Romanian PSL sniper rifles

Hi again, everybody. In my next work of Foreign Kalashnikovs we will return for the third time to Romania to show you these sniper rifles which, from 1974 to today, together with Soviet Dragunov rifles, are the standard sniper weapons of the Romanian armed forces and from many other countries in the world, including numerous combatants from all sides in the civil wars in Yemen, Syria, Libya, Ukraine, and Somalia. Well, today I will show you the semi-automatic sniper rifles Puşcă Semiautomată cu Lunetă model 1974, whose name means "semi-automatic rifle with telescopic sight model 1974" in Romanian and usually known by its acronym PSL. There are numerous hunting versions of the Romanian PSL sniper rifle named PSL-54C, Romak III, FPK, FPK Dragunov and SSG-97, (scharfschutzengewehr - 1997, German sniper rifle 1997) which are created for the civil market. This sniper weapon first manufactured in the former Romanian Socialist Republic in 1974 and by the local arms manufacturer Fabrica de Arme Cugir SA, bears a strong resemblance to the Soviet Dragunov semi-automatic sniper rifle. But like the Yugoslav Zastava M76 and Zastava M91 sniper rifles, the Romanian PSL rifle is also based on a Soviet Kalashnikov assault rifle, whose receiver and other parts were redesigned and modified so that the PSL rifle is converted. into a sniper gun. In this case, the PSL sniper rifle was recalibrated to fire the Soviet 7'62 x 54R cartridge, the same ammunition that fires the Dragunov sniper rifle and the Soviet PKM general purpose machine gun. According to numerous sources specializing in the PSL rifle, said Romanian weapon is based on the Soviet RPKM light machine gun, which is the light machine gun version of the Soviet AKM assault rifle. The story about its origin arose as follows: When the Warsaw Pact was created in 1955, the former Soviet Union manufactured and exported all kinds of weapons and ammunition to all the communist countries that were members of said international organization, among which was the former Socialist Republic of Romania. When the Romanian government refused to participate in the Invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Warsaw Pact in 1968, the Soviet Union stopped exporting weapons and ammunition to Romania, including the very famous Dragunov semiautomatic sniper rifles. For this reason, Romanian arms manufacturing companies had to develop numerous weapons independently and that were inspired or even based on Soviet weapons, as would be the case with the Puşcă Automată model 1986 assault rifle. And thus the sniper rifle was created Puşcă Semiautomată cu Lunetă model 1974 semi-automatic, a weapon that, despite having a design and mechanism very different from that of the Soviet SVD Dragunov rifle, has the same technical sheet as its Russian counterpart. Despite the numerous mechanical aesthetic differences that exist between the Romanian PSL rifle and the Soviet Dragunov, both sniper rifles have the same caliber and fire the same ammunition, the 7'62 x 54R cartridge. Both rifles have an effective range of 800 meters and are about the same cost. This is why Romanian PSL sniper rifles, like Soviet Dragunov rifles, are quite common to see and use in many countries around the world, including the secretive nation of North Korea. The telescopic sight currently used by the PSL rifle is called the LPS-4x6º TIP-2, it is normally manufactured by the Romanian company IOR (Întreprinderea Optică Română; Romanian Optical Company) and, as is the case with the telescopic sight of the Zastava rifle Yugoslav M76, said Romanian sight is adjustable and allows the user to aim with it at distances of up to 1,000 meters, that is, a kilometer away. Along with the Russian Dragunov rifles, numerous Romanian PSL sniper rifles have been seen used by combatants from all sides faced in the Syrian Civil War, as well as numerous PSL rifles used by snipers of the Ukrainian government forces fighting in the Second Battle of Donetsk Airport, which occurred during the Ukrainian Civil War, commonly known as the War in Donbas or the War in Eastern Ukraine. Numerous Romanian PSL sniper rifles have also been seen used by combatants from all sides in the Libyan Civil War, which at the beginning of the conflict were used by Libyan rebel troops who fought against the forces of the Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. I hope you like my new work and, as I always say, another cordial greeting. Until next time!