The ugliest gun I've ever owned

[Standing Wolf]

I've been a bullseye pistol shooter about three decades. For the past year, I've been shooting two evenings a week at the cleanest, safest, airiest, best lighted range I've ever seen.

Sad to say, my scores weren't improving appreciably. Oh, the wild flyers were becoming somewhat fewer, but I wasn't shooting as much better as I expected. I had to figure I'd reached the limits imposed by aging eyes, arthritis, computer wrist, et cetera. I wasn't shooting badly: just not very well.

A fellow bullseye shooter who's been at it a lot longer than I suggested I practice every day with an air pistol. I thought about it. I put it off. I thought about it some more. I noodled around on the internet, and...

 

[Standing Wolf]

I contacted the good folks at: http://www.pilkguns.com

I wasn't the least bit sure about buying a Russian air pistol, or a Russian anything else, for that matter. A fellow I shoot with swears by his Baikal .22 long rifle match pistol, so I figured I'd take a chance—and it was considerably more affordable than the German and Swiss pistols.

My first discovery was that the Baikal's trigger was from heaven, not Russia. It broke crisply and cleanly at half a pound. My second discovery was that the sight picture was truly excellent. I've never seen such a large rear sight, and what's more, the pistol includes my choice of two front sights and four rear sights. Excellent design, but sloppy execution: the adjustments are a catch as catch can affair. Sometimes they click. Sometimes they don't. I have to keep nudging the rear sight to the right about once a week. In fact, all the screws in the pistol tend to loosen every once in awhile.

 

[Standing Wolf]

It seems the Russians suffer from lawyer-phobia, too.

If I'd known in advance the pistol included a condescending "safety" message for idiots, I'd have bought something else.

That saidâ„¢, the pistol is wonderfully accurate. I shoot indoors at 33 feet, (there's a French equivalent, I think,) and can truthfully tell you when I do my part, the pistol does its. The little .17 caliber pellets seem more susceptible to wind drift than regular pistol bullets, so I don't shoot outdoors a great deal. It's quiet. Pumping air into the action isn't difficult or time-consuming, and I never run out of carbon dioxide cartridges.

As for gripping the pistol...

 

[Standing Wolf]

Actually, the first serious problem I encountered wasn't the stocks, but the trigger. I soon found the light, crisp pull was spoiling me for bullseye pistol shooting. Suddenly, my two-pound High Standard triggers felt awfully stiff.

The Baikal's manual doesn't include anything informative about the trigger, but if you're patient and curious, you'll discover it's adjustable for pull weight, creep, and over-travel. I increased the pull weight to two pounds. It may not be quite as crisp at that weight as my best High Standard's trigger, but it's close, very close.

Once I adjusted the trigger, it was time to do something about the stocks. They're blocks of some cheap, rather porous, light-colored wood with a grain slightly more interesting than white pine. They include flimsy little shims to help them fit the stubby grip frame. Suddenly, it's Dremel time!

 

[Standing Wolf]

I hollowed out the left side and shortened the grip length, then built up a palm swell on the right side. I lightened the heel rest, and later wished I'd trimmed it a bit less enthusiastically.

I've seen people try to build up match pistol stocks with Plastic Wood. The results are both unstable and ugly. The epoxy I used was messy and smelly, but felt solid, and ended up being denser than the wood I slapped it on. It's impossible to remove from clothing.

 

[litework]

It seems the Russians suffer from lawyer-phobia, too.

If I'd known in advance the pistol included a condescending "safety" message for idiots, I'd have bought something else.

Of course that was put on there by the American importer who has every reason to fear lawsuits.

 

[Standing Wolf]

Here you see the radically reshaped stocks immediately before I began to apply wing walk compound, which was suggested by a fellow High Roader weeks ago. I didn't bother to sand them completely smooth, since the object of the game was to end up with a rough texture.

It's thick black paint with gritty stuff. Owners of small aircraft apply it to wings where people walk to protect the metal and help people avoid slipping. Once the stuff dries, its texture is similar to that of skate board tape, although somewhat less gritty. I add a bit of coarse aluminum oxide, stir it up with the brush, and hope for the best. To date, my textures haven't been entirely even—I guess you wouldn't expect an artist to be able to exercise a brush very evenly—but small matter.

 

[Standing Wolf]

I'm sure the stocks look peculiar to lots of folks, but they're actually entirely useful. The thumb rest keeps my thumb up where it belongs—1911 shooters will understand—and helps my hand remain open. The palm swell fills most of the hollow and increases gripping area. The heel rest adds a bit more gritty surface area and helps stabilize the muzzle vertically.

Beautiful? No way! Functional? Very.

The 94 on the target beside the pistol, by the way, is the best I've been able to shoot to date. My average is about 86. My near-term goal is to average 90.

The pellet trap consists of a steel box, a composition back, a spring, and a steel plate. Pellets zoom through the target at about half the speed of a .22 long rifle bullet, and spang against the plate. The spring sproings as it absorbs the pellet's momentum.

As soon as she sees me reach down the air pistol, my kitty immediately begins chattering and mewing and making assorted peculiar noises. I'm sure she's not afraid I'll shoot her. Maybe the noises annoy her. Maybe she's appointed herself chief cheer leader. Maybe she's laughing at me. It's hard to tell with cats; then again, it's probably hard for cats to tell about us, too.

 

[Marshall]

 

[Standing Wolf]

Here's a fairly close view of the texture along the thumb rest. If you wrap a sheet of 80 weight sand paper around a piece of wood, you've got a fairly close idea of my air pistol stocks' texture.

I've applied the same wing walk compound to .22 long rifle match pistol stocks, as well as the stocks for my Contender, which is still out for gunsmithing. Gritty black paint doesn't do anything visually for pistols, but affords me a noticeably more secure grip.

The trigger, incidentally, is angled slightly toward the right. I thought it looked weird at first, but now wish match pistol triggers could be angled, too.

 

[Standing Wolf]

In sum, if accuracy is your passion (a.k.a. "addiction,") do yourself a favor and start shooting an air pistol in addition to real pistols—unless, of course, you've got a range in your back yard and can shoot every day.

My bullseye scores have gone up about ten points since I bought this horrendously ugly, but accurate Baikal air pistol last July. I shoot forty rounds a day, almost always with greater accuracy in the evenings after I've worked off the morning's infusion of caffeine. Pellets are considerably less expensive than .22 long rifle fodder, and the air pistol probably doesn't generate 10% as much noise: always an important consideration to those who've suffered hearing losses.

I can't attribute the entire improvement in my bullseye scores to the air pistol—abandoning the effort to turn my Ruger Mark II from the far end of hell's furnace room into a practice match pistol was another big help—but it's made a discernible difference in a mere three months.

 

[JohnKSa]

Nice review.

I've heard a lot of good things about these pistols, but your review is the best I've read.

 

[albanian]

Nice review of the IZH-46M. You should edit your title to include the pistol's name so people can reference it with the search function. Your review took a lot of work and time so it should be able to be found when someone looks for info on this gun. Best review I have seen and I have read everything I could find on the IZH-46M before I bought one.

Mine was just like yours. It had an awsome trigger that is better and lighter than any "real" gun I have ever shot. It can be adjusted to be totaly effortless. I found your review interesting because after awhile I ended up doing the same thing as you did and made the trigger as heavy as it would go so it would resemble my target firearms and not an Olympic class 10M air pistol.

I started pistol shooting with a .22 Ruger MKII but a few years later I bought a Benjamin air pistol and I shot it everyday in my back yard for about 2 years. I am convinced that the only reason I am any good with a pistol is because of the two years I spent pumping and target shooting with that single shot .177 pistol. It was not a target pistol but it was accurate and powerful. It more closly resembled a real gun than the IZH because it had a real world trigger and grip. It also was powerful enough to take rabbits and squarrells. I took many of these with head shots and many many more English house sparrows. Starlings were my prey also but if you don't get a solid head or neck shot, they are tough to bring down.

I ended up selling my IZH-46M because it was too accurate. I got bored with it because it was all accuracy and no fun. It had little power and and it was so easy to shoot that there wasn't anything to fight against. I get bored with just punching groups in targets all the time. I love target shooting but the IZH-46M is ONLY for target shooting, you can't hunt or do pest control with it. It lost power fast if left charged, esp in cold weather. I kind of wish I still had it but I never really got into shooting it for many reasons. I would like to find a good quality air pistol that resembled a firearm and was accurate and powerful. I don't like CO2 and springers jump too much for good accuracy so a pneumatic is the only choice.

If your's starts to leak air after you pump it, it may not be the seals just yet. It may be that some grease has found it's way into the action and caused the leak. It happend to mine and I thought the gun had worn out the seals after only a few months but all it needed was a good cleaning.

 

[JohnKSa]

I love target shooting but the IZH-46M is ONLY for target shooting, you can't hunt or do pest control with it.

You might be surprised!

http://www.network54.com/Forum/thread?forumid=79537&messageid=1099015190

 

[Moparmike]

Nice write up. How much was it?


You are right about its less than pleasing appearance. Noah Webster hasn't accepted the word that was made for that gun: Fugly. And not just your every day fugly either.

 

[albanian]

JohnKSa,
I read that link but Sparrows in the attic is about the limit of what it can do. With the Benjamin and 10 pumps, I could take rabbits at up to 25 yards with a head shot. The benjamin is a really powerful air pistol, it is the only one that I have shot that has the kind of power needed for larger animals. I don't kill anything anymore so I don't know why I care. The Beeman P-1 is supposed to have good power also but I have not shot one yet. It is also like a 1911 so it could be used as a trainer.

 

[Standing Wolf]

How much was it?

Under $300. Aim your browser at: http://www.pilkguns.com/izh46.htm and pull the trigger.

I have a hunch one could hunt with the Baikal, but likewise have no doubt there are plenty of more powerful air pistols on the market.

 

[Black Snowman]

Maybe I'm wired wrong but I actually like how it looks. Of course I'm a form follows function kinda guy.

PS: Just added it to my wish list

 

[JohnKSa]

I was just using albanian's quote as a convenient opening line to Mark's post. I agree that the Izzy isn't really suitable for hunting. Up close on sparrows it works ok, but air pistols tend to be pretty anemic and the Izzy certainly isn't anywhere near the high end of that scale.

The P1 is a good bit more powerful, but it's also much harder to shoot accurately than a recoilless match air pistol.

 

[psyopspec]

Here at the high road we not only educate, but aim to entertain as well...

Excellent review, well-written. Great pics to match.

I don't know if it would help much with IDPA, but an airgun would be a great way to pass the winter.

 

[gimgim]

Very informative, thanks!

I am owner a IZH, I really look forward to the release of the new PCP powered one (now in preproduction). Thanks for the detailed post, I am currently working on my grip and I'll use your suggestions.
Unlike you, though, I am into 10m and 50m (free pistol, .22LR). I am currently waiting for a new Hammerli free pistol. For competitive target shooting, Russians and East European weapons are extremely competitive and (unlike Italians and Swiss) very inexpensive. The "ugly" look is due to the rules enforced by the competition and by the high tech solutions. There are categories were all guns look the same (extremely long barrel, orthopedic grip, single shot, ultra light trigger, etc...). Check for example the look of the free pistols. No macho crap needed in olympic competitions.

> It seems the Russians suffer from lawyer-phobia, too.
> If I'd known in advance the pistol included a condescending "safety" message
> for idiots, I'd have bought something else.

Not to piss on your stars-and-stripes anti-commie rant, but the warning is for the American "idiots", since it is placed on request of the US importer (EAA Corp., Cocoa Florida). Last time I checked, Russians still wrote with a Cyrillic alphabet, and for sure not in English...

 

[BusMaster007]

That's quite an adventure you've shared with us.
Thanks.
Nice work!

 

[homeka45]

Thanks for the review, might have to go the air/pistol/rifle route to augment my range time.

 

[tattedupboy]

Without a doubt, a Hi Point C-9.

 

[CWL]

Kel-tec P11 is probably the ugliest pistola I've ever owned.