PSL

Description

The PSL (Puşcă Semiautomată Lunetă) is a Romanian sniper rifle that is visually near identical to the Soviet SVD Dragunov, however mechanically it is has far more in common with a Kalashnikov RPK.

It was common practice for allies of the old Soviet Union to create their own licensed copies of Soviet weapons, whilst simultaneously enhancing/modifying the designs. However Romania’s relationship with the Soviet Union declined after Romania opposed their 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia, as a result the Soviets refused to allow them to copy the Dragunov and withheld its design specifications.

Much like the Yugoslavian M76, the Romanians instead opted to base their sniper rifle design on the AKM/RPK, weapons which they already held the technical specifications for.

The PSL utilizes the same high powered 7.62×54mm round as the Dragunov and uses a visually different 10 round box magazine, which for strengthening purposes features a large ‘X’ machine pressed into its sides, as opposed to the SVD’s cross-hatched design.

The PSL’s ‘TIP2’ optical sight closely resembles others that were manufactured by various Warsaw Pact countries. However, although very much behind the Iron Curtain of the East, somehow they were able to source the internal optics from West German Carl Zeiss.