Kbk wz.88 (Tantal)

History

The range of the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe during the Cold War was so great that local small arms designs in these countries were heavily influenced by the classic Kalashnikov AK-47 series. For the Polish state "liberated" by the Soviet Union from Nazi German control at the end of World War II (1939-1945), the AK-47 product line proved crucial in their attempts to adapt indigenous assault rifle systems to standards development output. The result is Kbk wz.

88 "tantalum".

In 1957, a modernized version of the AK-47 came out, which retained the original 7.62x39mm caliber, known as the AKM. In 1974, a completely new product, the AK-74, appeared, modeled after firing a 5.45x39mm rifle cartridge. This led to the release of a version with a side-folding skeleton stock as the AKS-74, which greatly improved the portability of the weapon, especially in the hands of paratroopers or special forces.

Its shortened assault carbine form later became the AKS-74U - both were 5.45mm caliber.

The AKS-74 was the basis for the Polish localization variant, whose design work spanned from 1981 to 1988 and was produced by wz. 1981 prototype model.

Although the Polish model remained largely faithful to the Soviet design, some minor modifications were made to improve manufacturing and meet the needs of the Polish army. Black synthetic material replaces the original woodwork visible on the exterior of many early Kalashnikovs. Internally, a three-shot burst mechanism for selective fire was added. The muzzle is fitted with a compensator to support the installation of field bayonets and the firing of rifle grenades to extend the infantry's tactical range. In its final form, the weapon was adopted by the Polish Army as the wz.

1988 Tantal went into series production in 1991 at the Luznik Arms Factory in Radom. About 25,000 units were produced from 1989 to 1994.

The gun uses a rotating bolt to maintain pneumatic action. The rate of fire reaches 700 rounds per minute, and the effective range is up to 500 meters. The feeding system consists of a curved, detachable 30-round magazine. Aiming is via a standard iron assembly. The overall weight is 8.14 pounds and the overall length (extended stock) is 37 inches.

With the stock folded down, that's reduced to 29.4 inches.

While Poland became the main operator of the Tantal rifle during its lifetime, the rifle eventually found its way to the Middle East, where it fought against Kurdistan troops and Syrian rebels. After the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, the Polish government sold about 10,000 weapons to Iraqi forces.

Poland made an active contribution there during the development.

For the Polish Army, the Tantal was withdrawn from front-line service in 2005, replaced by the more modern wz. 1996 "Beryl" series, caliber 5.56 mm. After Poland joined NATO in 1999, the Polish Army imposed new requirements for the 5.56x45mm NATO standard assault rifle.

The Beryl Assault Rifle is described in detail elsewhere on this page.

Inventory of decommissioned tantalum weapons in Poland have either been sold or are still in storage. Skbk wz. The 1989 "Onyx" was the full-length assault carbine version of the Tantal line - despite being only 20.4 inches in folded length, it was still a 5.45mm gas-powered weapon.

Specification

Roles

Dimensions

Performance

Changes