Nagant Revolver

Status
Not open for further replies.
W

White Horseradish

Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2004
Messages
1,352
Location
Minnesota
I felt my Mosin rifle was a little lonely and needed a companion. So, I got a Nagant 1895 revolver.

It's a 7 shot with a horrible DA pull and the nifty mechanism that seals the cylinder to the barrel as part of lockup. It looks awesome and makes me think of many stories associated with it. But enough emotional stuff.

I would really like to shoot the thing, but I can't seem to find ammo for it. Various things I found on the web lead me to believe that Fiocchi is the only company that makes 7.62x38. The $64,000 question here is who sells it.

Any ideas?
 
A couple of places have the 32 ACP conversion cylinder. Places like Cheaper than Dirt, I think - I'll have to look.

Edit - nope, but Century Arms has them, a little over $50 I think, drop in installation.
 
You can fire either 32 H&R Mag or 32 S&W Long from the Nagant without any problems and no need of a new 32 acp cyinder ( I never could get it to index smoothly). I've never had any bulging problems using either type of ammo and accuracy with the 32 H&R Mag is as good as with the Fiocchi.

There was some anemic Russian yellow box ammo floating around for about $14 per box for 42 rounds that SOG had a few months ago. Accuracy is OK but once I'm finished shooting whatever I have left I won't be looking for any more of it.
 
You can fire either 32 H&R Mag or 32 S&W Long from the Nagant without any problems and no need of a new 32 acp cyinder ( I never could get it to index smoothly). I've never had any bulging problems using either type of ammo and accuracy with the 32 H&R Mag is as good as with the Fiocchi.

There was some anemic Russian yellow box ammo floating around for about $14 per box for 42 rounds that SOG had a few months ago. Accuracy is OK but once I'm finished shooting whatever I have left I won't be looking for any more of it.
 
The russians made a huge step backward with this gun in my opinion. They had break top 44 russian revolvers made by Smith and Wesson that had good stopping power for the time and the ability to be reloaded quickly. The nagant is horribly slow to reload like a Colt Saa and its cartridge defines the word anemic.
Pat
 
I've seen the yellow box ammo at a gun show. It's marked "Sport revolver ammunition" in Russian. "Sport" in this instance means it has a reduced load.
 
I bought two Nagants and a .32 ACP cylinder from SOG several weeks ago. The cylinder wouldn't work in either revolver - and was returned, hopefully, for credit to my MC. The 'extra' cylinder doesn't always work - go to the 1895 Nagant forum on Gunboards for more info, including how to dissassemble, etc.

I have chrono-ed the Russian target ammo - 592 fps. The Fiocchi is 674 fps, while the MagTech 98gr LRN .32 S&WL's do 624 fps. My reloads, which, like the .32 S&WL's don't gas-seal, hit 643 fps. I re-size .32-20 Starline brass with an M1 Carbine carbide die, sand some of the headstamp, and load in .32-20 holders/seat/crimp dies 2.2 gr TiteGroup with a 100gr .312" DEWC from Meister. Incidently, Lee has an uncataloged die set available from Midway & Graf's. The latter source also has the Fiocchi ammo for <$34 - better than it's $50+ list.

In my first two Nagants, the MagTech .32 S&WL cases often bulged enough to be hard to extract - a few even split. I have heard that Aquila .32 S&WL is less apt to split. I just got a better condition Nagant - for less - $69.95 from InterOrdnance! I may not shoot it, as it is nice... They all come with a holster, lanyard, screwdriver, and cleaning rod. One screw is removed to dissassemble the Nagant... see the Gunboards site for more info.

BTW, had I known what a problem the reloading for the Nagant was, I'd probably just bought more .32 S&WL's. It groups better with my reloads - and the actual Nagant ammo - than the .32 S&WL's, however. The Nagant ammo opens up at the mouth, causing extraction to be more troublesome than the homebrew ammo. Oddly, the S&W .38 Special ('M&P') was introduced within a year of the first Russian production of the Nagant in 1898 - and yet the Nagant still persevered until the early fifties. 'Real' ammo was reportedly 104gr clad and did over 1,000 fps. Neat revolver...

Stainz
 
I have a nice stash of Fiocchi, and Im gettin more...if I can get it up here so can ya'll...

I love my nagant..its so anemic and eurotrashy...so...so....beardedguysinblacksuitsplottingrevolutioninabackwardscountryattheturnofthecenturywithsamovarsandgaslamps...

And of course its a piece of history...mine is dated 1938 and is the actual revolver that Yezhov personally shot Bukharin with as he sobbed and pleaded for Comrade Koba to save him.

WildosobistAlaska
 
To my mind it's more of a leatherjacketedcomissarsexpropriatingfromexpropriators kinda gun. The guys in black suits lived in Europe and carried nice expensive pistols, if at all.

How do you know it's the actual gun that killed Bukharin? I'm not trying to cast doubt, I'm just really curious...
 
Well, I got a .32 cylinder off of eBay. I put it in last night and checked it with a flashlight. The beatiful part of doing this on the Nagant is that it goes into lockup when cocked and the cylinder goes forward.

The chambers line up well, with the excepton of one, but it doesn't look to be significantly off, just a hair. There is no noticeable rotational play in the cylinder in lockup. Is there anything else I need to check?
 
The Berdan-primed Russian target ammo that SOG sells for $15/40 is the anoemic 592 fps ammo I chrono-ed. Like the faster Fiocchi (A whopping 674 fps!), it requires the cartridge pushing ejector, a la a SA, due to the expanding end of the case.

I did make some measurements of the rim in the Nagant ammo and the .32-20 loads. The originals are .3874" with the case diameter just ahead of the rim at .3673". The .32-20 measures .4008" and .3478" respectively. The original Nagant ammo permits a .004" feeler gauge to fit between the fitted case's rim and the outter circumference of the ratchet. The .32-20's won't seat at all, ie, they are proud of said ratchet, unless the case is pushed aside... and, even then, not all of my cylinders' chambers will take a .32-20 case. The canted case may be problematic, too. I elected to turn down the rim ~.024" on my micro lathe, not a fun proposition... but, I only had 200 cases...

Well, the sanded headstamps, turned down rims, resized via an M1 carbine die .32-20 cases all ready, I ran into one last problem... the crimp was barely visible. The die was hitting my 550's shellplate. I had to grind the .32-20 seating/crimping die's mouth. Finally... I loaded 2.3gr TiteGroup, chosen because of it's big case/small powder volume position insensitivity (... and, it was in my only powder measure!), some 100gr .312" Meister DEWC, and small pistol primers from Federal.

Yesterday's trip to the range was fun... my trigger finger seems to have recovered from the 20+lb DA pull. The revolver worked flawlessly, a first. Additionally, the five loads of ammo (35 rounds) shot all fell out without the ejector! It was too bright and sunny to chrono, so I just shot away. The slow little pills made an appropriate 'dink' when they hit the rebounding plates, although they didn't budge. It appeared to hit a six o'clock view at 12 yd... seemed to group well. I went from the 12yd plates to some at 110yd... they hit ~10ft low on the berm. I adjusted - and actually hit the 12" plate once.

The Nagant is fun... but, is it fun enough to warrant all of my efforts? I think so... but, this is a hobby - a passtime. The revolver has no practical use... It is neat. To think, I didn't want to try the .32 H&R ammo due to the cost! Oddly, if you keep the revolver clean, no smoke escapes the b/c gap until you release the trigger... with any of the ammo's I have tried.

Stainz
 
Most interesting point about Nagant is that it is about the only revolver which could be effectively silenced 'as is'

during WW2, some russian Recon troops who operated behind german front lines, were armed with M1895 fitted with BraMit silencers. A good way to send a last "heil" to the watchguarding Fritz or his hund.
 
Yup. The best of both worlds - silenced and no brass left behind.

M1895 was valued by the soldiers beacause it went bang every time, guaranteed. However, most who carried one also carried a backup because of the slow reloads.
 
Nagent

I've always heard the Soviet tank crews liked'em. Stick the barrel out a port and fire. No cylinder gap blast inside the tank, no hot brass ricocheting about. With some armour plate between the user and the opponent, no need to feel nervous about the indifferent stopping power.
 
Max can you get some pics of the silencer set up, or even better, a schematic..Id like to do one just for the hell of it....

WildcallmegaypayooshnikAlaska
 
23-4.jpg


Here's one.
 
Wild, i must dig my old rags for good Bramit pics; but it was a fairy standard multi-baffle silencer with several (about 4) rubber baffles with cross-cuts for bullets; mounted onto barrel using front sight as a lock point.

IIRC, there was special ammo for use with Bramit; it had pointed bullets which penetrated rubber baffles more accurately.
 
I've read a lot of negative things about these revolvers on line and in the press, which is one sure way to make me want to get one. :D I didn't realize you could fire .32 H&R mag's in them. These are respectable cartridges for defense, at least on par with standard .38 Special loads. Has anyone experienced feed problems or overpresure with the H&R's?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

K
  • Locked
Nagant Revolver
2
Replies
25
Views
1K
twaits
T
T
  • Locked
1895 Nagant Revolver Club
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Replies
176
Views
16K
Twmaster
Twmaster
S
  • Locked
What calibers can i shoot in the 1895 nagant revolver
Replies
10
Views
4K
Drgong
D
Skribs
  • Locked
Why is the Nagant 1895 the only gas-sealing revolver?
2
Replies
30
Views
4K
Sailct41
S
D
  • Locked
1895 Nagant or .357
Replies
18
Views
839
AJMBLAZER
A
Back
Top