Reviews - General

My Favorite Rifle of 2022: The IWI Tavor X95

I like compact rifles but that means you have some combination of shorter stock and/or barrel. With that shorter barrel also comes trade-offs in terms of velocity because the ammunition is expecting a longer length of barrel and unburned powder exits the muzzle – often with a really cool flash. Other than shock and awe, that wasted powder isn’t turning to gas to shove the bullet down the barrel. It’s all a game of trade-offs. So, what if you don’t want to play the trade-off game?

This is where you enter the world of bullpups. A bullpup refers to any weapon where your cheak is basically resting on the action with the magazine under it. The barrel can actually be much longer now because the buttstock is gone and so you have a compact weapon with higher velocities. So what’s the catch?

Well, a lot of bullpups have a huge trigger problem. They typically use a solid linkage to take the movements you create by pulling what looks like the trigger and transfers them to the rear of the weapon where the actual trigger, disconnector are at. The result is long mushy feeling triggers …. unless you have a plan and Israel Weapon Industries (IWI) did have a plan when they designed the Tavors.

My first encounter

The first time I saw a Tavor was a number of years back. My friend, Scott Igert, who owns Michigan Gun Exchange, had one in and it caught my eye. It looked like something out of a SciFi movie and I wasn’t really sure whether I would like it or not plus it was way more than I could afford at the time. I shouldered it a few times and had Scott put it back. I read a bit about them and decided it didn’t fit into my plans … at least not then now fast forward a few years – like maybe 3-5 years.

What changed my mind? Why did I go back?

Interestingly enough, a number of things happened. First, I had learned a lot more about firearm design. Second, I’d worked a lot more with both IMI and IWI Galils in both 5.56 and 7.62×51. Third, because of the Galils I became interested in Isreaeli weapon designs in general and what drove the industry constantly towards innovation (existential threats to the state are certainly a big factor. Fourth and final, I was getting kind of jaded towards short barreled rifles excluding pistol caliber carbines. I guess I should mix in a healthy dose of curiosity across alll of those.

So, I wound up older, maybe a bit wiser and more interested in the Tavor. I could also afford one I must add, but it was still going to be a chunk of money. So, I ordered one with the intention of selling it if things didn’t work out – as Scott will tell you, I rarely hold on to firearms of any kind.

What’s up with the name?

I’ve always found why something is named what it is of interest. If you’re really into the history of words you study what is known as the etymology of a given word. Me … I’m a redneck from Southwest Michigan and am just curious where they come from so I can sound smarter than I am when drinking with friends.

Ok, “Tavor” – where did it come from? Well, you may know it’s modern English name of Mount Tabor and it romanized name from Hebrew is “Har Tavor”. It is a real mountain located in lower Galilee, Israel. According to the Hebrew Bible, a great battle was fought there between the Israelite army and the army of the Canaanite King of Hazor. It’s also considered the site of the Transfiguration of Jesus. There is so much history around Har Tavor that there is a whole wikipedia page devoted to it.

Is the Tavor X95 a new design?

Not exactly, the design team to create the Tavor began work in 1995 with Zalmen Shebs as the team lead. They wanted a rifle that could withstand sand and the elements, be accurate enough and also compact enough to be readily carried in vehicles. Of course, they wanted something better than the American M4 and the Galil had proven itself to be too heavy and large for continued use by the Israeli miliary.

By 2001 they had versions of the Tavor in trials that helped them learn better what was needed and refined the design to better handle fine sand for example. It was issued in November 2001 as the TAR-21. From 2001 to 2009 a number of refinements were made. In November 2009 the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) announced they would adopt the Tavor X95 as their standard infantry weapon.

That’s a short summary and the whole point is that it is not brand new and your not risking a bunch of money to be a guinea pig. The Tavor has seen real combat use and performed respectably. If you buy an X95, you are getting a proven weapon that has a good combination of accuracy and reliability in a variety of environments.

Ok….So what did I buy?

I bought a model XB16 in August 2021. This model of Tavor is black (you can also get them in flat dark earth or olive drab), is in 5.56×45 NATO, has a barrel length of 16.5″, an overall length of 26.125″ inches and weighs 7.9 pounds empty.

I wanted to pair it up with an optic that would excel in close quarters with rapid sight acquisition and a wide field of vision but that I could also magnify a bit if needed. I went with the Vortex UH-1 holographic sight and a 3x flip up magnifier. I had a red dot and magnifier combo on an AR many years ago and did NOT like it. The UH-1 and 3X magnifier pairing on the Tavor were made for each other. If you want speed, flip the 3X out of the way. If you want some magnification, flip it back into place.

There is only one change that I made internally. A lot of Tavor owners were removing their original trigger packs and installing either a Timney or a Gisselle. I backordered both and the Timney showed up first. Changing a trigger pack in a Tavor is super easy – it’s a modular cartridge that goes up through the bottom of the bullpup. The Timney did make a world of difference.

I put a Streamlight 88509 weapons light on it along with a real IDF Zahal sling. For mags, I use a combination of Magpul Pmags and Lancer Advanced Warfighter mags – I like both and just grabbed some spares.

Lastly, I did go for one accessory I don’t normally buy – a fitted Peak Case. Normally I just go with some generic carrying case but decided I wanted something a little “cooler” and more protective than a softsided case. Click here to go to their page in a new tab.

By the way, the Zahal sling can be purchased off ebay from here.

Unlike some of my reviews, I don’t have a ton of unpacking and assembly photos. Why? Your’s truly misplaced/lost/deleted almost two months of digital photos and I have no idea how. What I can do though is jump ahead to the results:

The Peak case comes pre-cut for the Tavor and a handgun off to the left. I actually have the original trigger pack stored in there for Click here for their web page.
Here’s the Tavor with the Zahal sling and the Vortex optics mounted.
The rail covers slide off once you depress the button.
Pushing that button allows you to slide a rail cover right off.
The Tavor X95 design immediately made me realize that I needed to read the manual and a couple of Youtube videosto learn how it works. In this photo, we are looking at the back bottom. You have the mag well hole and behind it is the bolt release lever for when the bolt locks open on empty.
There’s the trigger with the mag release to the above left and the safety selector lever to the back right.
Combining a Vortex UH-1 with a Vortex 3x magnifier gives you a lot of versatility. When you want a wide field of view for close-in work you can flip the magnifier out of the way as shown in this photo. When you want 3x magnification, just flip ti down.
The Vortex UH-1s are great optics. This is my second and I can’t recommend them enough. Rugged, bright, easy to use, reliable and a no-nonsense fix or replace warranty – what more could you want?
With the Timney trigger pack installed, I did 5 trigger pulls and the average pull weight was 4 pounds 9.7 ounces. The minimum pull weight was 4 pounds 3 ounces and the max was 4 pounds 15.4 ounces. One thing you tend to notice with good triggers is both a lighter and more consistent pull weight.

Preparing for the range

I’ve written about this before – do not take a new firearm straight to the range or you are going to have a lousy time. Instead, field strip it, clean & lubricate it and then cycle the action about 200 times to let the parts wear in and get to know each other – no, you don’t need to pull the trigger 200 times. It makes a world of diference with most firearms.

Range Time

We were able to take the Tavor to the range twice this summer and put about 300-400 rounds of bulk box M855 through it. The Tavor ran flawlessly – no problems feeding or ejecting. The control layout does take some getting used to – the more I use it then the more I will get used to changing magazines I’m sure.

Jim shooting the Tavor – he definitely liked it. I mentioned it in my blog post about taking the Stribog to the range that same day – Jim forgot his hat and the only spare I had in the truck was my wife’s. Nice hat Jim 🙂
Niko fire the Tavor from a number of positions and really liked it as well.

I honestly did not think I would like it but I actually do. It takes some getting used to in terms of the controls and swapping magazines but these are things that practice can overcome. Think about it, you have a 5.56×45 NATO rifle in the same form factor you would normally find a SBR or braced pistol with a much shorter barrel.

This photo highlights the advantage of a bullpup over a traditional firearms design. The weapon on top is a Grand Power Stribog SP9A1. It has a F5 Manufacturing Modular Brace, the action in the middle and then only has an 8″ barrel. The Tavor has the rear “stock” and action integrated with a 16.5″ barrel that can achieve far higher velocities from the 5.56×45 cartridge than a shorter barrel could. Yet, the over all lengths are almost identical.

We were shooting at paper targets and plates – not for accuracy – at about 10-15 yards. The Tavor just handled wonderfully. I couldn’t have been happier.

After a bunch of rounds we needed to let it cool down before putting it back in the bag.

By the way – I like the weight and rear-biased balance. Granted 5.56 does not have much recoil to begin with but the Tavor is very pleasant to shoot. Again, if you hear people mentioning it is awkward, well, bullpups in general take getting used to because the mag is so far back.

Summary

I kid you not, I really didn’t expect to like it as much as I do. It’s compact and reliable. The trigger is good enough … some day when I have time, I need to take it to the range with match ammo and see how it does but for now, I am quite happy. I’ve tried a number of different rifles this past summer but this takes first place and my IWI Galil Ace .308 takes a very close second [click here for my review of it]. The rest are all “ok” in comparison.

There are a ton of positive Tavor X95 reviews out there and now I know why. If you are on the fence about buying one, just get it 🙂

I hope this post helps you out.

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