Another Grail Quest Complete - Russian Berdan

[Bittermansbro]

Well, I have finally achieved another personal collecting milestone in getting a hold of an Imperial Russian Berdan II single-shot bolt action. Thanks to a fellow CGN'er for the contact.

Anyhow, I had never seen one in Canada let alone on the forums or anywhere else except google, so it took a few weeks digging stuff up enough to make an offer. All was well and have spent the last week cleaning it up.

Its an 1884 Sestroretsk manufacture, yay!

Blue is amazing for such an elderly rifle, came with a bit o rust from the stock cap to the muzzle, but cleaned up nice. Bore was looking iffy, but turned out just fine, with almost no pitting and pronounced rifling. Only missing the rear sigh elevator and a cleaning rod!

 

[happydude]

Beautiful. Plan to shoot it?

 

[Bittermansbro]

Does a Kamchatka giant bear eat guards at a mine? Of course!

Now I just have to learn how to paper patch bullets or find something similar to the original bullet that doesn't require me to learn 15 new skills. Not that I mind learning things....i'm just more 'instant gratification' And this one is going to be a little more specialized for ammo than anything else I have

 

[Musketfire]

Wow thats a beautiful rifle.
Great shape solid and stout a good war horse!!
Its really something

Is it rimfire or centerfire??

If its centerfire you should be able to find brass with a bit of looking, just load with black powder or a sub and thumb seat the proper soft lead bullet and whammo!!


So are you going to restore it or leave it with its "patina"??

 

[desporterizer]

Nice!

 

[Swiend]

Dumb question alert....what's it chambered in?

 

[green]

42 (10.75x58R) Berdan ammo can be made by necking down 43 Spanish to use .427" bullets.

 

[Beater]

and the ammo looks something like this :

 

[bearhunter]

They will shoot any bullets made for the 44 magnum just fine. Yes I know, the 44mag bullet is .429 but I think you will find the chamber and bore on the generous side.

I have a mould for mine, and it shoots very well. Trajectory like a rainbow, but at 300 yds the lead bullet will travel all the way through a 14inch dry pine log.

My rifle is pretty much the same, same maker etc. Finished a bit differently though. The bolt is in the white and polished.

Beautiful rifle by the way. From what I gather, there were 25 of them brought into the country by Century International Arms back in the 70s. They were mixed in a batch of the unrefurbed $15 Mosins.

I also heard that less than a dozen of them were salvageable. Great score and almost impossible to find in this country. I've heard there are a few in the US and that they are about as rare there as here. The holy grail of Berdan rifles is the Berdan I, made I believe in the US under personal contract through Col. Berdan (also the inventor of the Berdan primeing system)

BBro if you like, pm be and send me your email address. I'll send you some pics of mine and the handloads that seem to work well with mine. They really like paper patched bullets by the way.

Again, great score, it's nice to see another one surface instead of rotting away in a root cellar or barn.

I wonder if there are any still sitting unmolested in Russian or some of its former satelites warehouses? For some reason, I have a hunch that they may think we're only interested in SKS, AK and SVT series rifles and that there isn't enough value in the Berdans. Mind you they could have all been tossed into the smelters to be turned into tanks. Somehow I don't think so, The Soviets had a real penchant for recycling, rather than destroying firearms in working or repairable condition.

bearhunter

 

[Nyles]

Very nice, I'd love to see a Berdan in person.

 

[gunplumberr]

damn I've looked for years..your a lucky man

 

[John Sukey]

If it's any help I have loads of NEW NDFS Berdan brass.
Apparently nobody below the border has a Berdan rifle so no sales here.

The Martinii ans Snider brass sold so fast it was gone in less than a mionth.

 

[MarkCNP]

Looking forward to the range report!

 

[Bittermansbro]

My rifle is pretty much the same, same maker etc. Finished a bit differently though. The bolt is in the white and polished.

This one is in the white as well, its just a little.....splotchy in places.

Again, great score, it's nice to see another one surface instead of rotting away in a root cellar or barn.

Well this one wasn't overly bad, just for the surface rusting on the barrel and some under the wood, it was all good.

I wonder if there are any still sitting unmolested in Russian or some of its former satelites warehouses?

This must be a thought that every historicollecting firearms guy thinks of, lord knows I often imagine the Indiana Jones style warehouse with crates of old rifles sitting under a layer of dust, or a heavy duty concrete bunker filled with the old stuff......

damn I've looked for years..your a lucky man

Thanks, it was a lot of luck on my part, but a long search finally ended

Looking forward to the range report!

I will post one as soon as a manage to grab all the reloading parts to get this geratric out to relive its youth.

 

[Claven2]

Great rifle! I'm jealous!

 

[Teapot]

Can rails be attached for Eotech and light?

 

[Bittermansbro]

Can rails be attached for Eotech and light?

Yea, they are on their way in the mail. I drilled and tapped the holes in the receiver last night, the first one was a bit off so I had to drill another hole, but no worries, the rail will cover up the other hole pretty well, you'll never notice.

 

[MarkCNP]

Yea, they are on their way in the mail. I drilled and tapped the holes in the receiver last night, the first one was a bit off so I had to drill another hole, but no worries, the rail will cover up the other hole pretty well, you'll never notice.

That's the way I do house renovations

 

[drm3m]

The guns that you regret having sold.

Back in the early 60s I bought the Russian Berdan shown at the top of this rather poor photo.
(It is the only photo that I have of a number of the pieces shown.)

My meagre collection was displayed on a peg board in my small bedroom in my parent’s house.
I can't remember when or where I bought the gun, but I sold it out of a friends 'coffee house' store front window in Old Montreal probably back in the late 60s.

I recall the gun being in very decent shape .... it has to be kicking around in someone’s collection in Montreal.

Back in those days (early 60s in Montreal) there were only three places I went to look for stuff.
Price was a very important element...as I did not have very much money to spend.

Mendelson’s Pawn shop on Craig Street,...where the Berdan may have come from.
They had a bunch of Vickers machine guns in their attic that they used to rent to the CBC.
I was hoping to get one for Christmas one year....I think the price was $35. (No luck)

The French cavalry sword shown in the photo came from Mendelson’s,...it was the first piece in my collection....and I still have it.

On the top floor of Morgan’s department store they had an antique gallery where I suppose I bought some stuff.

La Petite Musee on Peel Street had high end collectables....too rich for my blood at that time.
Cased duelling pistols etc.--- but the owner was friendly (to a young guy) and I spent a lot of time looking and asking naive questions.

David

This was my first collection piece a French cavalry sword fom Mendelson's Pawn Shop......Louis Mendelson had some great stuff in those days.
The dust seen on the guard is because it has not been cleaned in many years.

 

[drm3m]

Was there not an involvement by Colt manufacturing the Berdan rifle for the Russians?

David