequently been/being replaced by both a 6X (mid-late afghan war period), and recently a 3 to 9 power ART- like range finding/compensating optic.
 
liberty said:
Just watched the hurt locker sniper scene where the badguys have a team of U.S and British?? guys pinned down and killed 3 guys at 850m, two shots were esentially headshots.

Badguys were using what appears to be a Dragunov rifle....

Are these rifles capable of this type of accuracy or more Hollywood BS ?
Click to expand...

The fact that you are taking weapons info from that movie is your first problem.

Since when will a trickle of blood cause a miltary rifle to jam? (M107)
 
20 or so years ago in Europe I shot a Romanian Dragunov (the PSL).
The IOR optics were amazing even though only 8x if memory serves me well.
At 500m I shot 1 moa. The owner shot 0.5 moa
Can't tell what kind of ammo.
 
Sure they are. You may have to fire several shots.
Click to expand...

Yes, this is it. keep firing and your bound to hit eventually, lol.

I always figured these russian semi's were reliable but accuracy wasn't so important.

The Mosin bolt actions are accurate , I have a friend who shoots 1 moa with his.
 
I have heard from troops deployed in afghanistan that the dragunov is not even in the same class of accuracy as western sniper rifles. That being said If I could have one I would, just because I think they are cool.
 
hey guys its all the ammo, SVDs can be exceptionally accurate around 1.2-0.8 moa, if they maintained and feed proper as those items need to be, what never takes place in units or formations those rifles usually in service. An by the way "S" in SVD does not stand for "snaiperskaja" like most including russians think, but "samozarjadnaja" - semi-automatic, just like in SKS. SVD had been issued to snipers a lot and hence abbreviation got altered meaning. And no, RPG does not stand for "rocket propelled grenade" :p.
 
I read on another forum that the Chinese SVD clones were getting about an inch at 100yards, but handloading was annoying because the brass was hard to find and got beat up. The thing with the SVD is that it's a semi-auto, so you can just keep shooting. I don't believe these guns were intended for special ops style fighting, more for squad support, so your emphasis is less on hiding your position and more on extending your range.
 
The Military Games in 1986 were won by the USSR team with SVD.
Longest distance shot was 1650m.
They didn't go any farther because there were no opponents left.

The US team (using Remington) was disqualified
at the end of the first half of the competition
after failing to meet the minimum requirements at 1080m.

I know because I was there.
 
I think the dragunov is a lot more accurate than people give it credit. Like any rifle if you find the proper ammunition, your rifle will have better groups. There was an interview with a Finnish sniper who used the Dragunov and found Lapua ammunition to be the most accurate (consistently 3/4 MOA):

http://www.dragunov.net/finn.html

Also in Hurt Locker the guy was using a PSL:
600px-THL-FPK-2.jpg
 
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