More recently, it was reported that Izhmash has updated one of its sniper rifles, namely the SV-98. Since our army has always felt a lack of "bolts", and of a sufficiently high quality, I think it is worth writing about this, though not very widespread, but existing weapon, which, moreover, has been updated. Looking ahead, I would like to separately note that the rifle in both the previous version and the current one is positioned as high-precision, which is not without a grain of truth. Of course, it cannot be compared with individual samples, but the price of the weapon compares very well.
The SV-98 sniper rifle was created on the basis of the Record-CISM sports rifle, but the weapon can be considered actually created from scratch, since no less labor was invested in it than when creating a completely new model. The weapon was developed under the leadership of Vladimir Stronsky, as a rifle superior in accuracy to the widespread SVD, which was generally not a difficult task, provided that the SVD was self-loading, and the SV-98 was a "bolt". The weapon is available in two versions, chambered for 7, 62x54R and.308 Win, according to the manufacturer, the accuracy of the rifle itself allows you to fire with an accuracy of 0.5 MOA, but this is subject to the use of ideal ammunition, which always causes problems.
The rifle itself is a simple magazine bolt. The appearance of the weapon is not the same as that of most modern models, and reminds of the sporting roots of the rifle, but this does not negatively affect the ease of use, rather the opposite. The SV-98 stock has the ability to adjust its length, as well as the height of the cheek rest. The magazine is inserted into a receiver cut in the rifle stock, while only a small part of it protrudes outward, due to which it seems that the magazine is located at a sufficiently large angle in relation to the barrel of the weapon. The weapon is equipped with folding, height-adjustable bipods, in addition to them, another, third, can be located under the butt. To carry the weapon on its right side, a handle can be installed, brought up, or a regular belt can be used.
Separately, it should be said about the rifle barrel. It is made using cold forging technology, the bore of the weapon is not chrome plated. Free-hanging barrel, does not touch the weapon anywhere, except for the junction with the receiver. A flame arrester, a silent firing device can be installed on the muzzle, or a bushing can be simply screwed on. Interestingly, a lot of where it is said that supposedly this bushing creates some kind of resistance at the muzzle, which increases the accuracy of fire. It seems to me that the accuracy of fire increases due to the fact that the flash suppressor does not exert its negative influence on the bullet, and not due to the fact that the muzzle is deformed or some kind of "stress" is created. This is confirmed by the fact that when using the PBS, which, by the way, is included in the initial set of weapons, the accuracy is higher than when using a flame arrester. Accordingly, we can conclude that the rifle's flame arrester is not the most successful design.
The mass of the weapon without an optical sight and ammunition is 5.5 kilograms. Stores are double-row, with a capacity of 10 rounds. The length of the weapon is 1270 millimeters, with a barrel length of 650 millimeters. The manufacturer himself claims the maximum effective range of fire at a distance of up to 1000 meters, but then everything depends on the ammunition. The weapon has open sights, and the adjustable rear sight can be adjusted in increments of 100 meters up to a distance of 600 meters.
In general, the weapon was initially good, let's see what has changed in it. And not so much has changed in the rifle. First of all, they added new mounting strips for additional devices. Added a normal pistol grip, and accordingly changed the butt. The flame arrester was improved, as well as the silent firing device, but no one touched the base of the weapon, it remained completely the same as it was
It seems to me that all these changes were aimed only at making the SV-98 rifle competitive in the foreign market, that is, weapons are actively being prepared for export, which is a little sad. I am more than sure that if the need for modernization of weapons were dictated by the domestic consumer, then it would have been made at best in 5-10 years, after the requirements were formulated. In the army, this weapon has not been widespread and will not be. For themselves, "staked out" SV-98 FSB, the Ministry of Justice and so on, but such an addition would perfectly fit the already proven SVD.
