Last week I promised you some insights into the double I just bought. Let me give you a little background first. I have wanted a double rifle ever since my first trip to Africa. I just never thought I would be able to save enough money to buy one. Over years of saving, I developed presbyopia and consequently wondered if I could see the sights well enough to shoot the rifle. Finally, over the course if the last few years. I pretty much decided there was no way I could shoot a double well enough to ever justify the outlay of the tens of thousands of dollars that one can cost. I had completely resigned myself to shooting my trusty .416 Rigby for the rest of my hunting career. Then it happened.
The “it” is this case was I found a Baikal double rifle in 45-70 in an auction site and on a lark decided to bid on it. The rifles have been popular and have been selling considerably above their $1200 retail price. My self-imposed limit for bidding on the auction sites is thirty cents on the dollar, and that was what I bid. After bidding I rarely check back until after the auction (least I am tempted to up my bid), so imagine my surprise when I found out I won. I feel like it was a sign that I was supposed to have the rifle. That seemed to be confirmed as the next week the rifles were back to selling at the inflated retail. The rifle was shipped to my FFL dealer about a week later, and shortly after that I was holding it in my hot little hands.
As far as hard shooting facts go, I can’t give you much as my time at the firing line has been severely limited as of late, but here is what I do know. Baikal has a unique barrel regulating setup allowing the user to regulate the barrels to the particular “load” the user wants to shoot. Before I go any further, a few definitions are probably in order. A double-barreled rifle’s barrels are said to be ‘regulated’ when they shoot to the same point of impact at a set distance. A particular “load” is the combination of a bullet of a particular weight traveling at a specific velocity. If you change either the weight or velocity, the point of impact changes, sometimes rather dramatically. In the upper end rifles the barrels are regulated to a specific load and point of impact (usually specified by the person ordering the gun) at the factory. It cannot be changed without sending the rifle back to the manufacturer. The neat thing about the Baikal is it has a screw hidden between the two barrels, which allows the regulation to be adjusted by the owner if the load ever needs to be changed.
Upon test firing my Baikal for the first time, I discovered the barrels were in no way regulated. While the bullets shot to the correct elevation, they hit about 18” to the side of the bullseye, one to the right and one to the left. The good news was the bullets from the second round were almost touching the bullets from the first round. This translates to a rifle that has plenty of potential for accuracy. I did not know if I wanted to try regulating it without doing a little more research, so it was a few more days before I picked it up again.
The regulation process is simple enough. The left barrel is fixed and you sight it in using the iron sights and then you move the point of impact of the right barrel to where you just adjusted the left barrel to shoot. Simple in theory. Gun nut that I am, I decided I would use my laser sighting tool to preset the barrels before I got into the field. I put the gun in my vise and, in the matter of a few minutes, the little red dot was shining at the same spot for both barrels. The only problem was when I got to the range, the bullet holes were nowhere near touching. So much for my grand ideas.
What I did discover was I liked the way the gun felt, pointed, and shot. It comes up just like a double-barreled shotgun and the target acquisition is effortless and extremely quick. With just the left barrel sighted in and shooting it as a single shot, the gun shot flawlessly. I most definitely will be spending some more time with it on the range and will make sure the barrels are regulated correctly. While a little on the light side for dangerous game, this rifle will be perfect for plains game in tight quarters where quick shots are a necessity. It would also make a great bear rifle for use here in North America. In the end, my gamble paid off and I discovered I can shoot a double well and my desire for a quality double has been rekindled. Now if I can just remember how to save money again. Any advice out there?
