Nestled in the back of the first floor of the 2017 SHOT Show, in a 1900-series booth shared with another company, was a solitary representative sitting behind two very interesting looking precision rifles, both bolt-action bullpups. This was the booth – half booth, really – of Polish arms manufacturer Zakłady Mechaniczne Tarnów (ZMT for short). The factory was founded as a railway plant almost exactly 100 years ago, during World War I in 1917 – though there was no sign of this centennial at the booth. The rifles are variants of the Polish “Bor” sniper rifles, one in .308 Winchester and the other in .338 Lapua Magnum, and their military counterparts have been in use with the Polish armed forces since 2008.

The solitary representative at the show was Andrzej Suwara, the small arms export manager for ZMT, and he told TFB that the rifles are currently being evaluated by the BATFE for import to the United States. The company seeks to import both .308 and .338 versions, with the possibility for the larger .50 caliber WKW “Wilk” rifles to be determined later. Technically-speaking, the HS series are three-lug rotary bolt actions in a bullpup layout, sporting German-made Lothar Walther barrels and machined aluminum receivers feeding from detachable steel magazines. Both rifles spored very substantial looking muzzle brakes (the .338’s being quite a bit larger), bipods (metal on the .338, polymer-coated on the .308), and an interesting index finger-actuated short-throw safety lever design over the pistol grip. Unlike the .308 version, the .338 rifle sported a rear-mounted adjustable fold-out monopod, as well.

Currently, the HS series of rifles are in BATFE import purgatory, and ZMT has not yet found an importer.