MSBS Grot: The Complete History of Poland's New Army Rifle

The MSBS Grot is Poland's current military service rifle, and has gone through several iterations in the many years of its development that led to its current 2nd generation form. It is best known in the US as a rifle designed to be interchangeable between standard and bullpup layout, although that capability was dropped when the Polish Army opted not to adopt it. Fundamentally, the Grot ("Arrow" or "Spear") is a short-stroke gas operated, rotating bolt, 5.56mm system derived from the AR-18 system. It spent several years tied up in bureaucratic limbo as part of Project Tytan - Poland's version of a Future Soldier program. It was finally dragged into mainstream adoption when the newly formed Polish Territorial Defense Force adopted it.

Today we will be tracing the development of the Grot from its very first mockups through the preproduction prototypes, the first generation rifle, and the now-standardized second generation - plus a look as the grenade launchers developed alongside it. I would like to give a very big thanks to Fabryka Broni in Radom, Poland for the full access they gave me to this rifle. While the teething issues the Grot had in development are typical of new rifle designs, not many companies are willing to share the whole project history, warts and all. I really appreciate that FB did!

[jakubfabisiak]

Fun fact: while "grot" means arrowhead/spearhead in Polish, it was also the nickname of "Grot" Rowecki - one of the generals of the Polish Home Army during WW2.

[witkocaster]

Guys, just imagine. You buy one upper, three barrels different size, two lowers. Out from this you get six combinations of rifles, for potentially price of two and a half.

[singami]

One note, because your description of "Territorials" getting "the best equipment" sounded like they're some kind of spec-ops. "Territorials" are essentially volunteer support troops, a kind of localized, organized militia. The government dumped MSBSes on them first to serve as a testing ground for a yet-unproven design.

[TerminaterX]

That integration of the grenade launcher is super seamless and aesthetic.

[Asdf-wfen]

The bullpup version with the grenade launcher is perfect for a sci fi movie.

[witkocaster]

Ian robi najlepsze ujęcia broni, zbliżenia, długie spokojne ujęcia, dobre oświetlenie. Nasi mogli by się od niego tego nauczyć.

[jPlanerv]

Obudziłeś starożytne duchy polskich widzów, teraz będziemy nawiedzać twój kanał do końca twoich dni.

[kamilszadkowski]

Regarding the name "Grot". The word itself is hard to translate to English as it basically describes the tip of any projectile with a wooden shaft and tips of all simple polearms. So "grot" can mean arrow-, bolt-, javelin-, pike- or spearhead depending on the context.
But that is not all. The name "Grot" was also chosen because it was the pseudonym of Polish General Stefan Rowecki, the commander of the Home Army during world war 2.

[Hysteria]

Interesting how so many modern rifles not only have their lineage in the AR15+18, but now also the Magpul Masada, it seems. Magpul's influence extends even beyond their patented peripherals.

[frankopanklaric]

Always refreshing to see something that isn't an AR or AK. Thank you.

[piotrmielnik]

Shame that you didn't show how you can transform normal version into bull pup in matter of minute, it really shows the modularity of the rifle. Also worth noting: the whole rifle started as Masters thesis on WAT(Military Technical Academy) before it was picked up by industry.

[nil]

The msbs grot is basically what the bushmaster ACR could have been today if it was actually adopted to replace the m4 carbine.

[kamilszadkowski]

25:41 Actually in the meantime since the recording of this video the Polish Armed Forces did express interest in the bullpup version of the rifle. They plan to issue it to the vehicle crews.

Edit: Unfortunately right now it seems those rumors were fake. It seems that currently, MoD is not interested in the bullpup version of the rifle.

[tiortedrootsky]

I still didnt expect to ever see a proper video with close ups of everything, and suddenly we have everything from the begining! Wow!

[Innomen]

That final little grenade only thing is amazing. Incredibly elegant.

[alexanderkolodziej]

Been using it for a few years now. Great rifle and huge improvement over the Beryl wz.96 previously used in the Polish Armed Forces. Cant wait to get my hands on the bulpup version.

[przemekjuszczyk]

Few months ago an annual closed conference regarding Grot took place, not only military was invited, there were also various engineers and normal users, there are some interesting things that were mentioned:
- The A4 version is said to make proper fix the silly gas regulator problem, A4 will also see further weight reduction
- The workaround gas regulator fix will be available as m-lock accessory
- A machine gun version of Grot has been designed, only details I know about it is that it will use heaver barrel and bigger mags, but that is obvious
- There was a lot of talk about production changes, better materials and production technology for example (ukrainian soldiers often complain that grot gets rusty faster than it should)
- Someone suggested a 6.8 version of Grot, so there is a chance that we will see a 6.8 conversion module prototype
- There are plans to make Grot 2, unfortunately I didn't find any information about it
- A lot of people were interested in AR stock on Grot (especially Territorial Defence Forces, also the current stock is too short for many people)
- Future grot versions are likely to have AR style safety selector
- There will be to changes to the iron sights, in polish army we still use iron sights as primary sights, it might also explain why polish DCM-1 Szafir sight (similar to ACOG) was mounted on one of the grots on the shooting range


There are also plans to release bullpup conversion alone this summer. Other than that I hope you will get to review the Grot 7.62N version and MWS .338 that were created to replace our current SVD. The MWS is also a polish modular weapon system made in Tarnów that I would love you to review. MWS-15 is planned to release in 2023 so we will finally have a chance to compare it against grot. Both rifles look so good, but I think MWS looks better. MWS aims more at civilian market, compared to army centered grot. This year ZM Tarnów also presented ZMT SR-50M, a .50 BMG sniper rifle.

[lynnmclemore]

One of the best commentary and knowledge on the internet. Always does his homework. Always ready with his on take of every weapon. Spot on. Thanks for showing “These Forgotten Weapons”.

[PURPLECATDUDE]

I got to fire one of these when I was in Poland a month ago, I was impressed. It’s a bit chunky but absolutely serviceable

[kireta]

3:17 to clarify: creation of new branch of armed forces made bean counters realise there's simply not enough resonably modern rifles to outfit reserves, if Poland needs to quickly moblize. And this problem would only grow, as main purpose of Territorial Guard is to train new reserves, that have dwindled considerably since draft was suspended in 2009, meaning as time goes there will be more reservists to moblize.
Large number of new rifles had to be aquired one way or another.