Baikal IZH43 Shotgun Cosmetic Surgery

This is a project I did some time ago on a Baikal side-by-side.  I used to read a lot of Peter Hathaway Capstick and I loved the idea of the classic double rifle for hunting dangerous game in Africa.  Of course a fine english double rifle costs a fortune and I could never afford one.  Then one day I was at one of my favorite guns stores and I saw the next best thing.  A 12 gauge side-by-side shotgun!  They look about the same and the price was much more reasonable.  I got my Baikal SBS for a little less than $200.00.  I took is out a couple a times and was very happy with it's mechanics.  Going bang every time is absolutely necessary for a dangerous game rifle.  Because it is a 12 gauge and had all the handling qualities of a two-by-four it wasn't hard to imagine that you were shooting a .600 nitro express at a cape buffalo.

 However, if I was going to pretend that this was a fine double, something had to be done about how it looked.  The stock, I'm still not sure exactly what kind of wood it is,  was very clunky and the fit to the action was not all that great.  The wood was stained to look like walnut (I think) and stuck out about 1/4 inch all the way around the metal. 

The first think I did was use the old candle soot method to fit the action to the wood.  To use this method you just hold the metal parts in a candle flame for a second until they are covered in soot then press it into the mating wood parts.  The high spots on the wood touch first and get soot on them.  Lightly file just the black spots and repeat the process until the wood fits perfectly or you have had enough.   After the action was fitted I got out my rasps and files and trimmed the stock down till it was just barely proud of the metal.  At the same time I shaped the stock a bit so the wrist wasn't as fat as a python.  By the time I sanded all of the stain off and got the shape of the stock decent, the checkering was gone.  I tryed my hand at recheckering the stock but since I lacked the proper tools and (more importanly)skills the results were less than ideal.  I didn't want the stock to just be smooth so, I just went ahead and carved the celtic knot pattern into it instead. 

The other improvement I made was adding a piece to the tip of the grip.  The short rounded profile of the original just didn't feel right in my hand.  I fitted the extra piece and now the grip is long enough for my hand.  It's not a Holland and Holland double but it'll work for now.  I also added the rubber butt to the stock because I'm tall and need the length not because I'm a wuss. 

The last two pictures are some I pulled off the internet for "before" shots since I never took any before I did this project.