Just so you know, the Dragunov rifle has suffered some serious bad publicity over the decades.
The fact is, that ball ammo gives extremely dismal results. The Russkies manufactured match-quality ammo for it. Don’t even think about tracking any of it down. You’ll have to load your own.
Just so you know, the Dragunov rifle has suffered some serious bad publicity over the decades.
The fact is, that ball ammo gives extremely dismal results. The Russkies manufactured match-quality ammo for it. Don’t even think about tracking any of it down. You’ll have to load your own.
Can only talk about the AK; have a genuine Russian semi-auto.
Accounts of their ruggedness seem accurate as far as I can tell.
Also comparison with AR and like regarding accuracy seem also true, as it is with destructive power (or effectiveness): the AK is not as accurate.
This is all I can offer; as usual, YMMV.
If you want a real Russian 7.62 X 39, look at the Saiga (Izhmash). I have three WASRs (Romanian) and pimped them to my liking.
For some reason importers were not allowed to bring in Russian rifle and even now they don’t have pistol grips. Krebs & Co. can juice up a Saiga 12 gauge or carbine for you for some long green.
I don’t know anyone who brought back a fully automatic AK. An occasional SKS and bolt actions, Tokarevs, but no Automat Kalash’s.
FReeper mylife has a PSL. I don’t think it is considered as a true Dragunov though. I do know that it definitely has a hair trigger.
I have a very close friend who has several ‘real’ AKs (not semi-auto conversions- don’t worry, all legal, he is a licensed collector) and have had many opportunities to fire them. Frankly, it is a really, really good gun. We did a tear down about a year ago and I am surprised how few parts are in them and the ‘weight’ of the parts.
I guess history really proves its quality. There isn’t much the Soviets could build well, but guns (and women) were something thing they did right.
I dont. I hope and pray America at least still makes the best guns we can buy. Do we at the very least still have that going for us ? Can we at least still buy and keep the very best guns we have ?
I dont. I hope and pray America at least still makes the best guns we can buy. Do we at the very least still have that going for us ? Can we at least still buy and keep the very best guns around ?
Don’t buy either one; they have a terrible habit of falling into deep lakes, never to be seen again..
It has happened to everyone I’ve ever known who bought either of those, or any of several others.
Any FReepers owning any truly full-auto weaponry should probably refrain from posting in open forum.
No need to attract the attention of anyone that may wish to see if “your papers are in order”.
China is the worlds largest producer of AK 47 rifles. The subjects are not allowed to own them so guess where they end up.
Gotta laugh at the people pumping what a great gun the AK47
is / was!
The AK47 is a pray and spray firearm, except 98% of those spraying don’t believe in the Christian God or any God.
The AK47 is a simple machine, so simple even the uneducated masses that buy it can keep it operating by cannibalizing parts off the thousands laying around.
That is what the Russians wanted: a firearm that was as cheap to produce as it was to train their soldiers. The whole idea was that the Soviet soldier was expendable and ignorant, therefore don’t arm him with anything that is expensive or hard to repair.
Seems the ignorant still think they are fine guns...
For the basic Kalashnikov rifle, the AK47 and variants, actually hitting anything with one much past 100 yards is problematical.
Other Cons
Very loud noise
It’s heavy
Not as accurate as most military rifles
Any optics require special adapters
Many people don’t like the (so called) AK “safety” mechanism
I can tell you this, I love my PSL.
I love to shoot that thing.
One thing to be wary of; the length of the stock is short. Such that when you fire the weapon your right hand is up close to your face. This causes a "cramped" feeling. You can fix this with an adjustable stock. The different receivers (milled and stamped) require different adjustable stocks.
One other thought: don't go for the cheap weapon, spend the extra money. It's worth it.
It was designed for squads to have an organic crew served suppression weapon (think shooting/suppressing the B240 machine gunner).
It looks cool but is not that accurate compared to modern sniper rifles.
I know that many if not most “Drags” are actually just stretched AKs
Finding a real Drag and having to load your own match 7.62x54 is probably reason enough to get an AR-10 instead.