Possible to own a Russian OTS-03 rifle in WA?

[Smirky Dog]

Hey guys, I’m am new here, and I’m just curious about whether or not it would be possible to own a Russian OTS-03 rifle in WA. I’ll post the link to its wiki for ease but I’m unsure whether it’ll be legal or not due to either its stopping power or maybe caliber I don’t really know.

Link:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragunov_SVU

[Sergeant Hartman]

Is that a semi or full auto.... doesn't WA have appearance laws?

Anyway I reckon zero chance

[1Fatman]

It is a semi auto so you can forget about it in all states unless you can get the correct category license.

Whereas the SVU is semi-automatic, the SVU-A (the A stands for automatic) is a fully automatic rifle

[knowsnothin]

zero.

good first post though

[zhuk]

Ha if only!

Though I'd prefer an AK first lol

[TassieTiger]

Effective range of 1200m with a 2500 FPS muzzle velocity??
And I love the part about the traditional scope being illuminated by radioactive substances rather than battery lol

[No1Mk3]

G'day TassieTiger,
I have 2 original Dragunov scopes which use Tritium for illumination. they work very well but cannot easily be recharged when they deplete. Both mine are Yugoslav Zrak made scopes but are identical to the Russian scope

[TassieTiger]

I know radium is used extensively for similar types of things like clock faces at night it’s just the whole Chenobyll thing...

[bladeracer]

G'day TassieTiger,
I have 2 original Dragunov scopes which use Tritium for illumination. they work very well but cannot easily be recharged when they deplete. Both mine are Yugoslav Zrak made scopes but are identical to the Russian scope

I thought to be able to own militaria it had to have been cleaned of radium?

[bladeracer]

Effective range of 1200m with a 2500 FPS muzzle velocity??
And I love the part about the traditional scope being illuminated by radioactive substances rather than battery lol

Why would 1200fps matter? All military cartridges of that era are much the same.
Old military vehicles had radium in them for night use. I believe for decades now it's been a requirement to remove any radioactive material to be able to possess such items.

[on_one_wheel]

G'day TassieTiger,
I have 2 original Dragunov scopes which use Tritium for illumination. they work very well but cannot easily be recharged when they deplete. Both mine are Yugoslav Zrak made scopes but are identical to the Russian scope

I thought to be able to own militaria it had to have been cleaned of radium?

There's plenty of military compasses around with radium inside them.

I think there's specific rules around disposal of items containing radium, but it would seem that there's no problem owning things containing radium.

It's useful life for illumination is 10 years or less.

[wanneroo]

The Dragunov was always more of a designated marksman type rifle, last I researched it years ago it wasn't all that accurate in reality.

In the USA there were 100 legit Russian Dragunovs imported into the USA in the early 1990s. One recently sold at auction for $23,000. There were also a few Chinese facsimile Drag rifles imported. Russia has an agreement with the USA to voluntarily not import these rifles and all Chinese sourced arms and ammunition got banned in the mid 1990s when Norinco got caught selling to people they should not have in the USA(in fact I met a medically retired police officer that had been shot with one of these illicit Norinco Type 56 AKs). So even in the USA these are rare guns and not even the bullpup version will ever reach our shores.

So I would guess one, you ain't ever gonna get it out of Russia and two, Australia would never let you import it or own it.

[TassieTiger]

Effective range of 1200m with a 2500 FPS muzzle velocity??
And I love the part about the traditional scope being illuminated by radioactive substances rather than battery lol

Why would 1200fps matter? All military cartridges of that era are much the same.
Old military vehicles had radium in them for night use. I believe for decades now it's been a requirement to remove any radioactive material to be able to possess such items.

1200fps? Think you meant query 1200 meters.
I’d be keen to know if the quoted efficient range of 1200m was accurate because 2500fps with such a heavy pill - at least compared with later model long range sniper rifles - doesn’t seem to compute...OR it shows how marketing has heavily influenced the must have 338 lap and similar. From memory and that’s a bit poo at moment - I think the late model sniper 308 was regarded as as a 900m effective range...

[Bruiser64]

Like everyone else has said: no chance. You would have to get import approval from the Commonwealth and convince WAPOL you have a valid reason and need for it. This is all drawing the extraordinarily long bow that an actual military (not just military style semi auto ) isn’t banned here anyway. If the USA has banned it, there is zero chance WA would let you have one.

Other than as a curiosity why would you bother even if you could? I suspect it’s not likely to be particularly well made. I would have that a USA or Western European made semi auto centrefire would be a higher quality rifle. Design is all well and good, but only if backed up by good quality manufacturing and engineering. This is all speculation as you will only get a semi auto centrefire registered if you are a licensed pest controller.

[JimTom]

Taking the Mickey out of us for sure.

[Sergeant Hartman]

Agreed tomtom... maybe he's a GCA troll

[JimTom]

Definitely something like that. Someone looking for information.

[Bruiser64]

I was also quite suspicious. Your one and only post is about buying a Russian sniper rifle in the Australian state that traditionally has had the strictest firearms laws? I am very dubious about the sincerity of the question. I like to play a straight bat to this kind of enquiry though.

Are they trying to provoke some kind of discussion about how wonderful it may be to possess something that just is clearly never going to be permitted? Whilst I may not like all the laws, I sure as hell intend abiding by them. The good thing about a democracy is that if we disagree with the law it is perfectly reasonable to seek to change it. I seem to recall a recent campaign to change marriage laws. Most people saw this campaign as a legitimate expression of democratic rights to change a law that affected at most 2% of the population. I see nothing wrong with firearms owners seeking to change laws that affect us that we don’t agree with.

[duncan61]

I keep going to post my thoughts but you have covered it again Bruiser.Is the O.P. aware this site is monitored and what possible reason could there be to own an assault rifle???

[JimTom]

My bet is that he is a troll mate.

[duncan61]

At least I looked up the 7.62x54Rimmed.Its no more than 308 or 30/06 which makes sense as a military chambering.So stopping power is not an issue.If the O.P. does not respond maybe we could delete this thread?

[wanneroo]

At least I looked up the 7.62x54Rimmed.Its no more than 308 or 30/06 which makes sense as a military chambering.So stopping power is not an issue.If the O.P. does not respond maybe we could delete this thread?

I'm guessing there are Australians that own surplus Mosin Nagants, although I can't say I've ever heard much about them down under compared to the USA. Here we can still buy them on the shelf as cosmoline soaked surplus rifles. I think the Ukrainians still have a stash.

The cartridge was outdated by WW2, even before, but like the British clinging to the 303 rimmed case, a lot of it came down to logistics and the cost and time to replace something so widespread. Russians are still using it.

[TassieTiger]

There have been a few films and books that have showcased the Dragunov as the ultimate rifle - maybe the poster read / saw a film and thought that be a cool firearm to own, I wonder if it’s possible?

[bladeracer]

I keep going to post my thoughts but you have covered it again Bruiser.Is the O.P. aware this site is monitored and what possible reason could there be to own an assault rifle???

The entire internet is "monitored" and archived.
Collectors perhaps? This is actually a sniper rifle though.

[bladeracer]

At least I looked up the 7.62x54Rimmed.Its no more than 308 or 30/06 which makes sense as a military chambering.So stopping power is not an issue.If the O.P. does not respond maybe we could delete this thread?

All the military chamberings of that era are much the same performance-wise, from 6.5mm to 8mm.

[wanneroo]

There have been a few films and books that have showcased the Dragunov as the ultimate rifle - maybe the poster read / saw a film and thought that be a cool firearm to own, I wonder if it’s possible?

Most likely used it in a video game.

[zhuk]

At least I looked up the 7.62x54Rimmed.Its no more than 308 or 30/06 which makes sense as a military chambering.So stopping power is not an issue.If the O.P. does not respond maybe we could delete this thread?

I'm guessing there are Australians that own surplus Mosin Nagants, although I can't say I've ever heard much about them down under compared to the USA. Here we can still buy them on the shelf as cosmoline soaked surplus rifles. I think the Ukrainians still have a stash.

The cartridge was outdated by WW2, even before, but like the British clinging to the 303 rimmed case, a lot of it came down to logistics and the cost and time to replace something so widespread. Russians are still using it.

I can guarantee there is a small underground of mosin owners here (I have an indecent number personally lol) though unlike the US hardy any come 'cosmoline soaked' (none of mine were) Few are coming into the country now that importers are finding ot prohibtively expensive to go through getting them from US bond warehouses prior to hitting American soil, so to speak. And they all come from the Ukrainian armouries; which also have all the stores of military surplus equipment such as uniforms, field kit etc.

All Russian arms prior to the AK-74/AK-100 series (including handguns) were chambered in 7.62 x-something to avoid having to re-tool factories. Unsurprisingly a 19th century round which you point out as the design dates from 1891, and over 37 million variants were produced. Still in use today in various conflicts due to their reach capability and bombproof like nature lol

[zhuk]

At least I looked up the 7.62x54Rimmed.Its no more than 308 or 30/06 which makes sense as a military chambering.So stopping power is not an issue.If the O.P. does not respond maybe we could delete this thread?

All the military chamberings of that era are much the same performance-wise, from 6.5mm to 8mm.

6.5mm as used in Swedish mausers is an exceptionally flat-shooting round compared to other milsurp calibres, and swedes are well represented in service rifle comps due to their intrinsic accuracy (interestingly a rimless cartridge from the outset). Also helps that none of them ever had corrosive ammo through them so the barrels are invariably in excellent condition compared to other milsurp rifles. Helps when none of your armies ever fired any shots in anger lol so no need to mass produce millions of rounds.

[duncan61]

When I did a buffalo safari the guide was saying the group before had a hunter who swore his 6.5 swede would do the job on a big bull buffalo and apparently it did.

[zhuk]

When I did a buffalo safari the guide was saying the group before had a hunter who swore his 6.5 swede would do the job on a big bull buffalo and apparently it did.

Anything that pushes 140gr over 2700fps, that's not gonna get up again anytime soon. But damn, a buffalo now that's impressive lol