Book excerpt: The Dragunov sniper rifle was a squad support weapon designed to provide long-range engagement ability. It was invented in the Sovient Union, with licensed production eventually established in China and Iran. Technically it is a semi-automatic rifle that has a short-stroke gas-piston system, a relatively thin barrel profile ended with a slotted flash suppressor, a two-piece wooden handguard and a wooden thumbhole stock. This training book has been developed from the ground up for beginners who know little about Airsoft sniper rifle technology. As part of our Airsoft Technology Self-Paced Training Series, this book gives an introduction to the SVD Sniper with Co-2 upgrade architecture. The primary goal of this book is to explain the various technical concepts in very simple language.