Yes, English is taught to all students in Iraqi schools. Also, an Engineer friend of mine from Haditha informed me that all Engineering classes in their Universities have their tests exclusively in English. So, yes, the Engineers in Iraq speak English quite well ...sometimes better than my Marines they were talking to at the time.
It was one of the first things I noticed at the start of the video...was wondering if was artistic or just manufacturing. What a cool regional/national touch.
@@tachometer74 In the arab world the palm tree is a symbol of generosity while the sword is a symbol of power, so the creators probably had an idea of what they wanted to convey with it at least.
I was deployed in 2003 and we found truckloads of the “training” rifles you mentioned. A couple of guys lost some fingers before the rifles were brought to me for inspection where we found the chambers were drilled. I’m glad you mentioned that. The ones I saw all had a coin inletted into the butt with the word training in Arabic.
As the "SVD we have at home" goes, this is a surprisingly faithful attempt. Only the Chinese went full carbon-copy everything way. Most others went "looks close enough".
Maybe a bit too close. I was hoping that it'd be more of a Galil/Valmet to SVD's (hypothetical, I'm not saying it's related to AK) AKM. No ambidextrous controls, same subpar optics mount that isn't connected to barrel, no bipod mounting, sameish stock. I feel like engineers had some braindead officer above them that constantly was bashing them and demanding exact copy of SVD. Instead of making their own play on PSL/M76/M91/Galil Sniper theme and getting a better more modern rifle.
@@TheArklyte I wish Valmet had made an SVD copy, although the RK series rifles are probably more accurate than SVD anyways. The Finnish doctrine at the time didn't really put emphasis on designated marksmen though, now we're getting a dull piston AR in 7,62x51 for that.
The Chinese had the tools and competency to copy Russian equipment. With these you can see many of the markings are hand-done and at least some key parts were fraudulently re-labled "Made in Iraq."
The OG wooden furniture SVD is truly a work of art. Edit: I am so happy to see I'm not the only one who sees the beauty in the way of the wooden furniture.
@@Imnotsurewhattoput798 100% correct but I wasn't talking about the weapon I'd rather have in war just the one I think looks cooler. The svsm is objectively better than the SVD in every way.
@@Djrealfake I wasn’t calling you a fudd I just realized it looked that way I apologize for that I was making a joke about boomers that call everything a weapon of war.
Fun fact or maybe not realy fun: After Yugoslav company Zastava finished factory in Iraq they keept supervisors there for the first 2 years of production, then they left, the quality of the guns immediately plumed. Some old guys who were there as supervisors or something like that, told me that it was painful to watch what attitude had Iraq workers to the product, bare in mind that Zastava arms was never a swiss watch factory, if they were horrified, it had to be bad there.
*shakes head sadly* Fancy stuff isn't good enough. You need to keep the quality up when the experts are gone: Read the Manuals, Know the Manuals. And you need proper maintenance.
I don't know if the video is still up, but Kalashnikov Konzern posted a series of videos with one of their tech experts - Vladimir Onokoy, if memory serves - who's apparently been around some very interesting places. One of the video series was on the worst AKs he'd ever encountered, and the Iraqi rifles got an episode. He gave examples of some of the QC issues the Tabuk rifles had, and it's pretty hair-raising.
@@ChaohsiangChen I do not know, as they are available in some military museums in Iraq, which include items from the remnants of the Iran-Iraq war. A Syrian friend of mine who used to live in Saudi Arabia says that there were some Iraqi weapons present there, such as Tabuk snipers, about the Qadisiyah weapon being one of these available weapons, but in general I do not know Guaranteed way to get a model of Iraqi weapons
I think I fired one of these things in 2005, in Ramadi, Iraq. We confiscated tons of rifles from local fighters, and sometimes took a selection out to the FOB range to mess around with. I remember the palm-tree stamped magazine and the overall 'imitation SVD' look of it. Very nose-heavy and irritating amount of recoil. It was sadly probably destroyed in 2005 or 2006 along with the other confiscated weapons.
@@waleed8530 Not even a ghost. Nothing like that to find. We did find some amazingly old stuff, like a pretty good condition MG42, an M1 Garand, and a Stirling SMG.
Iraqi Made Yugo M92 clones were extremely popular by the Iraqi National Police in the area I was in back in 07. As a anecdotal note, when we asked locals(mostly Militia Fighters) about what AK's they preferred, a lot of them preferred the Iraqi made AK's, but would usually take a Chinese AK if an Iraqi one wasn't available. They Hated the Iranian made ones as they had a tendency to blow up due to extremely poor QC(they didn't bother with headspacing the barrels for the ones sent to Iraq).
The reinforcement plates for the stock are kind of a deal breaker for me. They look very PSL-like, which means this gun might be fated to destroy itself with enough mags down the pipe. Although as a short stroke gas piston system as opposed to the AK long stroke, and assuming it isn't overgassed (which is a justifiable stretch, but benefit of the doubt), it might have a chance at outliving a PSL at least.
@@VfaDD scimitars are from turkey and shamshirs are persian, the arabian sword is neither one of them, it’s called saif and it’s actually a hybrid between different types of blades.
My company commander was killed in Iraq in December 2004 in Sadr City. We thought it was by someone using a Dragunov or PSL but it may have been by someone using this copy I never knew existed.
10:10 the original dragunov muzzle device is not threaded. The flash hider and the front sight post are a solitary piece sleeved over the muzzle and pinned in place by two pins.
It's always fascinating to dive into the stories behind unique and rare firearms like this one. I love how the firearms world is full of surprises and hidden gems waiting to be discovered.
@@Tunkkis The Soviets especially. Since they were Communists every part in the supply chain was a headache for managers as there were no open markets. Also, Russia is full of remote places where replacement parts may take ages to arrive. That's why Ian had to point out the sniper rifle was unusual that it had no shared parts with standard AKs.
I saw one of these in Iraq! An adjacent EOD detachment had one in their training/ready room, and it was a popular destination for escort & QRF teams in the brigade. They had one of everything on display around the room (and outside); from mines, mortars, and IEDs to gold-plated rifles, briefcase guns, jezails & swords; it was like a Noah's Ark of weaponry. To this day I wonder what happened with it, especially the rare & exceptional stuff. I know it was probably thrown into the burnt-pit, left in a pile for the Iraqis to deal with, or ended up in a general's footlocker; but I like to hope at least some of it got stashed in a huge Raiders of the Lost Ark-sized arms-room, so one day in the future it might be available for my descendants to buy/obtain/scavenge.
I’ll have check my pictures from Iraq. I got paired up with an Iraqi sniper a few missions providing overwatch. He carried a SVD and I carried a M14. I saw a lot of Iraqi/Yugo style Aks. Never thought to look at their SVDs.
OIF Vet here, loved the crazy sniper/marksman weapons the Iraqis made (when they weren't being aimed at me lol). I was part of 4ID in Baghdad, and we captured a gold plated one that's now at home in the 4ID museum near the front gate at Ft. Carson. Most Iraqi units we worked with carried PSL's and maybe now and again a true Russian Drag.
A small correction. The real dragunov muzzle device is not threaded 10:20. Also curious if some small components could interchange. The gas plug, trigger group, recoil assembly all look very close to SVD spec. Curious if you know anyone who has tried to test fit?
It's not exactly an AK bolt, it seems to have a modified third lug in the bottom of the bolt so that it also works as a locking lug instead of just feeding ammo.
In addition to the advantages (e.g. international sales, local prestige/status) mentioned, I imagine hand-engraving in Arabic is also mechanically more difficult than in English, which may be why only the safe/semi markings are hand-engraved in Arabic and the rest are in English.
For his contributions & funding the construction of a Catholic Chaldean church in the city of Detroit, Saddam Hussein was awarded the "Key to the City" by Mayor Coleman Young in 1980
Of the many hundreds of videos of yours that I have watched, this is now one of my favorites! As always I appreciate both the technical info. and the story... I am an artist so I really enjoyed the artwork on the magazine. I don't remember seeing this on any other magazine so that makes this one really special.
Honestly don't know about the red plastic cap, but from a lifetime in engineering is it possibly there to protect the plywood, prevent it from delaminating?
when i watched this video, an engineer working in al Qadisiya establishment watched it with me. The markings were made by hand using marking stamp nails. many problems associating the production were introduced, especially after the 1991 blockade. also, production during the Iraqi - Iranian war was critical the needs were huge cannot cope with Iraqi industry that's why you see very wide types spread through Iraq. Also, enormous amounts of weaponry lost due to 1991 war most are the good weapons and also during the 1991 uprising.
Doesn’t he mention it’s Yugoslav tooling and obviously he shows the “made in Iraq” marking?🤷♂️ Therefore EVERYONE KNOWS it’s not made in Yugoslavia.😒👍🥃
@@robertsmith4681 Um… I highly doubt that they were made in Yugoslavia and then the Yugoslavians decided… “Hey… let’s stamp made in Iraq on them for sh!ts and giggles. Nobody will ever figure it out.” This isn’t how any of this works.😉👍🥃 Perhaps the secret is buried with the weapons of mass destruction?🤷♂️
Very interesting to finally see someone take a good look at one of these. They seem to have been fairly common in Iraq since a lot of coalition troops talked about finding them (as this comments section is already demonstrating), but this is the first time I've seen someone do a dedicated close-up on one.
I actually think the scope is actually made in Iraq. The quality of the calligraphy of "Made in Iraq" is higher than any other engraved text on the rifle.
Could also be a mish-mash. If Iraq had both local production and shipments from Zastava, it's possible that some Yugoslav made scopes got stripped for parts or some Iraqi parts were used to repair Yugo scopes.
@@burningphoneix They would have the resources and the organizational pride to have a stamp or roll professionally made. That doesn't appear to be hand engraved calligraphy to me.
@@Elatenl qualifies ??!! I already said I’m from Iraq and here in Iraq we can use weapons with no problem and I know everything he said because it’s a weapon from my country.
You were (or at least it wasn’t enforced) when the war first kicked off. Known a few guys who brought back souvenirs from Saddam’s palace. The ban on war trophies is lame
@@clownworld4655 I'm specifically referring to firearms. I've got souvenirs. Captured weapons would have been more relevant, both personally and historically.
@@josephhatcher9903 That pisses me off actually, you put your life on the line and couldn't bring back a trophy. Must've cut into the CIA's bottom line...
Anyone remember that small batch of real Russian Dragunovs out of Iraq sold by the Army in early 2000s? They were auctioned on Guns America website and I remember the prices well over $10,000 and up to $20,000 or more. Always wondered how that happened, I can find nothing about it nowdays but know a guy who wound up with one of those guns and a few people here and there on the internet that remember it.
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Interesting piece of histiory. Thank you and the viewer for bringing it to us
Never liked shooting original dragunov that we had in finnish army years ago. The stock is just too light to absorb the recoil, but it is accurate. Have to tell you that..
I have one of those scopes that I brought back home after I took it from someone using a Tabuk against me. Super interesting to see the same engravings on the Al Kadesiah it was designed for.
I remember back in the late 80s and early 90s in Baghdad, pretty much everyone had Tariq pistol which was a Barretta clone manufactured in Al Qadisyah factory too. It had an engraving the word Tariq in arabic and slapping an emblem of Tariq Bin Ziyad on it.
Out of interest, anyone know how easy it is to stamp Arabic markings, like a simple “fire” and “safe” may be easy, but how easy is it to stamp a complete sentence? Do capital Latin characters with generally sharp lines or at least fairly gentle curves, just tend to lend themself to east stamping?
Just want to say I think we found a couple of these in 2007. Unfortunately they were blown up by EOD as they were a part of a much, MUCH larger cache. They were found alongside a few would-be PSL's and Dragunov's that were seemingly cludged together from random bits and pieces, and probably parts from both PSL's and Drag's that were shaved and shaped to fit the wrong receiver. I will say that the sheer number of gold-plated firearms we found in Baghdad was truly mind-boggling. Most of those were kept by individuals as their personal rifle for home protection (Iraqi households were allowed 1 firearm and 1 magazine).
Reminds me of the gun in the video game *"Escape From Tarkov"* called the *"VPO 215"* or AKA the *"Hunter"* that shoots .308 or 7.62x51mm ammunition with the same type of grip on the back of this weapon.
You know Ian, I understand that Dragunov pattern rifles aren't as accurate as some of the weapons we produce here in the states, but _damn_ if they aren't sexy as hell. They are beautiful the same way that F4 Phantoms are.
Wow, another gun on Forgotten Weapons that was originally mine. I can tell you that the cheek rest was NOT on the rifle and the Iraqi magazine was purchased after I sold it to Frenchy but it did have the SVD magazine that the DELTA guy who brought it back originally had with the rifle.
Sometimes it's just good enough to go bang and hit somewhere close to the target!! It explains why when American forces went up against the Iraqi army the other side didn't last long!!
