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Berdan Rifle
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). Severe rifle shortages would see the Berdan actively fielded in World War I. Besides the Russian Empire, Berdan M1870 rifles were used by Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, Ethiopia, Mongolia, and Korea, with World War I captures seeing use by Austria-Hungry, Germany and the Ottomons as reserve rifles, while Finland would inherit many rifles after their independence, still fielding them in 1939.
In the 1880s, magazine-fed versions of various types were tested, both with tubular and box magazines. However, all of them were recognized as insufficiently reliable. Finally, the Mosin M1885 rifle was recognized as the best model, with the magazine placed in the buttstock (what prevented the possibility of "chain fire"). About 800 were produced for extensive military trials, however, some shortcomings were identified that required correction, and the appearance of Lebel 1886 with smokeless gunpowder ammunition the following year, and subsequent innovations required the development of a fundamentally new weapon. Ultimately, the brand new Mosin-Nagant Rifle was adopted in 1891.
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: 10.75x58mm 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, from 4 to 12 (experimental variants)
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 Murder of General Gryaznov (Arsena Jorjiashvili) | Russian police and Cossacks | Berdan No.2 carbine | 1921 | |
| Miss Mend | American police officer | Berdan No.2 carbine | 1926 | |
| A watchman in Stern's estate | Converted shotgun | |||
| Khaspush | Persian soldiers and Khaspush rebels | Berdan No.2 Infantry, Dragoon and carbine | 1928 | |
| 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 | |
| Mysterious Discovery (Tainstvennaya nakhodka) | Pomors | 1954 | ||
| 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 | |
| The Red Ghost (Krasnyy prizrak) | Vladimir Gostyukhin | Ded | Converted shotgun | 2021 |
| Konstantin Simonov | Kostya |
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 | |
| Riches (Bogatstvo) | Ivan Kokorin | Sergey Blinov | Converted shotguns | 2004 |
| Kamchatka reservists and volunteers | ||||
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battlefield: 1918 | w/bayonet | 2004 | ||
| World of Guns: Gun Disassembly | "Berdan Rifle N2" | w/bayonet | 2014 | |
| Battle of Empires: 1914-1918 | "Berdanka" | 2015 | ||
| Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 | Not usable | 2017 | ||
| Tannenberg | "Berdana obr. 1870G Berdan II" | 2019 | ||
| Enlisted | Berdan No.2 M1870 | 2021 |
Anime
| Title | Character | Note | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Golden Kamuy - Season 3 | Sofia | "Revolutionary" | 2020 |
| Hyakunosuke Ogata | "The Border" | ||
| Orok hunter | |||
| Golden Kamuy - Season 4 | A Karafuto Ainu | Ep. "Cinematograph" | 2022-23 |