Best ammo for birds, gun with no choke

dodderangler

Been a while since I've posted.
Quick question.
My baikel has no chokes and isn't threaded for them either. Just wondering what lads use on a gun like this for birds. I've always used #5 eley or Remington 32.
Anything less like 6 or 7 I can't hit shît.
Lads I know who hunt with me telling me to get a new gun and just keep the old one but I'd rather not. A lot of history with my gun. Made in 1964. Been through family members and friends of my dads.
I'm using 5s at the moment but just curious as to what lads think. I'm sure it's not my shooting but the load in general.

meathstevie

If that's a side by side Baikal I'd be pretty sure it is choked, probably something like 1/4 in the right and 1/2 in the left barrel. Game guns with removable chokes were not the norm in 1964. Baikal didn't do them but neither did Holland&Holland.

A bit beside the point you're raising but a good half century is not old for a well put together gun. Personally I hunt with a gun that couldn't have been built after 1920 ( maker went under in 1920 ) and has been sleeved I reckon sometime in the eighties or seventies and it'll go for decades yet.

Mellor

dodderangler wrote: »

My baikel has no chokes and isn't threaded for them either.

If has chokes, it's just that they are fixed rather than adjustable/removable.
They are probably standard 1/2 & 1/4 but couldn't hurt to get them checked so you know what you are dealing with.

Walter Mittys Brother

Never see the end of a baikal if it's looked after.

As the lads said it is chocked jut not removable ones. Your local RFD should have a choke gauge. I've a brass one in my shooting box for years. They're not expensive if you wanted to buy one even.

dazed+confused

Your choke setup is a perfect setup for the type of shooting you do.

With a size 5 shot you will be grouping very tight and will score either a direct hit or a complete miss which would explain why you don't feel you're shooting well with them.

32gr 6s for most shooting or 30g 7s for shorter range stuff should give you exactly what you need.

123shooter

A Baikal will go for centuries. They were made to do a job and not look pretty.

Game guns would have been choked 1/4 & 1/2 or 1/4 & 3/4 or possibly 1/2 & 3/4......unless you have a gun which has been altered or made for a specific purpose.

Being that it could be older than 1964 the only thing I can think of it could have been a true or improved cylinder for slugs for deer and boar shooting? But that's a wild guess.

I doubt if there were many Skeet shooters back then in the USSR for a shotgun with no chokes, and Baikal & Record cartridges from the USSR were so powerful :eek: you did not need chokes for that little extra range.

Have a look on the interweb for a 'choke gauge' which is a machined and marked piece of brass usually which you just drop in the end of the barrels and whatever fits is the choke or possibly no choke you have.

minktrapper

Thought all shotguns were marked under the chambers. Take off the barrells and check beside proof marks. There might be some info there.

gunny123

Get a round of clays in with the gun and loads you want to use, a bit of coaching from someone who knows what they are on about can help greatly too. Its amazing how many lads put the gun away in february and do not get it out again until the start of the following season.

cavan shooter

Used 28g or 30g 6 in a side by side with 1/4 and 1/2 for years. No problems whatsoever.

Grizzly 45

123shooter wrote: »

I doubt if there were many Skeet shooters back then in the USSR for a shotgun with no chokes, and Baikal & Record cartridges from the USSR were so powerful :eek: you did not need chokes for that little extra range.

CUBA,is the place for the skeet shooters in the Communist world, then and now.:)
Bakial shotgun shells...Powerful yokes, but their consistency in shot size was abit....lacking!Sometimes wondered did they put some black powder in the mix as well from the smoke that came out of them.

123shooter

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

CUBA,is the place for the skeet shooters in the Communist world, then and now.:)
Bakial shotgun shells...Powerful yokes, but their consistency in shot size was abit....lacking!Sometimes wondered did they put some black powder in the mix as well from the smoke that came out of them.

You never mentioned the flames Grizzly.

At one clay shoot they wouldnt let us use Baikal or Record cartridges because they said they were too loud.