I finally bought one of the Baikal SxS double rifles in 45-70.
The wood and varnish, the w/m fit, the checkering and bluing were far superior to those of the Remington made Marlin 1895 rifles being currently sold.
If the normal Baikal MP-221 is as stiff as mine NIB I suggest taking all the pictures down off your walls before trying to assemble or disassemble the rifle.
I struggled for 10 minutes to get the for-end off and the barrel locking mechanism is so stiff I have to brace the barrel on the ground and reef for all I'm worth on the tang toggle latch to open the action.
I can't see cleaning & lubrication making this gun anywhere near as smooth as it needs to be to be usable in the field and I'm going to get my gunsmith to work the gun over and do a trigger job at the same time.
Last edited by pricedo; 08/28/12.
