[TooTaxed]

Does anyone have any experience with the Romanian Dragonov Sniper Rifle advertised by InterOrdnance for $674? Accuracy?:confused:

[Black Snowman]

That would be a Romak-3 and aren't quite the same as the SVD action. Closer to a PK than an SVD from what I here. The cheapest SVD pattern action I've seen is the Chinese SVD in .308 available from CDNN Investments for about $1800.

They are marketed as a Dragonov because they look similar and the name sells. Likely more accurate than an AK-47 but not on par with a true Dragonov.

I reasearched it a little when I first saw them for that price. I decided to go with a parts FAL instead.

[Oleg Volk]

Expensive magazines. Very hard to balance off-hand -- extremely long and not well-balanced. Flimsy stock.

[telewinz]

I've owned mine for 18 months and I luv it. I have no complaints and would like to buy another sometime in the future. I shoot and enjoy it more than my NM M1A, AR15 or my FN49. The ammo is cheap and the 10 round magazines can be had for around $40 (Centerfire Systems) but they are so well made that I have yet to purchase an extra one. The workmanship isn't quite as good as a Dragunov but then it doesn't sell for $1600 (and up) and there isn't a factory recall on the Romak3. I like the PSOP scopes and upgraded mine to an 8X (came with a 4X PSOP) but beware that they do not have crosshairs but a ^ instead which isn't the best for target shooting.
I did a great deal of research before I decided on which rifle to buy and NATO's evaluation of both rifles told the tale, for all intents both rifles perform the same at about 2 inch groups at 100 meters. Be careful about the claims of 1" inch groups from either rifle, you know how it is with fish size and group size stories:D Some parts can be interchanged with AK's or RPK's which is a plus in my book. Goes to show that an AK design can shoot accurately. $674 WITHOUT scope, right?:what:

[TooTaxed]

$694 includes factory new rifle, sling, cleaning kit compensator, magazines, and 8x42 scope! Sounds like an awfully nice deal.

[Bill Hook]

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

[telewinz]

BTW GREAT price and deal, hope AIM comes down in price and matches that deal. My wallet is already starting to bleed:uhoh:

!I am a special forces military sniper from Finland. One of our duty guns is the Russian Dragunov SVD, through which I have put several thousands of rounds. I must say as a sniper, I love this gun. Throughout most of Finland, engagement distances are moderate due to a low visibility caused by the thick forests and marshes which makes the SVD a perfect tool. The climate and terrain is sometimes quite harsh but the SVD is our choice because of the very low maintaining requirements, and above all its reliable...and that is mostly what it is all about in war. You need reliability to stay alive.

By the way, originally SVD stood for Semipolarnya Vintovka Dragunova, (NOT Snayperskaya Vintovka Dragunova), which means Semi-automatic Rifle Dragunov, indicating that the rifle was not meant to be a truly sniper' s weapon. It was designed to shoot accurate supportive fire beyond the range of the original AK-47 in the battlefield.

On the ROMAK-3:
I also own privately a Romanian military PSL made in 1994 and I wanted to bring out some opinions of my own into that seemingly never ending debate about SVD vs. PSL. Regarding accuracy: even though you can find the ROMAK-3 for about a fraction of the price of the genuine Russian SVD, you should buy it. Mine has a Russian military PSO-1 on it and 1PN58 with IR illuminator for night use. I have modified the grip a little and did a trigger job (easy because our service weapons are Sako and Kalashnikov assault rifles which have the same kind of action and trigger assembly).

Now both of these weapons are equally accurate!!! About 3/4 MOA groups constantly. PERIOD.

The world of difference is the ammo. Believe me we have tried it all, everything available. And what we use is the Lapua 7,62 x 53R with 148gr D- 47 bullet, which is the thicker version of the D-46 (also 148gr). It is boat-tail MATCH ammo for the old Mosin-Nagant and Finnish equivalents from the WWII- era.

I don't want you to think I'm biased because the ammo is Finnish too, its simply the most accurate for these weapons. A second choice is the Swedish Norma. The Russian silvertips to my knowledge (and our special forces sniper school's) were never intended to be accurate ammo for SVD and neither is it a match grade ammo for any 7,62 x 54R. Russians simply don't make match ammo for that caliber. It is just better quality normal ammo. (More consistent manufacturing tolerances, better powder and so on). It is somewhat accurate in SVD but not great. Russians have adopted those silvertips for their use because manufacturing match-grade ammo for the SVD would only give marginal results. Big country, big tolerances, you know. The tip is painted silver to recognize it from the other same caliber rounds, especially from WWII- era mass- production ammo.

When asked to clarify what "Silver tips" are:
I've been doing some research on your question about Russian Silvertips / 7N14. The following is not the "ultimate" truth about this yet, but to my understanding Russian silvertips are those civilian soft cast metal bullets with a little milder powder charge as I mentioned before. Those 7N14's you mentioned are probably new "Snaiperskaya" cartridges made especially for SVD, but there is no such 7N14 marking in the cartridge case, so I'm still working on this.

Anyway that new snaiperskaya is still not yet even boat-tail ammo, so the accuracy is more consistent, but generally over 1 MOA. The "thing" in those cartridges is the powder and charge, which in Russia is said to be "the most suitable used for the SVD", which is probably right, because itÕs ballistics are somewhat identical to Lapua and Norma, and it stabilizes the bullet properly. The lack in accuracy depends still on bullet construction. By the way Sako and Lapua have also manufactured 7,62 x 53R ammo in boxer cases for competition purposes and I happen to have about 100 of them. They are accurate!

Its hard to get a better recomendation that this!

[B27]

They take some fiddling with to accomplish respectable accuracy, but if you WANT a rifle to fiddle with they are great fun. Ive had mine about two years.
I have installed a Red Star Arms trigger in mine and it now has a very good trigger pull. I strap a big Sinclair cheek pad on it when I shoot it so I can get a decent cheek weld.
They should be fed ammo with bullet weights of 150 grains or less.
The heavier the bullet, the more your groups will suffer.
My next step is to remove wood from inside the forearm that is touching the barrel.

http://www.fototime.com/BBB2A218B36CB46/standard.jpg

[Oleg Volk]

Minor quibble: "Semipolarnya" means semi-Polar. "Samozaryadnaja" means self-loading.