Baikal, any thoughts?

ARCOREY

ARCOREY

New member
I saw a used Baikal O/U 12 ga 3" with 3 choke tubes over 223 rem. It is blued with wood stock. Bores look clean and muzzle looks good. Thing points great. Though it would make a good predator combo. I can never decide on my T/C 223 thumbhole or my Mossberg 835 when I'm going calling by myself. This would settle the arguement. My questions are. Is the 223 barrel a likely 1 1/2" gun or less at 100 yds, that would be my max range with it? Does any body make a decent set of bases or rings for it? I was trying to save for a 243 SPS Varmint project, but this thing is only about $425 if I read tag right. I already have a 4x-12x scope I could put on it. What do you guys think.
 
Don't know about the Baikal, but here's something to consider in purchasing a rifle/shotgun O/U. A friend of mine had a Savage in a .222 Rem. over a 20ga. The rifle barrel shot quite well, but every time he fired the shotgun barrel, he had to rezero the scope for the rifle barrel as it was off by at least 1" at 50 yards. I suppose it could have been a scope problem, but he was using a Redfield, back in the day they made good scopes.
 
I have one and it is a solid built gun. The .223 is a 1x9 twist and I am shooting 65gr gameking sierra with 26grs Varget under moa with it. I camo claded mine.
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Try running a search for the Baikal, there has been quite a bit of discussion about them and several guys use and like them pretty well. The Baikal is Russian and a little rough around the edges. It is heavy. One thing, I'd want a scope with plenty of eye relief. A .12 ga. 3" magnum can slam a scope back into a fellows face pretty hard! I'd pick a low end variable with plenty of eye relief, maybe something for shotgun turkey hunters or muzzleloaders. You would probably never need all that glass from a 12X scope, it adds weight and cuts down on the eye relief.

CDR,
The factory scope mounting system for the Savage O/U is notorious for loosing zero. It wasn't the scope causing the problem, I'll promise you that.
 
Well I went back to my old airgun days. They have pins that you drive down after you mount the rings for a scope stop.
I drilled a hole in the baikal base so I could use these rings. So far it has worked. I have a 2x7 burris on it.
 
a little machine work and ruger #1 rings work well on the various ribbed combo's, I shoot a valmet 412 in 12/223 for turkeys and predators with a loopy 2.5x8 sitting in modified ruger rings.
have a couple buddy's shooting the bakail and once you get your barrels regulated they do very well.
RR
 
I think Remington is marketing Baikal shotguns. That is a good trick using the stop pins for mounting scopes. I think the
Baikal is better than the Savage and have known several seasoned trap shooters to buy Baikal. They say it's a little stiff at first.
 
RR, When you say regulated, what exactly do you mean by that? I also took a look at your site, pretty nice. I think we may have hunted common ground around Bergton and Fulks Run, some of the locations look familiar.
 
shooting things close in with a shotgun is no fun, ITS TOO EASY /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif just get a fast handling rifle, I use a plain old ruger mk 2 in 22-250, my fastest handling gun however is a CZ carbine in 223, my scopes are almost always set to 3x, IMO the use of a low power scope negates the need for a shotgun, know your shooting lanes and be ready, if shots are rarely over 100yards, a 2-7x or 1.5-6x scope might be even better, I have had no problem shooting yotes at 15 yards or less.
 
ok, the bakails like the valmets can be regulated so the scope is sighted in so that the center of the shotgun pattern will be dead on at 30-40 yds and the rifle will be dead on at the desired range, the bakail uses a certain diameter pin at midpoint of the barrels for elevation, a larger pin raises the POI of the rifle barrel by bending it slightly downward in the middle, a smaller one lowers it, the ones I worked with instead of ordering pins I just wrapped them with thin shimstock or a strip cut from a beer can.
Horizontal alignment is done with 2 screws and a dovetail near the muzzle
RR
 
I got my first one 5 years ago and it is one of my favorite guns. Get one and you will be very happy with it. I have been with mine.
 
Think I'm going after it today. Apparently I misread the tag, it was $450 and has the scope base, the new ones are going up to $550 from $489 last years price.
 
The Remington Spartan line is the Old Baikal. Fine working guns. I have a SPR 453 that Is my #1 waterfowl gun. Its not pretty but I beat the crap out of it and it keeps working. Only Gas Auto shotgun I've owned that can ride in the bottom of my Kayak for 5 days of duck hunting without being cleaned. And will still cycle 3.5" without a problem. That says something about these shotguns. Not sure about the combo's. Ive been considering one myself for a few years for the same reason you are. Just dont be afraid of buying a Russian weapon. They just plain work.
 
Brought it home yesterday. The shotgun with full choke was amazing. I can't wait to check the pattern with some #4 shot. I had a can and a bottle setting on a milk crate at about 35 yds. With #4 buck I took the bottle off the crate and didn't even touch the crate or the can. I only had 4 223 shells with me, wasn't getting too serious until I had a paper target and my scope sighted in. I did miss the can a little right each time I think. The sights aren't that impressive to me. I put a Tasco ProPoint scope on it last night with the help of some Kwik-Site .22 adapter mounts that go from an airgun/rimfire groove to a weaver style dovetail. The scope sits high because of the adapter, but doesn't fit bad. Hopefully I can get a few rounds through it this week and post a follow up review. If the rifle will hold around 1" at 100yds the T/C may stay in the closet this year. This is a promising night hunting/calling gun.
 


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