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Sticky Action on Single Barrel Baikal 20GA fix
Im new here at this forum and long time shooter. This is my first post here. I just bought a Baikal MP-18 20ga single barrel shotgun from Big 5 (i know a cheapo big 5 shotgun $119.99 + DROS,get what you pay for blah blah blah, but it will fit the bill for what I was intending to use it for, Trap) I had already read about the action being a little tight on these newer shotguns, as I had to wait my 11 days (big 5) to go pick it up so I got some time to start reading up on my new purchase. There were quite a few posts about these guns being extremly stiff to open and close, but no real viable solutions other than oh just shoot it a couple thousand times it will lossen up. Or make sure you clean off all the cosmoline, and re-grease it, that will work. I do not have the time to try and shoot 1,000's of rounds through this, and cleaning the cosmoline and adding new grease did not make any difference. This gun was meant to help teach my wife the basics of clay shooting, and how can it do that when I have trouble getting it to open and close. There is no way she could get this thing to work.
So I got it home cleaned it up real nice, got rid of all that nasty cosmoline, oiled it and greased it in all the manf. suggested spots....and low and behold, still had to pretty much bend it over my knee to get it to open. Just plain stiff. Well I found this post about a Baikal Rifle where the guy had fixed his action with a file. Well Im no gun smith so attempting any such measures was a very last resort. But then again this gun would do me no good any ways if my wife cant get it to open or close. and it was cheap enough i figured what the hell if i break it no big loss, i would only be out $150. no fun but still worth a little risk, right?
I got the file out and held my breath as I removed pretty much just the blueing from the part that guy mentioned he filed. Put the gun back together, and low and behold, with a simple pull of the break lever, it started to break on its own with just the weight of the barrel. Now it did not come all the way open, or even close. It just open a very little, but was still a ton more then before. I so I repeated this step 4 more times. each time taking very little material off, maybe moving the file back and forth 5 or 6 times. then put it back together and checked it. Now when I pull the action break lever it falls open all on its own. I made sure not to take to much off as with time i do expect it to get even more smoother, so i made sure not to make it that easy. Now after I put a 1000 or so shells through it I will look at how well the action is working then.
I hope this post will help someone else that just picked one of these value shotguns up. And have the same issue. I will try and post a pic of where it was that I filed, later tonght when I get home form work.
Just in case I dont get to it right away. The tab on the bottom of the barrel where the foregrip attaches. There is a hooked tab on one side(towards the front of the barrel), and flat on the other (towards the breach end). it is the flat side that gets the file. and not a lot.....just a little at a time untill you get it where you like it.
pics to follow
So I got it home cleaned it up real nice, got rid of all that nasty cosmoline, oiled it and greased it in all the manf. suggested spots....and low and behold, still had to pretty much bend it over my knee to get it to open. Just plain stiff. Well I found this post about a Baikal Rifle where the guy had fixed his action with a file. Well Im no gun smith so attempting any such measures was a very last resort. But then again this gun would do me no good any ways if my wife cant get it to open or close. and it was cheap enough i figured what the hell if i break it no big loss, i would only be out $150. no fun but still worth a little risk, right?
I got the file out and held my breath as I removed pretty much just the blueing from the part that guy mentioned he filed. Put the gun back together, and low and behold, with a simple pull of the break lever, it started to break on its own with just the weight of the barrel. Now it did not come all the way open, or even close. It just open a very little, but was still a ton more then before. I so I repeated this step 4 more times. each time taking very little material off, maybe moving the file back and forth 5 or 6 times. then put it back together and checked it. Now when I pull the action break lever it falls open all on its own. I made sure not to take to much off as with time i do expect it to get even more smoother, so i made sure not to make it that easy. Now after I put a 1000 or so shells through it I will look at how well the action is working then.
I hope this post will help someone else that just picked one of these value shotguns up. And have the same issue. I will try and post a pic of where it was that I filed, later tonght when I get home form work.
Just in case I dont get to it right away. The tab on the bottom of the barrel where the foregrip attaches. There is a hooked tab on one side(towards the front of the barrel), and flat on the other (towards the breach end). it is the flat side that gets the file. and not a lot.....just a little at a time untill you get it where you like it.
pics to follow
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