FB Mini-Beryl

The FB Mini-Beryl is a compact Polish assault rifle, in effect a carbine, derived from the full-size FB Beryl service rifle and chambered for the 5.56x45mm NATO cartridge. It was developed alongside the wz. 96 Beryl by the Fabryka Broni arms factory in Radom, with design work in 1995 and 1996, and entered service with the Polish Armed Forces in 1997 under the military designation karabinek krótki wz. 96, meaning short carbine pattern 1996. It is gas operated with a rotating bolt, weighs about 3 kilograms without a magazine, feeds from 20 or 30 round box magazines and fires at about 700 rounds a minute. Polish units have used it in Afghanistan and in the EUFOR mission in Chad.