The FB Radom MSBS Grot ( pl, Modułowy System Broni Strzeleckiej „Grot”, en, Modular Firearm System "Spearhead") is a modular assault rifle developed and manufactured by

FB "Łucznik" Radom Fabryka Broni "Łucznik" – Radom ()—also known as ''Fabryka Broni Radom'' or ''Zakłady Metalowe "Łucznik"''—is a Polish defence industry enterprise from Radom that produces firearms. The enterprise is a part of Polska Grupa Zbrojeniow ...

. There are two basic variants of the rifle: a conventional layout assault rifle and a bullpup. The MSBS is the first machine carbine fully designed and produced completely in Poland since

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

as well as the largest firearms sale contract taken on by the Polish arms industry since 1989.

History

The MSBS rifle was in development since 2007 by the Military University of Technology (WAT) in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

with cooperation from the firearms manufacturer

FB Radom FB, Fb, or fb may refer to: Arts and media * F♭ (musical note) * FB (band), an electronic music collaboration of Benny Benassi and Ferry Corsten * Facebook, a social networking website, also known as FB.com ** Meta Platforms, formerly Facebo ...

, and was designed to replace the

FB Beryl The karabinek szturmowy wzór 1996 Beryl (English: ''assault rifle model 1996 beryllium'') is a Polish 5.56mm assault rifle, designed and produced by the Łucznik Arms Factory in the city of Radom. The rifle is to replace the 7.62×39mm AKM an ...

rifle used by the Polish military since 1997. During initial tests conducted by the Military University of Technology, the MSBS rifle and its counterpart

HK416 The Heckler & Koch HK416 is a gas-operated assault rifle chambered for the 5.56×45mm NATO cartridge. It is designed and manufactured by the German company Heckler & Koch. Although the design is based on the AR-15 class of firearm (specific ...

were subjected to comparative testing of the barrel and hand-guard for overheating during an intensive firing schedule. According to the tests, MSBS yielded the better results of the two rifles despite having a relatively light and longer barrel profile. Additional tests have also shown that MSBS is less susceptible to jamming when using lower quality ammunition or when it is insufficiently maintained, and had a more manageable recoil when fired in full-auto compared to other assault rifles chambered in the 5.56 cartridge, such as FB Beryl, HK416, FN SCAR-L or CZ BREN 2. One of the main design characteristics of the MSBS rifle is the "modular weapon system". If necessary, a soldier can sacrifice, for example, one standard assault rifle to quickly repair a

light machine gun A light machine gun (LMG) is a light-weight machine gun designed to be operated by a single infantryman, with or without an assistant, as an infantry support weapon. LMGs firing cartridges of the same caliber as the other riflemen of the sa ...

during a firefight. Another feature of the rifle is barrel changeability, as found on the Steyr AUG. This means a soldier may be able to adapt their rifle based on the environment they are in, such as converting a

carbine A carbine ( or ) is a long gun that has a barrel shortened from its original length. Most modern carbines are rifles that are compact versions of a longer rifle or are rifles chambered for less powerful cartridges. The smaller size and lighte ...

to a designated marksman rifle, in order to engage targets at a greater range. The benefits of this feature allow an

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and mar ...

squad to have fewer "unique" weapons. MSBS may also be used with components other than the ones manufactured domestically, and it is the first Polish rifle fully compliant with the NATO standards. The MSBS rifle features fully ambidextrous controls and

Picatinny rail The Picatinny rail ( or ), or Pic rail for short, also known as a MIL-STD-1913 rail, 1913 rail or STANAG 2324 rail (cancelled), is a military standard rail interface system that provides a mounting platform for firearm accessories. It was ...

, and it may also be fed from standard STANAG magazines. Currently, the rifle is in service with the Polish Territorial Defence Forces and is scheduled to replace

as the primary

weapon and

service rifle A service rifle (or standard-issue rifle) is a rifle a military issues to regular infantry. In modern militaries, this is typically a versatile and rugged battle rifle, assault rifle, or carbine suitable for use in nearly all environments. Mos ...

of the

Polish Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland ( pl, Siły Zbrojne Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej, abbreviated ''SZ RP''; popularly called ''Wojsko Polskie'' in Poland, abbreviated ''WP''—roughly, the "Polish Military") are the national armed forces of ...

. Following the adoption of the rifle by the Polish military, the ''Grot'' moniker has been added to the MSBS name in honor of the

Home Army The Home Army ( pl, Armia Krajowa, abbreviated AK; ) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) est ...

commander, General Stefan "Grot" Rowecki. During the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. ...

10,000 Grot C16A2 rifles were sent to the

Ukrainian military , imports = , exports = , history = , ranks = Military ranks of Ukraine , country=Ukraine The Armed Forces of Ukraine ( uk, Збро́йні си́ли Украї́ни), most commonly known ...

. On May 9, 2022, the public was informed about the conclusion of an agreement between the Polish Armaments Group and an undefined East African country for the supply of an unspecified number of MSBS Grot rifles with additional equipment.

Variants

Pierwsze strzelanie WOT z systemu JAVELIN

The following variants were designed based on the requests from the Polish Armed Forces to replace currently used firearms such as the

AKM The AKM () is an assault rifle designed by Soviet small arms designer Mikhail Kalashnikov in 1959. It is the most ubiquitous rifle of the Kalashnikov rifles. It was developed as a replacement to the AK-47 introduced a decade prior. Introduc ...

FB Mini-Beryl The karabinek wz. 1996 Mini-Beryl is a Polish compact assault rifle (carbine) derived from the FB Beryl service rifle and chambered for 5.56×45mm. It was developed in parallel with the wz. 1996 Beryl by the "Łucznik" Arms Factory in Radom an ...

, and

Pallad grenade launcher The Pallad (also known as the wz. 1974) is a 40 mm Polish underslung grenade launcher, developed for use with the AKM assault-rifle and intended to replace the kbkg wz. 1960 grenade-launcher rifle. The name of the weapon reflects the Pol ...

. * MSBS Grot C ( pl, klasyczny, en, classic) is the classic variant of the rifle chambered in either

5.56×45mm NATO The 5.56×45mm NATO (official NATO nomenclature 5.56 NATO, but often pronounced "five-five-six") is a rimless bottlenecked intermediate cartridge family developed in the late 1970s in Belgium by FN Herstal. It consists of the SS109, L110, an ...

cartridge with a folding and retractable stock. ** MSBS-5,56A0 - initial production, 1,000 produced. ** FB-M1 (MSBS-5,56A1) - first production batch: modified charging handle and additional strap mount point on the

picatinny rail The Picatinny rail ( or ), or Pic rail for short, also known as a MIL-STD-1913 rail, 1913 rail or STANAG 2324 rail (cancelled), is a military standard rail interface system that provides a mounting platform for firearm accessories. It was ...

. ** FB-M2 (MSBS-5,56A2) - second production batch: longer

handguard A barrel shroud is an external covering that envelops (either partially or full-length) the barrel of a firearm, to prevent unwanted direct contact with the barrel (e.g. accidental collision with surrounding objects, or the user accidentally tou ...

to cover the gas block, reinforced

firing pin A firing pin or striker is a part of the firing mechanism of a firearm that impacts the primer in the base of a cartridge and causes it to fire. In firearms terminology, a striker is a particular type of firing pin where a compressed spring ...

for dry fire practice, improved

pistol grip On a firearm or other tools, a pistol grip is a distinctly protruded handle underneath the main mechanism, to be held by the user's hand at a more vertical (and thus more ergonomic) angle, similar to the how one would hold a conventional pis ...

and

buttstock A gunstock or often simply stock, the back portion of which is also known as a shoulder stock, a buttstock or simply a butt, is a part of a long gun that provides structural support, to which the barrel, action, and firing mechanism are attache ...

. * MSBS Grot B ( pl, bezkolbowy, en, bullpup) – the bullpup variant of the rifle chambered in 5.56×45mm NATO cartridge. * MSBS Grot R – is the representative variant of the rifle designed to be used by honour guards which has been adapted to fire blanks and withstand drills. With the modularity of the rifle, the barrel can be swapped to fire live ammunition. * Grot S – civilian semi-auto version without bayonet-mount, available with 4 variants of barrels (2022): 10.5, 14.5, and 16 inch in

.223 Remington The .223 Remington (designated as the 223 Remington by the SAAMI and 223 Rem by the CIP) is a rimless, bottlenecked rifle cartridge. It was developed in 1957 by Remington Arms and Fairchild Industries for the U.S. Continental Army Command ...

and 16 inch in

7.62×39mm The 7.62×39mm (aka 7.62 Soviet, formerly .30 Russian Short) round is a rimless bottlenecked intermediate cartridge of Soviet origin. The cartridge is widely used due to the worldwide proliferation of Russian SKS and AK-47 pattern rifles, as ...

. The MSBS GROT is a selective fire modular assault rifle which is capable of semi-automatic, 3-round burst and fully automatic fire. It has a cyclic rate of fire of around 700–900 rounds per minute. Both the Classic and Bullpup variants are planned in 5 different configurations and have many common interchangeable parts and can be in future converted from one to the other.: *Assault rifle – a standard assault rifle configuration with barrel. *Assault rifle with underbarrel grenade launcher – similar to the assault rifle configuration but with a 40×46mm underbarrel grenade launcher equipped. *Carbine – a short barrel variant with a barrel. *Carbine with underbarrel grenade launcher – similar to the carbine configuration but with a 40×46mm underbarrel grenade launcher equipped. *Squad automatic weapon – a variant equipped with a heavy profile barrel. *Designated marksman rifle – is equipped with a barrel and a two stage trigger group. Currently only conventional layout assault rifle, carbine, representational and semi-auto versions are available. Bullpup layout, grenade launcher, squad automatic weapon and designated marksman rifle are not produced. Modules for conversion between versions also are not available. Conversions kit to caliber

is available. Since the Polish ministry of defence ordered 53,000 of the MSBS assault rifles, Fabryka Broni has introduced a military naming designation for the MSBS series. Grot – After the official adoption of the rifle by the Polish Armed Forces, the Grot name was added. C, B, R, S – ''variants'': classic, bullpup, representative, sport (semi-auto civilian) 10, 14, 16, 20 – ''barrel lengths'', in inches. G, M, PS – ''configurations'': assault rifle with grenade launcher, light machine gun, marksman rifle FB – Fabryka Broni, the manufacturer of this weapon system. M(x) – number of series (x stands for the generation, for examples, ''M1'' means first generation, ''M2'' is second generation, ''M3'' is planned third generation)

MSBS-7.62N derivative

The MSBS-7.62N is a semi-automatic sniper rifle/

designated marksman rifle A designated marksman rifle (DMR) is a modern scoped high-precision rifle used by infantrymen in the designated marksman (DM) role. It generally fills the engagement range gap between a service rifle and a dedicated sniper rifle, at aroun ...

chambered in 7.62×51mm NATO cartridge. The MSBS-7.62N project began in the end of 2015 when Polish Military of Defence announced analytical works for the replacement program of their SVD Dragunov marksman rifle and supplement the

bolt-action Bolt-action is a type of manual firearm action that is operated by ''directly'' manipulating the bolt via a bolt handle, which is most commonly placed on the right-hand side of the weapon (as most users are right-handed). Most bolt-action ...

TRG-22 The Sako TRG is a bolt-action sniper rifle line designed and manufactured by Finnish firearms manufacturer SAKO of Riihimäki. The TRG-21 and TRG-22 are designed to fire standard .308 Winchester ( 7.62×51mm NATO) sized cartridges, while the TRG ...

and

Tor Tor, TOR or ToR may refer to: Places * Tor, Pallars, a village in Spain * Tor, former name of Sloviansk, Ukraine, a city * Mount Tor, Tasmania, Australia, an extinct volcano * Tor Bay, Devon, England * Tor River, Western New Guinea, Indonesia Sc ...

sniper rifles currently in service. It was led by the team of Fabryka Broni Łucznik-Radom and Wojskowa Akademia Techniczna (WAT) engineers. The MSBS-7.62N has two different configurations; one with a 508 mm (20 in) barrel with a fixed adjustable stock and the other with 406 mm (16 in) barrel with the MSBS Grot C's adjustable side-folding stock. Both configurations are part of the MSBS family and some of the parts of the rifle, such as the stock, handguard, pistol grip, and trigger are interchangeable between 5.56m and 7.62m models. The MSBS-7.62N is designed as a semi-automatic rifle but project engineers declared that a fully automatic configuration can be developed if required. In September, 2019 the MSBS-7.62N was officially announced at MSPO 2019, but since 2022 its production has still not been started.

Users

*: Approximately 150,000 of both versions A1 & A2 of MSBS GROT have already been produced and ordered together. ** Territorial Defence Force: ~53,000 in 2017. *: 10,000 Grot C16A2 rifles sent to the

Ukrainian Ground Forces The Ukrainian Ground Forces ( uk, Сухопу́тні військá Збрóйних сил Украї́ни), also known as the Ukrainian Army, are the land forces of Ukraine and one of the five branches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. They ...

during the

References

Other sources

*
Pierwszy pokaz MSBS-5,56
' in:

Altair Altair is the brightest star in the constellation of Aquila and the twelfth-brightest star in the night sky. It has the Bayer designation Alpha Aquilae, which is Latinised from α Aquilae and abbreviated Alpha Aql ...

, 12 December 2009 *
Nowa polska broń – MSBS-5,56
' in:

, 15 December 2009 *
MSBS-5,56 już strzela
' in:

, 16 December 2009 *
Rodzina MSBS-5.56 W Czerwcu
' in:

, 22 March 2010 *
Nowy MSBS-5,56
' in:

, 9 August 2010 *
MSBS-5,56 w nowej szacie
' in:

, 5 October 2010 *
Giwera przyszłości
' in:

Polska zbrojna ''Polska Zbrojna'' (Armed Poland) is a monthly magazine on military and military history, published in Poland. It is the largest regular publication in Poland focusing on that specific subject area, intended for soldiers of the regular army. ''Po ...

, 30 December 2008 *
MSBS-5,56 w Pułtusku
' in:

, 4 June 2011 *
MSBS do amunicji 7,62mm x 39
' in:

, 21 September 2014 *
Prototypy karabinów MSBS-7,62 na MSPO
' in

, 9 January 2016

External links

Fabryka Broni "Łucznik" Radom home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Msbs Radon 5.56×45mm NATO assault rifles 7.62×39mm assault rifles 7.62×51mm NATO battle rifles Assault rifles of Poland Bullpup rifles Military equipment introduced in the 2010s