Berdans at Tradex

Nyles

Nyles

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Anyone buy one of the Berdans listed at Tradex? I’m curious what the condition is actually like.
 
I was looking at these and am curious as well. I’m a Mosin guy generally but these may be an interesting addition.
 
Some looks nicer than other but some looks very bad...i saw only one on the 8 they got for sale with the correct front barrel band with the front swivel sling mount AND the front volley sight. At least 2 or 3 have no front barrel band at all. I have a nive 1885 Tula but the front swivel sling mount is almost always missing for an unknown reason.
Never shot it since i dont reload.
 
I wonder if these are similar to others that came into Canada recently. I have one (bought from another importer) that is rather "over-cleaned" and has the Imperial crest scrubbed from the receiver ring. Unfortunately it also has plugs filling former holes in the chamber. I have personally seen two others with the plugs and have heard from others that there are more. I would like to have a Berdan II "shooter" but the plugs make it iffy. Look for a shiny area below the rear sight- on both sides.

milsurpo
 
It is fascinating to see rifles like this show up on the market. I am assuming that these have been sitting in some European arms storage for 100 years. Anyone know where they came from? Is it like the deal with the Swedish rolling blocks? Its my understanding that Swedish gun owners have newer limitations on the number of guns they can own and this lead to all the Swedish rifles that outfits like Tradex are selling.
 
From what I have found which seems to make sense is that they have been dewatted to make them training rifles then refurbed for emergency use maybe in WWI or WWII etc.

This is why something of this nature and vintage has to be inspected personally before purchase or come with extensive pictures and details.

There is a discussion here based on a firearm somebody purchased with plugs. There are pictures as well.

https://forums.gunboards.com/showthread.php?783825-2-Berdan-II-s-with-welded-up-plugged-holes-in-chambers
 
From what I've seen, they are all Polish capture re-watts, although probably safe to shoot (get them checked out). Perhaps some of those 700$ ones are not rewatt? Idk.
 
green said:
Make Berdan ammo from 43 Spanish by necking down slightly ,fireform and use .429" bullets.
Click to expand...

Is this something you have actually done and it worked well for you? I've seen this advice repeated many places on the internet, but it makes me wonder because...

I have tried the 43 mauser brass in mine and it won't extract - extractor slips. Ended up getting berdan brass made from starline 50-110...
 
KotKotofeich said:
Is this something you have actually done and it worked well for you? I've seen this advice repeated many places on the internet, but it makes me wonder because...

I have tried the 43 mauser brass in mine and it won't extract - extractor slips. Ended up getting berdan brass made from starline 50-110...
Click to expand...

Yes and it worked very well.
Rim diameters
43 Span .635"
42 Berd .635"
43 Mauser .586"

Under size rim on mauser will cause extractor to not disengage.
 
Ugh... I meant to write Spanish, but I've had the mauser 71/84 on my mind lately so I wrote what I wrote...

Thank you for the confirmation! I wonder if my extractor is worn then...
 
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