Velocette

A rag rug like this ? We still use one, can't beat it for catching sparks from the fire !

Taking the stock off isn't too tricky for the gentleman amateur, just a little fiddly to re-assemble. First, take off the fore end and remove the barrels. Remove the two screws from the bottom of the action, in front of the trigger guard followed by the one you have seen under the rear of the trigger guard. Push the top lever to the right and remove the screw underneath it. The stock may feel loose at this point but first you need to gently tap out the trigger plate from action using a thin piece of dowel or brass rod through gaps in the action flats. If you hold the action with the firing pin holes towards you, below them in the gap down the centre of the action flat is the place to tap. If it hangs up at the stock end, again a gentle tap with a thin rod through the screw hole behind the safety will release it. I made a drift out a a short piece of bicycle spoke. The trigger plate should drop free now and the stock will come off. Its worth keeping a note of the location of the two screws under the action as these will be timed to fit exactly. The pistol grip plate is purely for decoration and can be replaced after restoration. Re-assembly is largely a reverse of what happened first, with a degree of fiddling to get the safety operating parts in place. I wouldn't worry about that now, just get the stock to your satisfaction and we can talk through the process in detail. As a last resort we could meet up and I'll willingly show you how its done. Its a scarce and interesting gun you have there and worth keeping in good fettle. If you do get the chokes opened out, make sure the gunsmith measures the bore first and opens them up in your case to 20 and 30 thou UNDER bore size. If they assumed .729 as the standard bore you would end up with each barrel at least 5 thou more open than you wanted as the Baikal barrels are pretty tightly bored. Mine has a nominal bore of .710 and an actual size of .715 !

At the moment I only have a long plank, but I'm quite willing to cut it in half for you !

Here are some images which seem to be the same as your gun. https://www.shotgunworld.com/threads/a-izh-54-in-the-house-a-sweet-old-russian-gal.357204/

This just fascinating now, very similar to mine but not quite, so,,time for the big guns. have a look at this website and contact Aleksei with your pictures and he will be able to tell you all you need to know about your gun. He really is the authority on Baikals and is extremely helpful. Aleksei Morozov's page | The Sporting Bookworm's Hermitage: Where books are old, and guns are art, and hunting is for conservation. (wordpress.com)

The Greener cross bolt confirms it, you own an IZH54 !!. You mentioned re-finishing the stock. As this is an Anson and Deeley type box lock removing the stock is a little more involved that the typical later Baikal system of a through bolt. Unless you are desperate to see inside the action it may be easier to try a sympathetic stock re-finish in situ, keeping a little of the patina of nearly 60 years use. Good screwdrivers and plenty of Plus-Gas and patience will get it apart. If you need a blow by blow description of the disassembly process, don't hesitate to ask. Another small point is that you can de-cock the gun without the need for snap caps by opening the action-push the safety forward-gently pull both triggers simultaneously and close the gun. Its now uncocked, as the indicators will show. This is a page from the slightly earlier versions owners handbook without the ring set strikers but identical in every other aspect to give you an idea of the inner workings.

There is a chance that I am completely mistaken about the model and on closer inspection it does indeed look like an IZH54 !! . Have a look at the trigger plate,just in front of the trigger guard. Does it have some Russian letters followed by 54 ?. When you push the top lever over does a "pin" protrude from the left hand side of the action just in front of the lever( a Greener cross bolt) ?. If so then this really is an IZH54 and is very desirable indeed. The action innards are made to a high standard, not just machine pressings and the overall quality and balance I find perfect. Don't worry if the chamber is on the slack side and cartridges may rattle a little. They were made for paper cases used in foul Russian weather and this goes some way to prevent them sticking. As to the chokes, its a pretty tight bore, around .722 to .724 so they will be near to half and full. If you find that the gun suits you then it may be worth opening the chokes to 10 and 20 thou. under bore size for a really versatile game and pigeon gun. Mine runs at 5 and 18 thou. under bore size and does all I want it to.

Its an IZH26 which was produced as a successor to the IZH54 as a slightly cheaper to manufacture model. The straight joint between action and stock confirms this. If you open it you will find it has ring set strikers which make replacement easy, should it ever happen. Inside it has V springs rather that the later coil springs on the IZH58 and later on the IZH43. Its a quality box lock which will serve you well. There is a picture of my IZH26 in the SxS section on here which shows it as a magnum 2 3/4" but this was something they did at the time,,,,sometimes ! Its worth checking that the chokes havn't been trimmed down to open them up instead of getting them properly honed out. There should be some cross hatching on the end of the barrels if they are not cut down.

My mistake, the last date for voting is the 22 Oct.

Already done by both Mrs V and myself. Isn't the AGM on the 22 Oct in Harrogate but whenever it is don't miss the chance to vote !

But will you have enough Lego bricks to do it ? Perhaps if you ask Santa nicely.

On another thread I mentioned how I'd acquired a scarce old Baikal IZH54 SxS. I've taken it out a few times now and its been improving all the time with pigeon totals of 34, 28, 65, 76, 52 and its, and my best ever 111 yesterday. Its choked at 5 and 18 thou under bore size and is clearly the gun for me. Its an expensive mistress though,,the best patterns are with a diet of Hull Imperial Game 28g of No. 6. That said, it still shoots well with Eley 30g No.7 ,Eley Pigeon Select 30g No.6 or even Fiocchi 28g 7.5 but none smell quite as delightfully as the Hull cartridges. I've decided that this gun will be maintained/repaired regardless of cost for the remainder of my shooting life as none of my others are quite as good.

Guilty as charged !! . Too much time on the "Double gun" forum has gotten me all askew.

I always thought that a thou or two gap between the water table and the flats was acceptable providing its still on the face.

Its difficult to get power consistency without some modifications. Is it running at FAC power levels ? If so then the best results can be achieved with a much heavier hammer and spring to match. The original plastic type need too much spring pressure to open the valve consistently. They also tend to hang up/grab a little on the barrel. I had "Leupey" ? make me a 21" barrel, that was much thicker than standard, new bushes and hammer together with some valve work and it ran at 28 ft/lbs for about 50 shots. This, together with a 10" AWT over barrel silencer made an effective and interesting rabbit gun. If you Google Stealth for sale I think my gun still appears there !

At last !! Someone very local who has just started shooting wanted to try a SxS and gave me a call. I'm dropping it off for him in the morning. It will probably do as a decent yardstick to determine what he may like to move on to afterwards because some will say that after a Baikal anything will seem better ! Just not me.

Give John a ring on 0121 745 4287. He worked his magic on my S10 some years ago now and its run perfectly ever since. He's a delight to meet, a complete gent.

Lots of possibilities there, I'll have a look around. Certainly not paying the £40+ that they are advertised at online. Thanks for the suggestions.

As long as you didn't pay a fortune then the short one which looks to be choked cylinder may still be useful. Whilst the cylinder Baikal I had wouldn't pattern with the cartridges I used the Brno I recently got with skeet/cylinder chokes worked well on clays which were reasonably close or incoming, just as it did on pigeons last week which were decoying in. I was using 30g No. 7 in the cylinder Brno for pigeons and it did pretty well.

Too late, by reading my advise he has in fact agreed to accept the free SxS I'm offering at the moment. Always read the small print !!

Can anyone suggest a reasonably priced source for these batteries for my magnet please. I bought one off here a few years ago and its just starting to slow down a little after 3 or 4 hours. I was quite surprised at the prices quoted online.

If its a single trigger type then it will have selectable barrels, when its cocked push the trigger blade forwards to select top barrel first. It only gives the slightest of clicks to indicate switching, otherwise its the usual bottom barrel first. They should both have selectable ejectors which are switched on and off with the small screws at the front of the action above the hinge pin. I think that with the screw slot in line with action is extract, 90 degrees turn in either direction is eject. This comment comes with a free SxS Baikal.

A couple of points regarding those Russian beauties. They should both be half and full choke but it would be worth checking that the short barrelled one hasn't been cut down to open the chokes. Any sort of choke measurer will do to get a simple comparison between the two guns. Some of them have some subtle cross hatching on the ends of the ribs which may be missing if they have indeed been cut down. I only mention this because one I had was opened up like this and wouldn't pattern to save its life ! The other thing is that the ejector spring can be very fierce making the gun quite hard to open as well as being anti-social. A few coils cut of the springs cures this. Enjoy !!

Its still here I'm afraid but I'm probably going to gift it to my local straw bale clay shoot as either a spare for a fun round or to give to someone deserving.

Thanks for all the kind comments chaps, there IS a new Baikal owner out there somewhere, they just don't know it yet !