.32 S&W/S&WL/H&RM rounds will fit, after a fashion, in an 1895 Nagant chamber... and even fire. Those cases are straight walled, while the Nagant chamber is tapered - a la the M1 Carbine. As they are all woefully short, they won't bridge the inverted b/c gap, closed by trigger pull, to effect a gas seal. Their cases will swell - the thin Magtech 98gr LRN .32 S&WL's I have shot have often even split - making extraction nearly as difficult as the original style ammo's spent cases (It's thin mouths swell.), thus the SA-style ejector rod. The only .32 H&RM ammo I have tried, the hot - and nasty - GA Arms 100gr JHP variant, is dangerous in this gun, as who knows what it ejects past that inverted b/c gap - it stings! Always wear good protective eyewear with this revolver. BTW, I have chrono-ed those rounds at 1117 & 1156 fps (Two different batches!) from a 4.6" Ruger SSM - with a b/c gap, too. That works out to 276-298 ft-lb - up in .38 Special +P area.
Reportedly, the combat round was ~100gr - at 1,000 fps - near that 'hot' .32 H&RM round - and certainly hotter than the then soon to be released (1898) S&W .38 Special. The Nagant has a lanyard loop - and often comes delivered with a lanyard - for a good reason: The Czar's calvary loved it! It hung on until the fifties - and probably, as a type, has more bodies behind it than any other revolver - probably millions of poor folks. Sure, officers carried them - and kept Ivan moving forward in the great Patriotic War, lest they become martyrs. Stalin no doubt used them to 'thin the hierarchy'. But - millions were carried into battle.
It is a real neat piece of Victorian engineering - held together by one screw - which becomes indispensible in it's further dissassembly. Find the 1895 Nagant forum at gunboards.com for more info. If you get one - and clean and lube it, you will have a great sample, indeed, if the SA & DA pull gets down near twenty pounds. Still, a lot of fun/history for a C-note or so - and usually with a holster, cleaning rod, screwdriver, and, that all-important lanyard!
Stainz
PS The .44 Russian was developed by S&W, based on their .44 American round, from 1869-71, in response to a large order by the Russians for a top-break .44-ish caliber revolver. The original round was a 246gr LRN over 24gr fff bp, and represented the first mass produced centerfire revolver round. The .440" diameter American bullet had a .429" step to fit inside the .44" case - the Russians wanted no step, thus the .429" caliber of .44 Russian-Special-Magnum... not .44 at all! The bad guys loved the .44 Russian S&W's - they reloaded much faster than a SAA - and you were just as dead, if hit by one as a .45 Colt round.