# Firearms and Shooting > Shotgunning >  Baikal semi

## northdude

does any one have a baikal semi or had any thing to do with them im looking for a semi but havent had much to do with shotguns. Thanks in advance guys

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## JayColli

I bought a Baikal MP-153 as my first shotgun and have never seen any reason to buy another - it's fantastic! I've fired everything from cheap 2-3/4" skeet loads up to heavy 3.5" goose slaying loads without any need to adjust the gas system and honestly treated it like garbage since picking it up from another shooter over 6 years ago. A bit of oil on a rag and a quick pull-through the barrel is all I've done to keep it from rusting after most outings to the swamp and she has only choked up on me twice, both times probably my fault for failing to clean out the gas system after leaving it to sit in the swampy water for too long while on the call.

Check out this video of the guy havin at er. He's being pretty nice to his Baikal but I can assure you they'll take more than that and run like a top, especially is you decide to take care of it!

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## Toby

Reloaders are/were? doing a pretty sharp deal on them for 6-7 hundy it came wih a slab of ammo. I've never heard anything bad about them

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## JonP

I have had one for about 10 years now. Great gun for the money, as said above they are fantastic. I run the factory modified choke and #3 steel for ducks, works bloody well

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## Pointer

My old man has had a MP-153 for over 15 years now, it has been retrieved by diving to the bottom of the lake (by yours truly - dutiful son that I am) used to paddle the dinghy in a few times, cycled for a week straight while covered in, as Johnny Cash says, "the mud, the blood, and the beer" and not once, in the whole time, do I recall him cleaning it other than running a pull-through up its pipe. Tough as, and rough as.

  @upnorth uplander has one too, his is the first one I have seen jam, last season. He's obviously rougher on the gear than my old man is...

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## upnorth uplander

Get a baikal

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## SHOOTA

i had one. served me well for a few years but sadly mine didn't like the 3,5 loads so much

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## upnorth uplander

> My old man has had a MP-153 for over 15 years now, it has been retrieved by diving to the bottom of the lake (by yours truly - dutiful son that I am) used to paddle the dinghy in a few times, cycled for a week straight while covered in, as Johnny Cash says, "the mud, the blood, and the beer" and not once, in the whole time, do I recall him cleaning it other than running a pull-through up its pipe. Tough as, and rough as.
> 
>   @upnorth uplander has one too, his is the first one I have seen jam, last season. He's obviously rougher on the gear than my old man is...


Only jams with steel shot

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## northdude

ok looks like it will be the one to look at im not a big shot gun shooter so dont want to spent a heap on a gun that i wont use much thanks for the replys everyone

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## Petros_mk

get the mp153 synthetic stock.... lighter than wood my miles (or it just felt like it for me), plus the stock was much more suited to my dimension with the synthetic...

Baikal launched mp155 a while ago, last year or late 2012 if I recall correctly, they launched this with the aim of lowering the weight, instead of alloy trigger guard and other aluminum bits, they replaced it with plastic but the looks overall are the same. 
If I am informed right Reloaders weened the mp153 out with the deal that Toby is talking about because the new model was coming out. They didn't have any mp153 left last time I was there, but check you might get a new one for $699 or there abouts. The also didn't have the mp155 so not sure what the hold up is. I'd still get mp153 synthetic, it will be lower in price and the weight difference I think was about 200g. Personally I'd rather have alloy parts over plastic, and 200g doesn't make much difference when you are sitting in a mai mai...

the Russians use these guns for big game unlike us so walking through 2m deep snow all day with the gun is a different story...

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## upnorth uplander

> Only jams with steel shot


It is 12 yrs old and has had a few knocks

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## upnorth uplander

Reloaders have the mp155 in stock $749

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## Bob Da Browning

They are very good guns & are well built very reliable too. If you are in Christchurch I may be able to hook you up with a secondhand one that has been used for skeet, wood stock mp153 in very good condition, belongs to a guy I coached.

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## Bob Da Browning

He was talking $400-$500 with chokes & is only selling as he got a u/o skeet gun

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## northdude

im not in christchurch im just north of auckland i like the sound of alloy parts over plastic not a great fan of parts of my gun made out of plastic if i cant get a mp153 i might look at a fabarm the other thing i forgot to mention is im a leftie

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## kotuku

another cackhander here and my advice -dont pay extra for a lefthand model ,the fuckers only make money out of us.have used ordinary weapons all my life and apart from TFtimes with a brengun Ihad no difficulties. mate had a baikal and i fired it -no problems.I use an escort magnum -no probs.thart baikal will be bloody ideal.

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## northdude

ok most of my rifles are right handers i thought a left handed shot guns had different cast or something

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## Toby

My brothers a lefty everything he shoots is right handed he doesn't seem to have a problem. Though he used a left hand .308 the other day and said it felt quite nice

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## kotuku

Ive used one lefthanded 12g,a benelli to boot with 26"barrel -very weird i must admit.It just didnt feel right.buggered if i could work it out.light toand a nice wee unit to boot ,though my preference is the more chunky models.

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## upnorth uplander

The baikal mp 155 comes in left handed also, not sure what parts are plastic as mentioned in an earlier post

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## MAJOR F

Im a lefty and shoot all maner of shoties with a semi auto it is easy to make up your own shims to give them some left hand cast or at least neutral cast works for me

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## northdude

i must admit ive got 1 left handed rifle and it does feel quite good i guess ill have to have a feel of it and see

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## upnorth uplander

@northdude did you get a baikal mp155

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## northdude

no havent had a chance to go and have a look at one im hping o in the next couple of weeks as i want to get a rifle the mrs can use on deer as well so kill two birds with one stone

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## northdude

so that plan went a bit sideways went to have a look at the Baikal but the place that has them was closed so went to another shop that was open and ended up coming home with a Remington versamax put 50 rounds through it yesterday and it went well im happy with it

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## Dogroll

Another lefty here and reckon I'll pick up the MP155 this weekend for this season.

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## Dogroll

Just bringing this thread back. I went in to the store to look at the Baikal Mp155 and almost bought it. Sent them an email and spoke to them in the week and they said it had no problems cycling lighter loads. When it came to it though and I got in there they said don't buy it if you're intending to practice at the range. It's not guaranteed to cycle  28gr or lighter loads. Read a lot of conflicting reviews, some saying it's ok after 100 rounds of at least 32gr etc. @upnorth_uplander do you have one of these? Ever shot clays with it?

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## gsp follower

> Just bringing this thread back. I went in to the store to look at the Baikal Mp155 and almost bought it. Sent them an email and spoke to them in the week and they said it had no problems cycling lighter loads. When it came to it though and I got in there they said don't buy it if you're intending to practice at the range. It's not guaranteed to cycle  28gr or lighter loads. Read a lot of conflicting reviews, some saying it's ok after 100 rounds of at least 32gr etc. @upnorth_uplander do you have one of these? Ever shot clays with it?


pm c404 he had one and shot clays alright with it as i remember.
fuctional tough but heavy,s my opinion but pm him  :Have A Nice Day:

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## Bob Da Browning

I have a mate that currently has a mp153 & we have hammered the magpies & rabbits with trap 7s with his & I have coached a guy that shot skeet with a nice wood stocked mp153 too but picking up empties was the biggest hassle with that.

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## kotuku

folks had same problem with my escort magnum on clays but -a bloody kind bloke(grant?????)from waihora gunclub put me on to Barry Foster "Fosters stihl shop" blenheim rd Christchurch- .Now Barry imports Hull DTL100&300 trap ammo and boy does my gun love these.I use one as my 1st round with a std clay rd as second -works every time. now that recipe is for the escort &my old bentley pointer. those rds are doing 1400-1600fps ample to cycle the action.
 however just recently i was at H&F tower junction CHCH and picked up some late model trap ammo for pigeons. loaded a full 8rds into the escort and did a trial run -a single jam about the 5th rd into the sequence. jeez i do love a 12g drum roll occasionally and it does wake the boys up!

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## upnorth uplander

> Just bringing this thread back. I went in to the store to look at the Baikal Mp155 and almost bought it. Sent them an email and spoke to them in the week and they said it had no problems cycling lighter loads. When it came to it though and I got in there they said don't buy it if you're intending to practice at the range. It's not guaranteed to cycle  28gr or lighter loads. Read a lot of conflicting reviews, some saying it's ok after 100 rounds of at least 32gr etc. @upnorth_uplander do you have one of these? Ever shot clays with it?


i have the MP153 @Dogroll, had no issues with light loads. I would have shot hundreds of 28gram loads with it.

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## Dogroll

Well bought it and tried Falcon v3 (28gr, 1350). Wouldn't cycle. The bolt only seemed to get 3/4s of the way back and didn't eject the shell. Bought some Inox and stripped it again and worked the action a few hundred times. Got some heavier cartridges to run through it and then I'll give it another go.

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## kawhia

had one years ago, it also jammed on trap loads until I put some heavy loads through it.
I reckon they are good value as a goose gun with the 3.5 inch and gas system, they come in camo now too.
the stock wasn't a great fit for me though and the weight of them was noticeable for a walk round gun.

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## Dogroll

The MP155 seems much lighter and as a lefty it's one of the few options out there. Reduced bag limits/season/access etc mean I'd be happy to spend the money on something a bit more upmarket, but the return is uncertain.  :Grin:

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## C404

Stick with it Dogroll, burn a few boxes of some heavy loads through it and it should come right!
FWIW I tried changing the gas settings from factory a few times and always ended up going back to the original setting.

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