SVD

For the similar bullpup rifle, see SVU

The SVD (Russian: Снайперская винтовка Драгунова, Snayperskaya Vintovka Dragunova; English: Dragunov's sniper rifle) is a Soviet semi-automatic sniper rifle designed by Yevgeny Dragunov in 1963, designed to replace the aging Mosin-Nagant.

Upon introduction, it had beat out all other contestants and was accepted into service with the Soviet Military with serial production beginning in 1964. It uses the 7.62x54mmR cartridge in a 10-round magazine This ammunition is the same type used in the Mosin-Nagant; the weapon the SVD replaced. It has an effective range of 800 meters and a maximum range of 1300 meters with its standard-issue PSO-1 scope.

Battlefield Vietnam
The SVD in Battlefield Vietnam is used by the North Vietnamese Army and is issued to their scout kit. It comes with a ten-round magazine with two magazines in reserve, and is equipped with a PSO-1 sniper scope with 6x magnification for long-distance engagements. It is a generally powerful rifle, capable of killing in two body shots or in a single head shot. It is the counterpart to the M21 used by the USMC and ARVN, firing with a decent rate of fire and high damage, but with high recoil and a fairly long reload rate.

Battlefield 2
"The SVD is a lightweight rifle used for mid-range sharp shooting. It's slightly less accurate than its American counterpart but shoots significantly faster"

- In-game description

In Battlefield 2, the SVD is the default primary weapon for the MEC Sniper kit. When compared with the USMC M24, The SVD has less power, accuracy, and magnification. However, the SVD is semi-automatic, giving it a faster fire rate. It takes a minimum of three rounds to kill, with a maximum of four rounds on a heavy armored opponent. All headshots kill in one shot.

Battlefield 2: Special Forces
In special forces it is the default sniper rifle for the MEC Special Forces, Russian Spetsnaz, Rebels and Insurgents. It remains the same from base game.

Battlefield 2: Modern Combat
In Battlefield 2: Modern Combat, the SVD is known as the Dragunov SVD DMR. It is the standard sniper rifle issued to the MEC Recon kit. It has high firepower and good accuracy, but a low rate of fire.

Battlefield Heroes
As part of the Battlefield Heroes Gets Bad Company event, the SVD was given as a new sniper rifle available for the National Commando.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2: Vietnam
In Battlefield: Bad Company 2: Vietnam, the SVD is issued to the Recon kit. It is a semi-automatic sniper rifle with a 10-round magazine. Like most weapons in the expansion, it has seen heavy usage and also has a palm branch tied to the hand guard as an attempt to use camouflage. It is identical to the M21 in stats. However, it sports a significantly stronger default scope zoom, making the SVD preferable for long range engagements. They are, in almost all aspects other than appearance, exactly the same when a 12X High Power Scope is equipped. Players tend to dislike the SVD, as its high recoil and low damage are not ideal for the long ranges that its scope is designed for. It is much more effective in Hardcore though, as it will only require two shots to kill at any range, instead of 3-4 in normal modes.

SVD
The SVD is featured in Battlefield Play4Free as a purchasable sniper rifle for the Recon Kit. Due to its semi-automatic nature, it has a higher rate of fire when compared to bolt-action sniper rifles, but has lower damage, requiring 3-4 shots to kill with moderate recoil. It also uses a 14 round magazine and the same scope reticule as the SV-98.

Veteran's SVD
The Veteran's SVD does more damage per shot, but has a smaller magazine of 12 rounds. It costs 560 for unlimited use. Its appearance is more rugged and shows heavy use.

Elite's SVD
The Elite's SVD features an increased damage over the Veteran's version, killing in 2-3 body shots. This advantage, together with a larger magazine of 14 rounds, comes at a high cost of 790 for unlimited use. As per the common appearance for Elite's weapons, the SVD sports a tan paint on the stock and handguard.

Co-Op
In Co-Op, the SVD can be picked up in Exfiltration with an IRNV scope.

Multiplayer
In Battlefield 3, the SVD is the default weapon for the Russian Ground Forces' Recon kit in multiplayer. It is very accurate, and can kill in 2-3 shots to the body, or one headshot (Dependent on range, at least 2 shots are required at further range). It is shown with a new ability to have a rail mount attached to the side brackets, which allows for the rifle to use different types of scopes, gun sights and optics. It can also use laser sights and has the ability to mount a bipod. The SVD comes equipped with a PKS-07 7x scope by default, but can also use its standard PSO-1 4x scope as the first unlock obtained and as with all sniper rifles in the game, can use iron sights.

The SVD is unlocked by default, it is unique to the Russian Army like the Mk11 Mod 0 is to the United States Marine Corps. The SVD is equal in every statistic with the Mk11 Mod 0 except for having an inferior Muzzle Velocity and Reload Times. Statistically there isn't one value that the SVD possesses that any of the other semi-automatic rifles (except the M417 and SKS) don't either do as well or better. It has a 10+1 magazine and is best suited for medium to long range as a way to extend the effective combat range of a squad. It can also be used at closer ranges with a 4x scope or iron sights equipped. It is later unlocked for both factions, like the Mk 11 Mod 0, at 195,000 Recon points.

Trivia

 * The SVD featured in more recent installments of the Battlefield series features a straight magazine.
 * This weapon shares its reload animation with the AK-74M, M39 EMR, AS Val, and SKS.
 * It is one of the few weapons to have strong coloring on it's Battlelog image.
 * Its proficiency dogtag shows the SVD with a PKS-07 scope and a bipod. The mastery dogtag shows it with a 8x rifle scope.