Husqvarna M/1887 Revolver

I believe that there has been some previous discussion of the Husqvarna M/1887 7.5 x 22mmR Swedish revolvers. I thought you guys would enjoy seeing what the famous brothers Leon and Emile Nagant came up with in Liege, Belgium around the same time that Smith & Wesson, Colt and Webley were introducing revolvers that were double action, solid frame, simultaneous ejection or were comprised of various combinations of those features.
The first version was introduced around 1884, and it was adopted by the Swedish Army in 1887. Initial production was by the Nagant factory with around 2600 revolvers built before manufacture was licensed to Husqvarna Vapenfabrik in 1898. Husqvarna built around 14,000 more before production ceased in 1905. This revolver did not have a long service life as it was replaced by the Browning designed M/07 automatic in 9mm Browning Long in 1907. It is chambered for the 7.5 x 22mmR cartridge which in power is about equal to the .32 S&W Long. Not an impressive manstopper but about normal for European handgun cartridges of the period. It is however beautifully made and nowhere near as crude as the Russian M95 Nagant revolvers that use the odd gas seal system that are fairly common now, with thousands imported in the last decade or so. The bulk of the Husqvarna M/1887 revolvers were imported in late 50's to early 60's and sold for the magnificent price of $13.95 (Very Good) to $17.95 (Excellent condition). Factory ammo is about impossible to find these days but can be made from shortened .32-20 brass and loaded with a pinch of powder and a swaged hollowbase .32 slug.
Here are a few shots:


To disassemble, you remove the screw labeled "A" on the right side. The sideplate on the left comes off. Removing the cylinder base pin and opening the loading gate releases the cylinder, somewhat like removing the cylinder on single action Colt.
The wooden spacer attached to the sideplate is checkered and provides an excellent gripping surface to the front and backstraps



Here is a close up of the action. All parts are serial numbered and the letters correspond to the schematic in the field manual. Many small parts are beautifully straw colored. It's a fairly simple action and heavy although smooth. The hammer is a rebounding design.



The ejection system is positive although not very fast. You give the ejector rod head a half turn counter clockwise, pull it forward, rotate the assembly to the right, open the loading gate and punch out the empties one at a time. The rod is not spring loaded.

Very interesting pistol. Swissman posted a video demonstrating loadingand unloading it. I am glad you posted more information.

In the late 1950s my first handgun was a Husqvarna like the above that had been converted to .22RF with sleeves in the barrel and chambers. I put thousands of rounds through it until I foolishly traded it off. It had a terrible DA pull but it did teach me controlled DA use over the years. I wish I had it back. It wasn't a S&W or Colt but it was a solid, quality revolver.

I have a very nice example of one.

Been using .32-20 trimmed brass (don't have to thin the rim at all!) and a mould I got from Qball as casting authentic Swedish military-style "ball."
The Fiocchi 7.5 Swiss revolver ammunition is also great, and I've picked up some and have only shot 1/2 a box- too expensive to shoot regularly.
It shoots great, but there is one thing I can't figure out...

It will not fire in single action.
When I try to fire it in single action, the hammer gets blocked, by what seems to be a safety notch and I can't figure out how to repair it. Works great double action.

Suggestions???

Husqvarna used to make some nice stuff: guns, motorcycles (ridden them, never owned one). There are Husqvarna-branded lawn mowers that are ok but nothing to write home about. Then there were these:


No hijack intended. My wife just brought this home from a thrift store. Instructions in Swedish.

Andy Griffith, it might be helpful if you take the sideplate off of your revolver and compare the action parts with the close up in my post. Perhaps the hammer notch or notch on the trigger that acts as a sear has broken or been modified ? At least you can see what's happening when you cock it and release the hammer, it's a pretty simple mechanism. Numrich shows all action parts in stock except the rebound bar spring. Hopefully that's not what you need although it looks like a simple V spring. I have heard of people making them out of those spring steel binder clips. Good luck.

7.5MM SWED REV. Accessories | Numrich Gun Parts

Switzerland used a quite similar revolver, as did Norway. When I read, "Heidi" and the men laid out their revovlers on the table, I knew they probably had those. I'm sure that I was the sole person in my jr. high class that had an iinkling about Swiss sidearms.

Memory has faded a trifle. Did the Swiss M-1882 have a fixed ejector rod housing, resembling that on the Colt SAA?

What were the ballistics on the Russian M-95 Nagant 7.62mm? I read the Russian bear thread posted by Saxon Pig and was amazed that some actually killed big brown bears! Those men must have been really desperate, and ranges were often within 2-3 meters!

Walter, thanks for this terrifc post!

Like so many revolvers of the period, it's elegant but quite ineffective compared to the norm here, even then.

If I had money, I'd be collecting things like this.

I pick up a Beretta M9 tomorrow...doesn't excite me half as much as that old piece. There's something to be marveled at when it comes to skilled old school workmanship that just isn't there in new guns. Good score Walter, I'm jealous.

Marshwheeling said:

Husqvarna used to make some nice stuff: guns, motorcycles....

Click to expand...

Here's my 1979 Husqvarna CR-390. Made in Sweden. I also had a 1973 CR-125, but sold it years ago. Thread hi-jack not intended....

G, That looks like my 390cr I sold to a local dirtbike junkyard here. He sold it. It has 43 rear wheel horsepower. The only time the rear wheel stops spinning is when I shifted gears. This bike is still considered fast today. I had an '86 husky 400 WXE we clocked at 120mph. Our KX 250 clocked out at just 85mph. To win hare scrambles in the 70's you had to be on a husky.

The Swede revolver is interesting. A few years back I picked up a Swedish husqvarna m40 in 9mm luger. It's really heavy for a pistol. The Swedish 6,5mm mausers is another story too. There over 100yo and still tack drivers. The Swedes only know one word it's "quality".

Marshwheeling said:

Husqvarna used to make some nice stuff: guns, motorcycles (ridden them, never owned one). There are Husqvarna-branded lawn mowers that are ok but nothing to write home about. Then there were these:

No hijack intended. My wife just brought this home from a thrift store. Instructions in Swedish.

Click to expand...

I used the husqvarna chainsaws logging firewood for over two decades. I won the speed cutting at the local fairs with them too.

Interesting material. I checked this thread from a web search on this:

Husqvarna 1887 Swedish Nagant 7.5mm - because I was looking for original stocks.

This thread came up.

I actually have one of these, currently on consignment at my LGS, but the grips are not original. They're odd, kind of cool, but not original. Someone on this Forum was interested in it. I can't decide if I want to take it back from the LGS and put it back on my fireplace hearth, where it resided for years (I bought it at least ten years ago for 75 bucks), or sell it to someone. It's an odd duck, that's for sure....

***GRJ***

PS:

My late father-in-law had one of the Husqvarna bolt action rifles in .30-06. He was supposed to give it to me but when he moved he needed money so he sold it. Oh, well.....!

I love old threads like this. It's like exploring a museum's archives. Lots of valuable information is uncovered that would otherwise be forgotten. NIce gun. The similarities between the action of the pictured revolver and early Smith & Wesson are unmistakable.

Interesting revolver, thanks for posting.

Is this the same people???

Is this the same outfit that makes the chainsaws and motorcycles???

Same outfit. They also made some very nice civilian and military rifles like this 1944 M38 Mauser.





They made around 88,000 M38s between 1941 and 1944. They only made 1969 of them in 44 so this is a rare one.

Texas Star said:

Switzerland used a quite similar revolver, as did Norway. When I read, "Heidi" and the men laid out their revovlers on the table, I knew they probably had those. I'm sure that I was the sole person in my jr. high class that had an iinkling about Swiss sidearms.

Memory has faded a trifle. Did the Swiss M-1882 have a fixed ejector rod housing, resembling that on the Colt SAA?

What were the ballistics on the Russian M-95 Nagant 7.62mm? I read the Russian bear thread posted by Saxon Pig and was amazed that some actually killed big brown bears! Those men must have been really desperate, and ranges were often within 2-3 meters!

Walter, thanks for this terrifc post!

Click to expand...

Texas Star, here's one of the Swiss revolvers

sheepdawg said:

Same outfit. They also made some very nice civilian and military rifles like this 1944 M38 Mauser.





They made around 88,000 M38s between 1941 and 1944. They only made 1969 of them in 44 so this is a rare one.

Click to expand...

Ahh, the Swede Mauser, something else that likes to breed in the safe. My Husky is one of the few with a matching straight bolt and inspection marks on the bolt from the Carl Gustav and Husqvarna factories.