Real Sword Dragunov SVD

I ordered the SVD directly from Real Sword in January 2009.
It arrived yesterday which was the 23rd of April 2009 which is some wait!
I ordered the gun and spare magís which came to a total cost of over £650.00 including VAT, import duty etc. BLOODY CUSTOMS!

In the box is

SVD, magazine, cheek pad, loading rod, multi tool, sight adjustment tool, cleaning rod (Metal in sections), spare set of 4 gears, spare piston (worrying), instruction manual, certificate of ownership with unique serial number, Real Sword membership form.

This gun is long, really long! 4 feet or 122cm to be exact and it weighís just short of 5kg including scope (Purchased separately) and mag. This is not your average AEG. The overall finish is superb with al the parts fitting together seamlessly with no wobbles, creaks or groans. The metal is all steel as tested with a magnet and not the usual monkey metal associated with many AEGís coming to the market today. This accounts for the weight of the gun. The woodwork is also great quality with the correct colour of varnish and application of lacquer.

The black finish to the paintwork will scratch in time, but not to the same extent of the usual guns on the market, although I intend ageing my SVD to give it a used look. This finish is applied to all of the metalwork including the trigger guard, fore and rear sights and selector switch.

The magazines (I ordered an additional 5) are all steel and hold 96 bbís. They came in greased paper with oil on the magís, a nice touch. Very solid they are very stiff in fitting into the SVD. This is mainly due to the very, and I mean really really, stiff magazine release catch. I may swap the spring for the magazine release if it does not ease up in time.

The battery fits in the fore grip which separates into two halves. The space is designed for the AK style stick battery but is limited. I couldnít fit a 9.6v 1500 in the gap and had to settle with my 8.4v 1000 for the time being. Splitting of the two halves is by use of the leaver by the gas tube in front of the grip. This releases the front section in turn releasing the grips. This process is tough and I needed a hammer and screwdriver to release the front section. A further 10 attempts and itís still as tight as aÖÖÖÖÖÖ..tight thing. Not an easy battery change in the field.

Testing

I stuck in my battery, filled a mag, struggled to get the mag to seat, fired my first few rounds and then misfire, misfire etc. The bbís had jammed in a double stack type affair in the magazine. This is not the best of first impressions. Happily I can say that none of the other mags caused me this problem and the culprit seems to now be behaving due to the use of good old silicone spray. The first rounds I fired hit the deck pretty much. Adjusting the hop is a very simple affair. The cocking leaver is pulled back which reveals the hop unit. A large metal wheel sits directly on top of the hop unit and is rotated backwards and forewords to alter the amount of hop.

With the hop of the fps with a 0.2g averaged 480fps. With the hop on 450fps. This is a belter. The range and accuracy were spot on as you can imagine from a gun with a barrel the length of the M40 and a fair kick of power behind it.

So I fired of a few more rounds and click, click, nothing. I checked the connections but they were fine, I changed the battery, still nothing. Fuses were also all still intact. I then tested the original battery on another gun and it was flat as a pancake. This could only mean I had locked up the gearbox on my first outing. This resulted in the gun being stripped within the first hour of me owning it. (Only due to my own fault)

The takedown of the SVD is very simple and a complete guide including photos is included which makes it very simple. There is also access to the anti-reversal latch from a small hole in the rear of the gearbox which made the process very simple. The gearbox is a very highly modified V3 designed specifically for the Dragunov.

Once I had the SVD back together and the battery fully charged it was an absolute dream to use. Despite the few minor hiccups that I put down to experience, it is the AEG that I have waited years for.

I will update this one Iíve been gaming with it to see how it performs during play.

[SGTSNIPER]

Re: Real Sword Dragunov SVD

Beautiful looking weapon and a great review...3 months though, i bet your arse was twiching...lol...good job

Re: Real Sword Dragunov SVD

Twitching isn't the word. After the 20th email to them I had almost given up hope of seeing either the gun or my money. The replies in chinglish were funny enough but am am pleased that I waited.

[ejtrent]

Re: Real Sword Dragunov SVD

Phwar.. THats something else!

[sheard]

Re: Real Sword Dragunov SVD

hey nice review can't wait to see how it performs in the field!

[Liquid_snake]

Re: Real Sword Dragunov SVD

Wantage! Cant wait to see field report

[amandla36]

Re: Real Sword Dragunov SVD

Bumpage, any pics? I would like to see the finish on the wood.

[sheard]

Re: Real Sword Dragunov SVD

i would like to hear the feild report still

[lilrich2k02]

Re: Real Sword Dragunov SVD

hey guys my mate has one and they are v nice the range she gets is sick
only prob its running a bit hot

[elricd]

Re: Real Sword Dragunov SVD

Ok i ve got a question...Do u have any probs with the hand guard? Is pretty hard to get it out tbh and its the only prob i ve found till now...Also do u know what type of battery goes into the scope?

[homer69uk]

Re: Real Sword Dragunov SVD

hi there i too had a problem with removing the handguard to access the battery"area" i found that if you gently remove the 2 strips of metal from the front of the handguard its still an excellent fit but it makes it possible to remove them without the use of tools.
hope it helps!

[elricd]

Re: Real Sword Dragunov SVD

hi there i too had a problem with removing the handguard to access the battery"area" i found that if you gently remove the 2 strips of metal from the front of the handguard its still an excellent fit but it makes it possible to remove them without the use of tools.
hope it helps!

Thnx a lot dude....you rly helped :D

[fiedler]

Re: Real Sword Dragunov SVD

Hey mate,
Do you think theres any chance of a on the battle report ? and pics ? :P
Great review though

Fiedler

[aman012]

Re: Real Sword Dragunov SVD

Lol, this gun is complete owenage on the field compared to my A&K SVD. Once i've saved up for this beast i'm selling the A&K Svd, compared to the Rs svd it is a complete fail. I gotta save up for a RS svd. Nive review BTW