[tripleb]

<P style="MARGIN: 0px">I've fired about 700 rounds through the Baikal MP 153 and have had three malfunctions, all of which were ammo caused.&nbsp; The first was an overly long Rem. 3.5" shell and the others were with some 1 1/8 oz. lead loads I had loaded with Win. Superfield and Cheddite primers.&nbsp; At a SC shoot, the lead loads extracted from the chamber, but failed to eject.&nbsp; My 1 oz. loads using International Clays and CCI209M primers&nbsp;worked without a hitch, however.&nbsp; </P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">&nbsp;</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">When I got home, I ran 10 quick shots with the Superfield/Cheddite primer load over the chronograph.&nbsp; The velocities&nbsp;should have been in the 1360 fps. range, but they ran from a little over 1200 fps. to a little over 1400 fps.&nbsp; I also noticed some shells throwing sparks from the muzzle with these loads, indicating that the powder was not being ignited properly in some shells.&nbsp; I have&nbsp;had a&nbsp;multitude of problems with Cheddite primers giving erratic velocities when using&nbsp;moderate to slow burning powders and these will be the last shells I load with them.</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">&nbsp;</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">When using the high velocity 3.5" steel loads, I would recommend setting the barrel gas ring at the same setting as used with lead turkey loads (backing off from factory setting by 2 turns) providing the gun will cycle properly with the lightest steel loads you regularly use.&nbsp; Make certain you check functioning in cold weather as it can be different.&nbsp; The light shot charge weight loads (1 3/8 oz.) use nearly half again as much powder as the heavy weight loads (1 9/16 oz.) and will cause the action to eject shells faster than necessary for proper function.&nbsp; The action cycling faster than necessary&nbsp;can cause the guy to the right of you to get hit harder by the ejected empty than he would prefer.</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">&nbsp;</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">I shot several batches of factory shells with the factory choke marked full for steel, Trulock improved modified and a .675" Terror choke.&nbsp; The Trulock is very similar to the Briley, and I would expect the performance to be similar.</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">&nbsp;</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">While the factory choke was marked full/steel, it measured more like a skeet 2 choke, which is in between a improved cylinder and a modified.&nbsp; It patterned lead shot loads very well, but was not up to pattern fast steel loads well&nbsp;at 40 yards.&nbsp; The Trulock IM was better, particularly with the larger shot sizes, but as normally observed, the Terror choke outperformed the others by a considerable margin.&nbsp; While I would expect the factory chokes to perform better with slower steel loads, it appears that if you expect to shoot to 40 yards, or further, with fast steel loads, an aftermarket choke should be obtained.</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">&nbsp;</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">I have read that the Baikal uses a standard .729" bore, so I would expect the performance of the Terror in it should be similar to how it would perform in a Remington.&nbsp; However, as I have not tried one in a Remington, it's only speculation on my part.</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">&nbsp;</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">In marking the papers, I usually included any pellet strikes near the edge of the drawn circle that would have fallen inside it had I positioned it a little differently. All shots were at 40 yards.</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">&nbsp;</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">The first pics are with Winchester Supreme 3" 1 1/4 oz. BB's.&nbsp;&nbsp; As the website picture program will order the pics in alphabetical order, the order of the pics will be: Factory - 59%, Terror - 80%, Trulock - 64%&nbsp;in this, and in the following posts the order will be the same.</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">&nbsp;</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">&nbsp;</P>

 

[tripleb]

<P style="MARGIN: 0px">The following three pics. are of the 3.5" Kent 1 3/8 oz. load of BB's.&nbsp; Order is: factory, Terror and Trulock chokes. The Trulock shot a decent 40 yard pattern with this load, but the even spacing of the pellets at 40&nbsp;yards&nbsp;usually means the load will spread out at 50 yards beyond usable density.</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">&nbsp;</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">Factory - 48%, Terror - 90%, Trulock - 78%</P>

 

[tripleb]

<P>The following three pics are of a 3.5" Kent 1 3/8 oz. load of 1's.&nbsp; Order of chokes used in pics. is: factory - 50%, Terror - 77%, Trulock - 67%</P>

 

[tripleb]

<P style="MARGIN: 0px">Last series of pics. are of 3.5" Kent 1 3/8 oz. 2's.&nbsp; Pics of chokes used are: factory - 47%, Terror - 65%&nbsp;and Trulock - 51%</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">&nbsp;</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">As usual, as shot size goes down, so does pattern percentage, if the choke is not too tight for the larger shot sizes.&nbsp; Also, it is normal for heavy&nbsp;shot charge weight&nbsp;fast steel loads to deliver lower pattern percentages than loads with lighter shot weight.&nbsp;&nbsp;All of the Kent loads were faster than published data, one by over 125 fps.&nbsp; I find that once velocities get over 1600 fps., it becomes&nbsp;increasingly&nbsp;difficult to get good patterns, particularly with factory flush chokes.&nbsp; I got better patterns with both the factory and Trulock chokes using my handloads which are normally around 1550 - 1570 fps.</P>