The PSO-1 is a telescopic sight manufactured in Russia by the
Novosibirsk instrument-making factory and issued with the Russian military
Dragunov sniper rifle. The PSO-1 was, at the time of its
introduction around 1964, the most technically advanced telescopic sight
ever designed for a mass-production designated marksman or sniper rifle.
Design The PSO-1 was specifically designed for
the SVD as a telescopic sight for military designated marksman activities.
The current version of the sight is the PSO-1M2. This telescopic sight is
different from the original PSO-1 only in that it lacks the now obsolete
infrared detector. The metal body of the PSO-1 is made from a magnesium alloy.
The PSO-1 features a battery powered red illuminated reticle with light provided
by a simple diode bulb. It features professionally ground, fully
multi-coated optical elements, a baked enamel finish for scratch protection,
and an attached, quick-deployable, extendable sunshade.
The scope body is sealed and filled with nitrogen, which prevents fogging of
optics and was designed to function within a -50 °C to 50 °C temperature
range. For zeroing the telescopic sight the reticle can be adjusted by
manipulating the elevation and windage turrets in 5 cm at 100 meters
increments. Considered the higher end of Soviet
military side mount telescopic sights, the quality of the PSO-1 is higher than
most other PSO-style telescopic sights. The PSO-1 has neither a focus adjustment
nor a parallax compensation control. Most modern military tactical scopes
with lower power fixed magnification such as the ACOG, C79 optical sight or
SUSAT lack such features as well. Modern fixed magnification military high end
grade sniper telescopic sights scopes intended for long-range shooting usually
offer one or both of these features. The positioning of the scope’s body to the
left of the bore’s center line may not be comfortable to all shooters.
= Bullet Drop Compensation elevation turret=
The PSO-1 elevation turret features bullet drop compensation in 50 m or 100
m increments for engaging point and area targets at ranges from 100 m up to 1,000
m. At longer distances the shooter must use the chevrons that would shift the
trajectory by 100 m per each chevron. The BDC feature must be tuned at the
factory for the particular ballistic trajectory of a particular combination
of rifle and cartridge at a predefined air density. Inevitable BDC-induced
errors will occur if the environmental and meteorological circumstances deviate
from the circumstances the BDC was calibrated for. Marksmen can be trained
to compensate for these errors. Besides the BDC elevation or vertical
adjustment control of the reticle, the windage or horizontal adjustment control
of the reticle can also be easily dialed in by the user without having to remove
turret caps etc. = Reticle=
The PSO-1 features a reticle with "floating" elements designed for use in
range estimation and bullet drop and drift compensation.
The top center "chevron" is used as the main aiming mark. The horizontal hash
marks are for windage and lead corrections and can be used for ranging
purposes as well. To the left is a stadiametric
rangefinder that can be used to determine the distance from a 1.7 meters
tall object/person from 200 m to 1000 m. For this the lowest part of the target
is lined up on the bottom horizontal line. Where the top of the target
touches the top curved line the distance can be determined. This reticle lay out
is also used in several other telescopic sights produced and used by other former
Warsaw Pact member states. The three lower chevrons in the center
are used as hold over points for engaging area targets beyond 1,000
meters. The user has to set the elevation turret to 1,000 meters and
then apply the chevrons for 1,100, 1,200 or 1,300 meters respectively.
The 10 reticle hashmarks in the horizontal plane can be used to
compensate for wind or moving targets and can also be used for additional
stadiametric rangefinding purposes, since they are spaced at 1 milliradian
intervals, meaning if an object is 5 m wide it will appear 10 hashmarks wide at
500 m. The reticle can be illuminated by a
small battery-powered lamp. Mounting system
The telescopic sight propriety mount is adjustable for tension on the SVD
rifle's side rail. This side rail is a Warsaw Pact mounting dovetail. The side
rail mount is an offset mounting that positions the PSO-1 telescopic sight
axis to the left side in relation to the receiver center axis. The mount has a
castle nut that screws into the bottom of the locking lever. The spring-loaded
portion of the clamp has to be pressed down to tighten or loosen the castle nut
as needed. The telescopic sight is factory matched
to the rifle by engraving the scope's serial number on to the butt stock of
the SVD rifle. Commercial Russian Tigr rifles have the serial number of the
rifle engraved in to the PSO-1M2 scope's side mount.
Accessories The PSO-1 is issued with a lens hood
that can be attached to the ocular to reduce/eliminate image quality impairing
stray light and a carrying case to protect the sight during transport and
storage. Specifications
Magnification: 4x Objective diameter: 24 mm
Field of view: 6° Exit pupil: 6 mm
Eye relief: 80 mm Limiting optical resolution: 12 SOA
Power supply for reticle illumination: 1 AA battery
Weight: 0.6 kg Overall dimensions:: 375 x 70 x 132 mm
See also Belarus: POSP telescopic sight
Bosnia: ZRAK M-76 4x 5°10’ / ZRAK ON-M76 telescopic sight
China: Type JJJ telescopic sight East Germany: PSO telescopic sight
North Korea: Type 78 telescopic sight Romania: LPS 4x6° TIP2 telescopic sight
made by I.O.R. Russia: PSO 4x24M, PSO 6x24M, PSO 6x42,
PSO 8x42, PSO 8x42D, PSO 4-8x42D, 1P21 References
External links NPZ Optics State Plant website
PSO-1 at NPZ Optics State Plant website Dragunov.net PSO-1 telescopic sight