PSL vs. SVD

I got into a debate with a buddy over the PSL vs. the SVD. He seems to think the SVD is superior (based on what he's heard). Based on my research, both are neck and neck when when it comes to their duties as a DMR. They are built different and one has a mystique to it due to its rarity, but for all intensive purposes, they are equaly accurate. I find the SVD to be 100x more sexy looking but too darn expensive to ever own.

Since i am a new PSL owner, i've only put a few hundred down the pipe, so i would like to get some feedback on this. Many people think that if it's more expensive, it's better.

I for one love the PSL.I have one and it is a blast.I did really crave an
SVD but they are just too rich for my blood.I too think that the PSL
is a sexy looking rifle,but admit that the Drag is even more sexy.

Functionally they are different,and I think accuracy is probably a realitive thing.

I think there is room for both to exist and be enjoyed.Alot of poeple really
seem to dog out the PSL.I really don't know why that is.Live and let live,ya' know?

Amazingly knowledge sometimes only comes by ownership.I once lusted after
a Sharps 1874 "long tom",until I actually got to handle one,it just didn't fit me
and didn't have that "feel".I instead went with an 1885 Highwall.

So,after the long way around,I guess for some the PSL doesn't fit and to the
ones it does fit,they love them. :sidegrin_

Based on my experience with both rifles, they both have their merits and yes, they both take different roads to the same basic destination.

The SVD, with it's short stroke piston design and heavier receiver can shoot the heavier bullets w/o damage and is considered by some to be the more inherently accurate design.

The PSL, with it's AK-style long stroke piston action and ability to be partially parts interchangeable with the AK family is simpler in design and easier to care for.

They both have a light weight, not very rigid barrel that can cause some mechanical "walking around" of shot repeatability, lending credance to the idea that they are neither truly "sniper grade" rifles. They both share the same type & quality of optics in thier native forms.

The very idea of a "sniper grade" rifle will draw fire in it's own right as it's often considered that the shooter is the sniper, not the weapon being shot.

I have had the opportunity to shoot both rifles for accuracy and find in my own experience that the SVD was the more consistantly accurate of the two out to 600M (the longest available range I had to shoot on with them side by side at the time), but that the PSL is more than adequate to make a man sized target "quit the party" in big hurry.

The only reason the SVD is so damned expensive here is that so very few of them made it into this country before they were banned. In Europe, it appears that they can be had for close to the same money. I wanted an SVD too, but had to settle for the PSL as it is what I can afford. I'm not overly despondant about not owning an SVD because I am very happy with the PSL and my ability to utilize it.

Anyone that believes that either rifle is inadequate or ineffective, is invited to stand downrange during a shooting session.

Any takers?

I didn't think so.

Based on my experience with both rifles, they both have their merits and yes, they both take different roads to the same basic destination.

The SVD, with it's short stroke piston design and heavier receiver can shoot the heavier bullets w/o damage and is considered by some to be the more inherently accurate design.

The PSL, with it's AK-style long stroke piston action and ability to be partially parts interchangeable with the AK family is simpler in design and easier to care for.

They both have a light weight, not very rigid barrel that can cause some mechanical "walking around" of shot repeatability, lending credance to the idea that they are neither truly "sniper grade" rifles. They both share the same type & quality of optics in thier native forms.

The very idea of a "sniper grade" rifle will draw fire in it's own right as it's often considered that the shooter is the sniper, not the weapon being shot.

I have had the opportunity to shoot both rifles for accuracy and find in my own experience that the SVD was the more consistantly accurate of the two out to 600M (the longest available range I had to shoot on with them side by side at the time), but that the PSL is more than adequate to make a man sized target "quit the party" in big hurry.

The only reason the SVD is so damned expensive here is that so very few of them made it into this country before they were banned. In Europe, it appears that they can be had for close to the same money.

Anyone that believes that either rifle is inadequate or ineffective, is invited to stand downrange during a shooting session.

Any takers?

I didn't think so.

it's like the AR vs. AK arguement. you have the purists and mall ninjas vs. the people who want reliability and functionality.

i own some of both, i shoot the psl more than the svd mostly because it is easer to get parts for the psl if something breaks.
i am not a sniper qualified shooter, but i seem to do better with the svd.

The only reason the SVD is so damned expensive here is that so very few of them made it into this country before they were banned.

That pretty much sums it up...

On that note, if SVD's were as available (in the US) as PSL's and even costing a couple hundred more - I'd certainly have both a PSL and an SVD. But I simply won't pay an inflated price because of rarity.

it's like the AR vs. AK arguement. you have the purists and mall ninjas vs. the people who want reliability and functionality.

There's plenty of both in either crowd. All platforms have advantages and limitations.

Anyone that believes that either rifle is inadequate or ineffective, is invited to stand downrange during a shooting session.

Any takers?

I didn't think so.

:D I've often used that very same argument with those who shite-talk the replica sniper rifle builds as being "fake" guns and worthless. They are not original vintage weapons, granted, but many of them are duplicates of those rifles that are affordable to a LOT more shooters out there than the rare- and expensive- originals. So I get where you are coming from in the SVD vs. PSL argument, and I agree- even though I DO own a Russian TIGR with all SVD parts except the long barrel, and used to own one of the KBI original SVD sniper rifles back in the 1990s.

In the end, what matters is that the owner likes his gun, and can shoot well with it. All the rest means nothing without that. If you can do that with a PSL or a TIGR, or granddaddy's Winchester deer rifle, so be it.

I love this debate especially since so few really know what a svd vs psl looks like. I know those here do but too often at the range they all drool over my psl thinking svd. I chuckle and often say nothing or tell them its just a psl and then they are confused and ask tons of questions. That said I agree with what others say. I t really comes down to the shooter. My grandfather used to shoot tree branches down at 200 yards with a 22. cal and wow people. Then take out his 30-30 and shoot branches down at 400 yards. The only reason he was good at this wasn't because he was in the army or marines. It was because then the county didn't have much of road matinence so they hired him to shoot down limbs off the main road to avoid accidents....this is no lie. i lived in a tiny town in florida. That said he killed thousand of tree branches at all hieghts. With practice most guns can be shot very well with practice and experience....and can even be deadly too.

You all need to watch the deadliest warrior episode of the green berets vs Russian spetnaz. It was great watching them compete with an svd vs a US bolt action rifle.

In Europe a PSL costs about 675 Euro, a good Tigr about 1000 Euro. You can buy them at Sauer Militaria, CDS Ehrenreich, or Transarms Handelsgesellschaft among others. That's about $950 and $1400 respectively. In Europe neither can have military proof marks per the Kriegswaffen Kontrol Gesetz (KWKG - similar to our NFA). More convienent for European shooters is that they can rebuild semi-autos on Original receivers and have no SBR rule.

They have to replace the barrels and bolts instead of the receiver and barrel. You can also get modified semi-only Thompsons, Krinkov's, etc. built using original receivers.

i have a psl and shot a freinds svt and the svt feels better to me,, felt so good I made a trade with another freind for a couple rifles .
Its a sweety :wink_smal

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w52/junkmanted/100_0710.jpg
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w52/junkmanted/100_0714.jpg

Nice SVT.

opps T :D