Bumar
Fabryka Broni

The Kalashnikovs From Radom

For over 50 years, starting in 1957, the Kalashnikov AK-series rifles became a standard staple of the Radom factory. This gas-operated automatic rifle chambered for the intermediate round is world-renown as a reliable, virtually indestructible ‘soldier-rifle’ o­n the other hand – and as a tool of ruthless ‘ideological struggle’ for the expansion of communism o­n the other. All types of 7.62 mm x 39 Kalashnikov rifles adopted by the Polish Army were manufactured in Radom:

1957-58: 44060 of 7.62 mm ‘pmK z kolb± drewnian±’ / since 1966: ‘kbk AK’ (Soviet analogue: AK, the wood-stocked model)

1957-65: 328850 of 7.62 mm ‘pmK z kolb± metalow± składan±’ / since 1966: ‘kbk AKS’ (Soviet analogue: AKS, the folding stock variant)

1966-72: still secret number of 7.62 mm ‘kbk AKM’ (Soviet analogue: AKM, wood-stocked)

1972-2000: still secret number of 7,62 mm ‘kbk AKMS’ (Soviet analogue: AKMS, folding stock)

Two indigenous variants, developed locally with no Soviet analogue, were also manufactured in Radom:

1962-74: 50000 of 7,62 mm ‘pmK przystosowany do miotania granatów’ / since 1966: ‘kbkg wz.60’ – a fixed-stocked rifle grenade-capable variant of the AK

1972: 500 of 7,62 mm ‘kbkg wz.60/72’ (airborne variant of the above with detachable wooden stock).

In the late 1970s a semiautomatic .22 rimfire training carbine based upon the AKM/AKMS rifles was designed, to be manufactured in a pilot series in early 1980s. Regrettably the ‘Talk’ series has not been adopted by the Polish Army. There were two other .22 rimfire rifles, repeaters, designed in Radom at that time, the kl.154 (kbks wz.78) and kl.153 (kbks wz.79). Although developed in Radom, these were not manufactured there, as a decision was made to move all civilian arms production from there to Wifama in ŁódĽ.

A tight control kept o­n licensed AK/AKM development and export by the Soviets made for a bold decision taken in the late 1970s, when another generation of Kalashnikov rifles, the 5.45 mm x 39 AK-74, was offered to all Warsaw Pact countries. Poland, Czech Republic and Rumania opted to design their own rifles instead of buying another license – in a bid to avoid both the outrageous price tag and tightening of the Soviet control over their respective small arms production capability. The new rifle was created within a project code-named ‘Tantal’, and the first prototype was ready as early as 1981. During the Martial Law period (1981-83) the development of the new rifle was interrupted and o­nly reinstated in 1986, when rifle was radically redesigned. In 1988 it was type-certified, and introduced into the inventory of the Polish Army in 1989 as ‘5.45 mm kbk wz.88’, but still popularly known as the ‘Tantal’ rifle. A year later its compact variant, the ‘subkarabinek wz.89’ code-named ‘Onyx’ followed suit, but was never mass-produced – the total number of the o­nyxes never exceeded 200 and they were all marked with “OBR-“ prefixed R&D serial numbers. The Tantal manufacturing commenced in 1990, but soon the political changes, fall of Communism and Warsaw pact, spelled the doom for all weapons chambered in Soviet calibers, condemning them to the fate of a mere stepping stones in Polish small arms history.

In 1992 export variants of the Tantal and o­nyx, chambered in 5.56 mm x 45 NATO were made, but nobody needed them then. Fortunately they were around in 1996, when a decision was announced to welcome Poland into the NATO as of 1999. The manufacture of the Tantal was halted after some 20000 were made, and a new project code-named ‘Beryl’ was commenced in order to re-arm Polish Army with 5.56 mm rifles: the wz.96 assault rifle and wz.96 automatic carbine. Both are still being manufactured and now constitute the backbone of the Polish Army individual weapons inventory, both at home and in overseas missions.

During the 1990s ZM Łucznik SA tried to branch out into civilian market with civilian-legal variants of their main products. Two rifles were then put into series production, the 7.62 mm Hunter based o­n the AKM and .223 Radom-Sport, based o­n the Beryl wz.96. Both were enthusiastically welcomed by the Polish action-shooting circles, but regrettably the Police cut this effort in bud, by denying civilians registration of the rifle.