doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Whats the straight of it about this Russian Purdey

A Russian collector supplied me with this tid-bit of info:

After the WWII a gun making school was established in Tula.

The 1st shotgun was called TS (TC-1). It was a copy of a Lebeau sporting weapon(as HD notes).

The 2nd was called TS-2 (TC-2) and was a copy of Purdey self-opener(assisted opener) and was made by TCKIB (-Sporting and Hunting Guns Central Research and Design Bureau, Tula).

It was weak as sporting shotgun . The MC-11 (MU-11) was made on the basis of TS-2 .

The difference is reinforced bar and longer flat. The MC-11 has two other top lever actions: Greener cross bolt or Purdey latch.

The shotgun: MC-11 (MU;-11); Modifications: MU11-1, MU11-2, MU11-3, MU11-4(note the Us are as close to the actual character)

Destination: sporting

Caliber: 12 Chamber: 70 mm

Barrel length: 750 mm (trap), 675 mm (skeet) ; Steel: 50A (low-carbon, Izhevsk prod. - this is the 4 Ringe that replaced Krupp's 3 Ringe post WWII in Germany) -
http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbt...true#Post172682


Weight: 3.5 - 3.7 kg

Action: self-opener (Beesley - Purdey)

Ejectors: no

The first was made in 1951 (actioner Vladimir Tetiorkin -)

Produced only 613 shotguns (from 1951 to 1955 - 328)

It was the main gift of Nikita Khrushchev (with very good finishing and case color hardening)

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

So,for the auction company to call this a Purdey is as erroneous as someone claiming a Spanish sidelock to be a Spanish H&H?

I'd say so; maybe term it Beesley action type/variant or Purdey action type or pseudo Beesley/Purdey action. I have serious reservations that they sourced the actions from Britain.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

I don't the specifics just yet, but apparently there are several, or many, fake TsKIBs, or variants. Seems to be centered around sporting weapons being assembled at home from components stolen from the factory.

I don't know if Moscow's mayor Yuri Luzhkov had any involvement or if he purchased one or had them made. But I've seen the name Luzhkov of Moscow tossed about.


Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

I bought a Tula sporting shotgun from from an officer in the former USSR. He had commanded the Ukraine section so I'm inclined to believe he had open to him any firearm he wished. It was a nice enough gun but certainly no Purdey.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

OK.
The whole "Russian Purdey" thing is only a peculiar Russian way of saying something is the best in Russia. It's supposed to mean "TSKIB in Russia has the same standing as Purdey in the world", but somehow gets to mean that TSKIB is as good as Purdey. Anything could be called by this pattern. ZiL (the ugly limos the Soviet govt. used to ride in) - "Russian Rolls-Royce". A beauty queen could be called "Russian Marilyn Monroe", a rock performer - "Russian Elvis". Matzka is being called now and again the "Russian Purdey" too.

http://www.gavingardiner.com/BidCat/det ... LotRef=171

Hammerprice 18000 pund

I had a good play with the gun last week. Not a bad effort, in fairness but not quite there. I have a lot of photos I took of it.

Here are the photos:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.553507808005959.1073741825.282264291796980&type=1