SVU

   The SVU tactical rifle was was developed in the late 1970s. The main goal was to develop a compact sniper rifle for the Soviet airborne troops. In the early 1990s this rifle was proposed for the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs as a weapon for urban operations. It was adopted in 1994 and production commenced in the mid 1990s. However this weapon was manufactured only in small numbers. Currently the SVU is in service with the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs.

   The SVU is a gas operated, semi-automatic rifle with bullpup layout. Generally it is a bullpup conversion of the SVD, with a shorter barrel. The SVU is chambered for the Soviet 7.62 x 54 rimmed round. It is inferior in terms of performance to most Western sniper rifles. Effective range of the SVU is only about 400 m. It is believed that on short and medium ranges it is on par with the SVD rifle.

   First versions of this tactical rifle had wooden housing, however later models had a polymer housing.

   This rifle is fed from the standard SVD detachable box-type magazines, holding 10 rounds. A 20- and 30-round magazines have been developed, however these are not commonly used.

   The SVU is usually fitted with the PSO-1 4x magnification scope, mounted on the standard side rail. This weapon is also compatible with other Russian scopes or night sights. It also has backup iron sights, that have are normally folded and have to be raised to working position. The rear sight is of diopter type.

   This marksman rifle comes with integral flash hider, which also acts as a muzzle brake. Later versions were produced with integral bipod.

Variants

   SVU-A a baseline selective fire version, capable of fully automatic fire. This version was developed in the early 1990s. Selection of the mode is done by the pull on the trigger. Short pull produces single shots, and long pull produces automatic fire. However small magazine capacity limits automatic fire capabilities of this weapon. It has an integral bipod, mounted on the receiver;

   SVU-AS selective fire version, capable of fully automatic fire. It has an integral bipod, attached to a special rod.