wz.96 Beryl


Wz.96 Beryl assault rifle

 

Wz.96  Mini-Beryl assault rifle

 

 

 

wz.96 Beryl

wz.96 Mini-Beryl

Caliber

5.56×45 NATO and 7.62×39

Length, mm

943 / 742

730 / 525

Barrel length, mm

457

235

Weight w/o magazine, kg

3.35

3.0

Rate of fire, rounds/min

700

700

Magazine, rounds

30

 

Wz.96 Beryl assault rifle is produced in Poland by Fabryka Broni „Łucznik” – Radom arms factory. It was designed in 1995-96 and adopted by Polish army in 1997. It is based on the previous 5.45mm wz.88 Tantal assault rifle, which, in turn, was a close copy of the Soviet Kalashnikov AK-74. Same factory also produces shortened wz.96 Mini-Beryl assault rifle, intended for vehicle crews and Special forces personnel, as well as semi-automatic only versions of Beryl rifle for civilian use. A 7.62x39mm version of the Beryl rifle, known as Beryl M762, is being manufactured by FB Łucznik factory for export (i.e. Nigerian army contract).

 

Wz.96 Beryl assault rifle is mechanically similar to Kalashnikov AK-74 rifle. It uses same design of the stamped steel receiver, similar non-adjustable gas action with long stoke piston and rotary bolt locking. Wz.96 features side-folding and adjustable shoulder stock, separate Picatinny rail, mounted above the receiver (it can be turned up and forward to open the receiver cover), as well as railed forend. Manual safety / selector lever is doubled on the left side of the receiver. It also uses polymer 30-round magazines compatible with other 5.56mm AK rifles. Full-size wz.96 rifle can be equipped with 40mm underbarrel grenade launcher Pallad (using proprietary 40mm ammo) or GPBO-40 (using NATO-standard 40mm LV ammo).