The karabinek wzór 1988 (Carbine Model 1988) Tantal is a 5.45×39mm assault rifle designed and produced in Poland in the late 1980s.
Development
Design work on the new rifle officially began in 1984 at the government-owned Ośrodek Badawczo-Rozwojowy (OBR) in the city of Radom at the request of the Polish Ministry of Defense (the OBR institute had already been studying a possible 5.45mm weapon since late 1980). In 1985, the weapon’s parameters were confirmed and factory tests were conducted by the end of that year. In 1986 the first batch of prototypes was fabricated for evaluation and qualification testing.
These early prototypes, initially designated wz. 1981, were modeled on the Soviet 7.62mm AKM assault rifle. As the weapon was intended to be able to launch rifle grenades, a newly designed, multi-functional muzzle device and a sturdier folding shoulder stock were used (the wire stock is a copy of the wire stock used on the East German MPi-KMS-72 rifle). Additionally, the wz. 81 was equipped with a mechanically limited burst fire mode, borrowed from the AKMS wz. 1980 prototype developed in the late 1970s by OBR. Its location eliminates the need for an anti-pin walkout device, such as a Shepard's Crook on semi-auto AKs and extended auto sear spring on full-autos. It also has an advantage to the M16A2/M16A4 (RO905)'s burst mode in that releasing the trigger in the middle of a burst (one-two shot fired instead of full three) causes the ratchet to reset making the next three-round burst a new, full one instead of a continuation of the previous. The PA md. 86 achieves burst fire in a very similar manner with ratcheting device on trigger-disconnector and hammer pins though simply has a standard AK selector switch with an additional notch for burst and still retains the Rate Reducer, which the Tantal lacks.
The weapon is secured against misfires through a manually operated safety (whose lever, as in the AKM is located on the right side of the receiver), that disables the trigger bar and limits the movement of the bolt carrier. Sliding the safety selector to the top position (marked with a "Z" symbol) secures the weapon, lowering the lever down ("O" setting) disables the safety. The Tantal feeds from a double-column curved box magazine, made from a synthetic bakelite material or stamped metal, with a 30-round cartridge capacity.
The cold hammer forged barrel has a chrome-plated bore with four right-hand grooves at a 200 mm twist rate. It is equipped with a multifunction muzzle brake that can be used to launch rifle grenades.
- Kurdistan Workers' Party
- : 25,000 units, partially withdrawn from service in 2005, some kept in storage.
- : Donated from Poland in 2022.
See also
- Kbkg wz. 1960
- Kbs wz. 1996 Beryl
- Skbk wz. 1989 Onyks
- List of assault rifles