MSBS Grot: The Complete History of Poland's New Army Rifle
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The MSBS Grot is Poland's current military service rifle, and has gone through several iterations in the many years of its development that led to its current 2nd generation form. It is best known in the US as a rifle designed to be interchangeable between standard and bullpup layout, although that capability was dropped when the Polish Army opted not to adopt it. Fundamentally, the Grot ("Arrow" or "Spear") is a short-stroke gas operated, rotating bolt, 5.56mm system derived from the AR-18 system. It spent several years tied up in bureaucratic limbo as part of Project Tytan - Poland's version of a Future Soldier program. It was finally dragged into mainstream adoption when the newly formed Polish Territorial Defense Force adopted it.
Today we will be tracing the development of the Grot from its very first mockups through the preproduction prototypes, the first generation rifle, and the now-standardized second generation - plus a look as the grenade launchers developed alongside it. I would like to give a very big thanks to Fabryka Broni in Radom, Poland for the full access they gave me to this rifle. While the teething issues the Grot had in development are typical of new rifle designs, not many companies are willing to share the whole project history, warts and all. I really appreciate that FB did!
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