I have bought an S.P Designs T-80U M1985 conversion as my first (and probably last) foray into the T-80 series of tanks. Now ive started doing a bit of digging on this subject and already have a few reference books, however i tend to doubt the designations given in old concord books and the other references are in foreign languages so I can only go on the pictures. My main real question is whether the T-80U M1985 with K-1 era ever saw active service anywhere (Chechnya? Or was it just BV's?) and what is the actual difference between this and the BV?-i wonder whether any pics i have in books might be M1985's mislabeled as BV's??

Any help or further pointers in the right direction would be a great help.

Recommend looking through this link first. That should answer a few of the questions.