Cpt Dan Blodgett, SASS #75655

Baikal can be frustrating out of the box. After you open the action all the way it will have a tendency to close enough that the shells don't want to come out. If one pushes the barrel release lever back fully to the left with your thumb when the barrels are fully open they will stay open as long as you hold the lever to the left. This has something to do with the shape of the cams and a good shot gun guy can fix it. I am too cheap to pay for that so I push the barrel release to the left with my thumb (when I remember to, other times I cuss). Using a scotch brite pad and my drill press I was able to polish the chambers enough the shells will fly out. During the final polishing I added some plastic head light polishing liquid on the scotch brite pads. Like most russian stuff they are a bit crude and rough but being built like a tank are very reliable Being a total idiot I bought a $300 CIA 87 lever gun. Folks say they totally suck. In this case I spent the money and had Lassiter work his magic. Magic it was, it is slick and sweet. I suck at loading it but the gun works fine. I was able to hit the flyer with it at winter range.