Soldiers from the 6th Airborne Brigade have perfected their skills in the fresh Oak Police Training Centre. "The Course of Users of Self-Repeating Election Rifles 7.62 × 51 SPKW/D Grot", covering both explanation and practice, lasted 10 days and was the first specified venture in the Polish Army.
Paratroopers gained the qualifications of firing squads. The classes were divided into 2 blocks: theoretical and practical, which included both tactics, ballistics, weapons handling, and shooting at distances of 500 and 600 m.
Elite and focus
In the first part, students were acquainted with the construction of the SpKW/D firearm Grotto. They learned to clean, keep or put on a targeting telescope. The soldiers besides learned the principles of measuring distance, calculating the sights and, due to the specificity of their service, the rules for preparing weapons for landing. Tactical classes included masking exercises, building cover-up, besides active reflection rules.
The applicable block – started with weapon shooting and, among others, learning to measurement the velocity of the projectiles with Doppler radars – culminated in shooting at accuracy and focus. First at distances of up to 500 m, then from forced attitudes for purposes 600 m away. The condition for scoring shots at the shields was to get concentrations of little than 1.5 MOA (trading in a ellipse of 22.5 cm diameter) at a distance of 500 m. And here the elite of the Red Berets came to know – most of them had much better results, reaching the order of 1 MOA.
In place of the old SWD
The course was led by the most experienced snipers 6 BPD and it was the first specified training for sharpshooters armed with self-repeatable guns Grot 7.62N. Grots in the election version are in the Polish Army late – in February 2023 the Armed Forces Agency ordered 250 sets. 60 of them went to the 6th Parachutes, who now pioneered the implementation of this weapon.
Before the Grots appeared, the Polish Armed Forces had 4 types of 7.62 mm-caliber selection rifles: Polish BORs, Finnish TRG-21 and TRG-22 and russian SWDs, or Dragunov sniper rifles. The latter, easy, with worse and worse parameters, were the most (in 2022 more than 600 pieces) – and these were to be and are to be replaced by made in Radomska Weapons mill “The Hunter” Grots.
