loosening up an older Russian Baikal coach gun?

[Ironbadger]

I have a hammerless baikal 12 gauge double coach gun that I have owned since the late 90s.
Had it wrong- not a saiga. Its a baikal model bounty hunter 2.

It was bought back when I lived in Arizona, and its unfired, or at most a handful of shells.
Bought it from a old friend, and I am pretty sure he never fired it, or at best only a 5 round box of buckshot.

So its in pristine condition, and the action is stiff as hell.
Both the release lever and the barrel hinge.

While I have done plenty of polishing and slicking up on plenty of revolvers, I have never worked on a double barrel.
So I do not know where I should concentrate on polishing up the action to loosen it up.

I only want it loose enough to open easily for cowboy shooting.
It has soft ejection, so shells need to be picked out for reloading.
So no need to open up the throats for sprung ejectors.

Any suggestions?

[St. George]

Sounds like the old oil turned into shellac - something that happens, and happens with WD-40 if the piece is allowed to just sit somewhere hot and dry.

Hose it out with brake cleaner and lube it with 'BreakFree CLP' afterwards, and then work the action.

It should free up markedly.

WD-40 is a great solvent - kinda like kerosene - and it does protect - it's just that it'll gum up sometimes, so you need to use a good penetrant to get into tighter spaces.

Scouts Out!

[Ironbadger]

Hm, it was always very tight and stiff even when it was brand new.

I'll try a deep clean, but it really doesn't have any dried out lubricants in it.
And I use CLP break free- never WD40.

Thanks for the feedback.

Sounds like the old oil turned into shellac - something that happens, and happens with WD-40 if the piece is allowed to just sit somewhere hot and dry.

Hose it out with brake cleaner and lube it with 'BreakFree CLP' afterwards, and then work the action.

It should free up markedly.

WD-40 is a great solvent - kinda like kerosene - and it does protect - it's just that it'll gum up sometimes, so you need to use a good penetrant to get into tighter spaces.

Scouts Out!

[U.S.M.R.]

One reason it may be stiff on opening is because you are cocking the hammers when you open it. That is not the case with a hammer gun.

[Major 2]

On the Baikal 12-gauge double coach gun (and others)

I'd polish the hinge area.

Note this Baikal double is the model with external cockers, (they are not hammers)
You gun is internally cocked; you will also want to polish and debur the cocking
rod as well.

[Abilene]

Like a lot of guns, they are over-sprung.  I have 3 Baikals, and all have had action work, although I shot one for a year before getting it tuned.  I work on my pistols and rifles, but not internal hammer shotguns.
Here is some DIY info:
https://marauder.homestead.com/files/TuneBaik.html