Baikal

Patrick

Patrick

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Found this nice little single shot at a local pawn shop here in San Diego. Went through it and cleaned up the receiver, replaced the firing pin, reblued the various parts and barrel. I also decided to refinish the stock and forend.
stock.jpg
Parts.jpg
barrel.jpg
 
I actually have a Baikal over/under 20ga. I bought it because the snooty sporting clays guys said they would NEVER stoop so low as to shoot something without a starting price of $10,000. The people that owned them said they were still tight after 20,000 rounds and hit just as many clay pigeons as the $10,000+ guns. Truth be told, the stock doesn't fit me very well. For what I paid, I don't feel bad about reshaping it as a project. It's been on the to-do list for 20 years. What's few more, right?

Anyway, the stock on my shotgun has a matte finish. Not sure if your goal is to make it the way you like or make it as it came out of mother russia. Watco or Tru-Oil (in the picture) will be way better products than anything the Russians used.
 
I have an H&R 10 ga single shot. 36 inch barrel. It is HEAVY as a mofo. Beside being long, the barrel is a lot thicker than your typical 12 gauge shotgun.

It’s generally thought of as a ‘goose gun’. Or turkey gun.
 
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10 gauge shells are not always easy to find. Same goes for 16 ga. I have a 100+ year old semi-auto in 16. Old duck gun. One of the first semi’s made.
 
Bongo Lewi said:
10 gauge shells are not always easy to find. Same goes for 16 ga. I have a 100+ year old semi-auto in 16. Old duck gun. One of the first semi’s made.
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The first non-22 gun I ever fired was a friend's 16-ga shotgun.
 
Those obsolescent calibers and gauges are manufactured in small batches maybe once a year or less. The maker will produce a production run in the amount they expect to sell in the coming year, or whatever the interval between batches may be. If the supply sells out in say 8 months, you have to wait for that products turn in the production schedule to come around again before the next batch is made. This is in contrast to say 12 and 20 gauge, 9mm, 223, 30-06 etc. that are in continuous production. So, stock up when it's available rather than only buying for immediate need.

This becomes more important during the panic buying periods. The ammo companies are going to focus on the high-volume calibers like 9mm and 223. If you have an old 300 Savage and run out, you will be waiting a couple of years for the pipeline of the popular calibers to fill back up before the ammo makers even think about small batches of the slow sellers.
 
no4mk1t said:
This is in contrast to say 12 and 20 gauge, 9mm, 223, 30-06 etc. that are in continuous production.
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20-ga is hardly EVER available. I have not found it to be easy to find. 12-ga, no problem. The ONLY place you can find SOME (oddball brand) 20-ga is online. Forget about it at the gun or sporting good stores in my area. But it's scarce even online. And that was before the "shortage."
 
I’ve been able to find 10 and 16 ga if I spend some time searching. These are guns I hardly ever shoot.

I have a self imposed rule that every gun I own requires ammo in the vault. I try keep 100-200 rounds of each oddball or obsolete caliber.

I classify 25 auto, 32 auto, 10 and 16 ga, 22 short in the obsolete category. 9mm Makarov too. I’m sure it would offend someone if I said 357 Sig is obsolete.

Rifle rounds? Whole nuther thing. Even the old school calibers like 30-30 and 30-06 remain very popular.

Various 50 cal pistol rounds are Sometimes hard to find. Especially at local gun shops. Online I’ve had no problems getting those niche calibers. Same goes for their cousins like 454 Casull.
 
Racer88 said:
20-ga is hardly EVER available. I have not found it to be easy to find. 12-ga, no problem. The ONLY place you can find SOME (oddball brand) 20-ga is online. Forget about it at the gun or sporting good stores in my area. But it's scarce even online. And that was before the "shortage."
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Interesting. Most of the LGS I frequent have lots of 20 ga in stock. Must be a Florida thing.
 
Bongo Lewi said:
Interesting. Most of the LGS I frequent have lots of 20 ga in stock. Must be a Florida thing.
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When I got the 20-ga barrel for my H&R Topper (12-ga), I went on the hunt for some 20-ga. ZERO available at ANY store in my area. And even online, it was slim pickings. I had to get some weird brand I had never heard of.... "Rio."
 
Racer88 said:
When I got the 20-ga barrel for my H&R Topper (12-ga), I went on the hunt for some 20-ga. ZERO available at ANY store in my area. And even online, it was slim pickings. I had to get some weird brand I had never heard of.... "Rio."
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Oh yea. Made by Duran Duran.
 
no4mk1t said:
SG Ammo has lots of 20 Ga. choices.

sgammo.com

20 Gauge Ammo For Sale - Cheap Ammunition In Stock | SG Ammo

Shop 20 Gauge Ammo at SG Ammo. Largest selection of cheap ammunition for sale online. In stock ammo with fast shipping and bulk discount pricing.
sgammo.com
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I just looked... I bought my 20-ga ammo in January 2022. I suppose things were different then compared to now. I got the Rio buckshot ammo from South Georgia Outdoors. At the same time I got the last few boxes of 20-ga slugs from SG Ammo. They didn't have any buckshot at the time.

Admittedly, I haven't looked (or needed to) since 2022. But back then... it was scarce.
 
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My local Wally World always has 20ga in stock. I don't think many people around here shoot it.
 

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