BAIKAL DOUBLE .45-70
Rough-and-ready big-bore brush-buster
BAIKAL IS ONE of three firearm brands f rom Russia’s Kalashnikov Concern, manufacturers of a wide range of c i vilian and military weapon s. The Baikal and Ishmash brands focus mostly on civilian hunting and sporting firearms, while the Kalashnikov brand focuses primarily on military arms.
The test rifle, Baikal’s MR-221 double, is one metre long overall and weighs 3.1kg. The lacquer-finished walnut stock has a low comb for open sighted use, with no cheek-piece and no cast-off, hence is adaptable for both right- and left-handed use. It has a somewhat swept-back pistol-grip, wellsuited to double-trigger rifles, with fairly coarse cut chequering for a secure hold. The skeletonised recoil pad is 22mm thick.
The slightly beaver-tailed fore-end is 215mm long, 50mm wide, but shallow, with chequering similar to that on the hand-grip; its recessed releaselever, positioned centrally, is springloaded and smooth-operating.
The box-lock action is beefy and robust, and the metal-work is blued throughout, but for the triggers, which are gold-coloured. The tang-mounted safety-catch engages automatically on opening the action. When the safety is engaged, it reveals a small springloaded steel bead just ahead of it. When pushed forward to disengage, it reveals a small, red indent behind it, indicating the fire position.
The top-lever is within easy thumbreach but was somewhat stiff – doubtless just newness – and I had to consciously push it all the way across to open the barrels. The smooth-faced double triggers are 5mm wide; the front one’s length of pull is 35.8cm, and the rear one, 33.7cm. Both triggers broke cleanly at about 5lb pull.
THE 23.6-INCH barrels have an integrated quarter-rib into which the rear sight blade is dovetailed and which is also grooved for mounting a scope or red-dot sight. The rear sight is held in place by a screw, has a U-notch, and is adjustable for windage. The front sight-ramp forms part of the solid-looking muzzle link and is finely grooved to prevent reflection; its sight-element is a post, adjustable for elevation.
The barrel chambers appear solidly fused together and the chamber walls are 6mm thick – stout for a .45-70. The barrels are not soldered together, but separate to facilitate regulation by the owner to the load of his choice. They are joined at the muzzles by a robust link. The left
barrel is fixed; the
barrel’s regulating screw is in a rib beneath the barrels ahead of the slingswivel. Rotating the screw adjusts a wedge system which moves the right barrel in relation to the left, to coincide their respective shots to a point-of-aim at a distance of your choice. The rib is made of sheet metal, and visually closes the gap between the barrels.
THE ACTION WAS newly stiff and did not fully open unless I tugged down the barrels at the final stage to enable me to extract the spent cases and to ensure the cocking rods set the strikers. The extractors drew the spent cases far enough out to enable me to grasp them easily. The barrels locked up very tightly against the standing breech.
The test rifle arrived with a Leupold
VX Freedom 1.5-4x20 scope readymounted and two boxes of .45-70 ammo: Winchester 300gr JHP and Hornady 325gr Leverevolution FTX.
Using an X-bag, I bench-rested the rifle and found the left barrel to be zeroed at 100m. The Winchester ammo, clocking 1 928fps at the muzzle, put three shots into a 46mm group. Four shots with the Hornady ammo printed a 56mm group, three of these clustering into 40mm. I then fired at a 50m target to determine the distance at which the barrels were regulated. The two Hornady bullets struck 56mm apart, precisely on the same horizontal line; the Winchesters hit further apart but also on the same horizontal line. I did not attempt to adjust the regulation as this can be a time-consuming exercise requiring many identical loads. Still using the scope, I took fast shots at various 50 and 75m targets, and found the rifle to be accurate.
I then removed the scope to try out the open sights. Shooting freehand, I fired at a 300x300mm gong from 25m and both barrels were spot on. There
The rifle fitted me well and mounted smoothly for quick shots, including followup shots
after I fired several shots at the gong from ranges between 25 and 38m. With the open sights, it was as if the Baikal had suddenly come into its own, with both barrels landing shots right next to each other.
The rifle fitted me well and mounted smoothly for quick shots, including follow-up shots with the second barrel. Felt recoil from offhand shots was negligible, whereas the Baikal kicked heavily when fired from the bench. However, doubles aren’t designed for bench-resting, nor meant to be tack-drivers. This rifle is probably intended for driven European boar hunts where the action is close, fast and potentially furious, and for that, it’s perfect.
I THINK THE .45-70 cartridge is well suited for low-cost double rifles. Introduced in 1873 as a military cartridge for the single-shot Springfield ‘trapdoor’ rifle, its designation indicated a .45 (.458) calibre bullet driven by 70 grains of black powder. The original muzzle velocity with a 405gr bullet was 1 333fps. American hunters took to it for hunting game all the way up to bison, moose and grizzly bears. The cartridge retained its allure and was later produced as a nitro cartridge, though factory smokeless ammo was not loaded to its full potential due to the many black powder .45-70 rifles still in use. According to Cartridges of the World, in modern-made rifles designed for smokeless propellants, careful hand-loads with H-4198 powder can take the 400gr bullet all the way up to 2 000fps, and 300 and 350-grainers to 2 200fps. PMC offers a 350gr factory load at 2 025fps. The .45-70 is a good choice for large thin-skinned game in dense bushveld. It also lends itself exceptionally well to cast lead bullet loads.
The Baikal feels light, but is nicely balanced and points well with open sights. While it is no beauty, it is solid and rugged, which is what you want in a low-cost working rifle. Baikal is known for robust, durable firearms at an affordable price; this rifle retails for R19 000. For more information contact Savuti Arms on 011-744-2539.