IZH-61: A Rush of Russian Fun

IZH-61 with two clips, cleaning rod, extra spring, and owner's manual.

The Baikal IZH-61 came to my house to live for a few weeks, and to be played with off the front porch during the downtime in my schedule. And I had a great time with this little Russian import.....so much I may have to actually buy one for my own arsenal.

Imported by EAA, (European American Armory), this little side-lever spring piston gun is just plain fun. That's the best way I can describe it. It is a light, easy-to-cock rifle with a nicely adjustable trigger, as well as an adjustable stock for increasing the length of pull for larger shooters. It is sized for a child, but I had no difficulty enjoying it, especially after I lengthened the stock with the turn of a screw.

The accuracy was impressive, and mangling cans with it became almost boring as I rarely missed. The 7.3 grain pellets I acquired from Compasseco proved accurate and consistent in shot placement and velocity. The 5-shot clip was easy to load, easy to insert into the gun, and cycled flawlessly. The gun comes with two 5-shot clips, so you can load both and shoot ten shots before needing to stop to reload the mags.



The trigger was very nice right out of the box, and if you want to adjust it further, it allows you to adjust the trigger pull, the trigger position, and the trigger travel. It is a very nice trigger for such an inexpensive gun.



The sights are all-metal, with a tunnel sight for the front sight, and an all-metal rear sight that is adjustable for windage, elevation, and aperture.





The magazine and loading procedure took a little getting used to. I eventually realized I could load the gun without cocking it. There is a bolt-release located on the right side of the breech area, and when depressed, the bolt slides out backwards, allowing you to load the magazine into place, pushing it in from left to right until it is flush with the left side of the breech. Then you cock the gun, and upon closing the cocking lever, the first round is pushed into the barrel. Each successive cocking action indexes the magazine, and loads the pellet into place. I had absolutely no problems with the magazine on this test gun.


Here is the bolt-release. Press it and the bolt pops out backwards to allow the magazine to be loaded.


See the bolt in the open position?


Here the magazine is fully loaded and inserted.


Here the magazine has been fired a few times and has indexed out.

The 7.3 grain pellets from Tech Force traveled down-range at over 450 fps. A five shot string averaged 463, and this is great for accurate target shooting. It will also suffice to take care of the occasional pest such as a sparrow or starling at short ranges. However, it lacks the punch needed for small game hunting of a serious nature.


For just over $100, this little gun delivers quite a lot of features to the shooter. There are guns out there that cost much more and still don't deliver the features this one does. I consider it a "best-buy" in the plinking and fun category, and the low-recoil and low spring-twang make this a pleasant behaving little rifle. Get one!