Norinco Type 85 Sniper Rifle

About the Norinco Type 85 Sniper Rifle

The Norinco Type 85 is a Chinese semi-automatic sniper rifle chambered in 7.62x54mmR, developed as a reverse-engineered copy of the Soviet Dragunov SVD. China obtained Dragunov rifles during the Sino-Vietnamese War in the late 1970s and proceeded to reverse-engineer the design, producing the Type 79 followed by the improved Type 85. The rifle retains the SVD's short-stroke gas piston operating system with a manual gas regulator, rotating bolt locking mechanism, and 10-round detachable magazine. The Type 85 features a chrome-lined 610mm barrel and is typically fitted with a Chinese-manufactured PSO-type optical sight. While dimensionally very similar to the original SVD, some parts are not fully interchangeable with Soviet-made rifles due to minor manufacturing differences. The Type 85 served as the primary designated marksman rifle of the People's Liberation Army before being supplemented by more modern designs.

The Type 85's origins lie in the spoils of war. During the brief but bloody Sino-Vietnamese conflict of 1979, Chinese forces captured Soviet-supplied Dragunov SVD rifles from Vietnamese troops. Unable to purchase the rifles officially from the Soviet Union due to the Sino-Soviet split, China's defense industry reverse-engineered the captured specimens, ultimately producing their own version that has since been exported worldwide.

Norinco Type 85 Sniper Rifle specifications

The Type 85 designation can cause confusion as China also has a Type 85 submachine gun, which is a completely different weapon. The export variant marketed by Norinco is designated NDM-86, while the modernized version with polymer furniture, free-floating barrel, and Picatinny rail is designated NSG-85 or CS/LR19. Although the Type 85 closely copies the SVD, Chinese manufacturing tolerances differ slightly, meaning magazines and some components are not always interchangeable with original Soviet SVD rifles. The rifle has been widely exported to nations that could not obtain original Dragunov rifles from Russia.