Back in 2005 the Tarnów Mechanical Plant begun work on a new generation of sniper rifles for the Polish Army. Unlike many other companies the Tarnów plant developed a Bullpup design sniper rifle family. Meet the Bor and the Tor.
The anti-materiel rifle Tor chambered in .50 BMG was developed first. Then the .308 Win and .338 Lap Mag sniper rifle Bor to follow within a few years. Both of these rifles have seen a number of modifications and a lot of testing by the Polish Army. The rifles have a combat record being used in the Polish contingents in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
Specifications:
– Bullpup design. In theory to reduce the visible footprint of a marksman
– Bolt action fed from a detachable box magazine
– Integrated front bipod and rear monopod
– Chambered in .50 BMG (Tor), .308 Win or .338 Lap Mag (Bor)
– Barrel length: various for both models depending on the order specifications. Standard barrel: 880mm/34.645″ (Tor), 1038mm/40.866″ (Bor)
– Weight: 16,1kg/35.5 lb (Tor, without ammunition), 6,5kg/14.33 lb (Bor, without ammunition and optic)
Issues:
These are from a Polish Army sniper that uses both the Bor rifle and a Sako TRG-22.
– The bipod: sits the gun too high in the most retracted position for comfortable shooting while prone.
– The gun: has a right side only charging handle making it difficult to operate for a left handed shooter as he has to move his head away to allow the charging handle to cycle. This causes the shooter to lose sight picture and give his position away with excess movement.
– The trigger: facing a problem most bullpup designs have, the trigger resembles more an AK trigger with a long drag rather than a slack->wall->break of a match trigger on a classic precision rifle. Unfortunately there is not much space for fine tuning or change.
– A prosaic yet important training issue. Polish snipers are trained using metric standards and all optics use angular mil reticles (mil-dot) to accommodate for this. The standard optic on a Bor/Tor rifle is graded in imperial standard based MOA.
The constructors indicate that there is still room for development for this platform and future versions are likely to see modifications based on additional feedback from the Polish Army.
Stay safe,
Sergei
