The Russian PSO-1M2 scope. This is the standard scope which came on the Izhmash Tigr rifles imported to the U.S.

The PSO-1M2 is manufactured in Russia by Novosibirsk instrument-making factory (NPZ) and is current military issue for the Russian military. NPZ PSO scopes with illuminated reticles are made from magnesium alloy and come with fully multicoated optics. Considered the higher end of military side mount scopes, the quality is a step up from other PSO-style scopes. It was specially designed for the SVD as a precision scope for sniper activities. The PSO-1 features a red illuminated reticle with light provided by a simple diode. It features professionally ground, crystal clear optics, nitrogen filling to prevent lens fogging, a baked enamel finish for scratch protection, and an attached, quick-deploy, extendable sunshade.

The scope mount is adjustable for tension on the rifle's rail. There is a castle nut that screws into the bottom of the locking lever. Press the spring-loaded portion of the clamp down and either tighten or loosen the castle nut as needed.

The scope is factory matched to the rifle by engraving the serial number on the scope mount. Some Tigr owners opted to sell off their scope in favor of buying a higher magnification version. This unfortunately means their rifle no longer has the matching scope and may reduce its collector's value.

The Russian PSO-1M2 for the Tigr is unique in that this is a truely military scope. It has the military range-finding reticle calibrated to a man-sized target of 1.7 meters (about 5 feet 7 inches). Currently these scopes are prohibited from export from Russia because they are considered military goods. The crop of "Russian" scopes now imported into the US are actually made in Belarus and are of slightly lesser quality.

When the first batch of Russian manufactured scopes were imported in the late 1990's, they had government-mandated commercial reticles which consisted of either a standard T reticle cross hair or a width-based choke style range finder reticle used to hunt large game.

NPZ no longer includes the infra-red detector on their military scopes because so few opposing forces use IR illumination for their night vision.

Note the blank area where the circular IR switch would normally be.

This military PSO-1 scope is mounted on an Izhmash Tigr rifle in 7.62x54r.

The scope sits high enough on the rifle to allow use of the iron sights if needed.

Rotate the circular IR switch to make the IR detector screen flip over the image in the scope. If there were an enemy using an IR illuminator on their night vision optics it would show in the PSO-1 scope as a glowing blob of light. This can be tested by aiming a TV remote control at the scope or a video camera with night vision activated.

PSO-1 on Russian Tigr rifle who's owner lives in Finland.

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