Baikal IZh-18

About the Baikal IZh-18

The Baikal IZh-18 is a single-shot, break-action shotgun built by the Izhevsk Mechanical Plant and introduced in 1964. Chambered primarily in 12 gauge (with 16, 20, 28, 32 gauge and later .410 bore also offered), it uses a hammerless internal-hammer mechanism, a chrome-lined barrel of 50A steel, a takedown design, an automatic cocking indicator and a hardwood stock and fore-end. Simple, rugged and inexpensive, it became one of the most widely sold hunting guns of the Soviet and post-Soviet era and the basis for the IZh-18MN single-shot rifle.

So cheap and durable that it became the archetypal Soviet hunting gun, the IZh-18 sold for just a few dozen rubles in the 1960s; its simple break-open action was later re-barreled with rifling to create the IZh-18MN, turning the same workhorse into an affordable single-shot hunting rifle.

Baikal IZh-18 specifications

Base of the long-running IZh-18/MP-18 single-shot break-action family. Barrel length is typically 675mm or 730mm depending on chambering and market; overall length and some minor specs vary by configuration. Marketed abroad as the Baikal IZh-18, Remington Spartan 100 and (rifle version) Remington SPR 18.