Case Mods/light loads/cast bullets in the M95 Nagant.

Ugly Sauce said:

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It's all fun and games until you run out of primers. So this is as far as I got, but I think I made good progress. My initial goal was an accuracy load with a 120 grain bullet. Also, I wanted to avoid using any short case, but my gun is very hard to extract empty cases with the full length, 38mm case. But first things first. If you look at photos two and three, you'll see how they seat in the cylinder. The bullet noses slightly protrude, for no real reason. Less jump to the forcing cone, but I don't think it matters. But it looks cool. !!!

First I trimmed some PPU cases to where the end of the case is exactly even with the end of the cylinder, where the chamber actually ends. (see photo) This keeps the end of the case from expanding into the forcing cone (I've heard that Nagants don't have forcing cones. Mine does) and causing difficult extraction. Yes, I've negated the gas-seal. That's okay, same as using .32 Short, long, .32 H&R, .327 brass etc, or most other cylinder mods that are done with the Nagant. The world will survive without the gas seal!

On the gas-seal thing, it seems like some revolvers don't suffer from difficult extraction, and some do. I think it's just a matter of how much larger the forcing cone is in relation to the diameter of the end of the cylinder. Manufacturing tolerances. If the end of the case expands into the forcing cone, or end of the barrel, well then you are re-sizing the end of the case when you extract it.

I chose a 120 grain bullet that the mold throws at .310". It's a gas check bullet, I loaded it without a check as the reduced shank made for really nice and straight seating in the case. The first photo shows the nose of that bullet in the forcing cone. As you can see, almost half the bullet is still supported by the case as the bullet enters the barrel.

All loads except one used two/2 grains of Unique. I tried 6.5 grains of 4227, which a poster on another forum said gave him great accuracy, in my gun not so much, not bad, but too much unburnt powder was left over.

The 120 grain bullet did okay, but not great. If you look at the targets, one was shot with .32ACP from my....wait for it....32 ACP cylinder. That was my "control group". I wanted to at least match what the gun will do with the .32ACP's. I think the 120 will make a great bullet for a full power load.

I then tried a cast 84 grain RN bullet I have, sized to .309". It did great. Perhaps the gun, or rate of twist likes the shorter bullets best. ? They must still have pretty good support from the case as they start into the barrel/forcing cone. I found their accuracy acceptable for small game, I think on par with the .32ACP cylinder, but wow, sure is hard to hold a good group with that trigger, as you all know.

I think the 120's will make for a good "heavy" load, and when I find more primers I'll work on that. I think the 120 will pack a good punch. Surfing the 'net, I really could not find anyone loading heavier than 110 grain bullets in the 7.62X38mm. But I like heavier bullets in calibers such as .357, .44, .45, all my rifles, so why not a 120 in the Nagant?

Thanks for listening, wish I could have continued on with the 120's. The primer shortage sucks.

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Ugly Sauce said:

I wish I had more powders to play around with. I checked my cylinder, as far as I can tell it goes all the way forward. Wow that trigger is something else. I'm not real sensitive to heavy triggers, can usually shoot them fine, or reasonably well, but the Nagant's heavy pull truly puts a challenge into it. !!

I think the .32ACP cylinder is still the most accurate, but 2 grains of Unique under my 84 grain cast bullet is close enough. And, I think I can develop a full power load with the 38mm case cut down to 37/36mm than I can with the short little ACP case. Or not. Got to find some primers!

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Ugly Sauce said:

I shall have to look into that. Does seem to be a shame having that heavy of a trigger pull on what is actually a very accurate revolver. Again, I'm not really handicapped by heavy trigger pulls, but the Nagant's trigger is kind of on a whole other level. Thanks for the tip.

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