I'm looking at a Baikal IZH-35M that is local to me.  I've wanted one for years but, now that I have a couple .22 cans, I doubt it will get much use if the barrel can't be threaded. Anyone know if these have a way of being threaded or a threaded barrel available?

Considering the barrel is fixed and soldered in place, I'm thinking I may be out of luck.

Thanks

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You might ask around on Targettalk or Bullseyeforum.  I doubt you'll find much know-how on a somewhat archaic Olympic style pistol here.

The front bbl block is in the way. Everything in the lower/upper slide is designed around that block. As you can see the upper shroud is designed to be held in place with a screw that goes into that block By the front sight/flat headed screw).

Those pistols would make a poor host for a can coupled with they are ammo specific. Americans got their hands on these and destroyed them in short order. The izh-35m was designed for match grade ammo that is in the 1000fps range.

When they 1st were imported into this country the russian ammo came with it. The cheap combo of the russian pistol/ammo took many shooter to the sate level and not only allowed them to compete but they were actually winning at the state level. pictured below is a picture of that combo.


Americans can't wrap their head around actual target ammo that was used in the 70/80.s. So they put sv ammo (cheap pistol cheap ammo right?) or US "target" ammo in them. The US "target" ammo was 1100fps/1150fps ammo used to function s&w 41's, 1911 conversion kits, high standards, etc.

The higher pressured ammo easily destroyed the soft steeled izh-35m's. To put it in perspective:
When you need a new main spring for a izh-35m you buy a high standard supermatic spring and cut it in 1/2 and put 1/2 that spring in the izh-35m.
When you want to rebuild the mags for the izh-35m you buy mad springs for the 10round high standard mags and again cut them in 1/2. & use them in the izh-mags.

The izh-35m are designed for 1000fps target ammo and the springs and steel are setup that way.

The cheap russian target pistols are best when they re used to do the shooting events they were designed for. They can and will provided decades of quality range time if used properly with the correct ammo and maintained properly. Adjustable sights, 4-way adjustable triggers, grips that fit like gloves & extremely accurate. A couple of the russian pistol I like to shoot.
top: izh-46m 10m pellet pistol
middle: izh-35m 25m sport pistol
bottom; toz-35m 50m free pistol


You'd be better off buying the new 22lr pistols that are comming out with the bbl's already threaded or buying a bbl for a ruger or a 1911 conversion kit. They can easily handle the us sv/target ammo that would destroy the izh-35m

@3221 Thanks for that post. Awesome info. I'm still going to have to find one but I'll be sure to use as close to correct ammo as possible.

I had one for about 10 years and while I liked the pistol I never LOVED the pistol.  After about the 5th year of owning it parts and magazines dried up.  All the factory magazines I've seen are 5 rounders which I found to be a PITA.  Someone over at Rimfire Central discovered that S&W 22A magazines could be repurposed with a bit of work and I made up a few of them and they functioned fine but stuck out the bottom of the pistol a bit.  Not really a problem when the bottom of the pistol is mostly hidden by the grips anyway.  The repurposed mags functioned 100% and were only about $20 each VS north of $100 IF/WHEN you see the real Biakal mags on gun broker.  The pistol was surprisingly not picky about ammo and the trigger was great.  The grips are big and clunky but were made so the individual shooter could whittle them down to their liking.  The finish is a heavy Parkerizing which is functional but not pretty.   The only real turn off was the fact that there were no parts available.  Firing pins and extractors are known to fail on these pistols and the Russians used a LOT of very soft crappy screws on these pistols which you have to remove to get the grips and upper covers off in order to service the pistol.  In the end I nearly tripled what I paid new for my IZH35 and bought a vintage S&W 41 and never had a single regret.  IMHO if you are collecting pistols then the IZH35 is a nice one to add to your collection.  If you are like me and shoot what you own, not just look at it, then get something else.  If you really want a top notch target pistol then pony up for a Hammerli.  Me, I'm happy with my 41's and MK2's though.

Ultimately to your point, it would seem like a very unlikely suppressor host.  The way the front end is made (see part #6 in the diagram) you would end up with no front sight unless you were willing to do a LOT of work.  Add to this that unless something has changed in the last few years there are ZERO parts available in the USA for these pistols so you can't get an extra part to butcher up for test fitting.