The IJ-12 is a Soviet era O/U (Over/Under), hammerless, double trigger, 12 gauge shotgun. They’re very reasonably priced on the used market and based on the “arrow in shield” mark on mine, it was made in the Izhevsk Mechanical Plant. I bought mine from Intersurplus in Canada for under $300. These shotguns were superseded by newer models like the Baikal Model IZH-27.
IJ12 Specifications
- Walnut stock
- 7.1lbs (3.22kg)
- Tiny sling swivels (maybe 0.5″?)
- Brass bead front sight
- Some engraving (mine has a squirrel on one side and grouse on the other)
- Automatic tang safety
- Extractors
- Takes down as most typical O/Us do
- Fixed chokes (on mine, the top barrel is full choke, bottom is mod choke)
- Trigger weight: 6.5-7 lbs (the front trigger is for the mod choke, the rear trigger is for the full choke)
Why buy one of these?
As a duck/goose gun, this is not the shotgun because I’m not sure if you can shoot steel shot with this shotgun and the top barrel is absolutely no-go since it’s full choke. So this is a lead-shot, trap and upland game kind of shotgun.
For myself, it was a cheap O/U trap & clays shotgun. $300, it’s got a wood stock, reasonable chokes, and that’s hard to beat. To buy a new O/U, you’re looking at $650 minimum.
Being able to choose between mod or full choke is nice for grouse and upland game because you can fire the mod choke for birds that are in the air, while you could choose to go full and get the head if the grouse is on the ground.
Shooting the IJ-12
The Baikal IJ-12 shot fine at the range. It swung well and the mod choke broke clays so easily that I rarely needed the second full choke shot. The brass bead in the front is small but completely usable and the heavy-ish triggers didn’t seem to make much of a difference on the clays.
You have to hold the barrels down to keep the action open for unloading or loading. You also need to close it with a bit of a snap.
The tang safety automatically engages once you break the action open: a safety feature I find a bit annoying on some break action shotguns.
The split forend repair on mine started coming loose the second time I had the shotgun out at the range so I had to re-repair the split.
Conclusion
It’s a VERY inexpensive O/U 12 gauge shotgun: among the cheapest you can find. It won’t wow anyone at the sporting clays club but it fits the bill as a rugged, multi-use shotgun that you won’t feel bad crashing through the bush with, chasing down some grouse.
