Poland Seeks New Designated Marksman Rifle
The Polish Army is seeking a new Designated Marksman Rifle. It has been reported by Polish media sources that FB Radom and Zakłady Mechaniczne Tarnów have been approached to submit proposals to fulfill the Polish Army’s requirements.
Currently, the Polish Army is equipped with a mixture of medium to long range precision weapons including Polish-made Zakłady Mechaniczne Tarnów BOR, Finnish Sako TRG-21 and TRG-22, and the Soviet-era SVD-63. The majority of the Polish forces’ Designated Marksman Rifles are the 7.62x54mmR chambered SVD. This clashes with Poland’s desire to transition to NATO calibre weapons.
As a result, the Polish Army is looking for a 7.62x51mm chambered semi-automatic rifle which can replace the venerable SVD. In 2019 the Polish armed forces launched an initial effort to select and adopt a new semi-automatic Designated Marksman Rifle only for the effort to be abandoned and relaunched in late 2020.
It appears that Fabryka Broni “Łucznik” will be submitting their Grot 7.62N rifle, while Zakłady Mechaniczne Tarnów SA will enter their MWS-25 rifle. Both companies are part of Poland’s larger Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa (Polish Armaments Group) or PGZ, a state-owned holding company.
The development of a 7.62x51mm version of the MSBS Grot platform began back in 2015. By 2018, 16in and 20in barrel versions had been developed in response to the initial Polish army request for a new DMR. The 20in DMR variant is said to weigh around 5kg or 11lbs.
While official data on the specs of FB Radom’s Grot 7.62N aren’t available Zakłady Mechaniczne Tarnów do offer some detailed specs on various available configurations. The MWS-25, or Modular Weapon System, is available in barrel lengths ranging from 13in to 20in. The weapon is offered in 7.62x51mm and 6.5 Creedmoor. Its weight, without optics and accessories, is listed as 5 to 5.65kg (or 11 to 12.4lbs) for the 20in barrel rifle and between 4.4 and 5.4kg (9.7 to 11.9lbs) for the other available barrel lengths. The rifle has a folding stock with the 20in rifle having an overall length of 1088mm (42.8in) when extended and 815 (32in) with folded. The 16in barrel rifle comes in at 978mm (38.5in) extended and 705mm (27.7in) folded. The MWS-25 feeds from 10 or 20 round magazines.