We report the results of Compton profile study on polycrystalline tant
alum. Measurements have been made using 59.54 keV gamma-rays. The resu
lts are compared with the APW band structure calculations of Papanicol
aou et al and other available data. In contrast to the work of Chang e
t al the overall agreement is better with the APW band structure which
worsens on incorporating the electron correlation correction. Estimat
es of the errors due to the contribution from bremsstrahlung, non-vali
dity of impulse-approximation and anomalous dispersion are also briefl
y discussed.