I've been searching for awhile and finally found the PSL I wanted last week, it showed up today. The ergonomics are weird and it will take some getting used to for sure. I plan on doing some hand loads for it and testing it out over the long weekend.

Some pictures of the gun, I also found it strange that the mags are serialized to the gun.

Nice!

If you haven't shot it yet, use some light ball surplus to verify scope zero.  It likely won't group real tight, but it's cheaper than trying to dial in shiny brass loads from an unknown POI.

Scope adjustments are different, and very coarse, so take your time, or you'll pull your hair out.  Once you're happy with your zero, you'll have the benefits of range compensating elevation adjustments, or be able to use the graduated chevrons as intended.

Love my PSL, if it eats Russian food, but doesn't have some quirks, I'm not interested.

Nice looking example!

Have fun working up loads for it, and definitely let us know the recipes!  I started some load work on mine years ago, but my particular gun isn't very accurate, so I gave up in frustration.

You say your mags match your gun?  That's pretty rare.....exceedingly rare, in fact.  Unless it's all new manufacture, perhaps.

Oh, and careful with those 174s.  Interwebbins say these guns were built around the 148 light ball loads, and the heavier charges and heavier bullets beat the gun up.  I haven't actually seen any broken bolts or battered receivers, but....

I've heard about the heavier loads beating up the receiver. I should have a recoil buffer early next week, I drilled and tapped the gas block today and screwed in a set screw with a smaller orifice drilled into it to lessen the gas pressure in the gun.

There was a company making an adjustable gas block for the PSL some years back. Don't remember who.

Depending on what type of recoil buffer you use, they can actually cause the rear of the receiver to spread outwards and gradually loosen the trunnion rivets. You can probably read threads galore on this until your eyes fall out, but most people seem to be pretty wary of them.. Especially with 54r heavy ball, even after reducing the gas charge..

Looks like you got a nice one.  Not all are.

Can you read the stamps and tell about the point of manufacture?

You should consider yourself very lucky to have a matching number magazine.  That was common with the first batch of these rifles years ago that had original military receivers, but it's extremely rare with subsequent batches of them.  The original Romanian milspec receivers had a third axis pin and the ATF declared them illegal, so the ones we have now are rebuilt guns on commercial receivers, and the original mags get lost in the transition.

I'd avoid the heavy loads.  Not what the rifle is designed for, there is a lot of info available on this.

Being an AK variant, the PSL will often put a nice dent in the side of each case as it ejects, so handloading can be a bit of a hassle.  Mine does about 1.5 MOA with commercial steel case 148 grain, 2-3 MOA with surplus light ball.  With any load, groups will open up if you get the barrel too hot.

The Red Star trigger is a very worthwhile addition to these guns.

These aren't what most Americans consider precision rifles.  What they are is a simple, solid, accurate semi-auto that essentially has double the effective range of a regular AK.  They are a lot of fun to own and shoot, and you'll get lots of curious comments and stares at the range.

The "verboten" heavy ball loads shoot the best groups though.  PSL likes what it can't have.

Nice lookin psl....congrats.  First time I've seen manufacture stamping on left side rear of receiver...interesting.  Does your psl have cartouche stampings under the receiver right in front of magwell?