Oh. it was most certainly designed as a sniper's rifle, just as the SVD, and has performed that role. You need to understand just what a sniper is. It is not a universally-defined concept.
Unless, of course, you do not believe that history is correct - and it is not a debated topic - that Nelson was killed by a sniper.
That the US has a definition of a sniper is significant, but you do realize that the US does not have a solid or very long-term system of sniper training. After the Civil War, sniper training was forgotten, ditto for after WWI, WWII, and Korea. Only with Vietnam did the concept of sniper training take root, but even so, the US Army sniper training school did not become a reality until 1987. The PSL and SVD were developed long before then. Therefore, the doctrines of snipers (the Soviets invented the two-man team concept, by the way) and their weapons cannot be considered a US invented thing and so, the PSL and SVD, while not your definition of a sniper's rifle, are most certainly snipers' rifles.
As to the hunting rifle with a scope, perhaps you do not realize that in Vietnam, that was exactly what the sniper rifle was (Remington 700's and Winchester 70's). Indeed, any hunting rifle today would make an excellent sniper's rifle, Bubba's opinion or not.
The sniper is not merely an assassin who shoot high-level officers from afar in a strategic setting. Indeed, most snipers throughout time (the vast, vast majority of all snipers) were tactical snipers who engaged targets on the battlefield. This remains true today. These are the snipers the SVD and PSL were designed for. And, more importantly, these are the roles in which the sniper has made the largest impact throughout time.
Davis