It’s fiddling with guns time of the year for me until dove and bird doggin’ seasons. I enjoy building turkey rigs out of inexpensive, hammerless, single-shot, break actions. The two I have had success with are the Yildiz .410 and Baikal MP-18, aka, IZh-18 or Remington Spartan 100 in 20 gauge. A couple of weeks ago I impulse bought a Spartan 100 in .410. It is a tub compared with the Yildiz’s 3 lbs., 3 oz. At 5 lbs., 11 oz., it weighs more than my MP-18 in 20 gauge. 26" barrel. All it needs is a red dot and trigger work to remove creep and maybe lighten a tad. Here's why it's heavier than the larger gauge: Baikal, as did Savage with its break action 220 series, uses one action frame size for all gauges, at least in subgauges. To accommodate a range of gauges, chamber thickness varies to keep the firing pin or transfer bar centered on the primer. As Yildiz markets only the .410 in a single-shot, the frame is smaller (and made from aluminum alloy) than either the .410 Savage or Baikal and the chamber wall is .18” at minimum. It is consequently lighter. The Baikal .410’s minimum wall thickness at the chamber is .30” which tapers into the rest of the barrel quickly. That’s a lot more steel. My Savage 220 in 20 gauge is lighter than my Savage in .410 because of this. Same with the Baikals. The Baikal is built like a tank in comparison to the Yildiz. The problem with the Baikal is availability. It is made in Izhevsk, Russia, home of Russian small arms manufacturing, sport and military. Baikal is owned by Kalashnikov Concern, the manufacturer of the AK for military purposes. Along came Ukraine and out went the Baikal imports to the US. The IZh-18 or MP-18 is one of the most widespread shotguns in the world. Tough and reliable, like the AK. Here’s one in use in Chile. Pato has quite a bag with his many times around the block, taped together gun:
131 in the 10” at 40. (Marks outside circle not counted) A tad patchy at 6 o'clock and 9 but I see no need to re-choke this one! I have a “go-no go” choke gauge from Galazan. This choke was so tight that the “full” choke section wouldn’t go in the barrel. Not so with a couple of Yildiz factory choked guns I have in “full”. I’ll try the brass hulls soon with this gun. I see irony in hunting the All American wild turkey with a Russian gun, shooting Red Chinese shot, out of an Italian hull, hull roll crimped with a French "sertisseur", all aimed with a German Docter red dot. C'est la vie. Gil
