baikal IZH-18MH single shot in 30 06 good for cast?

[firsttimer]

looking at getting a baikal izh-18mh single in 30 06 and was wondering if anyone has experiance with loading them with cast boolits and how accurcy is, a load thay like, ect. anything i should know before i buy one.

[Te Hopo]

I have one in .270Win that I love.
Never tried cast but the accuracy is there, mine had 4 shots in an inch with 2 touching at 100m.

They're a great rifle if you want to tinker a bit, the LOP is too long and most of the wood work is way higher than the metalwork.
The scope rail is only 11mm wide so it's hard to find decent rings up to the recoil but I found my factory sights were only 2 inches off at 50m when I first tried them.

Mine is slowly being turned into a light weight mountain rifle, I have weight down to 5-6lb now and it's a dream to carry all day long, whether on the shoulder or in the hand.

If you want, I can post a link to where I have a write up on all I have done so far.

[doubs43]

I have one in .270Win that I love.
Never tried cast but the accuracy is there, mine had 4 shots in an inch with 2 touching at 100m.

They're a great rifle if you want to tinker a bit, the LOP is too long and most of the wood work is way higher than the metalwork.

You are probably aware of the European thinking with regards to woodwork on a gun but others may not know. It's typical for a European gun to have wood that stands "proud" of the metal. The thinking is that should the stock ever require refinishing, there's still plenty of wood left to work with and not have it go below the level of the metal. Americans, OTOH, want the wood to be exactly flush with the metal. Wood standing proud looks poorly fitted to an American eye.

[paint--man]

I have one in .270Win that I love.
Never tried cast but the accuracy is there, mine had 4 shots in an inch with 2 touching at 100m.

They're a great rifle if you want to tinker a bit, the LOP is too long and most of the wood work is way higher than the metalwork.
The scope rail is only 11mm wide so it's hard to find decent rings up to the recoil but I found my factory sights were only 2 inches off at 50m when I first tried them.

Mine is slowly being turned into a light weight mountain rifle, I have weight down to 5-6lb now and it's a dream to carry all day long, whether on the shoulder or in the hand.

If you want, I can post a link to where I have a write up on all I have done so far.


please do post the link, if the accuracy is thare it should be doable with cast.

[firsttimer]

yes as paint--man said post the link i would be interested in seeing what people are doing to these guns, the one im looking at is a syn. stock version so its already fairly light.

[Te Hopo]

You are probably aware of the European thinking with regards to woodwork on a gun but others may not know. It's typical for a European gun to have wood that stands "proud" of the metal. The thinking is that should the stock ever require refinishing, there's still plenty of wood left to work with and not have it go below the level of the metal. Americans, OTOH, want the wood to be exactly flush with the metal. Wood standing proud looks poorly fitted to an American eye.

Ah, that explains a lot then thanks. :-D
I've enjoyed working on it anyway and am currently shaping the wood even more to fit me better.

Linky for you guys then:

My aim is to make a handy little carbine, that is as at home in the bush hunting pigs and deer as it is at home in the mountains chasing thar and chamois.
http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=65529

[Te Hopo]

yes as paint--man said post the link i would be interested in seeing what people are doing to these guns, the one im looking at is a syn. stock version so its already fairly light.

Yea those synthetic stocked ones have just come on sale in NZ in the past year, but I liked the look of the walnut better.
And no way was I gonna go near a birch stocked one! :shock:

[firsttimer]

nice write up you have on that little single shot

[Te Hopo]

nice write up you have on that little single shot

Thanks a lot, I'm still adding to it as I go so check back from time to time.

I had the whole trigger area apart last night and polished it all today.
It is looking much better than it did before the polish, each part is moving freely and smoothly now.
Only thing left is to get the firing spring back in, which is proving difficult considering the strength of it and the fact I don't have a spring clamp.

[firsttimer]

find a little hard to beleive no one else has this gun.

[TDC]

These aren't the Baikal models you're talking about, but I thought you'd like to see some Baikal shotguns re-fitted and refinished to "American standards".... If you want to take the time with other than the internal polishing you mention, a Baikal can be made to match the fit and finish quality of "top line" shotguns.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u269/tdcorp/Remington%20SPR%20Shotguns/Sporting1.jpg

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u269/tdcorp/Remington%20SPR%20Shotguns/Sporting2.jpg

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u269/tdcorp/Remington%20SPR%20Shotguns/pic2B.jpg

[Te Hopo]

Wow those are real nice, what finish is on the wood?

I'm planning on just oiling mine.

[jlchucker]

Nice looking little rifle there, Te Hopo. I've long been wondering about those Russian single shots myself. I've had really good luck with the side by side double shotguns made by Baikal.
Too bad the rifles aren't offered in some rimmed cartridge versions--like 30-30, or even a decently-machined 38-55 that comes shootable with cast-boolet handloads. These rifles might even be a lot of fun if they were offered in 25-20 and/or 32-20.

[lonewolf5347]

I have one in 243 cal. and it did take some time to reduce the trigger pull to 2 1/2lbs.
I did lift (shimed) the trigger sear spring.
I also came across some light hits on the primer I found the full length resizing die was adjust a tad to deep setting back the shoulder to far.I set the die to push the should back .002 I can say never did have any more problem with light primer stirkes.
best group the gun ever did seem to favor hot loads
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a380/lonewolf5347/243-30-06001.jpg

[Te Hopo]

[QUOTE=lonewolf5347;777051]I also came across some light hits on the primer /QUOTE]

I found the same with Winchester Primers, but Federal have been 100% reliable.

[lonewolf5347]

I forgot to mention I also had to cut the stock the LOP was too long for me.

[NoDakJak]

This fall purchased a Remington Spartan that is chambered for 7.62X39. It is the same rifle but was imported by Remington. I have only run a few cast loads through it thus far but it seems to have a very smooth barrel and dos not have a tendency to lead. I mounted the short, four power NC-Star scope on it by using a tip off 22 mount that holds a one inch scope. The trigger is very heavy but should be an easy one to work on. Hope this helps. Neil

[Te Hopo]

Here you go guys, I posted my write up here:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?p=791069#post791069