Measuring exactly 28½”, the barrels use a solid mid rib along with a 7mm vented top rib, with a small bead set just back from the multi choke muzzles.

Apart from the name and model number etched on the floor plate and what resembles reproduction corrosion around the fences, the entire action is shiny grey/black in appearance apart from the trigger blade in the white. The butt comes with a thick, vented recoil pad whilst the length of pull works out at 14¼”, drop at comb and heel 1 9/16th and 2 5/16th respectively with what could only be described as the merest hint of right-hand cast.īased around what’s best described as an old Browning action, suitably modified by the Ruskies. Whilst wood to metal was, given the cost and obvious purpose in life, considerably better than expected except for the gaps around the bottom strap and trigger guard.

The furniture was well figured and lightly chequered where it mattered around the semi pistol grip and along the square forend.

With sling swivels fitted as standard, along with a noticeable lack of any detailing, to describe the gun as crude would be an injustice, as rudimentary would be better. OK it’s no sleek sporter or superbly refined game gun but no matter what direction I aimed the muzzles, it never failed to deliver.Īt £465, the instant you take the Baikal out of its box, you’d expect nothing more, but the workaday design and demeanour of the Model 27 is striking to say the least. But after having used one for just over a month, maybe the laughs on them, as the Model 27 12 bore highlights the fact that for less than £500, you can get yourself an all-round workhorse that’ll more than hold its own around the layouts.

What do you call two drain pipes lashed to a plank? A Baikal of course! Or the old perennial - how do you double the value of a Baikal? Drop two cartridges in it…Įven today, you still get guffaws of laughter when you tell people down the club what make of shotgun you’re using. Likewise, the name was the butt of every shooting joke going and I should know, since I’ve heard them all. Baikal is a make that seems to have been around since time immemorial when I was shooting with my grandfather, where he and his friends carried various examples of the genuine ‘London Best’, every farmer and lad wielded Russia’s finest.

Baikal firearms russia