Talk:Dragunov

Move the article to SVD rifle and make Dragunov a disambiguation

I propose that the article be moved to the page 'SVD rifle' and this page ('Dragunov') be made a disambiguation page. The SVD is only really known as the 'Dragunov' in American gun hobbyist circles, and being the designer's (and a few other person's as well) last name, I feel that this move is justified. Unless anyone comes up with a compelling reason not to, I will do this move sometime next week.

Moonshiner 04:47, 27 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Some sort of video

There's an amazing video here of an American medic getting hit by a Dragunov in Iraq. He gets knocked off his feet, gets back up, locates the sniper, calls for support, and later applies first aid to the man who shot him. His body armor stopped the round from penetrating and left only a bruise. I don't know if this is something that should be linked to in the article, but it's certainly interesting stuff.--Daveswagon 04:34, 18 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Resemblence to AK

It's piqued my curiousity and before I do any research I was wondering if there was a reason why this article was changed from reading along the lines 'the Dragunov is based on the AK' to 'the Dragunov resembles the AK but has different internals'. It seems the article is a little confusing since it states that the action on the Dragunov is the same as that on the AK. I know it's chambered for a different round but it sounds an awful lot like Dragunov took the AK design, rechambered it, gave it a different barrel, and called it good. Sounds like basing it on the AK to me.

I guess the question is this: what are the drastic differences between the two that justifies the statment that the two weapons have little in common?
Zytsef 09:16, 7 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The most common parts between the AK and the SVD are the receiver (both have stamped steel ones of the same general shape) and the safety selector (the position and operation of both are rather similar). The action of the SVD is based on a short-stroke gas piston (the AK has a gas piston with a long stroke and it is permanently attached to the bolt carrier, unlike the SVD) and has a completely different trigger assembly and sear. The AK and SVD have about as much in common as any two self-loading rifles with a gas piston mechanism.

Moonshiner 04:39, 27 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I see, thanks for the correction. Zytsef 22:53, 27 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]