Jared,
tabs pretty much got it right. the PSL is a sniper rifle but us Americans term it a "DM" or "Designated Marksman" rifle. there is a subtle and semantic difference. sniper rifles are purpose built weapons and boast a level of accuracy that seems impossible to the layman. with a highly trained and motivated marksman you could hit a pumpkin at 3,000+ yards. but that performance comes with a cost... $10,000 or more. the PSL is not nearly built to that level of accuracy. the Romanian military uses them with their Designated Marksmen. these are guys that can shoot a little straighter than the rest of the group, but they're not snipers by any measure of the term.
on the civilian front, they make incredible varminting and hunting rifles. they don't jam up when filled with gunk, and they will perform as designed long after a hand-built Savage or Remington has quit. they'll work when it's far below zero, and they'll work in the desert sand when it's 120 in the sun. one thing that people scared of military "asault" weapons forget is that military weapons are built to function under conditions that jam up a civilian rifle. the worst thing in the world is watching that deer, or elk, or groundhog scamper away while you're trying to chamber another round... but your tricked-out $2,000 Winchester is jammed by a piece of dirt or stone. it's the same aggrivation you'd feel when you are driving on a nice sunny day and your tire pops 20 miles from the nearest town. it's just so frustrating you lose sleep over it.
the PSL is perfect for deer and will take one down with a single shot. vermin such as groundhogs, prarie dogs, raccoons, and other small game simply don't stand a chance. we have a big game hunt planned for a few years time and this is what we'll be taking along. with soft point ammo you could safely go moose or bear hunting with the PSL. it's versatile so you know that whatever you come across you can take down with a single shot. smaller varmint guns can't do that.
the big thing we liked about the PSL is that the ammunition it uses is not only powerful but it's cheap. custum high accuracy rifles that use .300 Win Magnum, .338 Lapua, or even .308 Win often use ammo that can be $18-$25 for a box of 20 rounds. you could drill through that in 5 minutes of practice. extend that over an hour and you're talking about a $100/hr hobby easily! fill out a 3 hour day and you can spend $300 in just one day of shooting an expensive hunting rifle.... if not more.
the PSL uses the 7.62x54R cartridge which is the standard hunting ammunition of the Eastern world. you can get the crap quality "plinking" stuff for $.10 per round. so a case of 400 rounds will set you back only $40 rather than $400. practice makes perfect. it's just like driving a car. you can't hop into a 1969 911 and immediately start doing laps like Randy Pobst. it's going to take some "seat time" before you get the hang of it.
the PSL is the same thing. if you handed a total novice a PSL they probably couldn't hit a damn thing with it at 100 feet. but 400 rounds later you could go out hunting and bag a deer at 500+ metres. it's nice to know that the practice will be cheap rather than horrifically expensive. the top-quality match grade ammunition for the PSL is about $.25 per shot. that's the stuff you can use to shoot holes in the center of 45rpm records at 328 feet. we'll be punching holes in paper for 99.99% of the time we have this unless we decide to go hunting in the Adirondacks at our friend's hunting lodge.
in the meantime, we have 300+ acres out in the backyard. sinking a perfect bullseye at 100metres is like sinking a hole in one at that distance. for practice i'm going to see if i can shoot through the holes in the middle of old CD-ROMs without hitting the rest of the CD. sounds easy? try doing it with open sights while standing. getting the perfect shot in is like getting the perfect downshift, or that feeling when you hit a tennis ball dead center in the sweet spot of your racket. it brings a grin to your face every time.
anyone here is always welcome to come out target shooting with us. our place is yours
obin
