mat777

Well, I certainly never knew about the barrel select-ability, so ta for that - handy to know! Thanks for the link, I've got my beady eye on the ebay listing - fingers crossed I dont end up in a bidding war with a re-seller! Though if I am successful then I am happy to forward on extras to anyone who needs them, for cost price. Cheers, Matt

Many thanks, mystery solved! Do you know please roughly what year it would be? Yes, it must presumably be fixed choke as there is no thread in the end of the barrels. Ta, yes I'm planning to use the existing ironwork because I want the serial numbers to still match up, so I'll swap it all over and bin the old wood pieces but keep the spare mechanism. Ta, Matt

Hi all, Unfortunately it appears that the forend on my trusty old Baikal is toast - it split clean in half a while ago (presumably from an age related crack propogating), and has been glued and stitched back together twice now to no avail (after a few hundred shots, it goes again). I've been sent various links to people online selling spare secondhand forends for not a lot of money, but the issue I have is I'm not 100% sure on the model of the gun! I've compared online and I think it's either model 12 or model 27, it's a single trigger 28". The serial number is PO61[xx] and under the trigger guard it says - ID (or IO?) 22B/C (or 228/C?), Made in USSR Thanks in advance! Matt

HI all Many apologies for the delay in replying! Had a very busy Christmas and then forgot my credentials for here and got locked out of my account! I had a pootle round a couple of local gun shops and tried a few of the suggested makes and models. Unfortunately, being a left handed shot, I just couldn't get on with RH eject of all the guns on offer, I found it very distracting. I was about to give up on the concept at all and stick with "traditional" guns. I hate to be "that guy" that asks for advice and then ignores it all, but after some nagging from a friend to just try the LH eject Fabarm I did go to view it. I liked the "wood" finish and it felt a nice wieldy gun - in the end I did a deal for it and have shot with it a few times, I must say I quite like it so far! Your advice was not wasted however, as someone in my club who is a normal RH shooter is also looking at S/As, I've passed all your advice onto him and he is very keen Thanks again, Matt

Evening all, I'm a purely clay shooter and I've owned an O/U Baikal for 2 years now, having been shooting various club gun O/Us for 8-9 years prior. I've realised that as an adult, not only can I eat ice cream for breakfast, but I can also treat myself to a second gun should I want to. Wanting a bit of variety, I was looking at the idea of a semi-auto in the £200-300 range that isnt completely pants. I'm aware that a S/A carries more responsibility for etiquette and "it's clearly empty" safe practice at the range and I'm totally fine with that. I'm a left handed shooter and whilst I've been told that a right-ejecting gun should be fine given the distance from my face, if I had the option I'd still choose a left-eject. I've seen 2 guns local to me (Cheshire) that caught my attention. Both in good condition with chokes, case etc. In the red, white and green corner: A Fabarm H368 for £290. Pros - it's left handed, it has nice wood. Reviews lead me to believe the mechanism auto-adjusts for cartridge weights/lengths? Cons - It's more expensive In the purely red corner, a Baikal MP153 for £200 Pros - It's cheap, and as the owner of a Baikal O/U I'm aware how tough they are. Cons - All over black finish, and reviews say they are weighted weirdly from the factory. Mechanism is manual adjust. (Wildcard idea - I was also considering a cheap SxS, but i'm not a fan of twin triggers and single triggers are all out of my price range) What does the the PW hivemind think? Any particular good or bad stories about the quality of both contenders? Thanks in advance!

Hi all, I'm Matt, from Cheshire but based in Liverpool. Been clay shooting about 10 years now by clinging on to my university team as a returning member as I wasn't allowed a gun in the family home. Last year having settled in my own place In finally got my own gun, an indeterminately old but apparently legendarily tough Baikal O/U. I shoot mainly at Catton Hall and Mickley Hall, but am trying to get more "away" trips in when time allows.... Also debating whether to treat myself to a semi auto for Christmas 😅 I've been active for a while in a dedicated guns thread on another forum I use, but decided to join here as there seems to be a lot of very knowledgeable people around on all aspects of guns and shooting!