Super rare Tula Mts13-1

Wow, that is SUPER cool. Thanks for sharing - those are some gorgeous rifles.

Amazing rifles Big Ben! Now we need to see some groups. It amazes people how well the well made Soviet rifles can shoot.

That is awsome, cant wait to see how it shoots

No joke, that’s awesome

Very cool. This is something I'd like to see on forgotten weapons.

These are awesome ...I agree with the forgotten weapons. It would make a great piece

Very cool! Never heard of this one...
Google search shows they're making a variant currently, including a .50 cal subsonic

So, what cartridge is this in? 5.45x39? I see a number of rifles you show that have what looks like a rimfire set-up and appear to be in the .22LR range size, for both bolt face and ejection port size. But, then some of the rifles you show have what looks to be a short centerfire?

Big Ben said:

no these rifles are for the 7.62x54r cartridge.... the action is like a short action... if you do not fire the round you have to knock the round off the extractor to remove it or take the bolt out. The ejection port is only the size of the casing.

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That’s a pain in the ass. But, I bet it’s accurate as all hell though!?

Big Ben said:

so I dont know if I can do this but I have an article The art of Sniper that seems to mention the use of the Mts13 or mc13 for sniper use or something....?

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Cool pics.

I will try to read it in English.

Big Ben said:

so I dont know if I can do this but I have an article The art of Sniper that seems to mention the use of the Mts13 or mc13 for sniper use or something....?

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That’s some pretty cool stuff. I need to get on my regular computer so I can translate it.

Very very very cool. If you dont mind my asking- however did you acquire such a rifle? Did you have to import it?

The thread seems to be quite old and abandoned but there is only one way to find out if there are more owners of МЦ-13 rifle and detailed knowledge about that rifle available – ask.

So I’m asking because I found such rifle for sale. I’d like to buy it but also want to know something more about it.

What I’ve learned so far? Production started in 1952 and in total there were 498 rifle manufactured. There were 3 versions of the rifle : МЦ-13-1 basic version produced in larger number with a standard stock. МЦ-13-2 with the individually adjusted stock according to the instruction of the ordering party – Olympic sport team – small number produced. МЦ-13-3 version designed to fully make use of the 7,62x54r Extra cartridge – heavy ball, 13g, FMJ BT – with heavier barrel – unknown number produced.

Unfortunately there is no detailed information about each variant production scale, no information about the markings. There are not many photos of the МЦ-13 – from the few collected from the web I was unable to find out the pattern of markings. Some rifles has variant “1” indication markings – МЦ-13-1 stamped on the top of the receiver – I did not find any photo of variants “2” and “3” marking. Some rifles hac manufacture year stamped, some not. There are rifles with indication of the country of origin – in Russian “ сделано в СССР” and in English “Made in USSR”. I spotted 3 different factory Logo stamped on the receiver of МЦ-13 – Tula star wit an arrow inside ( two different shapes of the arrow ) and “T” inside a circle inside a triangle. But the rifle I Found does not have markings of manufacture year, country of origin and even a factory Logo.

I have no idea if there was a pattern in markings and certain versions and production batches were stamped with a particular Logo, version indication, manufacture year or not.

I’ll be grateful for comments and information about that very rare and interesting rifle.

Just for curiosity - it seems that Chinese copied that rifle and started their own production. Soviets had won several Olympic gold medals and World championship titles in the 60's with МЦ-13 that's why the rifle is so intriguing. But there are no info about Chinese successes in that field with their copy of МЦ-13.

Anyway – I put also o photo of the receiver markings of the Chinese copy of МЦ-13 to compare. [ Chinese rifle is the first photo from the right – S/n A061, manufactured in 1959 ].

The starter of this thread presented, together with the MC-13 rifle, also other rifles. Let me do the same. Ladies and Gentlemen, here is the MC-13 rifle, together with the Record-1-308 rifle. The rifles have some flaws and shortcomings - no original documentation, no factory set of accessories, some parts are missing. What advantages do they have? They're mine now.

I tried to interfere as little as possible and not to make irreversible changes, hence the slightly odd optics mount and changes of the buttplates ( I just put the SVD rubber recoil pads on both ).
The rifle has already been bought but any additional information about it would still be useful and I am waiting for it. If anyone on the forum has information about the MC-13 ( versions, modification, production batches etc. ) or an electronic version of the user's manual, I would be very grateful for such materials.

That's cool as! Let us know how they go

Record-1-308 already initially tested at 100m, 200m and 300m with various factory ammo.
Lithuanian GGG .308 with 168gr HPBT Nosler bullet gave 0,72 MOA group at 100m so it was chosen to go at 200m - 0,73 MOA 4-shots group and at 300m 1,09 MOA 5-shots group.

100m


200m


300m


I'm an amateur shooter with a limited skills so I guess it was me who disturb the rifle rather than the other way around

I took the courage and went to the range with Mts-13. I have made sure that my Mts-13 is not in a factory condition but is combined of parts from 2 rifles ( the trigger mechanism and the butt plate are numbered NH 234, while the receiver and bolt have s/n NH 240 ), so I decided to put some additional stuff on it, not necessarily consistent with the historical appearance of Mts-13
That is a factory condition look :


and that is the final look of my rifle :


The first test shooting with zeroing the scope at 100 meters - POSP 4-12x42 - German reticle - gave two 4-shot groups of 0.71 and 0.76 MOA. Ammo : Целевые патроны - 1968.


I hope that it will be possible to go around 0.5 MOA at 100m - that's what I think should be expected from this rifle.

I gotta ask, what is the purpose of this "not being factory original"? And, why do you need courage to take this to the range. I've taken a lot shittier stuff to the range and have no regrets or apologies to make. They are what they are and they shoot! Nice groups BTW.

Only 495 Mts-13 rifles were manufactured in total - they were intended for top-class sport shooters of the USSR Olympic team, not for amateurs of popular sports. They are very rare beasts - having one such rifle out of less than five hundred produced is already a great fortune, having one in the version in which it left the CKIB plant in Tula - "factory original" - is a great collector's treat.

In fact I needed courage even before going to the shooting range - courage to take the rifle out of the wooden stock - in the event of any damage, which is quite possible for more than a 50-year-old weapon - it would significantly reduce the collector's value of the rifle. So the courage was needed to take the iron out of the wood and not to damage any part, original screw or thread. I took the iron from the wood and found out that the rifle has mixed parts with two serial numbers - so it is not in original, factory condition - it was at some point of time rebuilt or refurbished. The collector's value of a refurbished/repaired/rebuilt weapon is unfortunately lower than the one that remains in its original condition and factory configuration.
On the one hand, I was not happy that my rifle is not in its original configuration, but on the other hand I have now more freedom in modifying the rifle, without being affraid that I'll spoil its collector's value - although I try not to cause irreversible interference.
At the shooting range there was also concern about how the gun would perform, and here also any damage would be very difficult to repair - there are no original spare parts available, and there are no gunsmiths specializing in Soviet competition weapons from the 1970s. So a little courage to take Mts-13 to the range was needed
Now I know that it shoots quite well, but I also know that it could and should do even better. I will try to reduce the group size at 100m to 0.5-0.6 MOA.

PMB27 said:

Only 495 Mts-13 rifles were manufactured in total - they were intended for top-class sport shooters of the USSR Olympic team, not for amateurs of popular sports. They are very rare beasts - having one such rifle out of less than five hundred produced is already a great fortune, having one in the version in which it left the CKIB plant in Tula - "factory original" - is a great collector's treat.

In fact I needed courage even before going to the shooting range - courage to take the rifle out of the wooden stock - in the event of any damage, which is quite possible for more than a 50-year-old weapon - it would significantly reduce the collector's value of the rifle. So the courage was needed to take the iron out of the wood and not to damage any part, original screw or thread. I took the iron from the wood and found out that the rifle has mixed parts with two serial numbers - so it is not in original, factory condition - it was at some point of time rebuilt or refurbished. The collector's value of a refurbished/repaired/rebuilt weapon is unfortunately lower than the one that remains in its original condition and factory configuration.
On the one hand, I was not happy that my rifle is not in its original configuration, but on the other hand I have now more freedom in modifying the rifle, without being affraid that I'll spoil its collector's value - although I try not to cause irreversible interference.
At the shooting range there was also concern about how the gun would perform, and here also any damage would be very difficult to repair - there are no original spare parts available, and there are no gunsmiths specializing in Soviet competition weapons from the 1970s. So a little courage to take Mts-13 to the range was needed
Now I know that it shoots quite well, but I also know that it could and should do even better. I will try to reduce the group size at 100m to 0.5-0.6 MOA.

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An actual gunsmith can make parts, as necessary. Some people who work on firearms are simply parts fitters with zero trade training.

It would probably be possible to find such a gunsmith and the repair would eventually be possible, but with each replacement of the original part with a modern one, I would have less and less of an original rifle and more of an MTs-13 replica and that's exactly what I wouldn't want.