Russian Tula MU-12 Olympic Rifle

[Raffles]

Hi, Date of 1961 is on rear sight along with serial #, The serial No on receiver is actually H299 and definately marked 13-1 I'm going to try and post photos . Hopefully these show some of minor differences between mine and later production.

[BigRussianBen]

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Hey here is some proof of what I am saying. I have pictures of a few мц12 and Мц13 I have a мц12 from 1961 with serial NA25 your 13 is NH299, I have a picture of a Мц12 with the serial NH608. Even if you are going by the Cyrillic alphabet my serial number is before your Мц13 and another guys Мц12 has a serial past your in production. These rifles are randomly asighned a serial code depending on when they rolled off the line that year. Here is also a 1957 мц12 with the serial NH92 same letters as your 1961. There is no determining production numbers off serial numbers as these rifles shared serial number lines depending on order that the weapons were finished. My Мц13-1 is NE168, now I know it seems like perhaps the Letter N seems like it has importance but it is just that all the examples I have had similar numbers across different years and even between Мц12 and Мц12-1. I have pictures somewhere in my archive of a 1961 Мц13-1 from 1961 in Мц13-2 furniture with a serial that doesn’t begin in N. It is all really interesting! But all over the place. I have to admit that I do notice the the character N pops up a lot..... But I have seen ones without that character and they still show signs of being produced out of order from one another. This is all because Цкиб Соо only produces limit amounts of specialized weapons. Цкиб Соо is a branch of Tula that is labeled as МЦ. Which means “Model Цкиб Соо”, Цкиб Соо is short for “Центральное конструкторское исследовательское бюро спортивно- охотничьего оружия” “ Central Design and Research Bureau of Sporting and Hunting Arms”. Basically Цкиб Соо only makes limited amounts of odd firearms..... But it gets weirder.....

[BigRussianBen]

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[Raffles]

oh my, think I feel a headache! Thanks for shining a lot of light on just how custom these MU rifles are. It seems very much like a custom gunshop within a larger production facility. If you can't figure out their serializing sequence then doubt any one else can.

[BigRussianBen]

Well I was thinking of writing to Цкиб Соо but my Russian could use a lot of work, it is good enough to do research and figure things out but I think Ill piss them off if I try to asksuch a complicated question. Maybe someone at the factory speaks english or at least enough for a broken conversation!

[BigRussianBen]

Still though a very nice rifle and you are the first person to actually be able to talk with me about these rifles! As in Raffles is the first person to actually post a picture of these rifles! Have never had another soul on this continent even respond saying that they have one! These rifles are rare!

[BigRussianBen]

I know a few guys in Moscow that have one but it is very hard to find these in Russia. One of my friends said it is extremely hard to find and is sought by professional shooters in Russia

[Raffles]

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At last a better photo of serial number on receiver. Fancy scope mount rings removed for photo and yes looks ugly with holes showing.

[BigRussianBen]

So two things! I email Tskib Soo directly today(see if my choppy Russian upsets them) and I do believe that I have noticed something new. I do believe that the N stands for something. I still know that they assigned numbers based off completion time but I had remembered that I had seen examples that didn’t start with an N. What I had found when I went back in my archive is that even the examples that did not start in N had an N present in the serial number. Now I figure before I get too hiked up, I better do some more digging just in case Im missing something Like an example. Another Thing I have noticed is that if you look at some of the examples Ill post soon including my Мц13. The N in the serial, even when the N is not the first letter. you will notice that the N has a different strike to is like the other numbers in the serial were added down the line. Now I know that the Russians like some other Slavic countries have used both the Cyrillic alphabet and Latin alphabet but it is hard to say what it going on. With all my research and communication with others I had never noticed this till now but stay tuned because you never know what may come up. Maybe the reps at Tskib Soo can help! Here are some more pictures! Look at the N!

[BigRussianBen]

Oh and Ruffles pointed out that his seems to be marked distinctively witha N-H299. There are almost three or more different ways you will see these marked. Commercial Tula logo, Tula arsenal star, or only model and serial and truthfully it could have something to do hith the hand work that went into these rifles but the variations seem to just keep coming!

[BigRussianBen]

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[BigRussianBen]

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The funny part is that on other examples the look of the serial is uniform.

[BigRussianBen]

Thank Ruffles because all it took was someone coming forward with another example to learn a little more! Maybe.....

[BigRussianBen]

Guess what! I found two more examples in my collection of pictures! One is marked with only an H but H is a N in Cyrillic! And then another example from a friend that shows a clean No for number! I can’t believe I never noticed but Im starting to thing that the N or H stands for Number or номер from “серийный номер“ for “serial number”.

[BigRussianBen]

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Stay tuned!

[BigRussianBen]

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Well the mystery continues but at the smae time there is another word for number in Russian that begins with a K(количество) but I don’t know if they would change it up like that....?

[BigRussianBen]

Also another receiver marking seems to be in the 50s they hand carved the Tula arsenal star. Earlier I posted a 1957 with the same kind of star.

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[BigRussianBen]

Found a photo on a Russian forum that seems to show a M? Maybe the mystery continues....? It is a bit bleary..

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[BigRussianBen]

Maybe the older examples ran on a different serial number system...

[Raffles]

This is just like reading a mystery novel!