1895 Nagant

Nope. .32 S&W Long, and even some people dispute the safety of that (but many have done it with fine results). I had blanks made for .32 S&W Long for mine for a film. Worked fine.

.32sw short, .32sw long, .32hr mag if you're bold. no idea about .32-20.

32-20 will not fit into the cylinder of my gun so I cannot fire it. Standard pressure load for a .32-20 would probably not cause a problem if they could be chambered. A lot of people shoot .32 H&R in the nagants. This is a controversial subject. Some of the original russian black power loads were said to put about a 95-106 grain bullet to about 1000 fps. My recently purchased serbian loads are said to make 750 fps. But in any case the russian cartridge was loaded all the way up with black powder as was the 32-20 and the capacities should not be that different so there should no problem if the 32-20 could fit. There were some highspeed 32-20 loadings meant for the 92 winchester that would be dangerous.

i would not shoot that new .327 federal mag in the nagant.

Ash_J_Williams
Member


Join Date: September 20, 2011
Posts: 7

Nope. .32 S&W Long, and even some people dispute the safety of that (but many have done it with fine results). I had blanks made for .32 S&W Long for mine for a film. Worked fin

Click to expand...

Who disputes the use of a .32 long S&W? The modern US factory loadings are intended to be super safe in old top break "suicide" revolvers. The nagant was intended for and was used in two world wars and innumerable other battles. Strength and durability was never an issue. It was preferred to the more powerful tokarev by some soviet tankers for shooting out of the ports of tanks. Trigger pull sucks, but that the nagant is one rugged SOB of a pistol.

barnetmill said:

Who disputes the use of a .32 long S&W? The modern US factory loadings are intended to be super safe in old top break "suicide" revolvers. The nagant was intended for and was used in two world wars and innumerable other battles. Strength and durability was never an issue. It was preferred to the more powerful tokarev by some soviet tankers for shooting out of the ports of tanks. Trigger pull sucks, but that the nagant is one rugged SOB of a pistol.

Click to expand...

I read a lot of conflicting information when I first got the pistol about a year and a half ago, from here and elsewhere, some saying it'd fit, others saying it wouldn't (and quickly being shot down), and others saying it would fit but might not be safe. You can Google it yourself if interested, I'm sure you'll see the same responses I read then. I believe the usual response about safety wasn't about the durability of the revolver itself, but whether or not uncrimped ammo should be put through it repeatedly when it was designed specifically for crimped ammo that when uncrimped, were almost the same size as the threading.

That said, I do remember many saying S&W Short would NOT work.

Color me guilty on the long and H&R, with no incidents. I would not can even considered the .32 WCF since it is a tapered case.

The only problem I have with the S&W Long is that it splits every case I have shot. I haven't had that problem with the H&R 32 Magnum.

I got a C&R ffl just so I could have 1895 Nagants delivered to my front door. The Serbian ammo is the way to go here. It bridges the b/c gap, as it is designed for safe use with the Nagant. Starline briefly made brass for them, too, dropping them due to the thin mouth tearing during subsequent reloads, similar to Fiocchi's brass. What to use is up to the owner, but $25-$30/50 Serbian made beats the $50+ for Fiocchi - and it seems to be just as 'hot' - if 750 fps can be considered 'hot'.

The Nagant's chamber is tapered, thus the straight cased .32 S&WL (and H&RM) will bulge near the rim, the softer S&WL cases actually tearing. The reverse forcing cone forces more propellant particles, etc, out the gap if shorter cases are used, too - so always wear safety glasses when shooting anyway, but especially with the Nagant. I think the pressure of the H&RM cartridges may be too high for the Nagants, so I would limit it to S&WL, if you can't find the Serbian ammo.

I mostly shoot .32-20 cased ammo in my Nagants. Really! Okay, they are all modified... I do obscene things to the cases first. I take off ~ .010" off the rim thickness - and ~.024" off the rim's OD. Then I size it with a carbide .30 Carbine sizer - and load it with the rest of the Lee '1895 Nagant' die set - basically .32 dies. I use SP primers, ~2gr Titegroup, and a 100gr DEWC (.312") from Meister - it gets close to 700 fps and the spent cases drop out. FYI - real Nagant ammo, like the Serbian Hot Shot, bridges the closed gap from the chamber's concave exits to the forcing cone's convex extension. The thin case mouths expand slightly, making ejection somewhat more difficult than the typical DA cf revolver, so the Nagant includes a rod, a la the typical SA revolver, for case extraction. It holds 7 rounds - but takes a while to reload. Of course, then there is the typical 20+ lb DA pull... It really is pretty much a PITA... but neat!

Here is one of my Nagants - with some of my homebrew ammo described above:



Stainz

I have one just like that, and a wood grip 1928 I shoot mostly .32 H&R Mag cases, loaded to .32 long specs, gentle, accurate, minimal side spray.

Well, mine darn sure WILL shoot .32/20s. All one has to do is thin the rim and the shell will fit and the cylinder will cycle. Some .32/20s will work less the thinning process tho.

Far as loadings go, well I load mine and use a 100 gr. hard cast, sized .308, lubed with alox over 3.0 of Bullseye.

I get ragged one hole groups from my less than perfect bore in the 1941 Tula version. Once you get used to the triggers, the things are surprisingly accurate.

I've been using 32 Long brass in mine.
I also have some of the boxer primed brass, resized with 30 carbine dies, works nice but it is thin stuff.