Slav Day SpecialThe Teeth of the Bear — The Russian Berdan RifleHiram Berdan is best known

Slav Day SpecialThe Teeth of the Bear — The Russian Berdan RifleHiram Berdan is best known for his service to the United States as a Union sharpshooter during the American Civil War. After the Civil War he made a career as a gun designer and inventor. In 1868 he designed a single shot bolt action rifle that takes his name, with the bolt mechanism based on the Dreyse Needle Gun. It fired a 10.75x58r (.41 Berdan) cartridge. Unfortunatly no one took interest in his new rifle. The US Army had decided to make breach loading conversions of their old Springfield muskets. Most civilians prefered a repeating lever action rifle over a single shot. It looked as though Berdan’s rifle was doomed for failure. Then Hiram Berdan met Col. A. Gorloff.Gorloff was a Russian artillery engineer who had traveled to the United States in order to purchase the famous multi-shot Gatling Gun. He was immediatly interested in the Berdan Rifle, and after demonstrating the rifle to the Czar, the Berdan Rifle became the official arm of the Imperial Russian Army.While the Berdan Rifle was an exellent design it had one major drawback, it was single shot only. In 1877 the Russians went to war with the Turks in order to regain territory lost during the Crimean War. The Russians carried their Berdans and Krnka’s proudly into battle. The Turks however had a surprise, thousands of model 1866 Winchester rifles, some of which had been modified with water cooling sleeves and 20 round magazines. Though victorious, the Russians had suffered terrible casualties.Despite the setback the Russian Army continued to used the Berdan until it was replaced with the Mosin Nagant in 1891. Many saw service with secondary units during World War I. Some would be converted into sporting rifles and shotguns.Hiram Berdan would become rich and famous as an inventor and industrialist. He invented other devices such as a type of submarine, an artillery fuse, the Berdan primer, and the long distance rangefinder. He died unexpectedly on March 31, 1893 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetary. -- source link

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