Mts-2-3 [ МЦ-2-3 ]

[PMB27]

Lucky me. I've been just visited by Santa - a little earlier than expected and with a few more deviations from Christmas tradition. He didn't have a white beard or a red fur coat, there were no sleighs or reindeer.
He even made me pay for the gift.
And yet, I am very pleased with his visit - he dropped me a Soviet Mts-2-3 pistol.
The average dispersion of my pistol, declared by the manufacturer in 1965, at 50 meters for a 10-shot series is 2.38 cm ( shot 60 cartridges, from the rest ).
I hope I can get close to this result.

Since 1952, 5,233 Mts-2 pistols have been manufactured, in at least three versions. The exact date of the end of production is not known, but based on photos collected on the Internet, I assume that production ended in 1969. I did not find any photos of this gun with a serial number starting with 70 - the first two digits of the serial number indicated the year of manufacture.

So, with over five thousand pistols produced, I hope that quite a few of them survived and there will be some owners who will share their opinions and shooting experiences. I wonder if an electronic version of the Manual and technical instruction are available?
One of the reason I'm looking for the manual is the question of adjusting the front and rear sights. My pistol has a front and rear sight marked with the digit '2'. The spare parts kit includes two additional sets of front and rear sights, marked with numbers '1' and '3'. I wonder if the instructions contain a recommendation which front and rear sights - No 1, 2 or 3 should be used for a specific target or distance?

 

[MK20]

Post up a better picture of that manual or instruction sheet.

 

[PMB27]

I'm not sure what you mean? What picture of manual?
I'm looking for the original Soviet Manual. With the pistol I received a short form - формуляр - ( 4 pages ) which includes accuracy test statement, list of spare parts and accessories and a short description of a pistol and bolt assembly and disasembly. There is no reference to the differences in the sights sets - no explanation for example of how the point of impact will change depending on whether the set with the number "1", "2" or "3" is mounted.
For example for a diopter sight on a rifle there is a chart/instruction which suggests what front sight and rear aperture should be used in a particular weather/lighting conditions, with a particular type of target and on particular distances:

So I wonder whether for the MC-2 pistol the designers, having introduced three sets of front and rear sights, also envisaged different applications for them, at different distances and on different shooting targets and various lighting conditions?

 

[MK20]

The person you need to talk to about that is Maxim Popenker from modernfirearms.net.

He will know how to help you if anyone can.

 

[PMB27]

Thank you very much - I'll try to contact Mr. Popenker.

 

[RTH1800]

Shoot them and see.

 

[PMB27]

That's the plan for the set No "2" which is already installed on the gun- I'm going to go to the range and try few types of ammo and see the realation between PoA and PoI.
Without the informaton what was the purpose, adopted by the gun's designers, of sight sets No. "1" and "3" it is pointless to try them all.
Once I know that for exapmle set No. "1" is a basic one and others are for some specific conditions or targets then perhaps I'll try to change the already installed set No. "2". But frankly speaking I would rather not disassemble this gun and replace parts unnecessarily.

 

[RTH1800]

If you are like me you should make notes on everything. Otherwise ….

 

[PMB27]

I have no idea what shooting stand and pistol rest they had at the Tula Factory in 1965 during the tests, or what kind of ammunition it was ( batch Л-44 ) that allowed them to achieve accuracy of 10 shots groups at a distance of 50 meters within 2.5 cm, six times in a row? [ To be precise, 4 times in a row around 2.0 - 2.7, once 1.8 and once 3 cm – average 2,38 ]

At 25 meters I was not even close. As an excuse I can say that my shooting position was quite exotic - crouching at the table, while the pistol rested on a Caldwell rifle rest.

home test of my shooting rest stand

I managed to find in the Soviet shooting manual for handguns that with МЦ-2 pistol rear sight one click of the elevation knob shifts the PoI by 0,2 cm at 25 meters – two millimeters at a distance of 25 meters .

I started by checking ammunition from the medium price range – SK Standard, Eley Sport, Eley Club.

Then more expensive ammunition - Eley Benchrest precision and Eley Match.

No surprise – Eley Match won my test. With the best ammunition selected, I began my epic of turning the windage and elevation adjustment knobs. Finally after 24 shots I got to the bull’s eye - inner "10".
The ritual consisted of getting up to reload the gun and crouching down to take a shooting position and shoot - pretty good gymnastics, I did about 50 squats, all together.
Eventually the sights were set for Eley Match ammunition.

Next, I decided to have some fun and see how I would handle shooting in the correct shooting position - with one hand, standing. Expecting worse results, I decided not to waste the most expensive ammunition and use the cheaper one.
Here is a group of 15 shots from three different types of ammunition – it seems that SK Standard ruined this quite good result - 126 out of 150 points. 25 meters.

After the test at the shooting range, I am happy as hell with this gun.
Even if I am not able to come close to the factory test results and use the full potential of the pistol.

 

[MK20]

Keep in mind it was probably not made to shoot capitalist ammunition.