TUNING UP THE BOUNTY HUNTER II

(BAIKAL IZH43/IZH43K)

 

The first thing you need to do is remove the barrels, stocks, and trigger guard.  Take off the butt pad.  There is a hole in the rear of the stock and a screw at the bottom of that hole.  This screw holds the stock in place.  Remove it and pull the stock free from the receiver.

 

To remove the trigger guard, remove the screw that holds the stock mount in place.  This is at the rear of the receiver assembly and it is the part that the long stock screw was attached to.  Rotate the trigger guard counter clockwise until it comes off.

 

Next remove the screw at the bottom of the receiver that holds the bottom plate in place.  This can be tight, so use a well fitting screw driver.  Lift the bottom plate loose from the receiver.  You may have to gently pry this part away from the receiver.

 

There is a pin that passes through the sears from one side of the receiver to the other.  Tap this out with a punch and hammer.  Remove the sears and the two sear springs.

 

There is another pin that holds the hammers in in the same fashion.  This needs to be removed so the hammers can be taken out.

 

On the front of the receiver, there are two cams that do the cocking when you open the action.  These are held in place by another cross pin.  Remove this pin and the cams.

 

After this is done, you can remove the hammer spring assemblies by pulling them out through the holes in the front of the receiver.

 

To change the springs, you will need to compress them while you tap out the pin that holds the cap onto the end of the spring shaft.

 

I used stock Ruger Vaquero hammer springs that were cut to 3/16" longer than the stock Baikal springs.

When you lighten up the springs on any gun, it is very important to make sure there is no binding in any of the moving parts. The problem you are having may be due to the cocking assemblies ( the assembly you installed the Ruger springs on) not sliding freely inside the holes they ride in. You should also check the internal parts for freedom of movement.

After writing the tuning insruction you used, I have since gone to 25 pound Ruger springs instead of the stock 23 pound springs. My wife has been shooting this gun for two years with this setup without a single misfire.

 

To change the release lever spring, remove the lever by tapping the pin out that holds the little block inside the receiver that the lever actuates.  I used a hammer spring (main spring) from a 1911 semi auto that was cut to the same length as the Baikal spring.

 

While the gun is apart, you should take the opportunity to sand and polish all internal parts until they all move freely.  If you skip this step, you could have parts that stick because of the lighter springs.

 

After all this is done, you won't believe the difference in the gun.  It will open easily, stay open for faster reloads, and have a lighter trigger pull.  Take your time and try not to get frustrated.  It took me several times disassembling and reassembling my gun to get it the way I wanted it.  What I have listed here is the result of this.  Let me know if there is anything else I can do.

 


Joe Alves (Will Shootem)

 

1.  The safety can be converted so it is a manual safety instead of an automatic safety.  It will still work, but only when you put it on "safe" intentionally.  When you take it apart, you will see a lever that actuates the safety when you open the action.  You can remove this lever and the safety will come on when you put it on, and stay off when you switch it off like your rifle.

 

2.  The stock springs cause the barrels to want to close part way when you open it up.  Pushing to the left on the lever keeps it open.  After you replace the springs with the lighter ones, you won't have to do this.

 

3.  You're right about the gun being dirty inside.  Mine was.  Besides grease, there was saw dust and other stuff in there.

 

4.  Brownell's sells a mercury filled tube that you install in the stock.  It is supposed to reduce recoil significantly.  I haven't tried one, but I'm planning on getting one.  My wife is going to start shooting the cowboy matches with me and I don't want her to have to deal with the kick of this thing the way it is.

 

5.  As for light recoil shells, Winchester makes a light recoil 12 gauge shell.  They are called "Low Recoil, Low Noise Target Load".  The part number on the box is AA12FL8.  They are commonly called "Feather Lights", but I don’t think this is their actual name.  Cheaper Than Dirt seems to have the best price on these.

 

6.  The chambers on my gun didn't really need honing.  The shells dropped out the first time I used it.  But I did polish them a little.  I took a bore mop and rubbed some automotive polishing compound on it, chucked it up in a drill, and ran it in and out of the chambers for a while.  I just can't leave things alone.

 

Now here are some things I ran into.  First, the stock retaining screw was seriously tight.  It's slotted, so I found a long shanked screwdriver that fit that had a hex at the top of the shank (snap on) I put the stock in a vice padded well and pushed hard while turning the wrench.  It broke loose.  I believe the wood had swelled and had that screw at about 100 lbs of torque.  If this hadn't worked I was prepared to rig up a hand impact driver that I could hit with a hammer.  I had no problem driving the pins out for the cocking cams, triggers and sears.  Observe closely, the way they came apart, mark them if you have to.  When I was reassembling, I had to refer to the manual that came with it a couple of times.  I had the barrel upside down that the stock retaining screw goes into and couldn't get the stock to go on all the way.  I used 600 grit emory cloth and oil and slicked up the sides of the hammers, sears, triggers and the cam that the release lever uses to move the locks.  I cleaned and inspected as I went.  The 1911 hammer spring worked neat.  What I did was take the pin from the cam and just took the stock spring out and cut the same length of the 1911 spring.  I have enough spring left over to do about two more levers.  There is no need to remove the lever or anything.  The cocking springs are the reason, the foul thing wouldn't open far enough.  You can hold them in a vice and either vice grip or use a fork to compress the springs.  The pin pushes out with a nail.  I didn't even have to drive it.  When you get the vaquero springs, cut them 1/4 longer than the Baikal springs, I then took needle nose pliers and bent the end coil to the next one and closed the diameter a bit to keep it close to the shaft at the hammer end and filed it flat.  I found that the vaquero springs are easy to put together and pin the caps.  I used a kitchen fork and no problem.  I got a little excited when I put the setup in the bore, it felt like it was going to be to big.  Not so, once I got it seated it was fine.  Make sure you have left and right in the proper side.  I went ahead and polished the receiver at the cocking spring where the barrel hinges, I don't know if I needed to, but it was rough, so I went ahead and did it.  Now for my barrels, I removed the screw that retains the extractor and found that I could not even pull it out with my fingers.  I inspected it and found the guide pin bent and I straightened it, but it was still seriously tight.  I emoryed the pins a lot until I could slide the extractor in and out with ease.  I also polished up the sharp edges on the extractor, not wanting to cut myself in the heat of battle, trying to reload quickly.  I didn't polish the chambers, as shells didn’t stick in my SXS before and I figured I could always do it later.  Once I had the receiver all back together and figured out why the stock wouldn't slip all the way on.  I sanded to stock on the top to give the lever plenty of room and on the sides coming from the receiver to just smooth it up a bit.  I went and sanded the whole thing and wiped on some Watco special walnut stain I had around and it looks great.  I put the screw back in the stock, careful to make it not too tight and the end piece.  Then to try it.  What a dream opened easy, fell open all the way with plenty of clearance for reloading and locked up tight.  Smooth, feels like a browning.  Took it out back and shot a few.  SOLD, it is a great gun, Russian commies or not and every bit as nice as I could hope for.  Now if you decide to tackle it, I will be able to help you, so long as my memory holds out.