Reprinted with permission from:

SV-98:
A New Sniper Rifle from Russia

In one of my recent meetings with the Cossacks of the River Terek Troops, who had just returned after completing their mission on the borderline with Chechnya, their sniper told me that he would prefer to have a true sharp rather than SVD. With such a statement he easily got my attention.
Pavel, the sniper, aged hardly over 30, said he had been in action in various parts of the world, including Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, Moldova, and now he is fighting on the side of the Cossacks.
"SVD is a fine and a very accurate weapon. I was able to extensively and successfully use the Dragunov in Afganistan. I found it a good small arm in the operations of fire support at advanced ranges. It worked OK under various tactical and environmental conditions. But to do an accurate and a quiet job, I would rather have a bolt action rifle." About a week after, I presented a substantial technical report to Nikolay Bezborodov - my colleague and a friend, chief of the Arms R&D center of the IZHMASH OJSC.
When we came to the point of discussing a new sniper rifle, he called for Vladimir Stronskiy, one of the engineers at the designing bureau. I knew Vladimir as an expert in creating accurate and sophisticated target rifles. German sportsmen know him by the Record-1-308 target rifle, which is distributed by Frankonia Jagd.
This time he was commissioned to develop a sniper rifle.
In less than one month (!) I was invited to Bezborodovs office. Opening the door, I saw Stronsky hold a gun, that resembled Record-1-308. Having a closer look at the newly made weapon, I was able to notice the constructional features that unmistakingly revealed an interesting military tool. It was SV-98: Snaiperskaya Vintovka (sniper rifle), model 1998.

For experimental purposes the stock is made from laminated plywood.

SV-98.

On special order the stock can be molded from glassfibre-reinforced polyamide. The foregrip (handguard) has two slot-type ventilation openings. The pistol grip is checkered. The buttstock features fully adjustable cheek piece and buttplate - a very important factor for ergonomical convenience of a shooter.
The barrel and chamber are made from a solid blank by cold hammering. After forging, the bore is honed. Both the bore and chamber are not crome lined. The muzzle is equipped with the flash suppressor, typical for the AK family of machineguns, known for their efficiency.
The barrel is connected to the rectangular receiver by means of four pins. The barrel-receiver assembly is fixed to the stock bedding with two bolts. The barrel is free-floating.
The rotary bolt has three identical and strictly symmetrical lugs.
The base of the front sight is original, but the sight itself and the hood, along with rear sight assembly, are derived from the SVD construction. In contrast to issue SVD and SVDS rifles, SV-98 has a different scope mounting mechanism. Traditionally, both Mosin and SVD always had a base plate on the left side of receiver. The bracket-type scope mounting system attached to the base plate holds a scope above the central axis of receiver. The forged and machined rectangular receiver of the SV-98 rifle has a dove-tail device. Another difference is that SV-98 is equipped with a new stronger PKS-07 optic scope, with magnification factor of x7, which indicates that the rifle is intended for operations at greater ranges than SVD. Operated at shorter ranges with open iron sights, SV-98 can be equipped with an anti-glare strip. The weapon also has a canvas carrying sling.

SV-98.

The flip-up safety knob is located on the right side of receiver, just behind the bolt.
The trigger mechanism of sporting type is sensitive enough and can be individually adjusted to snipers liking.

SV-98 is available in two chamberings: 7.62 x 54R and .308 Winchester. In the near future it will be made in .338 LAPUA Magnum.
The telescopic bipod is attached to the front bottom end of the hand guard, the element that is not provided by the standard Dragunovs SVD.

Technical Specifications Caliber, mm: 7.62 Overall length, mm: 1270 Length of barrel, mm: 650 Riflings: 4 RH grooves of one turn in 320 mm Trigger pull, adjustable, kgf: 1.5 to 2.0 Feed: box-type, detachable, 10-rd magazine Operational rate of fire, rpm: 10 Weight, empty and without scope, kg: 6.2 Variable of buttstock length adjustment, mm: 20 Variable of cheek-piece adjustment, mm: - vertical - horisontal + 9 / - 6 + 4 Variable of buttplate adjustment, mm: - up & down, from neutral position - left to right, from neutral position 30 7