Berdan Rifle

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Russian Berdan No.1 (M1868) Infantry rifle - 10.67x58mm R

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Russian Berdan No.2 (M1870) Infantry rifle - 10.67x58mm R

Berdan rifles were two Russian Army service rifles, designed by Hiram Berdan with the assistance of Russian officers Aleksandr Gorlov and Karl Gunnius. The Berdan No.1 (M1868) had a trapdoor breech block and was very soon replaced with the bolt-action Berdan No.2 (M1870) which was the main rifle of the Russian Army until the Mosin Nagant M1891 was put into service. It existed in full-length Infantry, shortened Dragoon and Cossack, and carbine configurations. Both Berdan models used the same .42 caliber cartridge ("4,2 line" in the old Russian measurment system). Besides the Russian Empire, Berdan M1870 rifles were used by Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, Ethiopia, Mongolia, and Korea.

In the 1880s, magazine-fed versions of various types were tested, both with underbarrel tubular and box magazines. However, all of them were recognized as insufficiently reliable. Ultimately, the new Mosin rifle was adopted in 1891 (of which a version of the Berdan conversion with the magazine placed in the buttstock was also initially tested).

In the early 1900s, many surplus Berdan rifles were converted into bolt-action shotguns in 16 to 32 Gauge. Such guns were known as "berdanka", and this nickname became a common Russian name for all bolt-action shotguns.

Specifications

Berdan No.2 Rifle

(1870 - 1891)

• Type: Bolt-action rifle

• Country of Origin: Russian Empire

• Caliber: 10.67x58mm R

• Weight: 9.3 lbs (4.2 kg)

• Length: 51.2 in (130 cm)

• Barrel Length: 32.7 in (83 cm) (Infantry rifle)

• Capacity: 1

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The Berdan Rifle and variants can be seen in the following films, television series, video games, and anime used by the following actors:

Film

Title	Actor	Character	Note	Date
The Queen of Spades		on the wall		1916
The New Babylon		French revolutionary	Berdan No.2	1929
Dzhulbars	Nikolay Teleshyov	Beggar	Converted shotgun	1935
		Peasant
The Golden Taiga (Zolotoye ozero)	V. Tolstova	Marina	Converted shotgun	1935
Fighting Film Collection No. 6 (Boyevoy kinosbornik No. 6)		Partisans	Berdan No.2	1941
White Fang		Indians	Berdan No.2	1946
Heroes of Shipka (Geroite na Shipka)		Russian and Bulgarian soldiers	Berdan No.2	1955
Heroes of Shipka (Geroite na Shipka)		Russian Cossacks	Berdan No.2 Carbine	1955
1918 (Vosemnadtsatyy god)		White Cossack	Berdan No.2 Carbine	1958
Dersu Uzala	Kasym Dzhekibayev	Dersu Uzala		1961
Hussar Ballad (Gusarskaya ballada)		Russian and French soldiers	Berdan No.2, mocked up as flintlock musket	1962
Wedding in Malinovka (Svadba v Malinovke)	Mikhail Pugovkin	Yashka the Artilleryman	Converted shotgun	1967
Personally Known (Lichno izvesten)		Revolutionaries	Berdan No.2	1958
Dersu Uzala	Maksim Munzuk	Dersu Uzala		1975
The Lost Expedition (Propavshaya ekspeditsiya)	Boris Smorchkov	Aleksey Kumanin	Berdan No.2	1975
	Aleksandr Kaidanovsky	Kirill Zimin
	Nikolay Olyalin	Silantiy
Peasant Son (Krestyanskiy syn)		A Red partisan		1975
The Evil Spirit of Yambuy (Zloy dukh Yambuya)	Rodna Yeshonov	Kararbakh	Converted shotgun	1977
The Turkish Gambit (Turetskiy gambit)	Egor Beroev	Erast Petrovich Fandorin		2005
The Turkish Gambit (Turetskiy gambit)		Russian soldiers		2005
Piranha (Okhota na piranyu)	Aleksey Gorbunov	Kuzmich		2006
Piranha (Okhota na piranyu)	Bolot Bairyshev	Evenk		2006

Television

Title	Actor	Character	Note	Air Date
The Adjutant of His Excellency (Adyutant ego prevoskhoditelstva)	Yuri Medvedev	Nikita	Converted shotgun	1969
	Andrei Petrov	Nikolay Sirotin
Born by Revolution: Assault (Rozhdyonnaya revolyutsiey: Napadenie)		Russian revolutionaries	Seen in documentary footage	1974
Lenin...The Train		Russian soldier	Berdan No.2	1988
His Majesty's Secret Service (Sekretnaya sluzhba Ego Velichestva)	Alina Van Orton	Lyuba	Converted shotgun	2006

Video Games

Game Title	Appears as	Mods	Notation	Release Date
Battle of Empires : 1914-1918	Berdanka			2014
Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3			Not usable	2017