Russian Army Receives First Batch of New Kalashnikov Sniper Rifles

The state-of-the-art marksman rifle recently adopted by Russia's military has been successfully tested in the Ukrainian conflict zone.

The first batch of a new semiautomatic Chukavin sniper rifle (SVCh) has been delivered to the Russian Armed Forces this week.

The news was announced by leading small arms manufacturer, the Kalashnikov Concern.

First showcased during a military expo in Russia in 2017, the SVCh is a new designated marksman rifle that is meant to become a successor to the ubiquitous Dragunov sniper rifle (SVD).

While retaining the trademark reliability and efficiency of the SVD, Chukavin sniper rifles feature a more ergonomic design and have better accuracy than their predecessors, according to Kalashnikov’s press release.

The new rifle is 1,170mm long (the measurements include the length of SVCh’s unfolded stock and the attached flash hider; the barrel’s length is 620mm) and weighs 4.8 kilograms unloaded.

It can also be fitted with any foreign- or domestically-manufactured optics, the press release noted.

The rifle is designed for combined arms warfare and can be used to engage targets at ranges up to one kilometer, although some publications mention an effective range of up to 1.2 km. If push comes to shove, however, the SVCh can also be used in close-range firefights.

The SVCh has been adopted by the Russian military after undergoing testing in battlefield conditions in the Ukrainian conflict zone.