MTs20-01 and Polev bullet 16 caliber
For some reason it is presented as a commercial activity - I think this is not entirely true. The 20 gauge is a bit large for a “taiga” gun. The absence of a rifled small-bullet barrel, in general, negates the “fishery” of the MTs 20. The standard for the fisherman is the old “Belka” - IZH 56-3, the modern “Sever”. What about MC 20?
Several years of use and experimentation with this gun have shown that the gun is interesting, with a fairly wide range of capabilities, but not purely commercial ones. This is my opinion, I am free to disagree with it. I bought it as fun, light and elegant.
However, over time I realized: the MTs 20 is a light, medium-caliber, strong, reliable, repeating shotgun. Ideal for teenagers, or vice versa for older people, that is, not very physically strong. Suitable for hunting for both a strong man, but in a walking style, without clear and serious plans, and for a professional, for serious hunting. Let's figure it out: what is MC 20, will he find work in Moldova?
GUN
As a shotgun, the MTs 20 is, of course, not the best option: you can’t make a doublet, the caliber is too small. But is it? A doublet is not required for every hunt. There are many fans of precise shooting, not with the frequency of a sewing machine. For a 20-gauge shot, the average shot charge is 27 – 29 g. That’s also a lot, although it’s economical.
But I was convinced, I read from others: MC 20 tolerates strong charges very well. My regular cartridge: “Sokol” 1.9g, shot – 32g, in a copper sleeve. That is, we have 16 gauge, if necessary. Even a little more charges can be used, but you need to be able to do this; experience in loading cartridges is required! So the MTs 20 is almost a “Magnum” gun; it would only need a 76 mm chamber.
The ballistic characteristics of a shotgun shot from this single-barrel magazine are quite acceptable, even the accuracy is a bit too large, in my opinion. And the fact that one barrel is accurate, a more accurate hit. Pun intended, but all hunters will agree. The barrels of double-barreled guns are angled - natural errors are programmed into shooting, especially for bullets. Having a store is great! Three quick shots is not a double, but still. There is also a magazine for 4 rounds.
Still, the purpose of this article is not the MC 20 - a shotgun. Everything is more or less clear here. There will be fans of this type and caliber (20 gauge is the world caliber, everyone recognizes and respects it) of shotgunning. My goal is to show this gun as a bullet gun - for animal hunting. In Moldova they don’t know MC 20 anyway, and even more so from this side.
I'm not a fan of rifled barrels at all. During driven hunting (our main practice) they are dangerous. Their range is useless in a raid. There is almost no hunting in open areas with optics in Moldova. And the carbine exists for this purpose, for a distance of 150 - 250 meters, although it will work at 100 meters. The use of such equipment implies a high hunting culture.
We don’t have a rule yet, rather the opposite, and here I see an alternative. This is the MTs 20-01 - a repeating (bolt-action, most reliable bolt-action) 20-gauge shotgun. In appearance, it is the spitting image of a carbine; for me, this is an important aesthetic circumstance. Rifle sights are just what the beast needs. Lightweight, maneuverable, comfortable, poised, flexible, strong, extremely reliable - the most important set of advantages for game hunting.
And now the main thing, since all of the above, without good bullet performance, is uninteresting. I personally and carefully checked - the MC 20 hits perfectly with a bullet!
More than ten years ago I noticed an interesting article in the magazine “Hunting and Game Management”. Written by a “pro” – that’s obvious. He very sensibly proved that his MTs 20 and Polev’s 16-gauge bullet, weighing 30 g assembled, were made for each other. I was amazed: a 20 gauge and a 30 g bullet - this is the legendary Berdanov, very lethal combination! It’s simpler: from such a combination, not only a wild boar, but also a bear will lie down on the spot. The author showed using specific hunting examples: up to 120 m a serious animal can be taken confidently.
I had this material in my mind for many years, and then MC 20 came into my hands. Testing of bullet shooting from this gun was the most detailed, most thorough. It is the bullet, buckshot in 20 caliber that is uninteresting, or rather has low lethality. Buckshot, in general, is not for a serious animal, such as a wild boar, unless it is a young of the year, a gilt. Why did you try so hard? I still hope for wild game hunting in Moldova. There is no hope for owning a combined expensive weapon.
So, a bullet in a smoothbore gun is a known problem. Strong, stronger than some rifles, but inaccurate and not far off. The 12th caliber is, of course, the most powerful and preferable, but again “but” - up to 50 m, at best up to 70. The 20th caliber gives a chance to increase the sighting range: these are complex ballistic subtleties, but an iron fact - from an ordinary MC 20, without optics, I put more than a dozen bullets into a target the size of a football at a distance of 75. I am absolutely sure: with optics this is possible up to 150 m, naturally, taking into account the decrease in the trajectory of the bullet at this distance. The energy of the projectile (proven) is enough to power a good wild boar up to these very tempting 150 m.
BULLET
It's all about the bullet. It is very perfect, it is simple, it is beautiful, it is lethal, it is easy to equip. This is Polev's bullet. Arrow-shaped. Everything ingenious is simple and beautiful. In general, it is recognized by everyone: arrow-shaped bullets are the most accurate. Polev's bullet flows in thousands, which means it's cheap. And, what is especially valuable, it goes along the barrel with a choke, and even a strong choke, without losing accuracy and without threatening the barrel with destruction.
CARTRIDGE
How to make a bullet cartridge for MTs 20? It’s better to take a new polyethylene sleeve from Zhevelo. You can use paper, but a bullet shot is always responsible, so it’s better not to skimp on this little thing. I’m sure that copper can also be loaded, but, again, we make a few bullet cartridges and as high quality as possible, which means we get more accurate cartridges.
We weigh gunpowder, preferably “Falcon” (sharp gunpowders are not suitable here - they are capricious), and pour exactly 1.9 g (more - in no case) into the cartridge case and shake it. We place a thin cardboard pad on the gunpowder, and then place a felt wad of 0.7 - 1.0 cm tightly on the cardboard pad. Both must be 16-gauge - they will fit tightly into the sleeve, which is what is required.
Now it's up to the bullet. It requires some fine-tuning. Everyone is already familiar with this successful invention by Polev. We remove the container petals (two) that hug the bullet as unnecessary, since they are too thick for a 20-gauge. And before sending the bullet into the cartridge, naturally, a serious hunter will try on a “naked” bullet without petals at the muzzle of the barrel. And he sees: a 16-caliber Polev bullet runs freely along a 20-caliber barrel, but without a sealing polyethylene shank - it is very wide. So we’ll use a sharp knife to reduce it, cutting off the excess polyethylene in a circle. A lot is cut off, and the skirt will go away. I don’t write diameters - look at the barrel (approximately D = 15.0) and the sleeve.
A polyethylene bullet with a shank of reduced diameter should fit tightly into the sleeve. That's all the modification of the bullet. Cut two petals from the kefir packaging, stick around the lead head of the bullet and carefully and accurately drive it tightly into the cartridge. Take the sizes of the petals from the branded ones. Kefir ones are dense, waxed and thin - this is the main thing. Now admire - the cartridge is what you need and quite serious, too: the energy of the bullet is somewhere at the level of 2.2 -2.5 thousand. Yes, enough for any wild boar!
The caliber is small, twenty, and the bullet weight is normal for a sixteenth, even twelfth caliber. This is the interest of the MTs 20-01 complex - the 16-caliber Polev bullet. Lethality is guaranteed, with sufficiently high accuracy. I checked it very carefully. At 50 m the spread of bullets is somewhere around 10 cm; at 75 m – no more than 15 cm. This is without optics! From your hand! The stability of the bullet is amazing: it goes as if tethered - there were no “wild” shots. It pierces a 20 cm log – and this is at 75 meters!
Believe me, I did not allow excessive exaggeration and praise. Any hunter is very interested in the bullet cartridge, including me. I didn’t have a better combination than the MTs 20 - Polev 16-caliber bullet. 12 gauge is powerful; most guns are 12 gauge. But the accuracy of the 12 gauge is not the same. If you work and combine (using sights) the aiming point and the impact point at 100 m (making mental corrections at 50 m and 75 m), then the MC 20 will replace any carbine, and at least 7.62 caliber (308 Vinch).
The hunting literature describes cases of using the complex I praise. Briefly: the average elk, the wild boar, and the bear - they all lay down, a Polev bullet from this seemingly “toy” was enough for everyone. A light, comfortable, elegant gun is always a joy for a long hunting trip - not everyone is born a Hercules. Tolerable recoil when firing bullets from the MC 20 is also important.
And besides everything else, let’s not forget: the MTs 20 is a very good shotgun, not a double-barreled shotgun, of course, but suitable for a serious hunter. That is, to some extent, this gun is universal. It cannot be the only one a hunter has, but it is additional, specialized for some hunts - very much so.
As for MC 20-01. If you decide to purchase this interesting gun, whether it be a shotgun or a slug gun, then be prepared to fine-tune it. The quality of its execution is low, even very low in some copies. What I came across was studied and completed for more than one month. But the gun is grateful to the craftsman. With skill and effort, it is possible to “grow” to a piece size. Study, read, think, and the MTs 20-01 will be your favorite gun, you just need to put your hands to it, work on the cartridge for it, both shot and slug.
S. Iordanov October 21, 2013 at 00:00
Cleaning and lubricating weapons
Home | Links | Useful materials | How to clean and lubricate a gun
Everyone, of course, ultimately decides for themselves the question of what exactly to clean and lubricate the weapon with. However, I will share my experience in this matter, in relation to the PM-T pistol.
To begin with, the most “hard” thing is shooting with cartridges that have primers that produce combustion products that cause severe corrosion. Also, there is a long lack of opportunity to clean weapons after shooting. In these cases, it is necessary to use products that effectively eliminate the combustion products of gunpowder deposited in the barrel bore and on other parts of the weapon, and rust. These products include WD-40. Many people use this product when storing weapons, since WD-40 creates a protective film that is water-repellent and thus protects against corrosion. But personally, I only use WD-40 for cleaning.
After cleaning heavy powder residue and rust from a gun, I sometimes use Robla-Kaltentfetter degreaser to remove stubborn grease and resin residues. It is also recommended to use it before bluing.
Another great option for cleaning your gun is the popular Ballistol-Klever gun oil. This oil removes hardening and deposits of lead, copper and tombac from firearm barrels and chambers, protects wood parts of weapons, and neutralizes and removes acid residue from black powder. It can be used for cleaning and lubrication, followed by storing the weapon in acceptable conditions for a long time. The downside is that the smell is not particularly pleasant.
For regular lubrication of weapons, Ustanol oil is suitable - a neutral oil that displaces water from metal surfaces. The smell, however, also leaves much to be desired, although it is more pleasant than Ballistol.
If you live and use weapons in an area with extremely low or high temperatures, then Gunex 2000 is ideal for regular weapon care and long-term storage, used under extremely unfavorable conditions: from -50°C to 100°C.
This oil penetrates the area between the metal and moisture, cleans, does not stick or react with other substances. Gunex 2000 oil removes gunpowder residues and tombac. Resinous and poor-quality oils dissolve. Gunex 2000 gun oil provides long-term rust protection even in wet weather conditions. The smell of this oil is reminiscent of old gun oils, with some nostalgic overtones. It is this oil that I now use for regular maintenance of my pistol and I also store my weapon using Gunex 2000.
In any case, do not overdo it with lubrication! Apply oil in very small quantities, only to the rubbing surfaces of interacting parts of the weapon.
