The PSL (Romanian: Pușcă Semiautomată cu Lunetă, "scoped semi-automatic rifle") is a Romanian military designated marksman rifle. It is also called PSL-54C, Romak III, FPK, FPK Dragunov and SSG-97 (scharfschutzengewehr – 1997, meaning sharp shooter's rifle of 1997).

PSL rifles were originally made at the Regia Autonomă pentru Producția de Tehnică Militară - RATMIL Cugir arsenal in Cugir, Romania, but after a consolidation of military arsenals when Romania joined NATO, production moved to the SC Fabrica de Arme Cugir SA (ARMS arsenal) in Cugir, Romania which was retooled with state-of-the-art modern equipment purchased from Belgium and Croatia.

The PSL rifle's primary purpose is to be used by squad level marksmen to extend the range of the average soldier beyond the capabilities of their issued AKM carbines. It is built around a stamped steel receiver similar to the RPK light machine gun's receiver. The PSL's operation is the same long stroke action of the Kalashnikov family of weapons. Its appearance is similar to the Dragunov sniper rifle though not one single part interchanges between the rifles. The PSL is chambered for the same venerable 7.62x54mmR (rimmed) cartridge as the Dragunov, and feeds from a ten-round detachable box magazine. The magazine used on the PSL differs from that of Dragunov models in that it is stamped with an X shaped pattern on the side, rather than the waffle style stamp found on the Russian and Chinese magazines. The magazines, though they look similar in shape and size, are not interchangeable between the Dragunov and PSL without modification

The PSL is typically issued with a 4x24 optical sight called a LPS T2 (Luneta Puska Semiautomata Tip 2, or "Scope, Semi-Automatic Rifle, Type #2") which is a simplified version of the PSO-1 telescopic weapon sight. This version, manufactured by IOR in Romania, lacks the battery compartment for the illuminated reticle and the infra-red detection mechanism because the reticle is illuminated by mildly radioactive Tritium rather than the LED of the Russian PSO-1. The optical sight is of 4x magnification and the lens is 24 mm in diameter. It shares the basic design and rangefinder found in the reticle of the original Russian PSO-1 scope.

The scope can be easily removed from the receiver of the rifle by swinging the locking lever open, then sliding the scope mount to the rear. This allows easy access to the receiver cover which needs to be removed for cleaning. Due to the scope being both mounted to the left side of the receiver and its relative height, the shooter can still utilize iron sights (in fact by design you are to use the iron sights out to 600 yards). The left side mount was intended to originally allow the use of stripper clips, but that function ended up not being built into the rifle.

The PSL has been in service in Romania since the 1970s and is widely sold on the world market and has even been encountered in Iraq. The simplicity of the rifle makes it ideal for soldiers to use and maintain. The action, being a variant of the AKM's, is extremely reliable despite lack of maintenance, and is particularly forgiving of sand and other debris. The scope's reticle pattern is easy to use and makes range estimation quick and reasonably accurate without any mathematical calculations necessary. With some simple instruction an average individual can be issued a PSL and successfully engage targets at ranges that far exceed the accurate capabilities of non-scoped assault rifles like the AKM, AK-47, etc. Accuracy varies greatly, however, between individual rifles to a greater extent to other rifles in its class. In the hands of a capable shooter and with quality ammunition such as 7N1 and 7N14 some PSL are capable of 1 MOA but 3 MOA is typical. Despite not sharing parts with the Dragunov, the PSL’s accuracy is IDENTICAL to the Dragunov, and neither rifle was built as or intended to be a sniper rifle.

The butt stock is much shorter than most Western shooters are used to. This is because Romanian soldiers often operate in very cold climates and wear thick winter coats while operating. In theory, a rubber stock extender is to be fitted during warm weather but one is not issued with the rifle.

The PSL's scope is made by the Industry Optic Romania (I.O.R.) firm in Bucharest. I.O.R. is a Romanian company which has been making optics since 1936. They currently use German made Schott glass coated with the Carl Zeiss T-3 system to eliminate glare and maximize light transmission. It is unknown what glass and coatings they used at the time they produced the PSL's scope, however I.O.R. had a long association with western European optics manufacturers and maintained these despite being caught within the Iron Curtain. In 1967 I.O.R. collaborated with various German manufacturers and in 1975 an association was established with Carl Zeiss which led to even more expansion and modernization. Initial versions of this scope were more or less identical to the Russian PSO-1 with battery powered lamp reticle illumination. Shortly afterward the scope was revised to eliminate the electrical illumination and replace it with a radioactive based glowing light source, thus simplifying the maintenance and construction of the scope. The scopes found today typically show no illumination because the tritium has expired. Original examples of the LPS scope featured a battery powered reticle illumination and the IR detection mechanism. These scopes stopped being produced around 1974 and are rather rare today with collectors paying a premium for them.

Photos of my personal custom PSL Rifle

Photos of my personal custom PSL Rifle

Photos of my personal custom PSL Rifle

Photos of my personal custom PSL Rifle