I am thinking of purchasing a spartan over and under and would like to know if anyone out there has shot one before. If you have, what did you think of them? Are they worth the money?

They are the same as the Baikal over unders.  I think remington imports them and then adjust it so that you can change which barrel shoots first, mark up the price, and sells them.  I have the normal baikal over under with the nickel receiver in 12 gauge with 3 inch chamber.  It's a great gun for the money, or for a lot more money.  It's very stiff opening and closing at first, but after some use it cleans up real nice.  I've had mine for about 2 months and shot about 200 rounds through it and it has worked flawlessly.  
 
http://www.donaldsensing.com/2004/09/shotgun-news-break.html
 
scroll down a little and it talks about the baikal/sparten over under.  
 
Later

Here's mine.

Have you ever shot a stoeger? (asking marlin917vs). If you have, do you find them similar. I had a stoeger condor. I sold it to get one with a SST and automatic ejectors wich the Spartan has. I am also considering a Stoeger condor supreme. It has all the same features for the same price. let me know, thanks.

No, sorry I havn't.  I just looked them up and they look really nice.  They look very similar to the Baikal, but that is just based on looking at pictures alone.  I would say try to find a store and hold them both and look at them side by side, but I don't know if a lot of stores carry the Baikal/Spartan.  Maybe someone on here has used both than can come in and help.  If you have any more questions just ask.  Later

The Baikal and the spartan are the same shotgun. Remington does add the SST and auto ejectors than marks up the price. I say marks up the price, you can get one for 460.00 brand new. Compare that to a ruger red label with all the same features. I had a stoeger condor. I sold it to either get the condor supreme or the spartan SPR 310. Want the auto selective ejectors and SST. Does yours seem like it is balanced well. Stoeger felt pretty good. There is no place here to get my hands on one so I cannot try the spartan. They are both practically the same price. How do you like the nickel reciever, I cannot make up my mind if I want nickel or just black. I can only get the spartan in nickel. One thing I noticed about the stoeger is that it is hard opening, no matter what you do, it stays that way. Sounds like your gun got over it. I read an article on spartan o/u in a hunting magazine, it said they were bulky. Do you find yours bulky? It did say they were very dependable though. The also like the way the SST works on the spartan as opposed to the stoger also. If can ever sell my ruger 7mm mag I will order one.  thanks for the information.

I like the nickel reciever, I think it looks pretty good.  Yes, the opening and closing cleaned up alot, it could still get smoother though.  Also, if you get the stoeger condor supreme, it seems to be a higher quality, so it might be a little smoother opening and closing.  The baikal balances perfect for me.  I've actually never had a shotgun the felt that good to shoot.  The auto selective ejectors are pretty cool, I never change it though, I just let it shoot em out.  My top barrel sometimes holds the fired shell in and I have to really yank on it to get it out.  I took it to a gunsmith and he put those snap caps in and it ejected perfectly.  Then when I got home I realized it was probably the expansion or something of the shell that made it get stuck.  I still don't know exactly whats wrong, but its winter and I don't get to go out and shoot, so I'll just have to wait until spring and shoot some more with it and figure it out, then maybe take it to a gunsmith again.  I'm hoping it's just from being new or something and it will work it's way out.  Don't let that stop your from buying it or anything, that's probably just mine.  Anyway, if you got any more questions just ask away.  Later

I am wondering how the SST trigger works on yours. I am assuming it is the same as the spartan. I looked at all the specs for the spartan and it says that you need to push the trigger ahead until it clicks and that will switch to the top barrell. I emailed remington and they said that it had a seperate barrell selector switch. On the stoger you have to push the safety to the right or left. I do not like that because it could get switched just taking the safety off. Let me know how yours works. I aslo assume the automatic ejectors only eject the spent round, am I correct. The gunsmith did not fix your problem? sounded like he fixed it and it started again. In reading some forums for stoger I noticed that the top barrell had a hard time firing (pin wasn't hitting hard enough.) I also noticed it was mainly remington ammo. Maybe an ammo change will do you good.

The baikal doesn't have the selection on which barrel fires first.  Thats one of the things that spartan does to it.  With mine the bottom barrel goes first and you can't change it.  Yes, the auto ejectors only eject the spent round.  He didn't fix anything, he just put those snap caps in, and they eject fine.  When you actually fire a round the case expands or something happens and it gets caught on the ejector or something.  It has fired every time I pulled the trigger though, and I've used both trap rounds and remington 3inch magnum turkey loads.  The 3 inch ones ejected fine (I only shot one in each barrel), but so do the other ones most of the time.  Maybe 1 out of every 5 or 10 doesn't eject on the top, and they always do on the bottom.  Later

To those of you who have the Baikal IZH27 you have a barrel selector. If you push the trigger forward you will here a click. I have an IZH27-Sporting model so mine also has the auto ejectors, or I can turn that function off, which I do, so that I can pull the shell out and save it for reloading. As far as I know the Spartan Gunworks is the same as the IZH27 Sporting, and is a gun that I love to shoot. I did however clean it up after about 200 rounds and it now opens and closes like a dream. The picture of the Spartan is identical to my Baikal. I would say go ahead and get a Spartan, you will be nothing but happy with it. Remington has done nothing to improve the gun, you all should do your homework.

How hard do you have to push the trigger.  I was pushing but I didn't want to end up breaking anything.  I'll try again later.  Thanks.  Later

If you can break the trigger by pushing forward on it, I will be surprised. Also, did you figure out how to get it to auto eject, which is when the gun ejects only the used shell.

It was on auto eject the whole time, it's just something was wrong with the top ejector and some times it would shoot it out and other times it would be stuck.  I havn't messed with it in a while becuase it's cold here and I won't be able to shoot it for a while.  There is a trap shoot that I'm going to two thursdays from now, so I'll just wait until then.  I think that it only gets stuck when I don't open it right after I shoot.  I'm hoping it's just something that will work itself out with use.  Once it warms up I should be shooting once a week, so that will give it some more use.  Thanks for the help with the barrel selector.  Later

Hi All,
 
    Hmm me is thinking that some one is telling porky pies:mad:  I have on my lap as I type this a Baikel model NX-27E-IC which is a 12 bore over and under. It has the blacked reciever and a Single Selctive trigger (SST) and Ejectors and yes you push the single trigger forward to change barrel selection, mine is set on bottom barrel first which is the modified choke barrel. But it has been no where near Remingtons place. This is the way they come direct from Russia and that's why I think that the truth is not being told and some one is pulling the wool over the eyes of buyers to put the prices up. Oh the model number is engraved just in front of the trigger bow on the bottom of the action.:D
 
    The Baikel is one heck of a working shotgun, this one is quite a few years old now and this is my second one. The first was a SxS 28" barreled 12 bore which I foolishly sold a long time ago, it was my first shotgun.

Spartan and Baikal are the same gun. Remington just tagged their name on it to sell it. As far as doing my homework, their is nothing out there that tells you anything about them. If you look the Baikal IZH27 up on thier website, it tells you nothing. In fact, their website is so screwed up you can barely find the product you are looking for. As far as remington, they do not even tell you who they get them from. There are a lot of models to this shotgun. Remington classifies them differently then Baikal. Some have ejectors, some do not. Some have SST, some do not. remington only sells spartans with auto ejectors and single selective triggers.  Also, if you look on the Baikal's website, the MSRP is higher than the spartan's. I ordered a mossberg silver reserve anyway. Thanks for the information.