[SHOT 2025] Insite Armory Producing SVD Dragunov Clone In USA
Insite Armory is building a domestic Dragunov! They have been working on a ground-up build for five and a half years and brought some partially-finished guns to display. And best of all, they could be coming in 2025!
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Though the Dragunov looks something like an AK-pattern rifle it is different internally. Creating a true clone requires many new parts that don't exist in other designs. This differs from simply stretching an AK to make it bigger, as is done in Romanian PSL. True Dragunovs have a reputation for better accuracy and reliability than the “Dragunov at home” copies like the PSL and are much more desirable.
Insite Armory’s creation starts with a 4140 steel billet which becomes the receiver. Most of the parts are exact copies of the original, but there are a couple of small differences. For example, the four rivets on the top rear portion of the receiver are a different type of rivet than was used in original guns because the tool the Soviets used no longer exists. It is also likely that they will opt for a US-standard thread pitch.
The company has already made some working guns, but the ones on display were unfinished models. There are still some design refinements to come but the guns in the booth clearly resembled true Dragunovs. One copy was the classic style while the other was a modernized version with a railed free-floating handguard.
Insite hoped to have these guns on the market by Q3 or Q4 2025 and is aiming for a retail price of around $4,000. Recent imports of Hungarian Dragunovs are listed north of $8,000 on GunBroker, so if these can get to market for half the price it would get a lot more people shooting this platform.
AKA @fromtheguncounter on Instagram. Gun nerd, reloader, attorney, and mediocre hunter.
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What caliber is it? 7.62x54R? .308?
the dragunov is a true classic design, In Russia there were rare civilian versions
some first made in a 9 x 54mm caliber, and later in a 9.3 x 62 caliber ,
calibers for a US clone , the new 8.6 blackout , .308 and possibly 30-06 and
possibly say one of the short WSM magnums (.300 WSM)
I doubt anyone could add up the number of successful takedown shots these
rifles have made in whose ever hands they happen to be at the time .
I think a somewhat cropped barrel supressed model in 8.6 blackout would be
more than interesting .
I also beleive reading somewhere Russia has produced its own home brewed
7.62 x54R subsonic ammo , though I doubt thier actual supressor tech was
even close to US or european models .