Russian PSO-1M2 current military issue 4×24 telescopic sight View through a PSO-1 telescopic sight mounted on an SVD rifle The PSO-1 (''Прицел снайперский оптический, Pritsel snaipersky optichesky'', "Optical Sniper Sight") is a 4×24

telescopic sight A telescopic sight, commonly called a scope informally, is an optical sighting device based on a refracting telescope. It is equipped with some form of a referencing pattern – known as a ''reticle'' – mounted in a focally appropriate p ...

manufactured in Russia by the Novosibirsk instrument-making factory (NPZ Optics State Plant) and issued with the Russian military Dragunov sniper rifle. It was introduced on 3 July 1963 together with the Dragunov sniper rifle.

Design

The PSO-1 was specifically designed for the SVD as a telescopic sight for military designated marksman activities. The current version of the sight is the PSO-1M2. This telescopic sight is different from the original PSO-1 only in that it lacks the now obsolete infrared detector, which was used to detect generation-zero active-infrared

night vision device A night-vision device (NVD), also known as a night optical/observation device (NOD) or night-vision goggle (NVG), is an optoelectronic device that allows visualization of images in low levels of light, improving the user's night vision. The ...

s like the US M2 Sniperscope. The metal body of the PSO-1 is made from a magnesium alloy. The PSO-1 features a battery-powered red illuminated reticle with light provided by a simple diode bulb. It features professionally ground, fully multi-coated optical elements, a baked enamel finish for scratch protection, and an attached, quick-deployable, extendable sunshade. The scope body is sealed and filled with nitrogen, which prevents fogging of optics and was designed to function within a -50 °C to 50 °C temperature range. For zeroing the telescopic sight the reticle can be adjusted by manipulating the elevation and windage turrets in at (0.5 mil or 1.72 MOA) increments. Considered the higher end of Soviet military side-mount telescopic sights, the quality of the PSO-1 is higher than most other PSO-style telescopic sights. The PSO-1 has neither a focus adjustment nor a parallax compensation control. Most modern military tactical scopes with lower power fixed magnification such as the ACOG, C79 optical sight or

SUSAT The Sight Unit Small Arms, Trilux, or SUSAT, is a 4× telescopic sight, with Tritium illumination , tritium-powered illumination utilised at dusk or dawn. The full name of the current model is the SUSAT L9A1. The sight is not designed as a sniper ...

(intended for rapid close-intermediate range shots rather than long-range sniping) lack such features as well. Modern fixed magnification military high-end-grade sniper telescopic sights scopes intended for long-range shooting usually offer one or both of these features. The positioning of the scope's body to the left of the bore's center line may not be comfortable to all shooters.

Bullet drop compensation elevation turret

The PSO-1 elevation turret features bullet drop compensation (BDC) in or increments for engaging point and area targets at ranges from up to . At longer distances the shooter must use the chevrons that would shift the trajectory by per each chevron. The BDC feature must be tuned at the factory for the particular ballistic trajectory of a particular combination of rifle and cartridge at a predefined

air density The density of air or atmospheric density, denoted '' ρ'', is the mass per unit volume of Earth's atmosphere at a given point and time. Air density, like air pressure, decreases with increasing altitude. It also changes with variations in atmosph ...

. Inevitable BDC-induced errors will occur if the environmental and meteorological circumstances deviate from the circumstances the BDC was calibrated for. Marksmen can be trained to compensate for these errors. Besides the BDC elevation (vertical adjustment control) of the reticle, the windage (horizontal adjustment control) of the reticle can also be easily dialed in by the user without having to remove turret caps.

Reticle

A 1.7 m tall person correctly ranged at The PSO-1 features a

reticle A reticle or reticule, also known as a graticule or crosshair, is a pattern of fine lines or markings built into the eyepiece of an optical device such as a telescopic sight, spotting scope, theodolite, optical microscope or the electronic v ...

with "floating" elements designed for use in range estimation and bullet drop and drift compensation (see

external ballistics External ballistics or exterior ballistics is the part of ballistics that deals with the behavior of a projectile in flight. The projectile may be powered or un-powered, guided or unguided, spin or fin stabilized, flying through an atmosphere or ...

). The top center "chevron" (^) is used as the main aiming mark. The horizontal hash marks are for windage and lead corrections and can be used for ranging purposes as well. To the left is a stadiametric rangefinder that can be used to determine the distance from a tall object/person from (2) to (10). For this the lowest part of the target is lined up on the bottom horizontal line. Where the top of the target touches the top curved line the distance can be determined. This reticle layout is also used in several other telescopic sights produced and used by other former Warsaw Pact member states. The three lower chevrons in the center are used as hold over points for engaging area targets beyond (the maximum BDC range setting on the elevation drum). The user has to set the elevation turret to and then apply the chevrons for , or respectively. The 10 reticle hashmarks in the horizontal plane can be used to compensate for wind or moving targets and can also be used for additional

stadiametric rangefinding Stadiametric rangefinding, or the stadia method / stadiametry, is a technique of measuring distances with a telescopic instrument. The term stadia comes from a Greek unit of length '' Stadion'' (equal to 600 Greek feet, ''pous'') which was the ...

purposes, since they are spaced at 1

milliradian A milliradian (International System of Units, SI-symbol mrad, sometimes also abbreviated mil) is an SI derived unit for angular measurement which is defined as a thousandth of a radian (0.001 radian). Milliradians are used in adjustment of ...

intervals, meaning if an object is 5 m wide it will appear 10 hashmarks wide at 500 m. The reticle can be illuminated by a small battery-powered lamp.

Mounting system

The telescopic sight proprietary mount is adjustable for tension on the SVD rifle's side rail

scope mount Scope mounts are rigid implements used to attach (typically) a telescopic sight or other types of optical sights onto a firearm. The mount can be made integral to the scope body (such as the Zeiss rail) or, more commonly, an external fitting t ...

. This side rail is a type of

dovetail rail A dovetail joint or simply dovetail is a joinery technique most commonly used in woodworking joinery (carpentry), including furniture, cabinets, log buildings, and traditional timber framing. Noted for its resistance to being pulled apart, a ...

known as the Warsaw Pact rail, which has cut-out portions to reduce weight and allow easier installation. The side rail mount is an offset mounting that positions the PSO-1 telescopic sight axis to the left side in relation to the receiver center axis. The mount has a castle nut that screws into the bottom of the locking lever. The spring-loaded portion of the clamp has to be pressed down to tighten or loosen the castle nut as needed. The telescopic sight is factory matched to the rifle by engraving the scope's serial number on to the butt stock of the SVD rifle. Commercial Russian Tigr rifles (based on the SVD military rifle) have the serial number of the rifle engraved in to the PSO-1M2 scope's side mount.

Accessories

The PSO-1 is issued with a lens hood that can be attached to the ocular to reduce/eliminate image quality impairing stray light and a carrying case to protect the sight during transport and storage.

Specifications

Magnification Magnification is the process of enlarging the apparent size, not physical size, of something. This enlargement is quantified by a size ratio called optical magnification. When this number is less than one, it refers to a reduction in size, so ...

: 4× * Objective diameter: 24 mm *

Field of view The field of view (FOV) is the angle, angular extent of the observable world that is visual perception, seen at any given moment. In the case of optical instruments or sensors, it is a solid angle through which a detector is sensitive to elec ...

: 6° *

Exit pupil In optics, the exit pupil is a virtual aperture in an optical system. Only ray (optics), rays which pass through this virtual aperture can exit the system. The exit pupil is the image of the aperture stop in the optics that follow it. In a optic ...

: 6 mm *

Eye relief {{unref, date=June 2023 The eye relief of an optical instrument (such as a telescope, a microscope, or binoculars) is the distance from the last surface of an eyepiece within which the user's eye can obtain the full viewing angle. If a viewer's eye ...

: 80 mm * Limiting

optical resolution Optical resolution describes the ability of an imaging system to resolve detail, in the object that is being imaged. An imaging system may have many individual components, including one or more lenses, and/or recording and display components. E ...

: 12 SOA * Power supply for reticle illumination: 1

AA battery The AA battery (or double-A battery) is a standard size single cell cylindrical Dry cell, dry battery. ANSI and IEC battery nomenclature gives several designations for cells in this size, depending on cell features and chemistry. The Battery nom ...

* Weight: 0.6 kg * Overall dimensions: (L x W x H): 375 x 70 x 132 mm

Variants

The PSO-1M2-1 Used on the VSS Vintorez and

AS VAL The AS Val "Shaft" (Russian: АС «Вал»; Автома́т Специа́льный, Romanization of Russian, romanized: ''Avtomát Spetsiálny "Val"'', Literal translation, lit. 'Special Automatic') and VSS Vintorez "Thread Cutter" (Russi ...

features a unique reticle, and elevation turret calibrated for the

9×39mm The 9×39mm is a Soviet rifle cartridge. The cartridge yields increased performance in shorter barrels and effective subsonic performance. History and design The 9×39 is based on the Soviet 7.62×39mm case but with the neck expanded to fit a ...

cartridge. The reticle features a stadiametric rangefinder, ranging out to 400 meters and a single chevron as an aiming point with vertical stadia lines for a windage hold. The PSO-1M2-1 has also been made in a version for the 7.62×39mm intermediate cartridge, which has the range drum marked for up to 1,000 meters. This version has a 400 m stadia metric range finder marked 1.7 m. The POSP is a commercial variant which features various reticles, windage/elevation turrets, mounts, magnification, and variations of the body and lenses used. Various Russian and Belarusian factories manufacture these optics under the same name.

References

External links

NPZ Optics State Plant website

PSO-1 at NPZ Optics State Plant website

{{Soviet and Russian military sights, state=expanded Firearm sights Firearm sights of the Soviet Union