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Baikal (IZH) MP-655K |
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Baikal Viking (MP-446C based on
Yarygin pistol ) |
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Info: Manufacturer/Model: Baikal (IZH) MP-655K Replica Of: Baikal Viking (MP-446C based on Yarygin pistol, 9 x 19 mm) Made In: Russia Caliber/Ammunition/Feed: 177, steel BBs (100 shot hopper) and lead pellets (8-shot rotary magazine) Air Source: CO2, 12 g Powerlet Accessories: cleaning rod, valve seals, magazines (1 pellet, 1 BB) Recommended Pellet or BB: RWS Match BBs, RWS R-10 (light) Match pellets Weight (lb)/Length (in): 1.46, 7.3 Body Material/Finish/Grips: metal (slide)/polymer (frame), black, polymer Barrel Length (in)/Material/Rifled: 4.4, steel, yes Trigger Action: DA/SA Trigger Pull (lbs)/Adjustable: 9.6 (DA), 7.0 (SA), no Sights (front/rear): fixed, fully adjustable Velocity (fps): 360 Sound Level (dB): 97 Thickness of Pellet Holder (in): 0.272 Manufactured Dates: 2008 - present Condition/Manual/Box: 98%, yes, yes Serial Number: 1065501108 |
Comments:
This pistol is manufactured in Russia by the Baikal company
(also known as IZH or IMZ, short for Izhevsky Mekhanichesky
Zavod). Baikal also makes the 9 x 19 mm MP-446C Viking firearm
on which this airgun is modeled. The Viking firearm is the sport
version of the Yarygin pistol adopted by the Russian military in
2003. The MP-655K is an excellent replica of the Baikal Viking
pistol and has a metal slide and polymer body just like the
firearm. This is a very good action air pistol that incorporates
several novel design features that make reading the manual a
requirement. It is capable of firing both steel BBs and lead
pellets using 8-shot rotary magazines similar to those used in
many Umarex pistols. When an air pistol has a rifled barrel and
shoots both pellets and BBs, I usually do not test the gun
with steel BBs to avoid damaging the rifling. However, I made an
exception in this case because the MP-655K is so well designed
for shooting BBs and so accurate when doing so. I first tested
the performance of the gun with lead pellets and then switched
to steel BBs. After running about 200 BBs through the gun I
retested it with pellets. The before-and-after pellet tests were
identical. The first unusual feature you will encounter with
this pistol is that the barrel is not where you expect it to be.
There is a false barrel located in the "normal" position that is
actually part of the BB feeding system. The real barrel is
located below the false barrel in what is normally the recoil
guide rod position. The false barrel is wrapped around a
spring-loaded BB pusher system and holes in the top of the false
barrel indicate roughly how many BBs are left in the 100-shot
hopper. BBs from the hopper are pushed toward the 8-shot rotary
BB magazine. The magazine rotates with each pull of the trigger
and picks up BBs from the hopper. This mechanism is remotely
similar to that used by Crosman in its Western six-shooter
pistols (Hahn 45 and Crosman 36). However, Baikal goes one step
further by placing a powerful magnet in the rotary magazine so
that BBs quickly and reliably find their way into the vacant
holes in the magazine. The magnet is so strong, that once the BB
magazine is placed in the gun, a tool must be used to lift it
out. If all you ever plan to do is shoot BBs with the MP-655K,
the BB magazine can be left in the gun. To shoot lead pellets,
the BB magazine is replaced with the pellet magazine. Pellets
are loaded into the pellet magazine by pushing them in from the
side that contains the ratchet teeth. The magazine should be
placed on a smooth hard surface and the pellets pushed in
(seated) until their heads are flush with the front face of the
magazine. If pellets are not seated properly, they will come
loose and keep the trigger from being pulled (the MP-655K has a
mechanism that blocks the rotation of the magazine if an empty
chamber is detected). All of the controls on the MP-655K are
functional (mag release, safety lever, slide lock lever, hammer)
and it has an excellent, fully adjustable, rear sight. Although
the metal slide moves forward and back for loading, the gun does
not incorporate a blow-back function and pulling the slide back
does not cock the hammer. The pistol can be disassembled for
cleaning by removing the slide lock lever and pushing back and
up on the slide to remove it from the frame.
The trigger pull on the MP-655K is heavy when firing the gun in
double-action mode. It lightens a little for single-action
shooting. The trigger pull has the roughness associated with
almost all airguns that use the trigger to rotate a magazine
prior to firing. The trigger breaks cleanly after the magazine
rotation has occurred. The shape of the trigger and its sharp
edges take some getting use to. I got a blister on my trigger
finger after putting 200 shots through this gun over a period of
two hours. The MP-655K exhibited excellent accuracy with both
pellets and BBs. RWS R-10 pellets work very well and so do
Crosman Premier Super Match pellets. Among the BBs tested, the
RWS Match BBs stood out from the rest of the field. Shot-to-shot
consistency was very good as shown in the photos below for rapid
fire shooting. The muzzle velocity measurements are on the low
side for airguns in this category and do not reflect those
claimed by the manufacturer. Interestingly, both lead pellets
and steel BBs produced about the same average velocities. There
was also little difference in the velocities produced by
single-action vs. double-action shooting. It
seems that Baikal's engineers opted for efficiency over power
when designing this gun as it gets at least 80 good shots per CO2
cylinder. While the MP-655K is expensive, unusual in its design, and
takes some practice to use properly, if you give it a chance, it
just might become your favorite action air pistol. It is
certainly among the top shooters on my list. Performance: Measurements were made on 4/5/10 at a temperature of 73 ºF and 14' elevation. A ten shot string was fired from a bench rest at 15' using RWS R-10 Match pellets (7.0 gr) and a fresh CO2 cartridge. The highest velocity measured was 345 fps, the lowest was 297 fps (average of the 10-shot string was 313 fps, s = 17). Velocity tests were repeated using RWS Match BBs (5.4 gr) and the same CO2 cylinder as used in the pellet tests. The highest velocity measured was 307 fps, the lowest was 299 fps (average of the 10-shot string was 302 fps, s = 3). A wide variety of pellets and BBs were tested for accuracy with this gun. The results are outlined below. Click here for a description of the measurement methods.
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Right Profile: The safety and CO2 carrier release (this is equivalent to the magazine release on the firearm) are both ambidextrous. | ||||||||||||
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Left Profile 2: The hammer is recessed and can be pressed down
to fire the gun in single-action mode. Pulling the slide back
does not cock the hammer.
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Left Profile 3: The metal slide has two locking notches. When locked in the full back position, the BB indicator holes in the false barrel can be seen. There is no blow-back function and racking the slide does not cock the hammer. | ||||||||||||
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Front View: What appears to be the barrel located in the slide
is actually a false barrel that is part of the BB loading
system. The real barrel is located below the false barrel and
also functions as the recoil spring guide. The trigger is offset in the frame and is 1/4"
closer to the right side of the frame than the left.
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Right Side Markings: | ||||||||||||
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Left Side Markings: | ||||||||||||
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Takedown: To disassemble the
MP-655K: 1) remove the CO2
carrier, 2) move the slide to the first notch and push the false
barrel all the way forward, 3) remove the rotary magazine if one
is installed, 4) push the slide all the way to the back and lift
up, then push the slide forward and off the frame, 5) press the
slide lock lever from the right side until it comes all the way
out on the left side, 6) lift up and forward to remove the
barrel/trigger/hammer assembly, 7) push the false barrel forward
to remove the false barrel and pusher mechanism from the
barrel/trigger/hammer assembly. The picture below shows the relationship of the false barrel to the BB pusher mechanism.
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Loading CO2:
The CO2
carrier contains the valve, CO2
cartridge, and a simple BB storage compartment. The screw for
tightening the CO2
cylinder is hidden under the removable base. The CO2
carrier, which is designed to look like the firearm's magazine,
is released by pressing the button located behind the trigger.
The valve design is unusual in that the valve is oriented with
the valve stem pointing straight up. The hammer strikes the
valve with a downward motion. The base plate of the CO2
carrier is removable. Inside is storage for about 100 extra BBs
that can be poured into the hopper on top of the gun when
needed.
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Loading Pellets and BBs: Loading or
removing a rotary magazine for pellets or BBs begins by pulling
the slide back to the first locking notch and then removing the
CO2
carrier. Step 1: push the false barrel forward toward the
muzzle as far as it will go. Step 2. insert (or remove) the
rotary cylinder. Step 3: Push the front of the false barrel back
toward the rear of the gun until in covers the rotary cylinder.
Step 4: push down on the slide lock lever to release the slide.
The gun has a mechanism that prevents the trigger from being
pulled when the rotary cylinder is empty. Do not force
this or you risk breaking the small lever that indexes the
magazine. To dry fire the gun, remove the rotary cylinder.
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Loading Pellets: Pellets are
inserted in the magazine from the ratchet side. The holes in the
cylinder taper to the front. This requires each pellet to be
seated by pushing them in until they are flush with the front of
the magazine. The tapered end of the cleaning tool works well for
this. If pellets are not properly seated, they will slip out
when the cylinder is inserted preventing the trigger from being
pulled.
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Loading BBs: Up to 100 BBs can be
loaded in the compartment in front of the magazine. A
spring-loaded pusher keeps pressure on the BBs and serves to
indicate approximately how many BBs remain in the compartment.
The pusher, which is gray in color, can be seen through the
holes in the false barrel. When the pusher is visible in the end
(largest) hole, there are about 80 to 100 BBs remaining. The
second hold indicates about 50 BBs remaining and the last hole
(smallest)
indicates approximately 30 BBs are left in the compartment.
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Packaging:
The MP-655K comes wrapped in oiled paper and is supplied with
replacement seals, two rotary magazines (1 for pellets and 1 for
BBs), and a cleaning/unloading tool. The picture on the front of
the box shows an early version of the gun that lacked the
accessory rail under the slide. Schematics diagrams for the MP-655K.
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Copyright © 2010