Hi Grunt,
Those are Bikal shotguns, made in mother Russia. Reviews are mixed. They make SxSs O/Us and the auto.
IMHO a guy might save his money a little while longer and buy a gun of quality.

 

The Remington SPR453/Baikal MP153 are the same gun and they are a good gun. It takes a little while to break in but after that they work and that is what counts. They are a great hunting gun not much on the eyes but a real tank of a gun.

 

Grunt,

The Baikal MP153/Remington SPR453 is one of the best values in a 3.5" chambered semi-auto. There are better semis, but not for that price.
Please check out our Russian fourm on this site to find out more about it.

 

save his money a little while longer and buy a gun of quality.

+1!

 

Oh, these are wonderful guns! The fine construction of quality materials and beautiful execution of machine and wood work show that the Rusians have reached the apex of the gunmaking art! NOT!

Plus no wages are paid to American gunmakers! How could you go wrong? :?

If you could buy it from Wal-Mart or through a Nigerian sales group, it would even be better! :wink:

 

If you could buy it from Wal-Mart or through a Nigerian sales group, it would even be better! :wink:

:lol:

 

I bought mine at Wal Mart. :lol:

 

Oh, these are wonderful guns! The fine construction of quality materials and beautiful execution of machine and wood work show that the Rusians have reached the apex of the gunmaking art! NOT!

Anybody who thinks the Russians are behind the Italians as far as being able to produce a high quality shotgun hasn't seen what the Russians are capable of making.

Scroll down to the Baikal forum and see for yourself.

 

Yea........ Baikal, better than a Boss or a Ljutic! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

Yea........ Baikal, better than a Boss or a Ljutic! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

No? How about TOZ?

 

I have owned/used a Baikal MP153 (Same gun as the Remington SPR453) for 6 years now. This semi auto is well built and a reliable shooter from my 1st hand experience using this shotgun over time. Please tell everyone here drsfmd & A5guy what your first hand real experience with the MP153 or SPR453 is since you both deem this shotgun no good. Thanks.

 

I have owned/used a Baikal MP153 (Same gun as the Remington SPR453) for 6 years now. This semi auto is well built and a reliable shooter from my 1st hand experience using this shotgun over time. Please tell everyone here drsfmd & A5guy what your first hand real experience with the MP153 or SPR453 is since you both deem this shotgun no good. Thanks.

Where did I say no good? I agreed with Heelerman that the OP should save up his pennies and buy a higher quality gun... that's a lot different.

 

Fair enough explanation D and bad choice of words on my part regarding your original post. Thanks for your reply to my question.

Now lets see if A5guy has any first hand experience with this shotgun since he obviously was pretty sarcastic regarding his opinion.

Grunt, you happen to be shooting sporting clays in Western PA at Castlewood Sunday?

 

Over the past 5 years or so, Remington imported a variety of low-priced guns made in Russia by Baikal. Remington referred to the line as either Spartan, or SPR. I believe Remington has dropped their importation for 2009, so parts and service from Remington may be an issue down the road. However, other importers/distributors have carried the line (and likely will again), so you may want to keep abreast of who's carrying them in the future.

 

I believe Remington has dropped their importation for 2009

Correct WinM12.

so parts and service from Remington may be an issue down the road. However, other importers/distributors have carried the line (and likely will again), so you may want to keep abreast of who's carrying them in the future.

Parts and service are now handled by EAA Corp (Same outfit that handled the parts and service for Remington cataloged guns). USSG Inc (Affiliated with EAA Corp) is the current US distributor of Baikal firearms.

Website: http://www.ussginc.com
E-Mail:
USSG@EAACorp.com
Inquiries:
USSG Inc.
P.O. Box 560746
Rockledge, FL 32956-0746
Voice:
Tel. (321) 639-4842
Fax: (321) 639-7006
Service & Repair:
411 Hawk Street.
Rockledge, FL. 32955

 

Oldthompson, TOZ made some pretty neat guns years ago. One of my favorites was their 10ga revloving shotgun. I saw one that was highly engraved and a real wook of art. Although, it was highly impractable due to weight and size. Other custom TOZ SxS & O/U guns made for presentation are high quality but not near a "best" English gun.

JDS, My neighbor bought a SPR453 and it failed after less than a box of ammo. When he sent it to EEA Group in Florida, he was told that repairs were to take from 14 to 20 days. That was in Feburary and he is still waiting. I called them this morning and they said that repairs would be done in "14 to 20 days". I ask if it could take longer and the reply was, "that depends of the problem". I have seen two Baikal semi-autos fail at our club. We see very few of these guns there, by the way. Do I own a Russian gun? No. Would I buy one? No reason to buy one when I can afford a better gun. :wink:

Would I tell you what to shoot? Naw, shoot what you want. Just remember that life is very short. Bye the way, my neighbor is shooting my loaner Remington M1100 Premier that I bought for $350 while his "expensive" Baikal is being repaired. He is about to give me what I paid for the Remington.

 

A5guy, you`ve mixed up a little:TOZ and TsKIB are different plants and TOZ doesn`t make revolving shotgun (I didn`t see/read about MTs255 it in 10ga, only in 12, 20, 28, 32 and .410) and never did. Neither did it and high quality expensive highly engraved guns - thees are also made by TsKIB and named MTs (Model of TsKIB).

Here they are (revolving shotgun first in a list)
http://www.tulatskib.ru/HTML_a/ohota_prod_a.html

 

JDS, My neighbor bought a SPR453 and it failed after less than a box of ammo. When he sent it to EEA Group in Florida, he was told that repairs were to take from 14 to 20 days. That was in Feburary and he is still waiting. I called them this morning and they said that repairs would be done in "14 to 20 days". I ask if it could take longer and the reply was, "that depends of the problem". I have seen two Baikal semi-autos fail at our club.

Yeah, if you or your friend had read the instructions on EEA's website, one of you would have noticed that when you call EAA to ask about your warranty repair they pull your gun out of the stack and put it back on the bottom :shock: . I'm not sure why they do that, but that's how they do it.

How many Brownings have you seen fail at your club?

I bet it's more than two. :wink:

 

Norix, The 10ga revolving shotgun that I mentioned is clearly marked TOZ. I only assumed that it was made by Tulsky Oruzeheiny Zavod. It was definatly made for export, though. I believe I left a picture of it here in the Photo area here on SW.

Old Thompson, You have made my point! Who wants to have a Remington gun that breaks and the owner has to send it to someone other than Remington? Who wants to deal with a company that says that they will fix it in 14 to 20 days and still has not done anything to it because the owner calls them to find out what is happening? The whole thing is rediculous.

To answer your second question. You are correct that I have seen Browning guns fail at the club and never seen a member have any Russian gun fail there. Of our 116 members, about 40% regularly shoot Brownings and over the last 50, or so years, I have seen two or three failures. Most of these involved setting the A5 friction rings up wrong for steel shot. Dad once broke a firing pin in his Superposed that he had over 60,000 rounds through. The reason that I have never seen a Russian gun fail can be attributed to the fact that I have never seen any member uncase a Russian gun there. About 70% of our members are over 55 and they are not a group that gets all warm and fuzzy about most things Russian. :lol: Right or wrong, trying to sell a Russian gun to most of these men would be like taking Hanoi Jane Fonda to our annual formal ball!

 

About 70% of our members are over 55 and they are not a group that gets all warm and fuzzy about most things Russian. :lol: Right or wrong, trying to sell a Russian gun to most of these men would be like taking Hanoi Jane Fonda to our annual formal ball!

I hear you..:lol:

Fair enough A5guy, apparently you are aware of 3 bad ones locally in your group. Funny how the Baikal semi autos amongst my friends all work just fine with no problems... Go figure. Thanks for your reply.

Oh I almost forgot...

Plus no wages are paid to American gunmakers! How could you go wrong?

Since you are a A5 guy and nothing wrong with that. Explain to me your sarcasm about American gunmakers wages not being paid while expressing your opinion of Baikal firearms... Also please share with everyone here (If they don't already know) where the majority of Browning A5's were manufactured over all those years/decades... Now I wonder which US states FN and Miroku gun plants reside in? :wink:

Kind of sounds like the Pot calling the Kettle black to me regarding that one A5.

 

A5guy wrote:
Plus no wages are paid to American gunmakers! How could you go wrong?

I have tremendous respect for A5guy, as he and I both have an affection for the "hump back" shotguns, but I must question his statement above. I thought we got over the "American made" issue a long time ago. Many of the quality shotguns that are owned and appreciated by the members of this forum are made overseas. There are some good American made shotguns, and there are some mediocre ones as well.
If the gent shot only one box through and it failed, he failed to read the instructions to break it in properly. The bottom line is, most of us have had issues with many brands of shotguns. Mechanical devices fail sometimes, no matter what the brand, and some more than others. The best experience and advice comes from personal & hands on, not from speculation, second hand, or what I heard somebody else say. If you want to analize a shotgun, inquire with those that own one or have owned one.
Thank goodness we have choices. Value means getting alot for the money, and for the money spent, an MP153 is a lot of shotgun for the low price. If more money can be spent, I have no doubt there could be better options.

 

save his money a little while longer and buy a gun of quality.

+1!

+2........

 

You guys have a good point about the American wages thing and I will admit that I have been bad. Even worse, when it came time to have a gun made for me, I passed up the American makers and went to London for my "best" gun. Shameful, I know! :roll: I swear that I won't do it again! ........ no money left!

Back in 1927, Grandfather bought a FN A5 Browning 12ga. I still shoot that gun today. It has thousands of shells through it. The only time that it has been to a gunsmith was for cleaning back about 10 years ago. I don't remember it ever failing to function. Will a Russian semi-auto be here in and still working in 2089? Who knows?

One thing that I have learned about inexpensive shotguns (Braslian, Turkish, Russian, American, or whatever), is that usually when a guy buys one it either fails quickly or it is bullet proof. The guy that gets a good one is not only lucky but becomes a fan of that gun, for good reason. He has beaten the old saying,"You get what you pay for."!

 

Well I don't own a Baikal but my dad has the SPR453. Being a former Marine who has shot more firearms than I have hair left on my head, if he says its a decent gun for the money, I believe him.

That being said, I've shot a number of Baikal guns over the last few years and found them to be homely but entirely serviceable shotguns. I hunt with several Baikal owners. I shoot clays with them too. I have yet to observe a malfunction or a total breakdown.

Finally, as long as there is a demand for cheaper guns, someone, somewhere will import them and someone will be buying them. The market will cull the under performers and the junk. Always has, always will.

A Senior VP of Merchandising in my company summed it up this way........."....there's a lot of demand for American made products, just not a lot of customers......."

When push comes to shove, the majority will go with the cheapest price.