Fudd Friday: Buy Baikal, "The Other B-Gun"

Serious shotgunners know what a “B-Gun” is. It’s a Benelli, or a Browning, or a Beretta. A B-Gun is high-quality, built to last a lifetime and beyond. I’m here to tell you that there’s another B-Gun brand out there that people are sleeping on. Over the years I’ve owned and used several Baikal shotguns and one of their rifles. I have found them to be sturdy and almost bombproof, far outperforming their low price tag. And maybe, just maybe, they’ll be available again in North America soon.

Baikal firearms @ TFB:

• Baikal MP-161K Carbine
• EAA importing Baikal rifles and shotguns
• Baikal Yarigin Lightweight Polymer Pistol
• Baikal MP153 Shotgun Review

Who is Baikal?

Baikal was a name that Russia slapped on some sporting firearms exported from the Izhevsk Mechanical Plant, beginning in the 1960s as the USSR sought to raise cash from other countries. The lineup mostly focused on break-action shotguns in the early years, derived from Western designs. Eventually, Russia also sold a few rifles and pistols under the Baikal name as well. Right now, the Baikal brand is controlled by Kalashnikov Concern; you can see Hrachya’s brief write-up of the company’s history here.

Basic Baikal

In the post-World War II era, the West (UK and US especially) focused on selling sporting goods to baby boomers in massive quantities. Capitalism ruled; lines changed ruthlessly, with old standards dropped for newer, cheaper-to-make firearms. Or they focused on adding features to improve their guns’ killing power, and its showroom appeal.

Unbound by the same constraints, the Izhevsk plant made basic firearms with plain furniture and a cheap finish. They added new models to the lineup over the years, but there was very little variation considering they basically represented a whole country’s exports. But while Baikal’s guns weren’t made to be flashy or cutting edge, they were made to last and for good reason: For the cash-strapped buyer, these shotguns were often the only thing they could afford, and they needed to last a good long time even if it was only a modest expenditure compared to something like a Winchester.

First-person history

I’ve owned a handful of Baikals over the years, including a shotgun and a rifle based on their IZh-18 action.

This rifle did the job nicely; it was light, with decent balance, and it shot light-grained bullets very, very well. The previous owner told me it shot 45gr Winchester “white box” varmint loads about as accurately as a carefully developed handload; I didn’t really believe him, but later range visits backed up his story. When those rounds became hard to find, I switched over to 50gr Sako soft-point loads and found it was much the same. For fox or coyote hunting, this gun is a laser.

I also bought a 20 gauge shotgun based on the same action and found it quite handy. Like the .223 rifle, the 20 gauge was light and pointed quickly, making it a great firearm for hunting in the woods all day. An extractor was standard, like the rifle, and the action was quite stiff for an older break-action shotgun. Baikal was practical enough to put a crude chunk of metal on the back of the receiver that could sort of line up with the front bead for a basic sight if you wanted to pound some slugs through the barrel. But I wouldn’t have been keen on that myself, as it would have had quite a bit of kick.

I hunted with this gun for a winter, mostly for rabbits, then passed it on to a man with some kids who could tote it for rabbit season. I have missed it since; while the finish was wearing off the stock and the metal had some oxidization, the rugged, basic design of this shotgun told me it would outlast me, with no plastic parts to easily break. I almost never see Baikals for sale “for parts or repair.” The factory claims to have made 2.7 million of these guns over the past 60 years, so they’re obviously doing something right.

Over the past few years, I have spent quite a bit of time afield with a 12-gauge Baikal IJ-58 side-by-side as well. Like most older Baikal shotguns, this extractor gun was sold with very tight chokes. I had a gunsmith cut the barrels down to 24 inches, turning it into a cylinder-bore gun and took it afield. Despite a decent Winchester-branded buttpad that someone had fitted years ago, this light gun was a real kicker even though it was restricted to 2.75-inch shells. This means you can sometimes get your hands pinched by the trigger guard or opening lever if you aren’t careful.

But talk about robust; the IJ-58 is reportedly based on the Winchester Model 21 action (I’ve never taken it apart to assess that claim). Wherever the designer got their ideas from, it works as a very solid and compact cannon for knocking over deer with buckshot, and I’ve also taken a few puddle-jumping black ducks with it. It comes apart nicely for transport in a leg-o-mutton case on a motorcycle or ATV, and I consider it one of the most useful firearms I own as a result. Often, it serves as a backup gun for the opening day of duck season, in case someone at camp needs a spare in a hurry.

After shooting pump guns for years in the duck blind, moving to this semi-auto was a level-up, and I have killed an awful pile of waterfowl with it over the years. Unlike the other B-Guns, I find the MP-153 swings like a 2x4 and isn’t particularly light either. But I’ve only ever had two malfunctions, and both were my fault; once, when I took the gun on a late-season duck shoot in -20C weather, and the accumulated grime of two years (the last time I could remember cleaning the action) finally gummed up the shell elevator. I had a similar problem years later on a sea duck hunt—and that’s been it, over many boxes of shells and birds downed.

That sort of reliability was the big seller for the MP-153 when it came out. I think the earliest gun video I ever remember seeing on YouTube was a French Canadian who took his MP-153 on an iced-up lake and fouled the action with muck and cold water, and proceeded to fire away with no issues. If you consider these guns were made to hunt the toughest conditions of Siberia, it should be no surprise that they hold up well. I have always been curious to see if the MP-155, the model that replaced it, was as robust—but never had the chance.

When the Ukrainian conflict kicked off in 2014, Baikals stopped coming to North America, so most of us have never had the chance to use the MP-155 or other newer designs. But the brand is very much in business, with Kalashnikov Concern still making sporting arms for other global markets (you see a lot of Baikal videos from Pakistan and other countries in that region). With some suggestions that U.S.-Russia relations might be thawing, maybe we’ll see this pipeline to affordable, reliable firearms also re-opened.