Brno 301 O/U.

[Velocette]

After seeing the image of the Brno O/U that Scully put up on a Baikal SxS thread I've managed to source one, for a song and a fascinating thing it is too.  Here are a few images of the general look of the thing.

The good bits are inside which is quite different to the normal run of shotgun design. This is the layout of the receiver, trigger group and the block. all dismantled by one grub screw and two knockout pins.

[ditchman]

well .....i would have never thought BRNO would have made something like that.........looks strange

how does it feel and handle............is it balanced nicely ?

[Velocette]

The innards were well slathered with a Cosmoline type grease which smells so good that I've only cleaned it off where necessary and left the rest. The firing pins are retained by a single countersunk screw in the location arrowed.

The best it is at the front of the block where there is a sliding piece through which the firing pins act whose purpose is not clear but it is replaceable and makes cleaning easy.

[Velocette]

The trigger group is also special as it seems to have an intercepting safety sear highlighted in the image. The safety catch, in front of the trigger guard slide under the two substantial sears on the hammers and would seem to absolutely preclude the hammers dropping.

Finally. the finish of the action is nicely decorative and the whole thing is finished to a high standard.

[Velocette]

The last part is the technical stuff. I did get a spare set of skeet barrels with the ventilated ends, choked at cylinder and cylinder. The other barrels are 28" choked at 30 to 35 thou. so roughly  a slack full. The choke shape is unusual in the the taper starts at 3 1/2" from the barrel end with the last 1 1/8" parallel so a long slow reduction. All in all, another odd gun for the collection but one of real technical interest.

 

[Velocette]

16 minutes ago, ditchman said:

well .....i would have never thought BRNO would have made something like that.........looks strange

how does it feel and handle............is it balanced nicely ?

It feels spot on with a narrow fore end and a light whippy swing to it. Its lighter than the O/U Baikals. Here are a few images from a leaflet from the slightly earlier mode, the 101.

Brno info 1.pdf

[ditchman]

the metal work looks well made...........no nasty file marks (unfinished).............interesting piece

[London Best]

I knew one or two people who had these guns in the early 1970’s. They were well made. Somebody loaned me one once for a weekend so I could try an O/U gun for the first time. I still don’t own one!

[Velocette]

Not to everyone's taste but a curiosity for all that. I forgot to mention the unusual trigger sequence. The front trigger operates the top barrel, the rear on operates the bottom barrel first  then the top barrel like most single trigger guns. The reason for this set up seems to be because of the possibility of one of the several interchangeable barrels being a drilling and the likely use of the rifle top barrel first when confronted by a charging boar !!

Brno info 2.pdf

[wisdom]

I had one for years bored true and true fantatic gun.Possibly one of the best I ever owned.Mine was a plain action.foreend was retained on the barrels and it had sling swivels.

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Cracking little guns, had one years ago and Wabbitbosher managed to find me one when I had to have one again.

 

The muzzle breaks are always a talking point.

[Velocette]

They look pretty mean don't they.

[Scully]

1 hour ago, Velocette said:

They look pretty mean don't they.

They look the dogs. 👍

[London Best]

They would look ok on an anti-aircraft gun.

[SPAS 15]

Have been thinking of getting one for a while. Great post.

[mowdy]

I know of a couple of people I have shot with over the years that had them in rifle/shotgun combinations. 1 was in 308/12bore and the other was 7x57 / 12b or possibly 16 b ?both were handy guns for driven Boar 🐗 

[oldypigeonpopper]

Hello, I had a Baikal O/U back in the early 1980s, only thing I remember it had a plain action, double trigger but the rear shot both barrels and blooming heavy🙄😁, 

[Velocette]

Although this is about the SxS Brno it gives some idea of the strength of the design. There is a link to someone doing the same with an O/U but i cannot put my finger on it at the moment.

 

http://forums.nitroexpress.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=185191&page=0&fpart=all&vc=1

[Walker570]

I borrowed a similar shotgun from a friend back in the early 70s, with the same skeet vented barrels. My shotgun was in for repair and I shot walked up partridge with one day at Aqualate Park still lingering in my memory and also clays with it for about 4 months. I hated having to hand it back so does that confirm my opinion.  If you don't like it , let me know first.