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The Puşcă Semiautomată cu Lunetă (Rifle, Semiautomatic with Scope) was originally manufactured at the Romanian Cugir arsenal starting in the mid 1970s. When Romania started offering their PSL for export, it was then manufactured at the Regia Autonoma de Tehnicå Militarå (RATMIL) factory and had their bayonet lugs removed to meet U.S. import restrictions. After a consolidation of military arsenals when Romania joined NATO in 2004, production of the PSL moved to the ARMS arsenal in Cugir, Romania which was completely retooled with all new state-of-the-art modern equipment purchased from Belgium and Croatia. PSLs are exported to the US by C.N. ROMARM S.A. of Bucharest, Romania. At various times the PSL has been imported into the US by different companies both large and small. |
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This PSL was manufactured in 1997 as a commercial export model with newly manufactured parts. Note the lack of a bayonet lug, plus the modern green nylon sling. This Romanian-built commercial PSL was imported into the US by Armamentos Inc. of West Palm Beach, Florida. |
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When the PSL is manufactured in Romania it is not stamped with a model name or number. This allows U.S. import companies freedom to call the rifle whatever they think will appeal to American buyers.
Century Arms International called the rifle a ROMAK-3 (ROManian Avtomat Kalashnikov 3) (early imports) and PSL-54C (current imports). InterOrdnance Inc. called the rifle the SSG-97 and offered them in 7.62x54R and 7.62 NATO. The Tennessee Guns Int'l rifles are called the FPK and are either assembled in the US using military surplus parts kits, or are imported as complete rifles from Romania. TGI's US-built rifles are assembled on Romanian or US-manufactured receivers. The Romanian receivers will be stamped with "FPK" or "Dragunov" on the bottom of the receiver in front of the magazine well. The rifles with US-built receivers will be stamped on the right side of the receiver. Romanian-built rifles (imported as fully assembled rifles) will be stamped "FPK Dragunov" on the left side of the receiver. A new TGI version of the PSL is now being built on a US manufactured Nodak Spud receiver that allows the use of a standard AK style buttstock and separate pistol grip. All these versions are PSL rifles. |
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"MADE N ROMANA" The location of this Tennessee Guns marking indicates this PSL rifle was assembled in the U.S. on a Romanian receiver. |
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Early ROMAK-3 package came with two cut down 5 round magazines, original Romanian LPS scope and green nylon sling. | ||||||||
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| The PSL receiver is a stamped sheet metal design which has reinforcements below the barrel trunion and at the rear cut-out to prevent cracks due to the strong recoil. The gas system is like an AK series with the gas piston being attached to the bolt carrier. | |||||||||
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Barrel profile under the hand guards is thin. This reduces overall weight but allows the barrel to flex more than if it were heavier. Some people believe a shorter barrel would flex less and increase accuracy. | ||||||||
The PSL is based on a Kalashnikov design but is not an AK variant in the true sense. The rifle uses a modified Kalashnikov trigger and gas piston system that are specially designed to handle the larger 7.62x54R caliber. Since the Russian M43 7.62x39 cartridge is not ideally suited for long distance stopping power, a rifle was developed that could fire a heavier bullet with better terminal ballistics, but would also have controls familiar to a soldier that was trained to use the standard AK-47 and AKM machine gun. The PSL's larger caliber meant the receiver had to be longer than an AK's and the sheet metal was reinforced at the rear with plates riveted to the sides. To reduce receiver twist when fired, the barrel is pressed into a special trunion that is held in shallow channels on the sides of the receiver. Even with these strengthening improvements the rifle can not handle the pressure of heavy ball ammunition. Ideal cartridge weight will be no heavier than 160 grains (10.3 grams). |
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| The PSL is originally designed to have a safety sear just forward of the hammer. This sear acts as an additional safety feature that prevents premature detonation of the cartridge as it moves from the magazine to the chamber. Unfortunately this sear is prohibited by the U.S. BATFE because that part is assicated with rifles able to fire in fully automatic mode. The PSL was never designed to be a machine gun ("PSL" literally means semi-automatic rifle with scope) but in order for it to pass import restrictions, the safety sear had to be deleted. This means the Romanian manufacturer has to assemble the PSL rifles bound for the US on different receivers than PSLs exported to other countries. | |||||||||
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On this PSL rifle that is owned in Italy, you can see the axis pin of the safety sear just below the middle of the scope rail. The US approved PSLs must only have two axis pins present on the receiver. | ||||||||
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Even a hole that is welded up is still considered illegal by the BATFE. |
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All recently imported PSL rifles are manufactured in Romania on commercial receivers and assembled with parts from de-milled military rifles that are refinished. The magazines are marked with the receiver's serial number and are often hand-fitted to the rifle. The scopes are also hand-fitted to the side rail on the receiver. Many recent imports of PSLs do not have factory fitted scopes or magazines. This results in scopes that either do not fit the rail or are mounted slightly crooked making the scope reticle off-center, and magazines that will not lock in place or will not feed reliably. Other common problems are canted (crooked) front sights and receivers not drilled for all the butt stock mounting screws. Don't
know if your PSL was built from a demilled kit? |
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An InterOrdnance Inc. SSG-97 with soft scope cover and instruction handbook printed by Romarm. |
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These are actual Romanian military PSLs with the Cugir arsenal cartouche stamp (arrow in triangle). If your rifle doesn't have these arsenal markings then it was built for commercial export. |
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| The Cugir stamp is similar to the Russian Izhevsk cartouche but lacks the fletching feathers at the bottom of the arrow. | |||||||||
The sniper scope provided with the PSL is the Romanian version of the PSO-1 which has no battery compartment. It is designated LPS 4x6° TIP2 and was manufactured by IOR (Industry Optic Romania) in Bucharest. The reticle is illuminated by mildly radioactive tritium. Almost all scopes that came with commercial PSLs have dead or expired tritium so don't expect to see the reticle in low light. These scopes are normally equipped with a rubber shock absorbing eye piece and a front rubber cover which is held to the scope by a rubber collar around the scope sun shade tube. Some owners feel that the comb of the butt stock is not high enough to get a proper cheek weld when using the scope. |
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Internals of the Romanian PSL rifle differ considerably from the Dragunov design. The PSL, with its stamped steel receiver, has trigger and hammer components that will be very familliar to AK-type owners. The Dragunov design, on the otherhand, has a trigger assembly that removes as a unit from the receiver. More information can be found in the FAQ. The gas system on the PSL consists of the gas piston and bolt carrier which is one piece, also similar to the AK series rifles. The buttstock is made from laminated wood and differs from the SVD by having a cheek pad designed into the comb. The SVD has a detachable leather cheek pad. The muzzle device is a brake that reduces felt recoil very effectively. It is generally screwed on to barrel threads and locked in place with a spring-loaded pin at the base of the front sight. Some PSL rifles imported have the muzzle brake welded in place instead of pinned. Of those that are welded, some have no threads at the muzzle and are simply pressed on and welded. |
"WillyP" provided this detailed description with pictures of his PSL rifle. | ||||||||
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Muzzle brake with a cross pin seen at the front of the sight base. The brake consists of three banks of four slots designed to vent gas to the sides and top of the barrel as the bullet exits. Diverting the gas to the side reduces felt recoil but increases noise. Shooting the PSL sniper rifle in the prone position may create a debris cloud from the blast. |
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This muzzle brake is screwed on to a threaded muzzle and locked in place by a spring-loaded pin. |
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The "paratrooper" PSL before being assembled in to a rifle. These were never used in any military but should be good shooters. Brown pouch holds oil bottle and cleaning tools. |
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The
so-called "Para" PSL. These short-barreled rifles were sold on
a very limited basis and were converted in the US from Romanian parts.
