The MTs 8 (''МЦ 8'') is a Soviet
double-barreled high-quality custom skeet shotgun.
["''В экспозиции музея представлены спортивные ружья МЦ-8 и ТОЗ-57. О хороших тактико-технических данных этого оружия свидетельствуют такие факты: заслуженный мастер спорта Е. Петров, стреляя из ружья МЦ-8, трижды становился чемпионом мира, олимпийским чемпионом обладателем уникального рекорда - 200 пораженных мишеней из 200.''"]
Г. М. Чуднов, О. Н. Савенко. Сокровища Тульского музея оружия. Фото А. В. Либермана, художественное оформление и макет А. Б. Буркатовского. Тула, Приокское кн. изд-во, 1979.[Отечественное охотничье оружие. МЦ 8 // журнал «Охота и охотничье хозяйство», № 9, 1981. стр.31]
History
MTs 8 was designed in 1953
and produced by
TsKIB SOO.
These shotguns were used by Soviet teams in shooting competitions (incl.
ISSF World Shooting Championships
The ISSF World Shooting Championships are governed by the International Shooting Sport Federation
The International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) is the governing body of Shooting at the Summer Olympics, Olympic shooting events. It also reg ...
and
Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...
).
In October 1962, at the
38th World Shooting Championships in Cairo, Soviet shooter N. D. Durnev, armed with MTs 8 shotgun, set an absolute world record, hitting 200 of 200 targets.
[История Тульского оружейного завода, 1712 - 1972. М., "Мысль", 1973. стр.482-483]
In September 1981, the price of one standard MTs 8 shotgun (without second pair of barrels) was about 700
roubles.
Design
MTs 8 is an over and under
hammerless
A hammerless firearm is a firearm that lacks an exposed hammer (firearm), hammer or hammer spur. Although it may not literally lack a hammer, it lacks an external hammer that the user can manipulate directly. One of the disadvantages of an expo ...
smoothbore 12 gauge shotgun, with one barrel above the other.
It is equipped with
safety mechanism and
ejector.
All guns have a walnut
shoulder stock (with or without cheekpiece) and fore-end,
some of them were decorated with engravings.
Variants
* MTs 8-0 (''МЦ 8-0'')
- test prototype
* MTs 8-1 (''МЦ 8-1'')
- first model, a skeet shotgun with 750mm barrels
* MTs 8-2 (''МЦ 8-2'')
- second model, with different trigger mechanism
* MTs 8-3 (''МЦ 8-3'')
- third model, MTs 8-1 with second pair of 675mm barrels
* MTs 8-4 (''МЦ 8-4'')
- MTs 8-2 with second pair of 675mm barrels
At least several MTs 8 shotguns were equipped with third pair of barrels (20/70mm R).
Museum exhibits
* MTs 8 shotgun is in collection of Tula State Arms Museum in
Tula Kremlin
References
{{Reflist
Sources
* Спортивное двуствольное ружьё МЦ 8 // Охотничье, спортивное огнестрельное оружие. Каталог. М., 1958. стр.53-54
* Спортивное двуствольное ружьё МЦ 8-2 // Спортивно-охотничье оружие и патроны. Бухарест, "Внешторгиздат", 1965. стр.78
* Ружьё МЦ 8 // Охотничье огнестрельное оружие отечественного производства. Справочное методическое пособие для экспертов-криминалистов, следователей и оперативных работников органов МВД / под ред. А. И. Устинова. М., 1969. стр.213
* М. М. Блюм, И. Б. Шишкин. Охотничье ружьё. М., «Лесная промышленность», 1983. стр.90-91
* Ружьё двуствольное МЦ 8 // Охотничье и спортивное оружие. М., Внешторгиздат. 1989.
Double-barreled shotguns of the Soviet Union
TsKIB SOO products
Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1953