I own both the SVD (NDM-86) and PSL, plus some nice Mosins. There is generally no problem with rim-lock in the PSL or SVD unless the magazine is somehow defective. Still, the magazines are designed to load properly, by placing the rim cut-out forward from the rear so that you press the rim in first about 1/3 from the rear and then push the round to the rear (just like how you should be loading 22's or 30-30 or 410 magazines in bolt-actions).
As an addendum to the discussion, I consider the PSL to be the combat equal to the SVD. In ways, the SVD is better, but in ways, the PSL is better. The SVD has a better trigger, but a proper PSL trigger is a nice 2-stage as well (mine came with a superb 2-stage right out of the box). The PSL has a simpler gas-system that is easier to maintain in the field but limits loads used (which is actually fine as no nation which issues arms which fire the 7.62x54r currently uses heavy ball). The SVD has an adjustable gas system that allows flexibility with various ammo qualities.
The SVD is more accurate, but the PSL holds its own just fine. It might lose in a target-shooting contest, but it'll take out human targets just as well as the SVD. Optics are identical. The SVD is theoretically more rugged with its milled receiver, but the receiver is really not that beefy. I imagine neither rifle's receiver will wear out before the barrel does. Far too many PSL's from the 1970's are still in use in Africa and the Middle East for durability to be a real problem.
Were I to be going into combat and were told I had to carry a PSL over an SVD, I'd be fine with it. On the flip-side, I'd be just happy to carry an SVD.
Before anyone says they are not real snipers, but DMR's, consider that they were fielded by nations which had sustained sniper schools far longer than the US, and fielded vastly more snipers in WWII than we have fielded in our entire history. They call them sniper rifles, and since they wrote the book on sniper tactics and have employed them in greater numbers, they get to call them that. Perhaps you might call them tactical snipers.
In our case, they may not fit the Marine 2-man sniper team, which is more a strategic sniper mission, but they do the job just fine.