Berdan Sharps Rifle

About the Berdan Sharps Rifle

The Berdan Sharps is a large-bore, single-shot, falling-block breechloading rifle built on the Sharps New Model 1859 by the Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company of Hartford, Connecticut. Issued to Colonel Hiram Berdan's 1st and 2nd United States Sharpshooters during the American Civil War, it was distinguished from the standard infantry rifle by its double set triggers, which Berdan insisted upon for precision long-range shooting. Originally firing a .52 caliber glazed-linen combustible cartridge ignited by a percussion cap, many examples were later converted after the war to fire the .52-70 Sharps centerfire metallic cartridge. Its rapid breech-loading rate and accuracy at over 500 yards made it one of the most effective sharpshooting arms of the war.

Colonel Hiram Berdan, an inventor and reputedly the best rifle shot in the United States, organized his elite sharpshooter regiments in 1861 and insisted they be armed with Sharps rifles fitted with double set triggers. From ranges exceeding 500 yards his green-uniformed marksmen picked off Confederate officers and artillery crews, earning the Sharps its reputation as the deadliest precision arm of the Civil War.

Berdan Sharps Rifle specifications

The 'Berdan' designation refers to the special double-set-trigger rifles requested by Hiram Berdan for his sharpshooter regiments, not to the Russian Berdan rifle (a separate Hiram Berdan design). Roughly 2,000 were produced with set triggers for Berdan's units out of about 11,000 New Model 1859 rifles total.