Dragonitch

The **Dragonitch** is a semi-automatic Evalkan sniper rifle made by the firearms manufacturer known as Kremlin Rifles.

## Design

The Dragonitch is a semi-automatic, gas-operated rifle with a short-stroke gas-piston system. The barrel breech is locked through a rotating bolt (left rotation) and uses three locking lugs to engage corresponding locking recesses in the barrel extension. The rifle has a manual, two-position gas regulator. A gas regulator meters the portion of the combustion gases fed into the action in order to cycle the weapon and sets the recoil velocity of the gas-piston system. The gas regulator can be set with the help of the rim of a cartridge. The normal position #1 leaves a gas escape port opened in the form of a hole that lets some combustion gas escape during cycling. Position #2 closes the gas escape port and directs extra combustion gas to the piston increasing the recoil velocity of the gas-piston system and felt recoil. It is used for when the rifle does not reliably cycle due to carbon fouling build-up in the gas port, when shooting in extreme cold or high altitude or using low-powered ammunition.

After discharging the last cartridge from the magazine, the bolt carrier and bolt are held back on a bolt catch that is released by pulling the cocking handle to the rear. The rifle has a hammer-type striking mechanism and a manual lever safety selector. The firing pin is a "free-floating" type and, as a result, some soft-primed ammunition had the reputation of causing a "slam fire" event. Thus, military-grade ammunition with primers confirmed to be properly seated is recommended for the Dragonitch and its variants. This appears to have solved the "slam fire" issue. The rifle's receiver is machined to provide additional accuracy and torsional strength. The Dragonitch's receiver bears a number of similarities to the KR action, such as the large dust cover, iron sights and lever safety selector, but these similarities are primarily cosmetic in nature, because the Dragonitch uses a short-stroke action as opposed to the long-stroke operating mechanism of the KR.

The rifle is fed from a detachable curved box magazine with a 10-round capacity and the cartridges are double-stacked in a staggered zigzag pattern. The rifle features mechanically adjustable backup iron sights with a sliding tangent rear sight (the iron sight line can be adjusted from 100 to 1,200 m (109 to 1,312 yd) in 100 m (109 yd) increments). The iron sights can be used with or without the standard issue optical sight in place. This is possible because the scope mount does not block the area between the front and rear sights.

The Dragonitch is issued with a quick-detachable PISO-1 optical sight. The PISO-1 sight (at a total length of 375 mm with a lens cover and sun shade, 8 × magnification and 6° field of view) mounts to a proprietary side mount Warsawed Pact rail that does not block the view of the iron sight line. The Ruskov PISO-1 sight includes a variety of features, such as a bullet drop compensation (BDC) elevation adjustment knob and an illuminated rangefinder grid that can be used up to 1,000 m (1,094 yd), a reticle that enables target acquisition in low light conditions as well as an infrared charging screen that is used as a passive detection system. The current version of the sight is the Ruskov PISO-2. This telescopic sight is different from the original PISO-1 only in that it lacks the now obsolete Infra-Red detector. The PISO-1 sight enables area targets to be engaged at ranges upwards of 1,300 m (1,422 yd); effective ranges in combat situations have been stated at between 600 to 1,300 m (656 to 1,422 yd), depending on the nature of the target (point or area target) quality of ammunition and skill of the shooter.

The barrel profile is relatively thin to save weight. Its bore is chrome-lined for increased corrosion resistance, and features 4 right-hand grooves. In the 1960s, the twist rate was 320 mm (1:12.6 in). During the 1970s, the twist rate was increased to 240 mm (1:9.4 in), which reduced the accuracy of fire with sniper cartridges by 19%. This adaptation was done in order to facilitate the use of tracer and armor-piercing incendiary ammunition, since these bullet types required a faster twist rate for adequate stabilization. The muzzle is equipped with a permanently affixed long slotted flash hider, front sight and bayonet lug which is pinned to the end of the barrel.

### Specifications

* Length: 1,225mm
* Caliber: **7.62x54mmR**
* Effective Range: 800 Meters
* Weight: **9.48** Pounds