If a Spartan SPR220 double barrel side-by-side shotgun is hard to break open is there any way to make it open more smoothly?

Answer 1

In my opinion, Baikal shotguns are junk - poorly designed and poorly crafted. I was stupid enough to buy a second one after having experienced the problems of my first Baikal. My first was an O/U. It opened extremely hard and stiff- you practically had to use a pliers to pivit the release, then brace it against your knee to pry it open,the safety did not work. The salesman assured me that good doubles are stiff and it would work loose with use. Wrong! The store finally agreed to trade me for a side by side Baikal. Guess what. The safety didn't work. Actually it was a part that moved improperly upon recoil so that when I pulled the trigger on the second barrel nothing happened.I took it to a gunsmith who opened it up - none of the parts were broken. The gunsmith said it was simply a bad design - recoil moved a part into a non-shoot position. This happened when I selected either side. The cheap finish on the stock wore down to the wood in one season of hunting. Now I think I may be stuck with this piece of junk because the warranty has expired. I have had the same problem on a Baikal O/U. Bad craftsmanship and bad design. A poorly crafted gun indeed. Steer clear of Baikals. Period. There ain't no free lunch and their ain't no cheap quality of gun. I just got a classy little SKB 2o ga. 0/U. Now that's quality - functions flawlessly. I'm a poor man too, but it costs more in the long run to cheap out. It seems this is a lesson us poor guys have to learn more than once. I have a Spartan SPR220. I have never had any problems with it. It was stiff when I first got it but it breaks open pretty nice now. I have never had any problems with the safety. I think it is a good gun for what it cost. Keep it clean and well oiled and it will be a good gun for you. If you have problems with any new gun, return it right away. It's not worth fooling around with. Just have it replaced or get a refund and buy something else. On the other hand, don't expect the performance of a $1,000.00 gun from a gun that costs $200.00 new. I have been around guns for over 40 years. I have never seen a bad gun. I have seen many people that are too stupid to own a gun. There is huge difference between an action which has such close tolerances that it is a little stiff and an action in which the part to part fit is poor and misshapen or poorly crafted. Most high quality guns are just a smidge stiff and this is intended by the manufacturer so that it will "wear in" with use. The lower priced foreign made doubles are often clear out of wack - this is just plain poor craftsmanship and often does not improve much with use. Baikals can range from tolerable to dang near, "stove up" as Grandpa used to say. In this day of technological availability, it is, in my opionion, unexcusable to sell shotguns, even inexpensive ones, in which the parts fit so poorly. Eli Whitney figured this out over a hundred years ago. I own a Spartai SPR 310 O/U and the more it if fired, the easier to open it gets. If the gun is new and "stiff", firing it will probably free it up a little. For the money, this is probably one of the best buys around - but then maybe i just got one of the good ones!