Guns Magazine exclusive: the SV98 testing Russia's latest sniper rifle; our precision-rifle editor travels half-way around the world to inspect Russia's latest

Guns Magazine, Dec, 2002 by David M. Fortier

Recovering from recoil, I automatically worked the rifle's bolt and then peered through the 7x scope. The first four rounds were clustered nicely in one small hole. Now the pressure was on not to blow it with the last shot. Settling down again, I placed the scope's aiming dot over the group and took a couple of deep breaths.

Unfortunately, the aiming dot was substantially larger than the group, which was my aiming point. Ignoring this minor inconvenience, I slowly exhaled and relaxed as I gradually took up slack on the trigger.

The rifle let out a muffled report through its suppressor. I had fudged the last shot a little and knew it. Opening the bolt sent a 7N14 sniper empty spinning into the air and then stood up and wiped the dust from my dress pants. One of the Russians demonstrating the rifle to us was eager to go and check the target so we took a 100-meter walk.

Despite pulling the last shot, I had still plunked five rounds into 5/8 inch. Looking at the target, my Russian host smiled broadly and congratulated me on my fine shooting. While it was a good group, I could tell that the rifle would shoot into less than 1/2 inch. While my shooting performance was okay, the rifle itself was impressively accurate.

Lure Of Racy Rifles

Everyone has weaknesses. Mine is sniper rifles. There's just something about a precision rifle designed and intended for the ultimate hunt. On this day my weakness had brought me and two others half-way around the world to a small shooting range in Izhevsk, Russia. Our desire? To have a first hand look at something out of the ordinary for the Russians to be producing, their new SV-98 bolt-action sniper rifle.

Our small team consisted of Marc Krebs, Mark Vorobiev, and your humble yarn spinner. We each brought a needed skill to the team. Krebs is a nationally recognized gunsmith known for building IPSC pistols as well as custom Kalashnikovs. He brought a gunsmith's experience to our team. Vorobiev was born in Russia and served during the 1980s in the Soviet Army as a sniper.

He brought the insight of having "been and done" to our team, as well as serving as guide and translator. Me? I reckon I know a thing or two about sniper rifles in general, and Russian equipment in particular. So with this experience the three of us felt we could bring back a valuable first look at Russia's new SV-98.

Epic Journey

Our journey was no short one though. I flew from Bangor, Maine, to New York, where I met Krebs. Then we flew to Moscow, where we linked up with Vorobiev. From Moscow, with the help of Eric Mustafin who made our arrangements and carted us around in his trusty Lada, we flew to Izhevsk. Located in the Udmurt Republic, Izhevsk is approximately 1,200 kilometers east of Moscow on the European side of the Western Urals. With a population of over 700,000, it's the capital of this Russian province that numbers approximately 1 .5 million. It's also the home to Russia's most respected arms factory, Izhmash.

Originally founded in 1807 to provide weapons to the Imperial Russian Army to fight Napoleon, it has since played a major role in the defense of Russia. Readers of GUNS Magazine know Izhmash for its Kalashnikov assault rifles and Dragunov sniper rifles, but the plant produces much more than that. in addition to a wide array of military weapons, they also produce sporting and competition rifles as well. And it is on one of their competition rifles that the new SV-98 is based.

We arrived in Izhevsk in a sad state of affairs after spending the previous night up-late celebrating with a Russian SPETsNAZ unit. Still a little green around the gills, we were met by Ahat Khisamutdinov, the personal photographer of Mikhail Kalashnikov, and Andrei Vishnyakov, the Head of Public Relations for Izhmash International Trading Center Ltd.

These two men would spend the next few days going out of their way showing us this fascinating city, taking us to numerous gunshops, and putting up with innumerable questions. With their help, we were able to meet with the General Director of Izhmash, Alexander G. Likhachev.

Likhachev, upon hearing of our desire to test the SV-98, not only granted us permission, but also arranged for its designer, Vladimir Stronskiy, to be there as well. Within a few hours of our meeting we were pulling into a shooting range where a small group awaited us. Among them was Stronskiy, and his SV-98.

Bucking The Trend

Why was I so interested in testing the SV-98? Well, I suppose the main reason is that it's a complete departure from the norm for the Russians. Experience garnered during WWIJ led them to believe that for their purposes a self-loading sniper rifle was preferred over a bolt gun. So while the Mosin-Nagant can be a fantastically accurate rifle (it has after all won Olympic Gold), their needs led to the development and adoption of the semi-auto SVD Dragunov.

Since the adoption of the SVD in 1963 the Russians have not looked back. Whereas the Kalashnikov has been continually "modernized" -- from the AK-47, to AKM, to AK-74, to its current incarnation as the AK-74M -- the SVD has remained basically the same. Other than the adoption of the current synthetic furniture and an improved 7.62x54R sniper load, the SVD remains pretty much unchanged.