I was at the gun shop in town yesterday, and they had one of these odd looking rifles in the used guns rack-
View attachment 371255 I'm familiar with Baikal firearms as well as the 46M pistol, But I'd never heard of an IZH 61. Looked brand new and it had the original box with the paperwork, half a dozen 5 round mags, and oddly enough, a spare mainspring. They were asking $50, so I figured what the heck, I'll buy it. Gave it a cleaning and lube, put 50 rounds of RWS 7g Hobby through it, and I'll be darned, it actually shoots pretty well. Has a decent trigger and sights, and the cocking effort might be 10 lbs if that. Judging by the sound of the clang on steel targets at 20yds, I'm guessing velocity is fairly low, in the 450-500 fps range. Length of pull is adjustable, but even extended to it's maximum, LOP is still a good 2.5" too short for me.
Anyway, I've since read a bit about the gun, but the one thing I didn't see covered in any review or article is why it comes with a spare mainspring. Anybody here know why this is? With it's apparent reliability, small size, and ease of cocking, I'm thinking of giving it to my grandson.