At the end of last year, the news that the Polish army had adopted a new GROT assault rifle passed completely unnoticed. This news is interesting for several reasons at once. First, these weapons fully comply with the smallest and not always reasonable NATO standards. Secondly, this development is completely the fruit of the works of Polish designers, which is already arousing interest. Thirdly, this machine is modular in the full sense of the word, and even works.
The GROT assault rifle, despite the fact that everyone writes about it as a completely new weapon, is such with some reservation. The fact is that this weapon was previously planned to be called Radon, in continuation of the tradition of giving Polish weapons a designation by the names of chemical elements and minerals. This renaming is explained only by marketing - a short designation, euphonious, only those letters that are in the Latin alphabet are used. This weapon designated itself back in 2014, when it was presented as another prototype, not ready for mass production with the name MSBS-5, 56. Work on this project was started back in 2007, the goal, as you might guess, was to create an assault rifle meeting NATO standards and avoiding weapons based on the Kalashnikov assault rifle.
You can easily build a chain that shows how long it took Polish designers to create a machine of their own design. From 2007 to 2014, the designers worked on the creation of a new weapon, while the first, still completely "raw" version of the machine was assembled already in 2010. The time from 2014 to the end of 2017 was spent to bring the weapon to acceptable levels and prepare production for mass production. release of this weapon.
To be objective, more than ten years spent on the creation of a new machine gun is not so much, given that the weapon is already in full swing and, after satisfying internal needs, will be exported. Of course, for such work you need either a good base in the form of your own specialists, or those invited from abroad. The Poles managed on their own, at least that's what they say about it, and there is no reason not to believe them. The work of the designers, which was done earlier, allows us to say that the new weapon is really completely Polish. And although the work was mainly carried out as part of the modernization of the Kalashnikov assault rifle, it is difficult to deny the fact that some experience was gained and it was quite successfully applied in the design of the GROT assault rifle. It is quite logical to try to briefly get acquainted with the entire chain of works of Polish designers, before getting acquainted with a new weapon.
Polish assault rifles based on AK
As mentioned above, the previous designs of Polish assault rifles were based on the Kalashnikov assault rifle, and if the first AK and AKM were produced virtually without significant changes in design, then with the transition to a low-impulse cartridge, the situation changed somewhat and Polish gunsmiths began to introduce their developments into the design of Soviet weapons.
Work on its own weapon for the low-impulse cartridge 5, 45x39 in Poland began in 1980, and the AK-74 assault rifle became the basis for the new weapon. Polish sources indicate that this development is completely Polish, for the authorship of the designer Bogdan Shpadersky and other Polish gunsmiths. It is usually noted that gunsmiths tried to make weapons as close as possible in design with interchangeable units with a Kalashnikov assault rifle.
If the work was really carried out "from scratch", then it is absolutely unclear for what purpose, if the result of the work was to be the same Kalashnikov assault rifle. But one cannot fail to notice that the changes are present and they are not only in a few millimeters of differences between individual details.
The main changes that were made by Polish gunsmiths to the AK design relate to the firing mechanism. The weapon was taught to shoot with a cutoff of three rounds. The ability to fire with a cut-off is often criticized, since after the first firing any person knows how to fire 2-3 rounds and this ability is akin to the ability to ride a bicycle - it is not forgotten. A really useful implementation of such a possibility is carried out in systems like the Nikonov automaton, which is also a controversial advantage combined with the complication of the entire structure as a whole. Nevertheless, the Polish designers added a new firing mode and, as a result, got several problems at once.
The main problem was bringing the weapon to acceptable indicators in terms of resource and reliability. So, the weapon was already ready in 1988, but it was only accepted into service in 1991. The reason for this delay, in addition to financial, was not the highest reliability of the firing mechanism. Of course, all the problems were eventually eliminated, but it took time.
In addition to bringing the USM design to acceptable performance, the designers faced another problem, namely, the implementation of control of the weapon's operating modes. It would be strange to overload the standard switch of the Kalashnikov assault rifle with another position, so Polish gunsmiths added another switch, which many often confuse with the AK switch, duplicated on the left side. As a result, the switch on the right side of the weapon began to control only the fuse and had two positions, and a small switch above the pistol grip on the left side switched fire modes and, accordingly, had three positions.
The weight of the new weapon was 3, 37 kilograms unloaded. The length was equal to 943 millimeters with the butt unfolded and 748 millimeters with the folded. The rate of fire was increased to 700 rounds per minute.
On the basis of the wz.88 assault rifle, an assault rifle with a shorter barrel was developed, an analogue of our Ksyusha. This weapon was intended for arming armored vehicle crews, drivers, and so on. This machine received the designation wz. 89. The weapon turned out to be weighing 2, 9 kilograms without cartridges. 720 and 519 millimeters long with the butt unfolded and folded, while the barrel length was 207 millimeters.
There is one interesting fact about this weapon. At the end of 1989, work began on adapting these machines to cartridge 5, 56x45, and this work was even completed. As a result, the wz.90 Tantal and wz.91 Onyks submachine guns were obtained, but no weapons were produced for their own needs. Apparently, the transition to a new ammunition was considered an unaffordable luxury at that time.
Obviously, the transition of the Polish army to the new ammunition 5, 56x45 was inevitable and soon it really took place. In 1994, work began to improve the design of the Tantal and Onyks machines. Taking into account the fact that both assault rifles had already been converted to the NATO standard cartridge, no complicated work was done, the designers changed the butt of the weapon, and also added a mounting bar on the receiver cover. Subsequently, the machine gun continued to grow overgrown with additional mounting strips, the butt changed, but this did not cease to remain, in fact, a Kalashnikov assault rifle with the ability to fire with a cut-off of three rounds.
Already in 1996, new weapons were put into service and began to displace machine guns chambered for 5, 45x39. Until last year, this machine was the main one for the Polish army, although the country bought foreign samples, such as the G36 and HK416.
There are 4 variants of the wz.96 assault rifle. The first one with the designation Beryl with a barrel length of 457 millimeters. Beryl Commando with a barrel length of 357 millimeters. And Mini-Beryl with a barrel length of 235 millimeters. In addition, there is also the Beryl IPSC sports carbine, which differs from the Beryl only in the absence of automatic fire and small details, in the form of mounting sights and other things.
In 2002, on his own initiative, the Polish designer Mikhail Binek demonstrated the result of his work, namely a bullpup assault rifle. As it is not difficult to guess, the weapon was based on the Beryl machine gun, which, perhaps, gave movement to the project, which grew into a full-fledged finished model with the designation wz.2005.
Since the Beryl assault rifle was based on the Tantal assault rifle, which, in turn, was built on the basis of the AK-74, the Jantar is nothing more than a Kalashnikov assault rifle in the bullpup layout, which has a fire mode with a cutoff of three rounds.
Like most weapon models created in an attempt to change the layout of the AK, the wz.2005 assault rifle has a number of disadvantages that are difficult to come to terms with. In addition to the close location of the window for ejection of spent cartridges to the shooter's face and the shutter cocking handle, which can be caught with the front teeth when firing from the left shoulder, the location of the fuse switch is clearly inconvenient. In addition, on the other side of the weapon there is also a small fire mode switch, while both elements have to be interacted with with different hands.
The combination of all these shortcomings became the reason that the weapon was not accepted into service. However, the advantages of the bullpup layout were appreciated, and later the experience of creating such a weapon was applied in the MSBS-5, 56 project, which grew into a GROT machine gun.
General concept of the GROT vending machine
It is no secret that Poland is trying with all its might to disown all that was Soviet, therefore the refusal of weapons, albeit of their own processing, but based on the Soviet Kalashnikov assault rifle, was only a matter of time. In this regard, the question was raised of what exactly the new Polish machine gun would be. It goes without saying that the new weapon had to meet all NATO standards and at the same time have a basis for further maximum cheap modernization, but the details were important that would become decisive in the further development of Polish weapons in the army.
Taking into account the experience of operating foreign assault rifles, as well as our own developments, the choice was made in favor of a modular system, and modularity was not limited only to the ability to quickly change the barrel of a weapon, modularity had to be really complete.
First of all, the design had to provide for the possibility not only of assembling an assault rifle with the desired barrel length, but the creation of a complex on the basis of which it would be possible to assemble an assault rifle, a self-loading rifle, and a light machine gun with the maximum possible use of common assemblies and parts. Such a solution would significantly reduce the cost of rearmament, and would also allow solving the problem of weapons repair and personnel training.
In addition, the Jantar assault rifle previously showed its clear advantage over versions of assault rifles with a shortened barrel, since the full length of the barrel is retained when assembling the bullpup. This became the reason for another requirement for a new machine gun, which had to be developed in two different layouts, back with as many common parts as possible.
In other words, the gunsmiths were faced with the task of creating a designer, from which it was already possible to "mold" anything, and it should be noted that the Polish gunsmiths coped, albeit not without controversial points.
Appearance and ergonomics of the GROT vending machine
If we compare this machine gun in its appearance with other modern developments, then we can confidently say that the weapon is made at a decent level. Although beauty is a subjective concept, we saw some really strange constructions against which GROT looks handsome at all.
Obviously, a lot of attention was paid to the ergonomics and ease of handling weapons. The designers abandoned the possibility of firing with a cutoff of three rounds, which made it possible to combine both the fuse switch and the translator of fire modes in one piece, which was located above the pistol grip under the thumb of the holding hand and duplicated on the other side. The magazine release button is located in front of the safety clip, large enough and comfortable to press with the index finger of the hand holding the weapon.
In an interesting way, the shutter delay is disabled, which is also present in the GROT machine. Since in any layout, the magazine must be changed manually, respectively, the hand will be next to the magazine receiver, the designers decided to move the shutter delay off button right behind the magazine shaft, which seems to be a fairly reasonable solution.
On both sides of the weapon, there are handles for cocking the shutter, which remain motionless during firing, and the possibility of choosing a side for ejecting spent cartridges has not been ignored, however, the solution is not the most beautiful, but the cheapest. The choice of the side is carried out by turning the bolt larva, for which, of course, the weapon must be disassembled. The unused window for ejection of spent cartridges is closed with a lid.
Construction and characteristics of the GROT vending machine
The basis for the new assault rifle was an automatic system with a short piston stroke and locking the barrel when the bolt was turned by 7 stops. So the Polish designers managed to move away from the AK, but not far.
The upper part of the receiver of the machine is made of aluminum alloy, the barrel and bolt group are located in it. The receiver is the same for both the classic layout and the bullpup layout, the latter differs only in an additional mounting bar above the barrel. But the lower parts of the receiver are different for different layouts. They contain a trigger. The lower part of the receiver, forend and butt are made of plastic.
Despite the fact that there are many details in the GROT machine that should make it light, it does not hold a record for low weight. In the classic layout, the weapon weighs 3, 65 kilograms unloaded. In the bullpup layout, the weight of the machine is 3.55 kilograms. The length of the assault rifle in the classic layout with the butt unfolded is 900 millimeters, with the stock folded - 670 millimeters. The same 670 millimeters is the length of the weapon in the bullpup layout. In both cases, the barrel length is 406 millimeters.
Outcome
Whatever one may say, but the Polish designers really managed to create a modern weapon and quite convenient. Personally, I really liked the decision to abandon the short-barrel version of the assault rifle in favor of the bullpup layout. A well-thought-out arrangement of controls is also not a common phenomenon, although it would seem that this is exactly where you need to start when creating a new weapon.
Since the machine has just entered service, reliability issues remain open, especially in operating conditions different from the Polish climate. Since the weapon, before being put into service, was “brought up” for 4 years, it is likely that the shortcomings that could be encountered in local conditions were eliminated. It is not known how the machine will show itself at high operating temperatures, under prolonged exposure to direct sunlight or at the lowest possible temperatures. Given that Poland often participates in various operations as part of NATO, reviews can be expected in the near future, including comparisons of weapons with other foreign models.
