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In Fiction[]

Appearance[]

PSL is very similar in appearance to SVD, which is due to the outward similarities between the Romanian PSL DMR and the SVD DMR rifle. She is tall, and slender but not as slender as SVD due to her receiver being based on an elongated RPK receiver[1] . This also means that her chest is larger than SVD's. The final difference between the two is that PSL's tail is shorter that SVD's.

Personality[]

Haughty and with something to prove, PSL is quick to point out anything that she does as superior and worthy of notice. Constantly living under SVD's shadow, anytime SVD is brought up in the conversation she becomes upset and defensive. This brings her to use every merit she has accomplished for Red Steel as a talking point to prove why she is better than SVD and should be looked up to more. This inferiority complex has led her to have bad relations with other members of Red Steel as she sees them as nothing more than pawns to use to gain more notoriety so she can finally take her place as the star marksman's rifle of Red Steel.

Reality[]

History[]

Design and Prototypes[]

While the Soviet Union had developed the SVD in 1963 and had set up tooling to produce this designated marksman rifle within the U.S.S.R., it had not moved this tooling out to the satellite states of the Warsaw Pact nations by the time of the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. Romania was one of the most vocal opponents of this invasion against Czechoslovakia by the Warsaw Pact and was subsequently punished by the Soviets, the latter not providing Romania with the tooling for the new SVD rifles.[2]

Without the tooling for the SVD Romania was left to design and field their own DMR to fill the void in their squads to meet to Warsaw Pact doctrine. Luckily for Romania, they already have the tooling from the Soviets for the AKM series of rifles. Working with this tooling Uzina Mecanica Cugir and the Directia Tehnica a Armatei began a joint venture to provide a DMR with performance similar to the SVD while having the familiarity of the AKM for the soldiers and being able to be made with the same tooling they already had.

Many trials were carried out from early 1970 to 1974 with consultation from Zastava Engineers brought in from Yugoslavia, and for a while it looked as though the Yugoslavian military might adopt what became the PSL rifle as their DMR as well but their large stockpiles of 7.92x57mm led them to instead develop the M1976.[3]

By 1974 what was to be the Romanian Puşcă Semiautomată cu Lunetă model 1974, or PSL rifle was finalized and brought into service.

Implementation[]

After the finalization of the PSL in 1974, it was brought into service quickly and produced in large numbers not just for the Romanian military but so that the Romanian factories could sell it worldwide. With its simplicity and low cost in comparison to the SVD, the PSL became a very popular choice for countries that did not get tooling or weapons from the Soviet Union or the United States. This has led to the PSL being in armies in Africa, the Middle East, South East Asia, Central America, and Eastern Europe.

Variants[]

While there were no military variants of the PSL, there were two variants for importation of the PSL rifle from Century that are very rare. The first is a PSL in 7.62x51mm caliber instead of 7.62x54R like a standard PSL. Beyond the caliber change there were no other alterations to the rifle. [1]

Another variant was a short barreled version of the PSL labeled as "paratrooper" but this was never in military service and was branded paratrooper as a marketing push. These had 16" barrels instead of the normal 24.4" barrels, but were the same in all other aspects. [3]

Performance[]

For the role that it was designed for, the PSL performs remarkably well. Being that the internals of the rifle were designed around the RPK stamped receiver that was reinforced for the 7.62x54R, reliability is a strong suit for the PSL giving it a reputation for ruggedness that is shared with the AKM. As far as accuracy goes, the PSL sits around 2 MOA and while not accurate as a designated sniper rifle, it is accurate enough to satisfy its marksman role for a squad support weapon[4].

Although the optics originally had tritium to use for low light and night shooting, most of the rifles have lost any glow as they have been in service for more than 30 years.[4] Something different with the PSL is the last round bolt hold open. This is a small tab that comes up and prevents the bolt from going home on an empty magazine. Inserting a new magazine and racking back the slide will chamber a new round. These small tabs are known to be flimsy and are prone to breaking though[4].

There is also some unsupported rumors that using hotter loads in a PSL will crack the receiver or damage other parts of the rifle. There is not wide spread sourcing for this and is mostly anecdotal but would warrant further investigation to see if this was an actual issue.

Overall, the PSL is known as a reliable, and rugged performer that is inexpensive for armies to purchase that is easy for troops to use, due to the internal similarity to the AKM, with enough accuracy to complete its assigned role.

Users[]

  • Afghanistan
  • Azerbaijan
  • Bangladesh
  • Congo-Kinshasa
  • Eritrea [5]
  • Ethiopia
  • Iraq [6]
  • Moldova
  • Nicaragua
  • Pakistan
  • Romania
  • Somalia
  • Ukraine
  • Vietnam

Availability[]

In the United States, PSL rifles are not currently being imported but can be found on the second hand market for around 1400 USD at the time of writing. However there is good news, Century Arms is going to being importing more PSL rifles by the end of the year from the ROMARM factory[7], although these will be more expensive than the previous imports.

For Canada, these rifles are considered "AK Variants" and are therefore prohibited from purchase without a special license.

Upotte!! by Kitsune Tennouji
Seishou Academy Battle Rifles

M14 - FN FAL L1A1 - HK G3A3 - AR10 - LF 59

Assault Rifles

FN FNC - Colt M16A4 - Colt M4A1 - SIG SG550 - L85A1 - Armalite AR18 - IMI Galil AR - SAKO RK 95 TP - HK HK33E - Steyr AUG - T91 - CETME Modelo L - FARA 83 - FN CAL - HK G41 - HK G36 - SAR-21 - Tavor - SR 88A

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Benelli M3

Sub machine guns

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Staff

Modern Lit - M1928 Thompson - FG 42 - Springfield - M1 Garand - MP40 - Mle.1949 - SIG Sk46 - M3 submachine gun - M1941 Johnson - Suomi M1926 - Armaguerra OG44 - Springfield - Professor

Akaganekou Battle Rifles / DMR /Other

SVD - PSL - RPK - Saiga 12K - Vintorez VSS - PKM

Assault Rifles

AK-74 - AK47 - AKM - AKS-74U - AN-94 - HK32 - Kbk wz.88 Tantal - M70 B1 - Maadi Misr - vz. 58 - SKS - Type 63 - Type 86S - AMD-65 - Pm. 63 - AEK-971

Sub machine guns

PP-19 Bizon

Other

Howa Type 64 - Howa Type 89 - Curly - Beretta BM59 - Beretta SC70/90 - Benelli M4 - Fanchi SPAS12 - FAMAS - FN FAL - Type 10 - Leopard 2 - Beretta ARX 160 - "Bakemono"

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