Frag Out! Magazine

At the opening ceremony the military ceremonial drill team (also from the WAT) have displayed the New msbs variant, the MSBS-R – a fixed stock variant of the MSBS-K specifically modified for ceremonial drill use (blank-firing only, butt-stock reinforced to withstand repeating butt bashing into the ground, chrome-plated bayonet etc.). Another premiere was the first public presentation of the new proposed Polish military pistol, the Pr-15 rAGUN (no Cajun). The pistol itself is de-facto a refurbished mAG-98 – which comes as no surprise, really, as one of its creators was none other than Marian Gryszkiewicz, the designer of the original MAG. Pr-15 rAGUN Predecessor of the RAGUN, the MAG-98, has lost in a tender for the new Polish Army pistol to the polymer-framed WIST-94, lat- er infamous with the troops for its nightmarish trigger, difficult field-stripping and assorted small evils, some of which were not really the pistol's fault – like the wrongly designed original hol- ster that fostered inadvertent magazine dropping. Now the RA- GUN is meant to replace its erstwhile victor and the even older pistols, P-83s and P-64s. This a short-recoil operated pistol, locked by a barrel tilting into ejection opening. It is chambered for 9 mm x 19 Luger ammu- nition, fed from a staggered row, single-position magazine for 15 rounds. There's no manual safety in this design, only internal automatic safeties. All controls (de-cocker, magazine release and bolt hold open) are doubled and the pistol is made fully ambidex- trous. This is still a prototype, though and it is sure to undergo some more design changes (e.g. the grip plates). The hammer-fired pistol may look a bit outdated in the 21 st Century, but this was the Army requirement. The external hammer firing mechanism is reputed to be more failsafe, and the Polish Army never had a striker-fired one other than the malfunc- tion-prone WIST-94 – which is a reason enough to get scalded. Only the Military Police and some SF types are using striker-fired pistols in the Polish Army, and it is rather unlikely that it would go off the deep end by converting to hammerless in the near future. The other controversial point about this pistol is the light alloy frame. Most experts preach polymer instead, but the manufac- turer has got precious little experience with this material and rather sticks to an all-metal gun. Only time would tell whether the 'plastic' or 'metal' team would prevail. www.fragoutmag.com

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