Remington Spartan SxS

[andy42s]

Does anyone know if Remington's Spartan side by sides are any good? I saw a couple at the gun shop today, and I have never heard of them. They are made in Russia. I was interested in getting a Stoeger Coach, but maybe I'll go with a Spartan if they are decent. I understand the stoegers are kind of thrown together, and don't have any attention to details, but can be made into fine shooters with a little work. Are Spartans the same way? Thanks for any recommendations.

[Will Blastem]

Yes & Yes...I have a Spartan slicked up by Nate Kiowa Jones and one of my shootin Pards has a Stoeger. I guess what sold me was parts availability...seems like stoegers are hard to find parts for sometimes. IMHO both shotguns are good but are usually quite stiff out of the box. They both benefit tremendously from a proper action job.

[Silver Creek Slim]

The Remington Spartan is a Russian Baikal. European American Armory (EAA) used to import them as Bounty Hunters. My understanding is EAA lost the import rights somehow and Remington got the rights. Therefore, look fer reviews on Baikals and EAA Bounty Hunters.

Slim

[andy42s]

Thanks! Also, what is a good barrel lenght for CAS? Does everyone use a short 20" or so barrel? The local shop has a good deal on a used Stoeger Uplander, and they have a whole bundle of other used SxS, but they are all 28"-30" or so.

[Silver Creek Slim]

Personally I would go with 28-30" barrels. For one, there were more long barreled shotguns in the Old West than 20" "coachguns". Second, they come in handy when ya go wingshooting. 

Slim

[andy42s]

Thanks for the advice. I was thinkin' the same about the dual purpose pheasant/CAS thing. 

[Galloway]

I have two and they are exellent. The 28'' is now my all purpose feild gun. The 20''s are cool because they can be had with exposed hammers and without rubber recoil pad. Barrels will not swap between models FWI. My only complaint is the stiff actions and the auto close feature.

[Trailrider]

Personally I would go with 28-30" barrels. For one, there were more long barreled shotguns in the Old West than 20" "coachguns". Second, they come in handy when ya go wingshooting. 

Slim

When I retired my Belgian-made hammer double (beatin' the poor thing half to death over 15 years) I checked out most of the available 12 ga shotguns.  The Belgian has 28" barrels, and I prefer them.  The best match for the Belgian was (then) the EAA "Uplander", made in Baikal, Russia, which is within one (1) oz. and balances identically to the Belgian.  The only "problem" with the Uplander is it's hammerless.  I'd have preferred a hammer double, but they just don't make them in anything longer than 20".  The Baikal will stay open (at least mine will) if I open it far enough so the latch lever snaps back to the center position.

Can't say if the "Spartan" guns are any different from the EAA imports, but I doubt it.  The quality, IMHO, is excellent, especially for the price...which have probably gone up since I bought mine about four years ago, but so has everything else! 

I guess most CAS shooters prefer the short barrels for close confines, but I prefer the longer barrels.  Now if Remington would just order a few 28" hammer guns (and Ford would bring back the '87 Crown Victoria station wagon)...

[Camille Eonich]

The Spartan in a very good gun.  Have a smith loosen up the springs some for you and hone the chambers so that it opens and cocks easy and so that the shells fall out easy.  As far as just shooting when you're on the clock you won't notice much difference between a long barrel and a short one BUT when you get in tight places like trains you will appreciate the ease of manuevering with the shorter barrel.

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Cammie is right, the shorter barrel is great in tight places. I did one of those hallway stages and kept having to maneuver my 28" bbls around everything. On the open range, there are times when the long barrels need to be watched on props, too. Go with shorter ones. My favorite double had 22" barrels. Much nicer yet long enough to reach out when needed.

[FRANK JAMES]

...did somebody mention "trains"...?

[Mad Mike]

 Please allow me to ask .....

If ya'll gonna buy 1 sxs 20in hammer shot gun ... which one ?

Remington or the Norinco mod 99 ?   12 ga of course. 

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

I think one should NOT cut off a gun that may be appreciating in value as others chop theirs to pieces.  If you want a new "coach gun" OK, buy one.  But to chop a perfectly good gun decreases its usefullness and value.

My only big wins were with a 30 inch, fullchoke Mod 97s. 

I now shoot BP with an older Baikal hammer gun @ 28" mod/full.  and I wouldn't trade it for anything!  I might try "Husqabella" my swedish underlever with 30" full/full barrels, but its getting a bit weathered so not very often.

[J.D. Yellowhammer]

I have a Baikal/Remington and my wife had a Stoeger.  Mine outperformed hers out of the box, and it looked a lot better, too.  We ended up selling hers and now she's got an IAC '97 (Norinco).  I don't know about the shotguns imported to this side of the world but in Russia Baikal makes some of the very best firearms.

[Will Blastem]

I have a Rem/Spartan 220 and my shootin Pard has a Stoeger. One thing I noticed is my Spartan requires only about 1/2 the lever travel to open up than his Stoeger which makes for faster reloadin times...don't know if this is perculiar to just his gun or is common to all...My Spartan was slicked up by Nate Kiowa Jones and his Stoeger is factory stock. I wonder if this may be a gunsmithing item or just a basic difference between these 2 shotguns.

[Badlands Bob]

I bought an EAA Baikal 12 gauge sxs about 3 years ago at a gun show for $199.  It had the 28" barrel so I cut them to 20" and had a gunsmith do an action job on it.  I have bought 4 additional shotguns over the last couple of years trying to find one that I like better than the EAA.  I keep going back to that EAA.  It's built like a tank and never misfires.  I like reliability.  My son now shoots all the rest of the shotguns.  For the price, you won't go wrong with the Remington Spartan.  Just figure in the cost of a good action job in the price and you'll be happy.

[Victor Vaquero]

About how much for an action & hone job? Can a guy do his own
hone what tools do I need and how do I do it?

[Major 2]

Wow..here's to you,,, for resurrecting a old post  
over two years old....

The current price is about $100-125 but it depends what work and who does it.

My first SXS was an old Fox..it was so well used it needed nothing, it fell open with the lever moved & shells fell right out.
it had 28" barrels .
I decided to get a Coach Gun and opp'ed for a pre-Beretta deal Stoeger... I did my own action work, because it needed it.
I used a 12 Gauge bore mop with Valve Grinding compound in a cordless drill , that polished the chambers including a felt ridge
in the right chamber.
Next was some emery cloth to polish the joint between the fore stock and barrel lugs ( really all I did is polish off the blue ) and that slicked up that movement. Last I de-bured the ejector's bore and smoothed up the pin guide.
I did not defeat the Safety or bob or lighten the springs.
This work made the Stoeger a reasonable and reliable shooter and easy enough.
Though , I never liked the pre- Beretta Stoeger mystery wood. Besides the fact I wanted a Mule ear gun.
I looked for a Mule ear SXS , looking for a Rossi and at the Baikal ( but all I seemed to find were the Baikal external lever cockers )
That's when I heard about Walt Johnson & TTN....I called Walt and he sent me the 20" Coach gun.

The TTn (now Cimarron) is nice right out of the box ( Walt added lighter springs and included the OEM springs)
The Gun is also available from Taylor's & EMF. It is tank tough  

[Marshall John Joseph]

I have a Bakail Bounty Hunter II - 12ga, 20" bbls - exposed hammers.  I had the auto saftey disengaged to manual only, chambers polished, and some polishing to allow easy opening.  It was a reasonably priced, solidly built shotgun.  Then Remington became the U.S. importer and prices went up.  Remington no longer imports them.

My only comment is that I wish the cocking hammers were a little more heavy duty.  I get the impression that too much force on the hammers might bend or break them.

It would be nice if someone would make aftermarket replacement hammers for this otherwise fine shotgun.  HINT, HINT, HINT,  TO YOU TALENTED SMITHS.   

Marshall John Joseph

[WaddWatsonEllis]

FWIW ... I bought a used/single trigger Bounty Hunter 12 Ga SXS when I first started shooting CAS.

I realy liked the way the gun handled ... even shot some skeet with it!

But mine would bind spent shalls in the barrel and would not allow them to be extracted ... one had to grab the edges of the shell by hand and pull them out.

So I gave it to the club gunsmith in July. Figured just a bit of lapping the bores and a little fine tuning.

The gunsmith said that the Baikal had had a butcher job of an 'improvement' (prior to my purchase) and that he needed new parts.  Numrich did not have the parts. Then he got the number for EAAs parts department and they sent him the parts... for the wrong gun!  So now EAA has promised that the parts enroute are correct.

Meanwhile it is almost the New Year and the Baikal is still at the gunsmith's ... and I would be SOOL if it were not for the Cap Coyote Winchester  87 that I also own ....

Or club shoot is this Sunday. I will learn more about the Baikal's parts situation then ... here's hoping it is fixed!

By the way, while the gunsmith was testing it, the left barrel did not fire occasionally (which is a new problem for this weapon but not for the single hammer Bounty Hunters)...