Tag Archives: Tavor

Israel

The 5.56 Tavor X95 Is Still Here Three Years Later Because I Really Like It

It’s really rare that I hold on to a firearm for more than a year. I bought my Tavor X95 in August of 2021. It’s now August of 2024 and it’s still here and probably not going anywhere soon. Why? Because I like it – how’s that for a reason?

There Is A Learning Curve

I’ll start with the one negative – you definitely need to learn how to operate the Tavor. I guess I have spent too much time on AK and AR platforms of various types because I always fumble around with the controls when I get to take it to the range – which only a few times per year.

It has a left side charging handle. To the right and rear of that is the mag releaser button and further to the right of that is the safety selector.
The Tavor uses STANAG MagPul magazines. To the right of the magazine on the undersideis the bolt release. The two domed pins retain the trigger pack.

What’s interesting to me is that the Israelis are phasing the Tavor out. The Israeli military has always been pragmatic and has decided there are too many negatives with continued use of the Tavor. They are actually moving back to the M4 platform with local companies producing the rifles plus a new firing mechanism.

Compact With Full Power

With that said, the Tavor’s bullpup design does allow for a compact weapon that has a surprisingly long barrel. The X95’s barrel is 16.5″ long allowing for higher velocities to be achieved and thus a longer range.

There is a 16.5″ barrel in there!

Reliable

IWI designed the Tavor to be reliable in their harsh conditions. I must say I have never had a failure to feed or failure to eject with the Tavor. Now my round count is probably around 1,000 or just over. So, not thousands and in Michigan vs. the sandbox but I’ve enjoyed shooting it.

By the way, I use bulk M855 ammo. We had the Tavor out just a few weeks ago and experienced one round in the Tavor that was a dud. I recall we were shooting, my niece pulled the trigger and nothing happened. We waited a minute, kept the rifle safely pointing down and ejected the round. There was a good primer strike but probably a bad primer. Our range has a misfires tube that goes down to a bucket buried a few feet down and I dropped it in there.

I’ve found both Magpul and Lancer mags to work just fine with the Tavor. I prefer windowed mags or the translucent Lancers so I can see how many rounds remain.

Trigger

Bullpup triggers are a cludgy affair at best. You have the trigger in the middle of the rifle that is then connected to a linkage that then transmits the pull back to the hidden trigger mechanism in the action at the rear of the rifle. As a result, you tend to get rather wierd triggers – long relativey heavy pulls with spongy breaks in mass produced rifles.

The Tavor’s original trigger was so-so. I looked back in my notes and did not write down the details in terms of pull weight. I installed a Timney trigger with a 4# 9.7oz average pull but it broke – note, Timney has sinced revised their design to address the problem I had with a pin moving out of position and jamming the trigger pack.

The Tavor now has a Geissele Super Sabra that has run just fine. I reported the pull as 4# 12oz from five test pulls when I first did the swap back in February 2023. I did it again now out of curiosity. I did 10 careful pulls and came up with 4# 9oz. It also breaks quite cleanly.

I’m very happy with the Geissele Super Sabra trigger. It gives the Tavor a nice clean 4# 9oz trigger. Note, I just installed the Super Sabra trigger pack. I did not buy their optional Lightning Bow Trigger. It’s supposed to make the Tavor feel even better but I liked what I had and didnt see the need to buy it.

Accurate

I feel the Tavor X95 is just fine. I had no problem keeping bulk M855 ammo in a 2-3″ group at 100 yards with the combination of the Vortex AMG UH-1 holographic sight and Vortex Micro 3x magnifier. My intent with the Tavor was always for relatively close range shooting – within 100 yards most of the time and maybe out to 200 max.

Like the Optics Combination

I really like the flexibility of the Vortex AMG UH-1 optic and magnifier. There are a few pros and cons though. Swing the magnifier out of the way and you have a wide field of view and the benefits of a holographic sight. Swing the Vortex Micro 3x magnifier in place and you have a little bit better view of further targets. The cons are the weight of the two separate components and a reticle that is meant for speed vs. precision – the sheer size of the dot covers up quite a bit of the target at 100 yards so you are in the ballpark with repeat shots.

Now, I bought the rifle for relatively short ranges as mentioned above. I wanted speed, flexibility and good enough precision. I truly feel I got exactly what I wanted. I now have two of the Vortex AMG UH-1 sights. The second is sitting on my 10mm Stribog.

The combination of a Vortex AMG UH-1 and Vortex Micro 3x magnifier allows for a wide field of view and fast target acquisition. If you want the 3x magnification, you can flip the magnifier down into place. I also recommend the Streamlight ProTac light – you can use it with a thumb activated switch like I have or wire a pressure pad into the Tavor’s Picatinny rails that are hidden under covers. You can see the rail behind the light for example.

The Wow Factor

From the moment I open the fitted Peak case, there is a decided “wow” factor from whomever I am shooting with. It turns heads with its looks. The Tavor X95 looks like it stepped out of a Sci-Fi movie with its unique lines and modern look.

The rifle always grabs attention as soon as I open the fitted Peak case. I have it full of loaded mags and spare batteries for the UH-1 and Streamlight ProTac weapons light. The top translucent mags are Lancers and the bottom mags are Magpul windowed units. Note, the original Tavor trigger pack is in the big plastic bag. I kept it in there just in case but haven’t needed it.

I’ve also found it is great with new shooters because of its weight further absorbing the already light recoil of the 5.56 round. The new shooters always want to get a photo with it.

So, It’s Still Here

Yep – I still have it. I tend to buy firearms, take them apart, maybe modify them, go to the range once or twice and then sell them. The Tavor X95 has been the exception so far. I bought it in 2021 and I’m writing this in August 2024. It was just on an outing with some family members that were new shooters from Canada and they all had fun with it.

We had a recent family get together and of course they wanted to go to the range. Here, one of my nieces is shooting the Tavor.
Yours truly putting some lead down range.

Summary

I’d say the Tavor X95 bullpup is primarily a close in weapon if you want to move up past 9mm but it also has the legs to reach out further. It has a steep learning curve and you can’t do a c-clamp grip. As the Israelis found – you might well be better off with an AR with whatever barrel length you prefer. Always assess your needs before you buy.

Would I recommend the Tavor X95 to people? Yes and mainly because of the unique design’s “wow” factor. I still tell people to think about how they want to use a firearm – the use case – and then buy accordingly. Without a doubt though, the Tavor X95 is cool, reliable and accurate.

I hope this helps you out.

Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com . Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Gunsmithing

Timney Trigger Pack Failed in My Tavor X95 – I Switched to the Geissele Super Sabra

Back in August 2021, I bought a Tavor X95 and everybody told me to switch the stock trigger cartridge. I did some research and at that time people were recommending Timney or Geissele. My first choice was honestly Geissele because I really like their AR triggers but I couldn’t find them. Timney was the same way so I ordered both – I ordered the Timney on 8/17/21 direct from them and they shipped on 10/6/21. I also backordered a Geissele Super Sabra 05-267 with the thought that I could write a blog post at some point and compare them. The Timney arrived first and that’s what I installed and used up until yesterday. Let me explain.

I took my daughter’s fiancé, Kris, visiting from out of town to our local Berrien County Sportsman’s Club range for a few hours of shooting. The Timney trigger pack was in the Tavor and has been since I bought the Tavor. It has maybe 300-400 rounds through it – I’ve not shot it since I posted about taking it to the range last fall and the great time we had. At any rate, we shot a number of pistols and then it was rifle time – I told Kris that the Tavor is my favorite rifle right now and we start shooting.

I shot about 5 rounds to show the controls and make sure everything was good. I then handed it to Kris who then shot a few rounds and then things got weird. He pulled the trigger and nothing happened. I took the Tavor from him, and explained how to safely handle misfires and ejected the round. There was a barely noticeable dent on the primer. “Huh” I thought – must be a flaky hard primer. I loaded it again and tried – same thing. I took the round to the range’s misfire tube and dropped it down the pipe.

This is Kris wondering why it didn’t just fire.

I cycled the Tavor empty, it seemed okay, I then inserted a mag and made sure it was fully seated, handed the X95 to Kris who then charged it, we made sure the bolt was all the way home and he pulled the trigger. Nothing. Okay … something weird was happening. I took the X95 and ejected the round – same thing – a very light dent on the primer. At this point I was beginning to suspect something was wrong with the Tavor – we were shooting Winchester bulk M855 that normally I don’t have any problems with and absolutely never twice in a row.

I had Kris try again and this time I heard something. He would pull the trigger and nothing would happen but when he released trigger there was a delay followed by a click and then if he tried again it would fire. Okay …. something funky was going on inside the Tavor.

I removed all of the ammo and I could replicate it. Something was going on with either the rod that transfers the trigger pull back to the “trigger pack” or “sear mechanism assembly” – what IWI calls the trigger pack – or the trigger pack itself. It was time to pack the rifle up and we moved to an AR I brought that ran just fine.

Taking the X95 Apart

I have a love hate relationship with aftermarket parts. Most of the time when I take and replace a stock part with an aftermarket and something goes wrong, it’s the fault of the aftermarket part. To make a long story short, the problem at the range was caused by the Timney trigger pack.

On a Tavor, the trigger pack normally pulls out very easily once you pull out the two retaining pins. Not this time. It did NOT want to come out. I had to pull pretty forcefully to get it out and the culprit was a big silver dowel/axle pin located in the top front of the pack. Both it and a smaller one in the middle were way out towards the right side. Why? No idea. I tapped both the pins back in with a nylon head soft blow hammer in my Weaver gunsmith kit. I tried to get it to “fire” and it wouldn’t so I switched gears and installed the Geissele Super Sabra instead that was still new in the box.

Both of these pins were sticking out on this side. I already tapped them back in before I took this photo.

I lubricated the Super Sabra per their instructions and it dropped right in and worked. So, right now I have an inoperable Timney that I can’t get to do anything on the bench that I think I will try and have Timney do a warranty repair on – I’m kind of curious what they will do or not do. In the mean time, I will happily run the Super Sabra.

The Geissele Super Sabra on the left and the Timney Tavor trigger pack on the right. Note how the Super Sabra is using screws vs. pins.
Here’s the other side of the trigger packs.
I have always found Geissele’s engineering to be top notch. This trigger pack dropped right in and felt great. If I were to bet money, and I guess I already did since I bought it, this pack will last. The Super Sabra 05-267.

The Super Sabra feels really good – I am still using the stock Tavor trigger itself – the part you actually pull with your finger. Geissele sells a replacement trigger but I am not using it – just the replacement Super Sabra trigger pack.

For a bullpup trigger the Super Sabra is quite decent. There is a long pull but it breaks pretty nicely at 4 pounds 12 oz on average. To get that number, I did 10 test pulls with my Wheeler digital gauge. The lightest pull was 4 pounds 2oz and the heaviest was 5 pounds 1 oz. Very manageable and will be what I use going forward.

As I was writing this blog post, I had the Timney trigger pack in front of me. I tried repeatedly to actuate the hammer by pulling on the little lever that connects to the transfer rod in the rifle. Boy, it would not move – not one bit. I’d put a ball pin in the “U” and pull – it would not budge. I just tried again right now and heard a loud click just like we did at the range. I pulled on the lever again while controlling the hammer with my free hand and it “fired” – the hammer came up. In looking inside the cartridge i have no idea what has happened but don’t want to take it apart and void a warranty either. When I closed the hammer, it made a funny clunking abnormal sound and now doesn’t want to open/fire again. Weird. Something has gone wrong, that much I know.

I was able to eventually get it to open while I was writing the post. It made the same odd click sound that we heard at the range and after that it opened.
When I closed it, an abnormal clunking sound came from the pack and it will not open again.

Summary

Not sure what happened but the Timney trigger pack stopped working. I plan on contacting Timney to see if they will look at it under warranty and will report back how it goes – I emailed them on 2/12/2023. I’m now running the Geissele Super Sabra pack and will see how that holds up.

I’m hoping Timney will do a warranty repair so I can compare both units down the road as I had originally hoped. I’ll update the blog post with how that turns out. By the way, I’ve had a number of Timney triggers over the years and this is the first problem I’ve had with one.

3/28/2023 Update: Got a nice update email from Timney. They are revising the design of the disconnector and will start production in June. That’s pretty cool that they are learning and improving their design. They offered me a refund or to wait for the new model and I opted for a refund at this point and they processed it (I bought it direct from them in this case). So, I am happy with the result.

3/25/23 Update: Really not happy with Timney customer service – I sent them polite emails asking for a status or even if they have the trigger (I can see they do from the tracking #) but they don’t even reply. Last email I told them I don’t mind waiting but please give me an idea of the lead time – no reply. I literally have no idea of the turn around time – they never gave me an estimate.

2/17/23 Update: Timney customer service was really easy to work with. They asked me to send them the trigger pack and they would take care of it. So, I sent it via priority mail with insurance on 2/16. I’m curious if they will tell me what went wrong.

Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com . Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

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.

Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com . Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.