Cosmoline
Member
I owned one of thess M95 Nagant revolvers a few years ago but didn't use it much. I recently picked a Tula 1937 rearsenaled one to go with a 1937 91/30, and did some initial shooting with it this weekend.
Since the actual 7.62 Nagant ammo is very expensive, I loaded it with a variety of lead and hp .32 H&R Mag. By a happy historical accident they fit quite well. Some folks report sticking and fractured cases but I experienced neither. Extraction with the archaic rod was no more difficult than a Single Action Army. Accuracy was good, though the sights are very fine. It seemed to shoot about an inch high at fifteen yards. I'm going to have to get a bench to determine how accurate the Nagant is, but off hand I kept my shots in a three inch zone. Double action is creaky but if you get in a good weaver and just concentrate on a smooth fast motion it's doable. Good exercise too.
The stocks are walnut and probably the most impressive thing about the handgun. The checkering is well done and they give a good grip in spite of the thin tubular shape of the handle.
The .32 H&R throws back a bit of a pressure wave but I detected only one spec of debris hitting my face in about 30 rounds fired.
Ideally I'd like to see about duplicating H&R level performance with the original Nagant brass, which should eliminate the pressure wave problem by sealing the barrel and cylinder together with brass.
It's a very rugged handgun and seems to be built with more steel than it needs for a little .32 cartridge. It reminds me of the Mosin-Nagant in that respect. And it would also make a nice truck or tackle box gun.
Since the actual 7.62 Nagant ammo is very expensive, I loaded it with a variety of lead and hp .32 H&R Mag. By a happy historical accident they fit quite well. Some folks report sticking and fractured cases but I experienced neither. Extraction with the archaic rod was no more difficult than a Single Action Army. Accuracy was good, though the sights are very fine. It seemed to shoot about an inch high at fifteen yards. I'm going to have to get a bench to determine how accurate the Nagant is, but off hand I kept my shots in a three inch zone. Double action is creaky but if you get in a good weaver and just concentrate on a smooth fast motion it's doable. Good exercise too.
The stocks are walnut and probably the most impressive thing about the handgun. The checkering is well done and they give a good grip in spite of the thin tubular shape of the handle.
The .32 H&R throws back a bit of a pressure wave but I detected only one spec of debris hitting my face in about 30 rounds fired.
Ideally I'd like to see about duplicating H&R level performance with the original Nagant brass, which should eliminate the pressure wave problem by sealing the barrel and cylinder together with brass.
It's a very rugged handgun and seems to be built with more steel than it needs for a little .32 cartridge. It reminds me of the Mosin-Nagant in that respect. And it would also make a nice truck or tackle box gun.