Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Mausers and Military Rifles Mystery to me?

There is an old military rifle at a coming up auction. It looks like Russian writing on it. There is a cocking knob at the back of the bolt. There is no bolt handle on it. There is a long rectangle block on top of the bolt with 2 screws that look like the handle would bolt to them. When I lifted the block up, like rotating the bolt, when it cleared it sprung back under spring pressure. It has 1888 or 1886 with the following. As soon as my cell recharges I'll post what I got on the barrel. Any Ideas. Don't want it, just curious. Cectpopsukin Opykenh Some more letters I don't know. Thanks.

Sorry I didn't get a full length pic of the rifle. My cell was on 01 percent and died after the last pic.

[img]https://i.imgur.com/bcGV0oZ.jpg?1[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/XtP2hZK.jpg?1[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/SzevsXg.jpg?1[/img]

Berdan?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berdan_rifle

Or as Dersu Uzala called his “Berdanka!"

Looks like bolt handle has been removed, perhaps?

Thanks, my other buddy said Berdan also, so I looked it up. Pretty sure that's what it is, thanks again.

A LOT of the rifles from that era look remarkably alike: split bridge, cocking-piece knob, bolt handle. I see a fair number of really nice sporters built in them on GB, at really good prices considering the workmanship. Haenels show up pretty often and are pretty nifty. Used to sell them here way back when.

calibre?

Aren't there TWO Russian Berdan rifles? One with a flip-up breech kinda like a Springfield .45-70 and the other with a bolt action? Caliber .42 Berdan? Both either American inventions or highly influenced by American designs?

I also seem to remember that there was a "Colt Berdan" rifle, but can't remember which of the two it was and how it was associated with Colt. A mind is a terrible thing to lose....

"Cartridges of the World" has a brief discussion of the Berdan rifles in its "military cartridges" section.

Apparently many of them WERE manufactured by Colt. I SUSPECT that anyone with an excellent condition Colt-manufactured Berdan of either model might get some serious $$$ for it from a Colt collector.

But most of these rifles were hard-used in some seriously unfriendly environments! Russia was expanding south and east in those days and getting into the 'Stans and Siberia....