This is off-topic being about M1895 Nagants, but since I am questioning the use of SMITH & WESSON .32 caliber Long's I thought I would post it on the forum
I am new to Nagant's, in fact I just ordered two from SOG and will pick the best one and sell the other.
I hear alot about 32 ACP cylinders, but I thought i have also heard of people shooting some types of S&W ammo through them with the factory cylinder.
Is that dangerous? What types and calibers are they using?
I did a little googling and here is what I came up with, it seems to be fairly well split between the never use anything other than 7.62 and the S&W and H&R are fine
Q: I have been told that Smith & Wesson .32 Long cartridges can be safely fired in the Russian Nagant 7.62 Military revolver. Is this true?
A: The .023" difference in head diameter between the .32 S&W Long's .335" and the Nagant's .358" is enough to nix the idea even at the lowly pressure of the .32 Long. Ruptured handgun brass is always a bad thing. The correct case to create 7.62 Nagant amino is the .32-20, although the case won't be long enough to form the gas seal. If the high cost, limited availability and hassle of the 7.62 Nagant round vexes you, get an extra .32 ACP cylinder for it. They are available from Century Int. Arms, (561) 998-1997,
Century International Arms, Inc. for $59.95 and will provide plenty of safe, cheap fun.
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from the wikipedia
The revolver can be fired using the .32 Smith & Wesson Long, and .32 H&R Magnum cartridges, but this practice is not generally advised. The Nagant revolver was not designed to fire these rounds, which have different dimensions, so the shooter should be aware of the risks before attempting to use them in the revolver. Aftermarket cylinders for .32 can be installed by the shooter, allowing them to safely fire .32 H&R
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One saying it is ok
In an effort to get around the problem, various outfits sell a Korean-made replacement cylinder to adapt the Nagant to the .32 auto cartridge. Unfortunately these don't always work well and often need to be hand-fitted by a gunsmith.
All this is unnecessary. The Nagant will cheerfully digest ordinary American .32 S&W Long cartridges, or the considerably more powerful .32 Magnum. This last puts the old pistol back in the running as a serious weapon; there are commercial hollow-point loads for the .32 Mag that are not too far behind the standard .38 Special in effectiveness. For some reason not many people seem to know that the Nagant will take these commonly-available .32 loads; if word could be gotten out I think this would become a much more popular firearm.
(Some people have broadcast dire warnings against using any cartridge but the one for which the weapon was designed. These are the same sort of people who carry a modern revolver with the hammer down on an empty chamber, and drive 55 even when nobody's looking, and wear a rubber when getting a blow job, and so on. Somebody like that really should leave guns alone altogether. In fact plenty of people routinely shoot .32 S&W and Magnum loads in Nagants with no harm done, barring bulged cases - which doesn't hurt anything unless you plan to reload them - and occasional stiff extraction. The Nagant is a very solidly constructed weapon and capable of handling reasonable pressures; after all, the original Russian military load was more powerful than the .32 S&W and not far below the modern .32 Mag.)