Nagant target revolver, info about?

[belercous]

I have a Nagant 7.62x38R "target" pistol. It appears to have been rearsenaled/reman'ed. S/A, but the cylinder turns like a D/A when not cocked, & the hammer doesn't move unless cocked. Stiff trigger on S/A, my `smith said he couldn't do much with it without affecting the hammer strike.

Rear sight adjustable for windage, front sight adjustable for elevation. S/N 60104xx, inside grips have matching numbers. Trigger spring looks newer, not blued, but has same S/N. "Star" marking on trigger gaurd, hammer has a "J" onright side, a cross or lower case "t" on left. Hammer, firing pin & trigger are blued. Other markings appear light, likely due to being refurbed, and not by someone who cared about doing a good job as there are some deep "polishing" scratches (grinder marks) which are blued over. Imported by C.A.I. Excellent bore & gun shows little use.

The best I could figure is that the gun was made in 1936, but I dunno. I would like to know, if anyone can tell me, 3 things about this pistol.

First, what's the history of these guns? I've found little on the interweb about them, sometimes conflicting info. Was this gun reman'd in 1936 to target configuration? Or was it originally made in 1936 & reman'd later? (The S/N on the frame is deeply stamped, but does appear to have been polished. The barrel is a bit longer than my other Nagant revolver.)

Second, if this was meant for target use, why the stiff trigger? I've heard (but don't know) that these guns were competetive in the 1980's for Russians & they did pretty good with them. If so, how? The trigger sucks.

Third, what are these guns worth now? Since I'm a cheap bastard, and a shooter (not collector), I'm sure I didn't pay much more than $200 for it. Are they about on par (value-wise) with Eibar revovlers?

Any information in this matter will be most appreciated. I'm kinda like Meatwad; I'm just dumb as hell (at least about this).

 

[Mizar]

I'm no expert on Nagant revolvers, but here is something to consider:
The SA Nagant looks exactly the same as the DA model - the trigger is in the middle of the trigger guard. That is because the SA model is a variant of the DA model, not the opposite. Bull barrel target Nagants were made from 1953, but I don't know if they were factory new revolvers, or remanufactured. The markings on your revolver show clearly that some parts were replaced - the star proof mark is an OTK (Russian abbreviation for quality control) stamp for the Tula plant used after 1928 and the hammer stamp on the hammer (the one you think it is a cross, or "t") is a Tula OTK stamp used before 1928. Those revolvers were definitely not used in the Olympic games in the 80's - by that time the Russian team used TOZ 36 (model of 1962) target revolver - which is practically an upgraded and refined Nagant.

Boris

 

[SDC]

This is a bullseye conversion (known as a "sportivnoy Nagan"/"sporting Nagant") of a Tula Nagant done after 1953, when the Russians were starting to get serious about their international competitive shooting presence; they were intended only for SA bullseye shooting, so they neutered the DA. I've got a book on Nagants at home, and I might be able to find some more on these for you. The stepped barrel and "spring"-type front sight are indicators, and these can be seen with a variety of orthopedic-pistol grips. As for the heavy trigger pull, in Soviet Russia, trigger pull learns you.
Here's a photo of the same model with a different grip:

 

[belercous]

SDC: I've got the gun you're talking about, that's it. Same grips, spring type front sight, same barrel.

I'm pretty sure this gun was remanufactured into its current configuration because it appears to have been reblued due to coarse "polishing" (more like fine grinder marks) and the S/N gives it a 1936 date. The rear sight area seems to have been built up by welding & the hammer is different than my other (standard) Nagant.

I appreciate the info on this gun, I like to know that sort of stuff. I'm not interested in parting with it, but does anyone know what these things are worth?

 

[Dr.Rob]

Shotgun News had an extensive write up of these. Trying to find a link for you but SGN is pretty notorious for not making detailed content available online.

 

[SDC]

No idea on value, sorry, but these revolvers were made between 1953 and 1962, when the TOZ-36 was put into production as a dedicated target revolver.

 

[The Teacher]

There is a fairly detailed post over at Gunboards about the history of these revolvers. Posts #11-#13 have all the info about your particular model. These were made from older service models sometime in the late 1950's. They aren't terribly commonplace, as I believe approximately 8,220 pistols were converted, according to the info I read.

http://forums.gunboards.com/showthread.php?196918-Russian-and-Soviet-Nagant-Target-Revolvers

And it looks like some, but not all of that info has made its way to RussianRevolvers. Joe will probably get the rest of the info up there when he gets time.

http://www.russianrevolvers.com/TargetNagants.html

Your appears to be an MTs-4 Model 1. I usually see them sell for anywhere from $200-$250.

 

[belercous]

Thanks Teacher. I'm glad to know what model it is & will look up the cites you've given.

I appreciate everyone's response to my question, thank you all very much.