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COMBAT & SURVIVAL / February
2004
SVD
/ SVDS 'Dragunov' rifle
by
Bob Morrison
Now in service for forty
years the Snaiperskaya Vintovka Dragunova, usually referred
to as just the Dragunov, is regarded by most as being a
sniper rifle, although these days it is used more in what
would be called the sharpshooter role. For the first two
decades of service, the Dragunov was issues on scales of
one per infantry platoon, but as the Soviets became bogged
down in Afganistan numbers were increased to give at least
one of these weapons to each infantry squad. Conscripts
who showed greatest natural ability as marksmen during basic
training were often singled out to
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become sharpshooters and they then converted to the weapon before being posted to their unit. Unlike their companions who were usually only trained to hit targets out to two or three hundred metres, Dragunov marksmen were expected to engage out to 600 metres, thereby effectively
doubling the range of the squad. A really skilled user, firing
precision ammunition, can even achieve kills at 800 metres
and expect regular hits out beyond 1000 metres.
The Dragunov uses essentially
the same bolt system as the AK-47 and AKM family, and in many
ways the receiver and general layout look quite similar, but
parts are not interchangeable as a short-stroke piston is
used for better balance during firing, thereby leading to
higher accuracy. Chambered to take the longer Soviet 7.62x54mm
- the AK/AKM takes the 7.62x39mm round - the Dragunov has
a ten-round magazine and is only capable of single-shot fire.
At 1225mm in length, of which just over half is barrel, the
standard SVD is a long and unwieldy weapon which is cumbersome
for marksmen deploying by armoured personnel carrier or helicopter.
To combat this, the folding stock SVDS model was introduced.
This variant has a barrel whic his approximately 100mm shorted,
and the folding stock helps reduce overall length to a more
manageable 870mm
Although the Dragunov has seen
widespread service around the globe, with Warsaw Pact forces
and friends of the Soviet union during the Cold War and even
further abroad since the fall of the Iron Curtain, it has
been almost as rare as hen's teeth in Britain. Even deactivated
collector's examples were impossible to find until very recently
when Oleg of Rusmilitary had a batch manufactured at the factory
to comply with UK regulations. As these specially made examples
have never been intended to fire live ammunition, and cannot
be modified to do so, they are field strippable and can be
used for training and familiarisation purposes, unlike former
live firing weapons which now have to be hacked about and
welded up to meet current government requirements. As a result
of being essentially specially manufactured in the original
factory to suit British laws, the price of these rifles is
very high, approaching £1000 apiece. This is several
times the alleged price of an illegal assault rifle on the
UK black market ,so even if it were possible to convert this
single shot weapon back to firing configuration, it is unlikely
that any criminal would be bothered to go to the trouble and
expense. For the serious collector, however, this small batch
of legally inert but perfectly authentic special imports gives
them the chance to own an historic, functional and some would
say extremely attractive, sharpshooter rifle with pedigree
The two examples which we borrowed
from Rusmilitary are latest specification standard SVD (with
bright metal sight) and folding stock SVDS. Both have plastic
furniture, rather than the more attractive but less practical
wood used at the beginning of the produciton run, and they
are fitted with working examples of teh correct PSO-1 telescopic
sight, which clips onto a rail on the lseft side of the weapon,
each rifle also has conventional Kalashinikov sights. A rotating
padded cheek piece can be adjusted to suit the firer.Straight
from the Izhmash factory to the Rusmilitary armoury, via close
customs inspectionat HEathrow to ensure full compliance with
UK regulations, each Dragunov comes complete with ten-round
magazine, sling, cleaning kit and oil bottle, plus deactivation
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COMBAT & SURVIVAL / May 2003
Modern
Era Militaria
by
Bob Morrison
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... Fitted to the underside
of our AK-74M is one of the first half dosen GP-30 under-barrel
grenade launchers to be imported into the UK. Straight from
Tula Arms Factory, it is fully operational, but deactivated
to comply with European legislation so that it cannnot possibly
fire a grenade. It comes with the standard issue belt pouch
and an inert VOG-25 grenade, minus the fuse. For carriage,
the launcher breakes down into separate barrel and sight sections,
but it can be assembled in just a couple of seconds and fixed
to the bayonet mount of the assault rifle in just a couple
of seconds more. Unlike the M203 'Blooper' grenade launcher,
that fits beneath the US M16, the Soviet equivalent has quite
a complex system, graduated out to 500 metres and with a neat
off-setting sight to compensate for the rifling effect on
trajectory. Not cheap at £345, though you get £50
discount if you buy your rifle from the same sourse, but this
combination should make you the envy of your collector mates
All Soviet and Russian items
on these two pages were sources from FSU Connections Ltd .
For details telephone 01932 770836 or find them on the web...
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COMBAT & SURVIVAL / December
2003
Kalashnikov
for the Collectors
by
Bob Morrison
It is several hundred years since mainland Britain was either invaded by a hostile nation or divided by civil war, and as a result there has been no real need for the
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to be armed for defence of home and family. As a result, even
before the well-publicised mass murders at Hungerford and Dunblane,
which were the catalyst for more recent draconian gun controls,
restrictions on firearms ownership pin this country were among
the most stringent in the developed world
Politicians and the mainstream
media seemed to assume that by making it virtually impossible
for the average law-abiding citizen in Great Britain to own
a modern firearm, shooting incidents would decline. In reality
all that happened was the criminal fraternity tooled itself
up with illegal firearms, many smuggled in through Europe's
porous outer borders and non-existent internal ones, while
law-respecting hunters, target shooters and collectors were
forced to turn in their weapons for a fraction of their worth.
Today, if you want to collect modern weaponry in Britain,
you will have to make do with either deactivated examples,
which cannot readily be modified to fire again, or blank-firing
replicas that are engineered in such a way that live bullets
cannot possibly be fired
AKS-74U
This 5.45mm Russian assault
rifle is actually brand new and not a decommissioned example,
having been manufactured at the Tula Arms Factory (Tulsky
Oruzheiny Zavod) as a non-fired version of the real thing.
Production of this model ceased in 1993, but in Russian service
the compact AKS-74U version, with its folding skeletal stock
and short barrel , is still in use, primarily by special forces
units, some airborne personnel and a number of law enforcement
agencies
The AKS-74U is a derivative
of the AKM range, but though it has a similar front sight
arrangement to this model, it has a simple two-step folding
rather than ramped sliding rear sight. Although this is primarily
a close-quarters weapon, hence the simple rear sight, it is
technically not a submachine gun as it uses 5.45x39mm caliber
rifle ammunition rather than pistol (usually 9mm)ammo
On this weapon, the safety
lever can be operated, the bolt can be cocked and the trigger
can be fired just like the real thing, but as many internal
modifications have been made to the components . it is impossible
to convert it to fire either blank or live rounds. If desired,
the weapon can be field stripped, though it should be borne
in mind that the modifications to the components to prevent
firing mean that these are not quite identical to the original.
However, the sequence is still authentic enough for drills
and for familiarisation purposes. The stock can be folded
and an authentic sling is included
COMBAT & SURVIVAL / April
2000 _________________________________________________________________
AK-74M
Kalashnikov Assault Rifle
by
Bob Morrison
The
5.45mm AK-74 is little more than a small calibre versiaon
of the ubiquitous 7.62mm AK-47 assault rifle, which has
the mainstay of every Communist Bloc army from the fifties,
and has been used in virtually every low intensity conflict
from Azerbaijan to Zaire. Even the streets of Ulster have
not escaped the murderous fire of the Kalashnikov
At
face value, the AK-74 is little more than a mid-life improvement
to a ageing weapon design, but anyone who dismisses it so
lightly does so at their peril. Like its older brother,
the AK-74 is exceed-ingly robust and is remarkably user-friendly;
after al the Kalashnikov was designed to allow illiterate
peasant conscripts to become formidable soldiers in defence
of the Motherland. It seldom fails under combat conditions,
and it is so easy to strip down and reassemble that Third
World child soldiers can master the technique easier than
riding a bicycle.In
standard form, when fitted with wooden furniture, the 5.45mm
AK-74 is visually very similar to the 7.62mm AKM, which
was the slightly modernised version of the AK-47 produced
in the sixties, and which is still in widespread service
with a number of armies. Introduced in the mid-seventies,
the wooden stock AK-74 was issued primarily to front line
armoured and mechanised troops, but today all non-specialists
Russian troops use it. A variant with a tubular folding
stock (AKS-74) was issued to airborne forces, and this weapon
has recently been seen in Kosovo. However, the weapon that
we are concentrating on this month is the later AK-74M model,
which has black plastic furniture, including a folding plastic
stock, and which has featured in newstreels from Grozny.
With butt folded, this weapon measures just 700mm, which
is more than 80mm shorter than SA-80, making it ideal for
mechanised infantry use.The
5.45mmX39 round of the AK-74 is only marginally shorter
than the standard NATO 5.56mmX 45 round, and it has reasonably
similar characteristics. However, a small air gap in the
nose causes the bullet point to deform slightly on striking
a target, resulting in a tumbling motion which can impact
greater tissue damage to the victim than the NATO bullet.
Thirty rounds can be carried in the curved, black plastic
magazine.The
plastic furniture of the AK-74M may make it slightly less
robust in the field than the earlier versions, but it is
by no means as flimsy as SA-80. Indeed first impressions
on picking up the AK-74M are that it is a remarkably sturdy
weapon. One other advantage of the AK-74 family that is
carried through, is the muzzle brake. This near unique design
feature has the effect of preventing the muzzle from climbing
during automatic fire, and results in a higher degree of
accuracy.
For
further details on the Kalashnikov family refer to our special
identification feature in the December 1996 issue
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Copyright FSU Connections Ltd 1999-2009
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