Talk:The Rifleman of the Voroshilov Regiment

Different non-lethal weapon

These guns are named in a film gas gun. I don't know what it are actually. A gas gun, a traumatic weapons or even toys. Any ideas, comrades?Bednardos 14:27, 30 November 2011

Gas-powered Airsoft guns, probably. Evil Tim 14:40, 30 November 2011 (CST)

Or maybe just a CO2 powered pellet or BB gun. --Funkychinaman 14:44, 30 November 2011 (CST)

The last image looks very much like an airsoft revolver.Evil Tim 14:46, 30 November 2011 (CST)

That's not an airsoft revolver. it does not have the inner barrel. I've seen those before. they are CO2 powered BB guns. MoviePropMaster2008 16:23, 30 November 2011 (CST)

Or it could be a blank-firing replica, which can shoot a variety of non-lethal loads such as flash, pepper, CN and CS (hence the "gas" in the title). They're fairly popular in ex-Commie Block, mostly for self defense use, as well as criminal activities. --IHateBourbon 12:51, 1 December 2011 (CST)

IHateBourbon is right: in Russia, газовый пистолет\револьвер - "gas pistol" or "revolver" means one thing and one thing ONLY: a handgun firing irritant gas from gas cartridges through its barrel. It is designed like a live-firing handgun, has baffles in the barrel and weak spots to prevent the conversion for live rounds. These were quite popular in Russia in the 90s, and almost fell out of use later. You can even check the definition with federal law 150-FZ "About firearms".

Great work on the page

But I did have to fix a bunch of the English. Hope you don't mind. :) MoviePropMaster2008 16:29, 30 November 2011 (CST)

Voroshilov's Sharpshooter or a Rifleman of V. Regiment?

I know that this is an international title (at least IMDB says so), but it is misleading. "Voroshilov's Sharpshooter", or "Marksman" was a badge and a set of qualifications for civilian and military sharpshooters. It was established and popularised by Defense comissar Klim Voroshilov, along with the widely told anecdote: in it, an officer complained of the stiff trigger of the service Nagant revolver; Voroshilov proceeded to shame him, firing off a perfect group from the same revolver off-hand, and saying something like "There are no bad guns, there are bad shooters".

The badge was established in 1932 as a part of OSOAVIAKhIM patriotic sports organisation, which promoted sharpshooting, driving, parachuting and so on. Anyone could get it. The badge ultimately had 2 tiers and a junior tier. There were a lot of shooting and parachuting clubs in Russia back then. For ecample, Moscow Voroshilov's Shooting Club beat American Portsmouth Shooting Club team in 1934. The main part of the qualification was shooting a rifle. There were about 6-9 mil. bearers, then they stopped issuing the badge before the war, in 1939-1941.

All in all, the badge became synonymous with sharpshooting, and its name was, and still is, used jokingly every time you want to say something like "crack shot mate". The plot revolves around an old geezer, a "relic" of the days past (hence the name of the movie), who is morally right and decides to play out a revenge fantasy. Thus an ironic nickname, fitting for a "grandpa with a rifle", gradually becomes as fearsome as it may have been 60 years before.

In addition: there isn't a widely known "Voroshilov's Regiment". There was a Cossack regiment that was renamed before the WWII, and there is an heavy artillery regiment in his name. No riflemen, at least in the last 60 years.

Suggest including the clarification in the preface of the article. Tushan (talk) 09:45, 23 June 2014 (EDT)