The Creator of the Izhevsk Rifle: Designer Yevgeny Dragunov

Dragunov developed about thirty different models of small arms, which are used by armies around the world. And his brainchild, the SVD sniper rifle, was called by Kalashnikov “the most perfect of all models of this type”.

Yevgeny Dragunov was born on February 20, 1920. He lived in Izhevsk. His interest in weapons began during his studies at the Industrial Technical School: Yevgeny enrolled in the Osoaviakhim shooting club. Soon, he bought himself a rifle, with which he went hunting for ducks.

In 1939, Dragunov was drafted into the Red Army. He was sent to the reconnaissance division AIR (Artillery Instrumental Reconnaissance) in Khabarovsk, where he completed the junior commanders’ school. It was here that Dragunov became a weapons master.

Dragunov sought to “disassemble” and study all the weapons that came into his hands. He expertly disassembled and assembled the “Mosin”, and came up with ways to improve the Degtyarev machine gun.

After the Great Patriotic War, Dragunov returned to his native Izhevsk and went to work at Izhevsk Mechanical Plant. There he participated in the creation of the “MS-74” sniper rifle. Dragunov also designed sports rifles. One of his developments was the record-breaking rifle S-49. It was with this rifle that Vasily Borisov brought the Soviet Union its first world record in shooting at a competition in Bulgaria in 1950. In the 1950s, other familiar to sportsmen rifles appeared, such as the TS-50, “Zenit”, “Taiga”, etc.

In 1958, Dragunov began to create his main masterpiece — the SVD. That year, the GAU (Main Artillery Directorate) of the USSR Ministry of Defense announced a competition for the creation of a self-loading sniper rifle for the Soviet Army. It was required to create a self-loading sniper rifle for a rifle cartridge with high accuracy of fire.

Working without rest, Yevgeny Dragunov and his colleagues in the bureau spent 5 years creating a self-loading sniper rifle, constantly improving the design. According to the results of field tests, in 1963, the 7.62-mm SVD was adopted by the Soviet Army.

The rifle turned out to be light and reliable. The military nicknamed it “the whip” for its characteristic sound of a shot. Starting from the 70s, it was actively used in combat operations in hot spots around the world: in Afghanistan, Chechnya, the Middle East, and Africa.

Dragunov’s last development was the PPK-71 submachine gun. The weapon was created for the police and security forces. The designer did not manage to fully implement this development: in 1991, Yevgeny Dragunov died. His son continued to refine the weapon. Taking the PPK-71 as a basis, he created the PPK-91 “Cedar” (Yevgeny Dragunov’s Design). The weapon went into series in 1993.