Romania Doesn't Make the Dragunov: The PSL
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When Romania vocally objected to the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, it lost some of its opportunities for technology transfer form the Soviet Union. The USSR had adopted the SVD Dragunov in 1963, and it was looking like Romania would be putting that weapon into domestic production alongside the AK, but after 1968 not so much. If Romania wanted a designated marksman’s rifle, it would be on its own to develop one. So, that’s exactly what the Romanian did.
They already had a very successful factory complex making Kalashnikov rifles, and so they decided to take that design and scale it up to the 7.62x54R cartridge. The result was the PSL, with a semiautomatic only fire control group and 10-round magazines. It also featured an automatic hold open on an empty magazine, a feature only seen on one other AK variant (the early Yugoslav M64). It was fitted with a 4 power LSO-2 telescopic sight; basically a tritium-lit copy of the Soviet PSO-1.
After the Wall came down and the Warsaw Pact disintegrated, the Cugir factory complex would sell the PSL (and many other AK variants) widely on the international military and civilian markets. This has resulted in lots of Romanian PSL rifles here in the US today.
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A bit of trivia at 0:52 - it says "Made by CN ROMARM SA / Cugir" stamped on the side of the rifle. (Cugir is a small town in Romania)
Back in the communist days, before 1989, there used to be a sewing machine factory in the small town in Cugir. My mother had a sewing machine that also had "Made in Cugir" stamped on the side (in Romanian, of course). I remember there were all sorts of legends and jokes that if you disassembled a sewing machine made in Cugir and re-assembled it the wrong way, you would get a machine gun. It seems they weren't that far off.
CN ROMARM SA is the factory and Cugir is the city where the factory is located
Lol, that is interesting
I would like to see a gun made out of a few sewing machines... fallout style!
@@marinelrosca4428Feels good to be romanian, right Frate?
How neat. Love hearing lore.
Russia: lest design a completely new sniper rifle
Romania: ak on steroids.
The Dragunov is not entirely new tbh. Some of its components are similar to the AK.
It has no interchangeable parts to the Kalashnikovs
USA: let's render the shooter totally useless and defenseless while he's aiming! *produces super high range snipers*
@@darnit1944 Also not a sniper rifle, video games have just told us it is. Ian and Karl point this out frequently, it is a DMR.
@@feydrautha80 thats possible but not with a dragunov or PSL.
Russia: "What is better then a Kalashnikov?" . Romania: "A bigger one."
LoL
ROMANIAN MAN HERE
@@avgeek_227 PRIVIET
@@roskcity hello
Fair enough
As a man that is in the Romanian army, this was heart warming. It really made my day and you have an A for effort on pronouncing the names.
didn't ask
@@entertainme7523 bro what
@@dicianu.andrei3916dă-i pace
Cușescu=)
Salut
The PSL is what everyone thinks the Dragunov is, a scaled up AK.
Dude, how did you time travel?
A whole week ahead of us youtube commenters.
What sorcererery is thus
Ian works in mysterious ways. No i think Patreon patrons have access to the videos a week early, if I'm remembering correctly.
magic!
If you go to Rock Island's page for these guns the videos are linked there before they are made public on youtube. So if you happened to be looking at this auction lot a week ago you'd see this video. I see a lot of Ians videos early because I need to look through basically every RIA lot for work
Isn't it?
As a romanian its very funny how i learn more about weapons from my own country from someone in america lol
Sad yes Funny not so much.
Don't worry, I learn more about american guns from Slavs, it evens out1
I'm Romanian too! :D
As a Romanian its very funny how your username is Andrew Harper. I can clearly see you care for your national heritage soo much lol.
Stop creating useless drama
Game Master how is this drama lol
I can safely say(as a romanian) that your pronounciantion of pușcă semi-automată cu lunetă was pretty good
something we can't say about the pronunciation of "Ceausescu" :)
Imi place ca la noi in romana pusca se foloseste pt tot... ohh e sniper ce ai tu? Atunci devine pusca cu luneta... ce ai assault rifle? Hai pusca automata ca sa zici ca ai un cuvant langa pusca... shotgun? Ai pai tot pusca... machine gun? Mitraliera, vai nu mai e pusca, pacat ca e singura... submachine gun? A tot pusca i se zice...
@@vali69 Te rog, "submachine gun" e "pistol mitralieră"... Dar aici intram în altele, pentru că original AK-ul era "Pistol Mitralieră Model 1963", iar varianta modernizată în 5,45x39mm e "Pușca automată Model 1986", asta pentru ca exista și "Pistol Mitralieră Model 1996" în calibrul 9x19mm care e automatul ala ușor folosit de Jandarmerie.
Still sounded lame
@@freevbucks8019 shut up fortnut
My father was issued a PSL when he was in Romanian army during the late 70s early 80s. He was the marksman of his seven person unit.
Same, my dad actually used his during the revolution. When I was younger I stupidly asked if he ever killed anyone with it, and he never spoke to me about his time in the military after that
@@biodegradablewaste3906 Damn.
Opa Shnaga thought you were gonna say he never spoke to you again
@@bille5960
😂
Opa Shnaga well that doesn't ask the entire question after all. So DID HE?
I was that member of the infantry unit with the PSL ! As a common soldier in the romanian army, i was able to shoot three bullets at 150 meters, right in the circle of ten (the little circle) . I never held a Dragunov, but the PSL was very accurate!
Probabil ca ai tras fara luneta la 150 m.
@@cristianavram490 Cu inaltator
Cu luneta la 300 de metri , Imi amintesc ca puteam vedea gaurile in tinta piept .
Unde? La ce unitate?
Soviets: You no get Dragunov.
Romanians: We´ll make Dragula.
*Runs away after lame joke*
Soviets: You no get Dragunov.
Romanians: You don't want to mess with us Wallachians. We will drill you up the butt till we come out of your mouth. 👿
Soviets: 😲
Pretty close :).
Dracula was the SMG and in reality it was a close copy after APS. th-cam.com/video/qCS5lTk8fLg/w-d-xo.html
That's where you're wrong. While Bram Stoker's vampire was different from local folklore, it was inspired by Hungarian folklore and had equivalents in Transylvanian folklore. Romanians already had versions of a vampire-like entity like all countries in that region, such as the strigoi, the moroi (closer to modern-day zombies) etc.
i wonder if it takes silver bullets!
Hmm Drakulov would have been more funny.
I really like the colour of the wood
the stock looked like plywood to me!
Mickleblade - Yes, it's laminate
The lighter color blonde wood is so much better looking, this wasn't bad though.
I like the mahogany type color, it goes well with the dark steel of the rifle.
S O V I E T R I C A R D O? 😳
Cugir is the name of the town these guns were produced. The factory is still up today. The name of the factory is "Romarm" and that is short for "Arme Romanesti" which translates to "Romanian Guns" so the meaning of the first row is "Made by National Company Romarm SA in the town of Cugir, Romania".
The US still imports guns from it. Though that may be cut off in the future as century tries to force people to buy their shitty AK's
Foarte tare , nu stiam ca mai sunt romani care urmaresc acest canal :))
Daca nu am voie sa-mi cumpar armele astea in Romania, macar sa ma uit la altii care au voie.
MiaKhalifaMLG always flexin Hello there
Prezent :)
Alin Banc - Teoretic, ai voie, dar procesul e atât de idiot, că e piața mică, plus că nu avem o cultură a armelor ca alte țări. Cugirul a făcut 1000 de exemplare de WUM (AKM cu pat care arată ca ăsta de PSL - aceiași armă exportată ca WUM-1 prin 97-98) pentru România, dar de atunci nimic. Se pot importa diferite AKuri din alte state, cel mai ușor din UE.
Romania: what do you want
America: i want an Ak but accurate
Romania: Say no more fam
Correction, Simi accurate
For English speakers, pronouncing Ceaușescu as "Chow-shess-coo" would be pretty close 👌
👌🏿
Chaw-oo-shess-coo
"Dead piece of shit" is the most accurate pronunciation
@CosminuL heh
@@alextabara9150 Indeed coaie
Very good and accurate material, I was doing mandatory military service in Romania in 1989 and we had one of those issued to every group of 9 infantrymen (and an AG7 RPG). Only one observation, Cugir is pronounced in romanian "Cudjir" with a short "u". Same factory was doing sewing machines and automatic washing machines. A popular joke was that a worker in the factory wanted to steal a sewing machine, he stole every day one part and when he thought he had them all, tried to put them together at home but he got a machine gun instead. He, he.
6:23 Strongunov
:))))
Get out
hahaha :D
Fukgunov
As a Romanian i never thought i'd be this proud of the weaponry of this country!
You make about the best, no bs and most informative firearms videos I've seen so far. You also make them easy to watch w/o the so common I know everything attitude most others have. Thank you!
my father worked at that factory during the 70'. so nice to see this video and remember him
mare like de la mine
Can't wait to hear Ian try to pronounce Romanian.
EDIT: A for effort, made my day.
David Vanau Choshesku
hai ca in mare a zis corect psl, doar cugir si cucescu :))))))))))) lea pizdit
Pusca semiautomata lunetha
The effort counts
Când am auzit "Cughir" mi-am luat trigger instant xd
When he tried pronouncing Cugir, couldn't stop laughing. A for effort though. Rather funny looking at that IOR scope and old timey romanian writing on it :)
I kick myself every day for not picking one up when they were $500 bucks around 2010
I feel so bad for you, they're a blast to shoot.
Same
Got one for 700. Fantastic rifle very low recoil if you add rubber pad.It also needs a good scope centered.
I've shot one and they are fun. I like my PSA AR10 clone better though.
I kick myself too. PSL-54 with the scope for only $700 around 2010-2013. Now when I see a gun I want, I don't hesitate.
I visited the military museum at Fort Lewis-McChord and they had labelled a Romanian PSL as an SVD Dragunov. I sent an email to the curator to correct this issue but I haven't been back since to find out if they ever did.
Cugir is not the commercial name of the factory, it is the town were this beauties were produced.
A typical 8 men Romanian infantry squad was armed with one RPG-7, one RPK, one PSL and 6 AKMs (the RPG operator also had an AKM).
Eu am facut armata la Jandarmerie,in 92. Psl-ul se scotea rar,doar la anumite trageri.si era bataie pe el. La infanterie, era in dotarea standard a plutonului,adica se mergea la instructie cu el ? Sau tot asa ,doar la trageri?
@@mariussantamarian9766 Și la trupele de securitate( jandarmii dinainte de revoluție)PSL era in dotarea standard a grupei, teoretic, dar se scotea rar, doar la anumite trageri. PSL-istul avea AKM la instrucția de zi cu zi.
@@valentinovidiucornea4525 Nu are nici o logică.Dar în armata dinainte de cea profesionistă( pe bază de voluntariat),multe nu aveau logică .
@@mariussantamarian9766 Asta era in timp de pace! Să nu crezi că in timp de război ar fi fost la fel. PSL-ul a fost o armă tratată cu „respect”. Transportată în niște lăzi speciale, capitonate cu burete,etc,etc. După ședința de tragere era curățat și introdus la loc în ladă. Ăsta nu era un lucru neapărat rău!
1+1+1+6=9 😂 Other than you are so bad at Mathematics you don't know what you wrote (speak). Typical squad was 10 men. There were 9 men plus the Squad Leader!
wow, finally!
Actually, the Soviets were always jerks with the Romanians. They never forget that Romanians fought together with the Germans against USSR in WW2.
When Ceausescu came to power were already 20 years of cooperation between Romania and USSR where the norm would be that the cost for any technology was severely overpriced and documentation was commonly incomplete with a lot of delays.
During the 50's and 60's Romania start to purchase licenses from neutral countries (Switzerland, Sweden, Israel, etc) and they realized that it was actually OK (best models at the time). The first diesel-electric and electric locomotives came like this making the soviets really pissed off. They had their own models and hoped to suck more money and products from Romania. Brezhnev was really angry in his visit in Romania when was presented to him the model of the locomotives asking what is that joke and why Romania is purchasing technology from the capitalist scums.
The immediate effect was the delaying of the license for the T55 tanks. The only real T55 in Romanian Army are imported and all of the other tanks are locally made.
When Ceausescu came to the power, as the result of the non-participation in the invasion of Czechoslovakia, almost all of the licenses for weapons were stopped for transfer and so this is the reason why the Romanian version of the AK74 (PA Md. 1986) doesn't really follow the AK 74 and the PSL is not really a Dragunov. Also all of the modernizations of the PK machinegun had to be developed locally. So Romania is still producing a PKM very close to its designing roots.
Israel a neutral country?
I don't think so!
@@tiziogg6350 - In that time whas!
Lightspit and today in 2019 Russia is the biggest investor,beneficiary and exploiter of the resources in Romania they are in every sphere of the economy if you didn't know,not Germany nor France nor Austria.
True
man, who weren't jerks with us romanians, ya know?
7:55 sus on the scope got me : D
I used the PSL while in the Army in 1984-85, with the paratroopers. Good gun.
good gun in Romanian army!
@@iraklioniashvili44 It is exported though ...
I know there are a lot of things that are exported, especially from China, but it dose not mean its good! don't get me wrong I have nothing against psl, they are cool rifles, but they don't come close to svd by far!
@@iraklioniashvili44 no one said that. And it's a known fact that the svd is the superior amongst its class
@@iraklioniashvili44 The SVD is indeed somewhat better, but not that much better. Although it should be, given the price difference.
I find it adorable to hear you try speaking romanian (and btw, you did good)
I saw a couple of these in the Military Museum in Bucharest, and knew they were romanian made, but did not know they were completely different from the dragunov.
good news! now you have the chance to fire one if you join the new "national guard" sistem, where everyone ca volunteer to be a weekend warrior for a number of years.
Oh yah! Finally something from my country! :D
Edit: It's also funny to point out how the acronym "PSL" sounds like probably the coolest sounding acronym for a Romanian gun but has the simplest meaning. That being "Puşcă Semiautomată cu Lunetă" basically Semi-Automatic Rifle with a Scope. I wanted to point this out because I find it pretty amusing.
Alpha Mihai your country makes really good guns
Our weapons can't be considered "really good". More like decent guns.
Great for ya, then.
Rumanians make good mamaliga!
Mamaliga and beans =))
Can't have those persky bayonets on guns firing full size rifle ammo; what if the government want to do a cavalry charge on the citizenry and they can't form a pike line !?
Ill have to look at mine when I get home, but I can swear the bayonet lug is intact on mine.
I live in belgium and bought a russian SKS with integrated bayonet a few month ago, the delegated gun cop for my police zone couldn't even tell me if that was legal of not; man, I love living in a country where the government is too incompetant to opress you xD. (waiting for the new unelected EU council reforms tough -_-...)
Kozmik Cat Luckily even the U.S. allows for bayonets to be imported on the SKS because 1) no detachable magazine and 2) it is considered a historical firearm.
When dealing with cavalry you form square.
Well they wouldn't be able to do it anyways since Romania actually has the harshest gun laws in Europe..even stricter than in the UK,being the 3rd biggest weapon supplier yet the civilian population cannot own a gun or well it is almost impossible unless you're a politician.
I would really like to see a video about the WW2 era Romanian Orita M1941 submachine gun. They are extraordinarily rare.
I have one of these, I bought it almost 10 years ago. I love it, and it always gets looks at the range!
I can't look at PSLs anymore without remembering this one Brazilian gun magazine that had a front cover picture of a Dragunov, which made me interested. They said they researched the story and mechanics and shot it a bunch, so when I went to read the article, the author (and magazine editor, I believe) simply had gone to the US to fire a friend's gun collection and proudly claimed how the Dragunov was a stretched AK, showed pictures of it being disassembled, said how it was the top of the line Russian DMR...
The pictures of the gun inside the magazine weren't even from the same gun as the one in the front cover.
Depressing.
Legit one of my favorite DMR type rifles ever. Thank you Ian. This made my day.
PSL stands for : pușcă semiautomată cu lunetă that translates to scoped semiautomatic rifle...
am tras cu ea ha ha ha ce stiu astia
Hey, if Russia can be fucking straight forward with their rifle names, why can't we? Lol
The Cugir Factory is located in Alba Romania was founded in 1799, being one of the most important factories for the manufacture of weapons and ammunition.To 1989.After 1989 everything was overwhelmed, easily taken over by different companies so far ... but unfortunately it went bankrupt by the corrupt state in Romania. I would add a few models that were manufactured at Cugir, the Carpathian pistol from 1974, the MD.1995 pistol, the MD.2000 pistol ... PM MD1963, PA MD.1986, PM MD.1996, are just a few models that are not yet I've ever seen them on You tube ever !!
PM este Pușcă mitraliera și e model 1964, aia cubcracane și la care se poate pune tambur de 70/100 cartușe.
In 1963 a fost scos modelul Pm, adică pistol mitraliera 7,62 mm care e copie după AK 47.
In 1996 a fost scos AKM care are pat rabatabil, mâner la uluc și foc în serii scurte. Noroc
Served in the Romanian Army between 1986-1988. The PSL was deployed at the infantry squad level and it was a prized and sought position to have. I got to fire it extensively, and eventually got reprimanded by the firing range commander for shooting the night target's light bulbs (imitating enemy fire), which took time to replace during the shooting session, especially at night. The rifle shot straight and true, we had no problems doing head and torso shots (double taps) at 500-700 meters, even with the 4x scope. It was indeed, an AK on steroids.
5:50
Apparently the communists hated lefties too.
Id read someplace that the Romanians actually tried to get rid of left handedness. Even forcing school kids to write right handed. Probably a rumor though honestly.
In this case it just made sense to put the cheek rest for right handed shooters, since most people are right handed, and that scope really does sit kind of high on the rifle.
sparkplug1018 Romanian commies weren't the only ones against left-handeness.
Practically every country back then even Western ones both private and public policy were trying to eradicate left-handedness.
+Scott7891 Interesting, is heard about it in Romania before don’t think I’ve heard of it being more wide spread. Wonder what their reasoning was.
@@sparkplug1018 I am from Romania, and my teacher did force me to use my right hand when writing. I don't think it's a myth. Now when i play video games i have to use my right hand because of him, and my right hand is weaker so i have a disadvantage in games.
@@mihaialexandrupunei So did mine and up to this date I'm still considering that the left hand is the better one. BTW, I play videogames, guitar, etc with the right hand haha.
During my military service in 2003 I used it about four times... despite the fact it is a little bit noisy, it is a reliable rifle, very effective at 400 meters (~ 435 yards)!
I always enjoy your reviews, especially the historical context of the firearm. Thank you.
Zastava M76 is designed with the same idea, but in 7.9X57 Mauser. Yugoslavia and Romania cooperated much in 1970's, this well can be example of it.
Yugoslavia did help them build the PSL from what I've read. The m76 also came in 7.62x54
The cheek-rest is right-handed in part because Romania undertook a concerted effort during the Communist period to eradicate left-handedness. Schoolchildren were forced to write with their right hand, and conscripts had to learn to shoot right-handed.
US as well. My dad was born lefty, but was taught to go right. Much other right-handedness, besides.
Ouch! Not the only country where that happened, and not particularly related to communism, but an extremely shitty thing nonetheless. I wonder what was the (surely misguided) rationale...
The left handed eradication thing was directly related to the catholic church. In Latin, right and left are diestra and siniestra; left equating to sinister.
Nowadays it's still difficult to find a left handed mug!
I think it was a matter of communist conformity, among other things. Ceausescu's flavor of communism, National Communism, was closest to that of North Korea, doctrinally. Haircuts and dress were regulated heavily in both countries, and left-handedness was persecuted because it was out of the ordinary. Obviously, it was also viewed as a disability. Plus, the socialist ideal specified a populace engaged in industrial labor, and industrial machinery is often easier to operate if you're right-handed. Just my two cents.
One of the worst decisions I ever made back in 2003 was to sell my example of this rifle. It came with an 8 power version of the PSO. I sold it and kept the new Springfield Scout Rifle I had just gotten, which ended up habitually flinging it’s own extractor every hundred rounds. Incidentally, the Afghan National Army used quite a few of these, though they may now have been replaced by surplused M24s, which the ANA were receiving in numbers by 2011.
Sounds like you are using "hot loads" in your M1A.
@@tomt373 Standard factory ammo. The ball detent recess was incorrectly cast, as it turns out.
@@Ostenjager And, since Springfield offers a life-time warranty, and unlike a Soviet based manufacturer without an actual domestic office, I would understand Springfield Armory made it good if you had told them about it.
If you see my general comment about these Romanian bent-strap-iron contraptions below, you will see that in my opinion, that you are better off, especially if you have cycled over 1,000 rounds in your Springfield.
Imagine if you had the ejection problems I had, with random "stove-piping", and no sort of representative domestic technical support to offer to fix it.
With those Romanian clunkers, unlike Springfield Armory, all you get is the name of the importer who is usually a "shoe-string" operation that is always short-staffed, and avoids answering the phone unless it is a dealer placing big orders.
I stand behind my engineering evaluation of them and challenge ANYONE to subject the full receiver to a complete metallurgical/inspection after cycling at least 1,000 rounds.
This would involve both dye-penetration as well as X-Rays of all spot welds, as well as checking the bolt/barrel for head-space and the bolt-keeper's lugs and the receivers' channels for wear.
Then compare it to your Springfield's, and I think your eyes would be opened a bit wider. ;)
@@tomt373 I sold that hunk of $#!+ Springfield to some Lieutenant in IBOLC. The extractor issues didn't get ironed out for a while. I did, of course, send the M!A Scout back to SA, and they claimed to have fixed it, but at that point, I was already $100 in the hole in gunsmithing fees on it to begin with. My SA M1911 Loaded also gave me problems. It's a recurring theme with that company. No, I would much rather have held onto the anonymously built Romanian state arsenal built PSL, than anything made by SA. You can love on them all you like, but SA makes $#!+ products in a Brazilian factory, and demand top dollar for it.
forgot about the compression springs under the butt plate. the plate doesn't move unless the sling mount is removed and cleaned. it does take a small amount of recoil out of the rifle.
Great video and presentation. The PSL, the VEPR, and the Dragonov all shoot about the same MOA according to Tim at MAC. Since they all shoot the 54R cartridge, you get the same performance except for the shoot who can do their part to enhance it perhaps. Got love the combloc weapons only that many people don't take the time to learn and understand them to appreciate them.
Your pronunciation, was not bad, really, except "Ceaușescu" :) Great channel, thank you for your work and greetings from Romania !
I clicked the link to your website and got a 404 error, just a heads up. Nice rifle even if not something that is at the core of my interests, that's what makes forgotten weapons so great.
I love my PSL. Great video Ian!! I especially love it more with a KNS adjustable gas piston on it!
Thanks Ian. You are my drug almost every day. Your information is knowledge and the knowlegde is power...
Russia: well actually the SVD is nothing like an AKM, it uses a completely different caliber has much tighter grouped parts,etc.
Romania: ye mate it’s just a big fookin ak really innit?
About the purpose of this kind of gun, I read a book written by ex - mercenary on 90's Balkan wars.
He describes how he and his wingman got trapped by sniper or snipers behind a stone that was just large enough to hide them. Eventually they got away by crawling when darkness came. The minutes of angle did not matter much to the pair.
Fired this thing as a military, pretty good at 400 meters, miss those times. Also, we had PA md. 86 or AIMS-74 as the export name, those with the wired lateral folding stock, cal 5.45x39mm and the best part is that you could interrupt a 3 round burst after 1st or 2nd and reset from that point for the next burst.
Good pronunciation of Pușcă Semiautomatică Lunetă (psl)
Cugir is pronounced "cugeer" (as you would say "g")
Thanks for the great video (as usual)
I was at the range and someone a few lanes over had one of these. One of the range masters walked in and asked what he was shooting out of curiosity, the guy tried to pass it off as a real SVD Dragunov despite clearly being a PSL. All I could do was laugh.
Theres so many give aways for someone who knows what they are looking at, from the receiver to the mag. Always amuses me when someone tries to pass on off as an SVD. Even funnier is when someone tries to explain to me that I have an SVD and refuses to believe its not. As much as id like to own one of course.
I was trained to usepsl during my military service in the late 80'a . The precision in target shoting was excelent with iron sights. The scope was not very good because the young sodiers were not able to properly keep it in good condition.
A soldier from my company made some modification transforming the rifle into automatic one
Gun jesus bless us all for all the info and glory of your holy gun knowledge
DroehnIng why are also a believer of Gun Jesus too? do you have faith in him? Or are you a gun gentile?
marlangelXXVIII h
Ian. Excellent work yet again. I was always fascinated with this gun and the 7.62 x 54 R round it launches.
Standard rifle: kalashnikov
Squad support weapon: kalashnikov with bigger magazine
Marksman’s rifle: long kalashnikov
This scope is so simple. Just dial in the distance. Using other scopes is so difficult with those moa and milrad. Still haven't understood how to use a moa scope
Dragunov/PSL scopes are designed specifically for the 7.62x54R round so its drop is known over distance, so all it is is a bullet drop reticle.
its not difficult to use a mrad/MOA scope, lot of youtube videos out there
ForTehNguyen ive tried yt videos but since i dont have a rifle nor a scope ... i cant try it on my own
Shiladitya Talukder MOA is measured at 100yds. If you have a scope with 1/2 MOA adjustment and you are shooting 5 inches low, you go up 10 turns. That's about all I've figured out with MOA
The Ghost of the Flying Dutchman Clicks, not turns.
the alt-flight. My bad, wrong word choice.
actual military psls I've seen in Afghanistan rock the 3rd pin
They do, but only to act as a safety sear. Though it would be pretty fun to try a full-auto PSL.
Stronghold Armory having had an semiauto 8mm Mauser chambered rifle slam fire on me before, I will pass.
Yeah. The rifles imported into the US had to be on commercial 2 pin receivers from the factory.
Correct, the military variants had a 3rd pin for a safety sear, to keep the rifle from firing out of battery. This was omitted on the import version.
Nice to see Romak represented in your channel the most interesting sniper variant of the AK is the Iraqui version of the Zastava rifle. Chambered in 7.62x39mm it was basically an AkM with a longer heavier barrel. It was pretty accurate and cheap.
I really dig the hand guard on this thing. It’s a really nice cross between a standard AK guard and an SVD guard.
I used to have one of these but it was stolen from me. It was a fun rifle to shoot and it caught everyone's eye at the range.
Genuinely would rather own this than a Dragunov.
Much cooler, a bit more stout, better talking point!
I hate the chinese svd. It was great but sold it. Too expensive to keep. The psl more affordable to buy.
Nice work around Ian!
I bought one in a pub carpark in Australia, the bloke also had a SKS D. The SKS-D was a pleasure to fire and was the only SKS that had no problem's using a external magazine. Love both rifles!
Still got it?
I end up watching alot of your videos a while after they were posted. Could you update them after the auctions with the price they sold for during the auction? That would really make me happy
>PSL
>Loved it for years
>Best Romanian Freedom-Inducer™
Bought my PSL about a year ago, 79 Romarm/Cugir receiver, at a local gun shop, only surplus rifle in a batch of new AR/AK black rifles. Went back that next day and got it, Larry Vickers was there training a local police squad at the time I purchased it, took it home, at figured out my scope is ser. number 38, 1973 produced scope. Got remnants of infrared mounting points, but not existent on my example anymore. All since long gone, painted black, and is a first gen LPS scope. On a commercial rifle. Kind of the story of mine.
Thanks Ian for the content. I wake up every morning and look for a new video. Absolutely love all the content.
At one time in the early 2000s you could get one for $500, I should have bought 2.
It's only a matter of supply and demand. Most folks shoot crap ammo through them anyway. I'm gonna hold on to my Tigr and hope one day, someone will reproduce SVD.
I know I did! $499.95 all day.
how much does one cost today?
+George Enache Around $2,000, varies a bit each way
I sure did, everyone said I was a big ol dumbie lol
I love my PSL. I'll never get rid of it, no matter what life throws my way
At 8:00 you said it right the first time. When you add distance to that knob, the reticle drops, so you can adjust by raising the whole gun higher to aim, basic it make you aim higher so the bullet can drop on target.
I garage-built my PSL and a piece of advice for anyone building one of these (lawfully, within the United States): Make sure when you buy the parts kit, they didn't demill the bolt-hold open center support in half when they did the demill. That's the only difference between a military PSL and a kit build.
Also, I used an enlarged diameter (.314) barrel pin for increased barrel stability.
I've only heard about Dragunovs. I've never heard of the PSL's until now.
This is because you do not saw that rifle until now.
Ceausescu pronunciation = Tcheaushescu or Czeaushescu. CE = diftong pronounced as in italian/latin.
Cugir - gi is pronounced as in giratory, girafe.
I know, I know :) Not bringing value to the conversation. I'm putting this here just to help your confidence, you pronounced the names pretty well.
Use forvo.com if you want to actually hear the correct pronunciation.
@@camper1749 Hello.
I only hope that your reply is not addressed to me (I am Romanian).
The site is kind of nice, although on my computer it sounds really "metallic". The pronunciation was right, but sometimes "only" a word does not sound right (Ceausescu - very difficult pronunciation to be understood, but when it said "Nicolae Ceausescu" it was perfect. Except the metallic kind of sound :)
Adrian si eu sunt Roman, prefer sa scriu reply-urile in Engleza ca sa inteleaga si strainii.
Some pronunciations on forvo are worse than others because it is a volunteer site, you usually pick the one with the most up-votes.
Basically the same concept as the Yugoslav M76, didn't get a Dragunov so they made a bigger AK. Of course the Yugo one was in a different caliber and due to the stock and hand guards it didn't visually resemble a Dragunov as much as the PSL does.
Very good description. Greetings from Romania.
I hate it when u take apart a dirty gun at an auction. If I had one being sold at auction it would be cleaner than the day it was built
I love my PSL rifles
Shadowhunter985 ditto !
Hell yeah!
Two thumbs up Ian, Gladly would I give greater praise but that I possessed more thumbs. Thank you for remaking videos on on the weapons you have covered before. Each once seems to add more and cover details in ways that are different and with time seem to come across better. Not to mention they whole camera resolution increase over the years. I just hope you have a young adult latched on to you learning everything they can from you for the next several decades, your knowledge wealth is very impressive and most likely drop tid bits of information that someone apprenticing under you would learn and pass on that trivia.
A little bit of correction.
ROMARM was the society that was making the guns (or the factory, as you named it). Cugir was the location.
Other than that, great video, big up :D
Congrats on pronouncing the name of the gun very close to the original! Pușcă Semiautomată cu Lunetă indeed...
As a Romanian, I am proud of my country’s weapons
too bad you can't own one
@@growndown3358 we don't need one, we don't have a 13% of the population doing 56% of the crimes over here.
@@GrumpyGamer11 neither do the Swiss, Germans, Finns or any other Scandinavian countries, yet they have the highest gun ownership rates in Europe.
Love those LPS scopes. I have one on my AK I got for like $100 way back when. The offset is kind of a pain in the ass, but then you've got thirty rounds on tap so you just observe your fall of shot and hold left however much you need to.
Hey finally a gun I own! I LOVE this rifle! With the right ammo it shoots dead on. Has some feed issues, but I think that’s due to my miss matched mags. It’s super fun to shoot. I want to get a 3-9x scope to replace the 4x I have.
It must drive "real" Dragunov owners nuts that this thing exists....
I am little bit worried since i haven't seen a comment here from Laird Cummings for a long time.
I was watching a few older Forgotten Weapons videos earlier today, and I noticed comments apparently replying to him, with his own comment missing. I can only assume he deleted (?) his account.
I really hope he's OK. It's nice seeing regular commenters...
I really love how the grip, magazine and end of the barrel all line up flush with the table in the last shot.
These all had to be remanufactured on new receivers as the full auto sear position was used for an out of battery safety sear. Many parts kit came in and the Tennessee Guns FPK was the least desirable due to being a U.S. kit build of variable quality. Early guns had the receivers welded over the pin hole which had them recalled by the ATF as machine gun receivers although they were never made as such.
So, as far as I know the Dragunov and its chinese counterpart has a milled receiver, the Romanian PSL appears to have a stamped one, Is this right or am I seeing thigs?
ArthurAlcantara the dragunov is a milled receiver. The psl is just a stretched out rpk in a bigger caliber. So yeah, stamped.
i think of it like this. the psl is a stretched out ak. where as the dragunov is a stretched out sks
Those Chinese guns are bad ass but not a PSL.
The SVD is overall not that similar to the SKS, but the SVD does have a spring-loaded gas piston design that is somewhat similar to the SKS. The SVD was more of an attempt to take the basic design principles of the AK operating mechanism (reciprocating carrier, gas-operated, rotating bolt, and similar manual of arms), but adapt them to a larger cartridge, and eliminate some of the problems of the AK design that affected mechanical accuracy. Some of the key design changes included a milled receiver, elimination of the fixed long-stroke piston of the AK bolt carrier in exchange for a spring-loaded short-stroke piston, and a partially free-floating gas system and barrel.
Many people often compare the SIG 55x series to teh AK - the SIG rifles are actually more closely patterned after the internals of the SVD, but still obviously rooted in the basic operating principals of the AK, just like the SVD is.
yeah the PSL is stamped
Plz make video on difference between'DMR&SNIPER rifle' topic thanks...
I have one from the military stock. One funny feature, which I think Ian forgot to mention. The spring loaded shoulder plate on the stock, which works as a recoil buffer.
It really isn't supper accurate with the ammo I have managed to find, but it is one interesting rifle. Some say it doesn't like large amounts of heavier, over 150gr, bullets due to riveted part on the back of the receiver.
Not sure about wear and tear on the rifle, but I can confirm it does not like the heavy ammo at all. With the 148gr silver tip ammo mine is pretty accurate, about 2-3 inch groups at 100 yards. With the 182gr yellow tip ammo the rounds are all over the place. They don't stabilize very well in the PSL, my Mosin loves them though.
sparkplug1018 i will have to find those bullets. I have done some experiments with PPU .303 (.311)150gr FMJBT, but it seems that they have pretty noticable quality variation. From factory ammo, I have gotten best accuracy from Sako Range 8g (124gr) FMJ. It is just bit too light for longer range purposes.
+jpenna1976 Unfortunately finding that surplus ammo these days is getting really hard, but best of luck.
Do not shoot 180-200 grain loads designed for bolt guns. 147 grain or so.
had a buddy who had a dragonov that he got for 400$ people kept thinking he just had a psl due to price. so he wound up having it looked at to see if it was a hot gun. turns out the seller didnt have a clue what they had
Anyone else remember when these used to be cheap?
Ya I'm one of the lucky ones!! 550$ with scope, 5 mags, and 440 rounds of ammo
I was broke at that time. I could afford one now, but don't want one enough to pay what they're currently going for. They were exported to other countries. I wonder if one could be imported for personal use with a form 6?
Big Herm i bought 2 at about a grand a piece and still feel lucky. i see people in my area asking 1500-1700
Elijah Decker no because those rifles would have the third pinhole you would have to cut the receiver up and bring it in as a parts kit
Big Herm I remember them being 600-650.00 at one time. I regret not buying one!
Do the Zastava M70!
Matt Chan my. Favorite of the bunch.
you think sniper M76 ?
Matt Chan I was missing references to the M76 as well as to the Torbuk, since both are Dragunov look-alikes
Max K. Both the M-76 and the Tabuk are AK variants.
winkleried I know, they both, just like this gun, fill the role of the Dragunov and look like one, but actually are upscaled AKs
I love my PSL!!! The added touch of the spring-loaded buttstock is super nice. I even have an original IOR Valdada scope made for it in the 70's. Recoil is surprisingly light and follow up shots are close even without a bipod!
I have an imported SSG-97 Romy PSL (no kit gun) that I paid $600 for back in 2004 came with 5 mags, mag pouch and a Belarus 6x42 battery illuminated scope with sun shade. I also bought a whole case 800 rounds of 7N1 sniper ammo with it for another $150. Those where some good gun buying days around then.
Last time I was this early I was in boot camp
this one was my gun in the army , i was the platoon sniper
Mr.Nobody It is a nice rifle. There is a PSL lovers FB page. I know there are some folks like me thT would love to talk to you over there about it.
Out of curiosity, how were you selected & trained for that role ?
me to, in yugoslav army in 1988 yr. every infatery sqoud( 6 people ) have one sniper man.
in a regular army we first have shooting on range with ak47 ( zastava M70 rifle ) than thay look scores and how to prone and handle with rifle.also thay look to be smart somekinde. i disamble-asamble my M76 for 45 sec. :) .. that was 1989 yr.
I prefer the PSL to the SVD, does the same job and is cheaper and easier to buy. A nice rifle either way!
Thanks for sharing!
On the topic of bolt hold open:
The first iteration of Yugoslavian AK's included a bolt hold open feature. This was done away with fairly quickly, in favor of bolt stop magazines instead of an internal mechanism.
They could have easily gone with a flat black paintjob on the scope, but instead they go for a slivery hammer-textured powdercoat finish.
I love it