Baikal good shotgun choice?

[Currahee]

What do you think?  Any particular models to avoid?

Thanks.

[Roger Rapid]

Firing pin design is faulty and prone to failure. Parts are very difficult to get. 

RR

[Ranger Dan]

I'll be using one at the South East Regional next week. Not sure the model, it is a single trigger, slicked up by Pappa Dave. Great man, great gun.

[John E. Law]

I've been beating on the same Baikal tuned by Nate Kiowa Jones, for 12 years now without an issue. I will also be at the SE regional next week using it. When I started SASS I broke 3 stoegers in 3 years. The Baikal is a tank, but like Roger said, if you do have an issue, parts are getting difficult to get.

 

JEL

[Abilene, SASS # 27489]

I bought my IZH43 in '99, had Coyote Cap do an action job in '01, and it now has 7500 trouble-free rounds through it.  The barrels don't stay open far enough until worked on.  The cocking levers need to be modified for this.  Papa Dave cocking levers have been available for years but he is no longer with us and those will be hard to find.  A good gunsmith can grind them down if he knows what he is doing (when Cap did my action job, it was before Papa Dave levers were around so he ground them).  I have another Baikal I bought used that someone had worked on that did not know what they were doing and it is barely usable.  

 

Some models have an "hourglass" extractor that can make it harder to load.  There are some options for modifying that, but the models with the extractor that is only on the bottom half are easier to use.

[El Catorce]

I started in January 2019 with a Baikal IZH43 (double trigger), then went to skb’s (single trigger)….. found out after several months of using skb that I just preferred my Baikal… so found me another Baikal for back up. Both have the smaller triangle extractor that @Abilene, SASS # 27489 mentions and both have papa dave’s (RIP) stay open cocking levers…  its just a preference on my part. Some of the fastest shooters I know swear by their SKB’s… some of the other fastest shooters I know also swear by their Baikals… I had to try both to figure what i really preferred….  Long story short.. I wouldn’t hesitate to buy a third Baikal double trigger IZH43 as a second back up shotgun… 

[Three Foot Johnson]

Overall, the Baikals are good shotguns. The ones imported by Remington are branded "Spartan" - same shotgun. I've got three 12g BHII's, and a single trigger 20g SPR220. Bounty Hunter II's will have the half hourglass extractor, while the 220's will be the full hourglass style. I bought the 20g two years ago because I had a 5 gal bucket full of 20g reloads (literally) for when my daughter was still living at home and shooting with me, and figured that was justification enough to buy my own 20g and start shooting them up.  I've shot it almost exclusively for the past two years, probably 50+ matches, and no problems. I've shot one of the BHII's since 2004, also with no problems.

[Hoss]

Bakails are much more durable than Stoegers. The 1/2 extractor is better than the hourglass shape. Some action work is advised. (But that’s on any shotgun used for sass) 

I shot a Stoeger first 3 years. Then Baikal. Switched to SKB. Tried a BSS too, and liked it a lot but I wanted both shotguns the same. Sold the bss. Got a backup SKB. One  has mechanical triggers, other has inertial. I’m getting it converted by Fast Eddie next month at Land Run. 

[El Catorce]

6 hours ago, Hoss said:

Bakails are much more durable than Stoegers. The 1/2 extractor is better than the hourglass shape. Some action work is advised. (But that’s on any shotgun used for sass) 

I shot a Stoeger first 3 years. Then Baikal. Switched to SKB. Tried a BSS too, and liked it a lot but I wanted both shotguns the same. Sold the bss. Got a backup SKB. One  has mechanical triggers, other has inertial. I’m getting it converted by Fast Eddie next month at Land Run. 

And it was a win-win for us pard! 

[Bison Bud]

I have two double trigger Biakal SXS's and they are good cowboy shooters.  They came pretty stiff/rough out of the box and needed some work, especially needed the Papa Dave's cocking levers to open the breech up for easy loading and shucking shells.  At the time I bought them, they were probably the best bang for the bucks out there and could be purchased for less the $300.00.  I'm not sure what they go for now, but I also thought there was an import ban on Russian made guns and these shotguns were on that list.  Maybe that ban has been lifted, but I haven't heard anything to the contrary and that would make them somewhat scarce on the open market and would most probably affect the replacement part availability as well.  In any case, a Baikal SXS can be set up to be a fine cowboy shotgun, they are built tough, and should serve you well if you can get one.  Good luck and good shooting to all.  

[Bullet Hole Kid SASS#81025]

On 9/23/2022 at 1:55 PM, Three Foot Johnson said:

Overall, the Baikals are good shotguns. The ones imported by Remington are branded "Spartan" - same shotgun. I've got three 12g BHII's, and a single trigger 20g SPR220. Bounty Hunter II's will have the half hourglass extractor, while the 220's will be the full hourglass style. I bought the 20g two years ago because I had a 5 gal bucket full of 20g reloads (literally) for when my daughter was still living at home and shooting with me, and figured that was justification enough to buy my own 20g and start shooting them up.  I've shot it almost exclusively for the past two years, probably 50+ matches, and no problems. I've shot one of the BHII's since 2004, also with no problems.

Did you strip the barrels on the 220 and if so how did you do it?

[Three Foot Johnson]

14 hours ago, Bullet Hole Kid SASS#81025 said:

Did you strip the barrels on the 220 and if so how did you do it?

That isn't mine, it's a pic from Google Images.

[Cpt Dan Blodgett, SASS #75655]

Have been using a baikal since 2005.  Out of the box they are very stiff, shooting them helps.  When you open the barrels they want to return to about 3/4 open.  This has to do with the shape of the cams.  If one pushed the opening lever all the way to the right with the thumb the barrels will remain fully open.  Not sure why this works, it just does.  Any good gunsmith can slick them up.  They are russian guns so are built like a tank rather than a swiss watch.

[High Spade Mikey Wilson]

I prefer Stoeger myself. I have two that I installed stainless steel firing pins in place of the stock pins and have been shooting them for 10 years without a problem. Baikal's never seem to fit me right for some reason.

[Eyesa Horg]

Been running my Stoeger for ten years as well. I cut the auto safety, replaced the lock lever spring and smoothed the hinge so to speak, and honed the chambers. When I ruined my rotator cuff, I had the forcing cone lengthened and polished. Still has stock firing pins.

[Three Foot Johnson]

Shooting them for ten years or seventeen years or whatever is a meaningless statement without knowing how many matches or rounds.  If you shoot only one 10/10/4 six stage match a year for twenty years with your shotgun, that's a whopping 480 shells, more or less, while forty matches a year would come to 19,200 shells, more or less.

[Abilene, SASS # 27489]

17 minutes ago, Three Foot Johnson said:

Shooting them for ten years or seventeen years or whatever is a meaningless statement without knowing how many matches or rounds.  If you shoot only one 10/10/4 six stage match a year for twenty years with your shotgun, that's a whopping 480 shells, more or less, while forty matches a year would come to 19,200 shells, more or less.

That's true.  So, my Baikal has had 7505 rounds through it.  $249 new in '99 plus $130 for action job a couple years later.

[Boomstick Bruce]

someone once said (when i was asking about the baikal) "the good thing about a baikal is it's built like a russian tank. the bad thing about a baikal is it's built like a russian tank"

 

i sold mine. didn't like the feel of it. i tired to like it but my old stevens and skb are more natural feeling to me...

[John E. Law]

16 hours ago, Three Foot Johnson said:

Shooting them for ten years or seventeen years or whatever is a meaningless statement without knowing how many matches or rounds.  If you shoot only one 10/10/4 six stage match a year for twenty years with your shotgun, that's a whopping 480 shells, more or less, while forty matches a year would come to 19,200 shells, more or less.

Good point.  Figuring it that way, including shooting practice and matches,  I'd put my Baikal as having somewhere between 19k-21,000 shells through it 12ish years. Those are 900fps cowboy loads mind you not 1200fps clays shells, but that's still a lot of shells. It has also taken a tremendous amount of physical match abuse during that time.  They are built like tanks. 

 

JEL

[Three Foot Johnson]

6 hours ago, John E. Law said:

Good point.  Figuring it that way, including shooting practice and matches,  I'd put my Baikal as having somewhere between 19k-21,000 shells through it 12ish years. Those are 900fps cowboy loads mind you not 1200fps clays shells, but that's still a lot of shells. It has also taken a tremendous amount of physical match abuse during that time.  They are built like tanks. 

 

JEL

Other than an AR50, I've never kept track of round count in any of my guns, but I've had one of my three Bounty Hunter II's since 2004 - $229.99, new. I rotate a fair number of CAS shotguns, rifles, and pistols throughout the year, so even with some forty matches a year for thirty years now, NONE of them have an exceptionally high round count.