I could not find a reasonably priced beater shotgun today. Instead, I purchased the first Nagant revolver I had seen in the flesh for a while. I paid 185, which looking on gunbroker is a bit high, but not wholly unreasonable if you figure in that I'd have had shipping and a transfer fee.

I first read about these way back in the mid 80s as a kid, long before they were commonly imported en masse from Russia in later years. It was an article in Combat Handguns or some such about obscure house guns, anx how the author had a Nagant. It stuck in my head and I wanted one.

I did not buy one when they were cheap and plentiful. Now they are drying up and I do not imagine they will get any cheaper. So I bought the sole example I have seen in a while. It is a Century Arms import that left a Soviet factory in 1945.

Another $20 got my three cardboard boxes, 14rds in each, of unknown surplus ammo. There is no writing at all on the little boxes

Huh. Ghastly double action pull. Single action pull that is merely terrible. Expensive ish ammo that is uncommon and under powered....

Maybe I should have made an offer on that top break H&R in .32 S&W I saw... or bought a Hi Point.

I guess my new toy is an interesting piece of history. It may have been there for the fall of Berlin or the Soviet invasion of Manchuria after all. It is also somewhat mechanically interesting. But is it actually good for anything in terms of practical use?

I've been tempted to get one of these on a few occasions...I believe that you just talked me out of doing so. Thanks.

Tie it in a small tree, pull the trigger with at least 20 ft. of string. If it doesn't blow up, good deal. Another gun is always good. I've bought several, most people would consider real beaters, that survived my "test" and turned out to be fun, just throw in the truck, shooters and some that "were" junk for the just in case might actually have a part box. Can't make a living on it but is fun.

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Just a shooter

It's a great gun to work on maintaining good sight picture and strengthening your trigger finger. If you can shoot that gun accurately in double action you can shoot anything.
Trying to reload the rounds is also a very unique and interesting exercise. I believe I use 32 s&w long expander die , a 357 seater die and 30 carbine crimp die.

You could have went out on the town and spent $200. and not have anything to show for it the next morning. Now you have a gun to show for your money. Looks to me like a better investment than a chunk of beef and a bottle of kickapoo juice. Larry

Back when they were more plentyful I looked at many on the auction
sites that were cheap and looked like new and was tempted. But I
talked myself out of buying one by thinking about what else I could
get for the same or a little more money. Like an old K frame S&W in
the common 38 spl or something similar. Going to a gun shop or gun
show with cash burning a hole in your pocket often leads to buyer's
remorse.

I have, to be fair, never heard of anyone coming to harm with a Nagant or having one fail catastrophically. The Russians do build solid guns. Some people fire these with .32 SW Long or .32 HR Mag rounds with various results reported. They also did serve in both WW1 and 2, the Russian Civil War and other conflicts.

I will shoot up a few rounds of the mystery surplus tomorrow and see what happens.

An odd but interesting piece of history. If you find a .32 ACP aftermarket cylinder for it you'll probably shoot it more.

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

Maybe this will cheer you up.

Didn't know there was an album version of that tune.

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Release the Kraken

You can make your own reloads with resized .32-20 brass or you can shoot .32 H&R Mag as-is. .32 S&W Long tends to bulge a bit but you can wrap a layer of scotch tape around it to prevent that. As for the trigger pull, take the grips off and wedge a .38 cal wadcutter between the mainspring and frame. That will take some tension off the mainspring and lighten the pull a bit.

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Chris
SWCA #2243 SWHF #292

I have one that I've never fired. My uncle brought it back from WWII, took it off a Russian officer that had been killed.

I have one but the better half won't let me shoot it till Christmas..
Ammo was not bad, about $24 I think.
Only reason is it has a built date of 1941.
My birth year.

I have Lee dies, brass and original bullets to load it with if I live that long... LOL!

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Only difference Fool/Mule-ears

Get a suppressor for it.

I am very familiar with it. I didn't need a .22 l.r. lever action but got the Uberti 1866 nevertheless. It had a few issues that I addressed and it is now a fun-gun.

After all, time heals all wounds.

Now you know why the Soviets used human wave tactics.

I had one that would rotate the cylinder, but not drop the hammer in double action.
That firing pin is just in time for Halloween.

Mine's gone, don't miss it.

When it comes to cheap revolvers, I'd rather have a shooter grade model 10.

The Nagants are ugly, quirky guns.

But hey, I like guns, and it qualifies.

Many years ago a friend gave me one of these as a Christmas present. Yeah, they were that cheap back then. It came with the holster, tool kit and lanyard too. He wouldn't tell me exactly what he paid, but I know the whole package was less than $75.
At the time ammo was very hard to find and darned expensive. So I picked up a .32acp cylinder for about $25. I don't know if anybody still offers the cylinders, but regular 7.62 Nagant ammo has become much more available in the last few years and is reasonably priced.
Its fairly easy to take apart and will definitely benefit from a bit of internal polishing. But even so, the trigger is still plumb awful.
Over all it is a unique, historical piece that's actually a lot of fun to shoot. It does draw attention at the range and gets some interesting conversations started. About half the fun is watching someone totally unfamiliar with the Nagant try to shoot the thing.
No, its not a target gun and I sure wouldn't use it for self defense. But it is an interesting range toy and a hoot to shoot.

BTW: In the last year or so I've seen several of these at gun shows priced at $225. So you actually did pretty good on yours.

I seem to remember a "Target" version of the Nagant being offered a few years ago. It had adjustable sights and some kind of a semi-ergo grip.

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Dean
SWCA #680 SWHF #446

Practical use? You've never played Russian roulette? That's the gun!

They were more of a rank symbol then anything else.

the original military round fired a 100gr bullet at 1,100 ft/s making them close to the .32-20 Winchester and .32 H&R Magnum in power. Ft/lbs was around 250. In that loading the gun is over built

They were used as assassination guns as well, when fitted with silencers

This is how you should carry one!

Correction, that's how you carry two.

Looks like he was determined to have something that worked when he needed it to.... Can't have too many back up guns.

I believe a Nagant was used by Prince Felix Youssoupov on Rasputin. But that was long before 1941, so it couldn't be the same gun. Nonetheless, these are interesting pieces of history and also mechanically interesting. Not too long ago at the range, I picked up a handful of fired Nagant cases with S&B headstamps, so I suppose S&B makes them.

1945 was a long time ago. I am not familiar with Nagants but the guts inside are probably either dry, rusted, or covered with sticky goo. You might want to take a peek in there and correct any issues before shooting it much more.

Accuracy is insignificant for contact shots against the back of a political dissident's head.

I'd still like to get a nice Nagant revolver for a good price.

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What would Jim Cirillo do?

I believe I read somewhere that the Sa/Da Nagant were meant for officers only.

Congratulations comrade.

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Isaiah 41:10

Most were arsenal refinished and stored. When imported they are cleaned. Haven't heard of people having problems and most don't take them apart

Here you go........

Attached Images

TNagant.JPG (65.3 KB, 113 views)

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Dean
SWCA #680 SWHF #446

I find them to be quite fun to shoot. The SA pull really isn't that bad, just heavy, and the rounds are so wimpy that there's no recoil, just a soft *pff* sound. I'm pretty accurate with mine and enjoy it for what it is.

Cheer up!!! It's not as ugly as a Rhino.

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S&WHF 366

It seems like a cheap price for an interesting piece of history. I've seen people spend a lot more for a lot less. I wouldn't have any remorse over the purchase.

I got one for my son for his birthday a couple of years ago. Fun/interesting gun. Low recoil, but a pain to unload. I got it before the last ammo scare. When there was NO ammo on the shelf at Cabela's there was always ammo for the Nagant. Not my first choice for a CCW, but WAy better gun then the *** Bryco .380 I had.

I picked one up many moons ago for $100. It came with the holster, extras and a few boxes of ammo. It's "interesting" and a part of firearms history. That's about it. Still, I like mine and enjoy showing it to others, usually resulting in "cooooool - that's really weird". I've found ammo always on the shelves at Cabela's, so I stocked up a bit. Might have to get it out and shoot it some soon.

Also, due to the cylinder moving forward and sealing the barrel gap, it's the only revolver I'm aware of that can effectively be suppressed.

I had read once that the principal use of sidearms by the Soviet military was to shoot deserters. If a Soviet soldier showed the slightest indication that he was considering making like a jackrabbit, he was shot on the spot by whatever noncom or officer was there. That was their job.

I bought one years ago. Just recently found a single box of ammo at a gun show. I find it somewhat odd that one of the illustrations in NRA Basic Pistol Class PowerPoint is obviously a Nagant. Lots of worse ways to spend $200.

PPU sells ammo for it at not too bad a price, and it's great brass for reloading purposes.

Reloading the 7.62 Nagant isn't hard, but it has a few quirks and it took awhile to find a process that worked to reload factory brass.

I posted this on another forum awhile ago, but it's relevant to this forum in terms of reloading for the Nagant revolver - as that is the key to getting to live this rather eccentric revolver.

Reloading for the Nagant:

In general you’ll be hard pressed to find published load data for the 7.62mm Nagant, and suggested loads are comparatively rare even on the internet, but most folks seem to start with low end .32 S&W Long loads and go from there, keeping the pressure fairly low in the 11,000 to 15,000 psi range. The 1895 Nagant appears to be about as heavily constructed as some lightweight .38 Specials, and given that they seem to tolerate SAAMI spec ammunition to 17,000 psi, the Nagant might stand up to similar pressure. However the 7.62mm Nagant. like the .32 S&W Long, will never be a power house round and pushing the pressure above target round levels does not make much sense. The current ammo makers seem to feel the same way as the Fiocchi and PPU offerings give fairly low target cartridge velocities in the 700 fps range with a 98 grain bullet.

What you will find on the internet is numerous different ways to load the cartridge using original berdan primed cases, modern boxer primed cases, modified .32-20 cases and cases made from .223 Remington cases. I'm only going to address reloading factory brass with Lee dies, as oddly enough that's information that is rather hard to find, and given the availability of 7.62mm Nagant brass from PPU as well as loaded boxer primed ammo from PPU and Fiocchi, I now load boxer primed 7.62mm Nagant brass exclusively.

Bore diameters vary, as due to bullet diameters you'll find in what limited data is out there. Soft lead or soft lead plated bullets are the way to go,a nd .308" plated bullets seem to work well avoiding leading issues while obturating well in the bore. The Nagant has lands that are comparatively tall, so while .308" bullets work well, larger diameter (.311"-.313") bullets seem to engrave easily enough and also work well, particularly with soft cast lead bullets. If there is a problem area it's with .308" diameter hard cast lead bullets that may not obturate enough or soon enough to avoid leading problems.

There are three choices for dies:

1) RCBS makes dies for the 7.62 Nagant, but they want $168 for a set and that’s more than most people paid for the revolver itself.

2) Lee Precision makes a set of dies for the 7.62 Nagant and they can be found for sane money. The Lee dies however are intended for use with .32-20 cases modified for the Nagant, not actual 7.62 Nagant brass, consequently the Lee set includes a 7.62mm Nagant sizing die, along with .32-20 flaring and seating dies. They work fine on PPU brass - with a couple minor parts changes here and there, depending on the bullet diameter you use.

3) Finally, you can load the round using .30 Carbine dies, and in the end I found no real downside to using them to load PPU factory brass.

I started with the Lee dies and developed my reloading techniques with them, and then found they worked fine with Lee .30 Carbine dies as well. The shell holder that comes with the Lee case is better suited to the .32-20 case the set was intended for and holds a factory case a little too loosely. I found a standard 9mm Para shell holder was a perfect fit, as was a 9mm shell plate on my Dillon press.

Initially I noted the Lee sizing die was clearly over sizing the case when used with .311"-.313" diameter bullets. This resulted in a wasp shaped case once the bullet was seated (3rd from the left in the pictures below), needlessly works the brass, and reduces the concentricity of the bullet in the case. I also noted that the de-capping pin was straight and did not always remove the remains of the crimp from the case, and overall it produced a less than satisfactory result. The potential oversizing is not all bad however as it means you can use .308” diameter bullets and still have adequate neck tension. However if you’re using larger .311-.313 cast bullets, you’re working the brass a lot more than necessary.

Consequently I took a Lee Precision long tapered decapping/expander ball assembly intended for the .303 Brit, 7.7mm Jap and.32-40 and mounted it in a seldom used sizing die for my .400 Corbon. The .303 Brit tapered expander ball in the over size die allows me to de-cap the fired cases and iron out any remaining crimp without sizing the case.

At the next stage, I noted that the .32-20 expander/flaring plug included in the 7.62mm Nagant flaring die was fairly short and did not do a great job of prepping the case for the bullet, particularly when using larger .311”-.313” cast bullets. Consequently, I substituted the longer expander plug from a Lee .30 Carbine flaring die. The longer plug let me expand the case mouth for most of the length of the bullet, before putting a mild flare on the end to accept a .313” bullet.



I did use the stock Lee seating die in the set, which is again a .32-20 die. It works fine and can be adjusted to seat the bullet flush with the case mouth, and then put a very mild roll crimp on the case mouth to help it center the cartridge in the forcing cone.

One advantage of the 1895 Nagant design is that if the timing is not quite right, the cylinder will compensate and correct the alignment with forcing cone when it comes forward, however for this to happen the case mouth has to avoid hanging up on the edge of the forcing cone. If the timing is off a bit on your revolver, you may need to have a reduced diameter at the case mouth so it is inside the cone as the cylinder moves forward to ensure smooth functioning. The small case mouth diameter on factory ammo accommodates this, but with roll crimped hand loads the margin of error is slim and if you’ve got timing issues, you may need a custom die to put a 20 degree taper on the end of the cartridge above the bullet.

Once the round is completed, you may discover that the finished round won’t completely chamber. The 7.62mm Nagant, like the .30 Carbine, is a tapered cartridge and the cartridge needs to remain sufficiently tapered to chamber easily.

I found that with a .308” diameter bullet the finished round will usually chamber in my particular 1895 Nagant. However if I use a .311 to .313 cast lead bullet (which I buy in large quantities to feed a few .32 ACP pistols) the diameter of the loaded round is too large to fully chamber in the 1895 Nagant, stopping about ¼” short.

This is where I finally use the the 7.62mm Nagant sizing die. I post size the loaded round just enough to allow the round to chamber, and on my particular Nagant, I can achieve this with the sizing die backed off .540", suggesting nearly all the sizing that is occurring is around the bullet itself. I pulled one of the bullets from a post sized cartridge with a kinetic bullet puller, (the only way to do it) and then measured the diameter of the bullet. I found it was a consistent .3105”, confirming that the bullet is being sized a few thousandths of an inch in the process.

Below are pictured, from left to right: 1) a loaded PPU round, 2) a fired PPU round; 3) PPU brass loaded via sizing with the Lee sizing die first, then post sized with the 7.62mm Nagant sizing die (note the wasp waist appearance); and 4) a round decapped in an over sized die using a .303 Brit/7.7mm Jap expander ball/decapping pin, and partially post sized in the 7.62 Nagant sizing die.




I played around with the process and parts a bit and I've concluded, as have others, that you can load factory brass with .30 Carbine dies and skip the Lee set entirely. I'd probably stay with Lee .30 Carbine dies as their expander plug works really well for this round. I'd also continue to skip sizing the case upfront and post size the case after the fact. You'll need to size the case about another 1/4" into the die compared to the 7.62mm Nagant die to get it to chamber properly. I've also noted that when you skip case sizing as an initial step the straight de-capping pin seems to work ok with only slightly more pressure needed in the expander/flaring step, so you could probably skip the .303 Brit expander ball/decapping pin assembly.

It sounds more complicated than it is, and once all the parts were assembled and proven on a hand press, it only took about 10 minutes to set and adjust all the dies in a tool head on my Dillon press. Since I don’t produce these in the same quantity that I do .32 ACP, and due to the flaring requirements for the case, I use a powder measure adapter die and a manually operated Hornady lock and load measure with a small rotor and a handgun micrometer assembly. It drops the small 2.5-3.5 grain charges accurately and other than manually operating the measure, the workflow is the same as with any other cartridge loaded on my 550B, making it an easy caliber to load.

Case Life:

Combining the above approach to reloading the case using minimal sizing and working of the brass, with moderate velocity loads that allow the case to easily eject, case life has proven to be very good - as good as with other tapered wall pistol cases and you should be able to expect at least 10 re-loads per case before the neck starts to split. They key here is again working the brass as little as possible and keeping the pressures down to avoid having to full length size the case.

Bullets:

You'll want to slug your barrel as they vary a lot but some folks have great results with .308 bullets. Others are happier with bullets in the .310-.311 range.

I've used 75 gr cast .313" cast bullets from Rimrock - the same bullets I use in my .32 ACP - as well as 93 and 100 grain .311" cast bullets intended for the 30 Luger, and 100 grain .313" cast bullets intended for the .32 S&W and .32 H&R. It's not picky, and the post sizing process will size the bullet inside the case to the final diameter needed for the cartridge to chamber in the cylinder.

I found that 4.0 grains of Unique works well with a 75 gr lead flat nose bullet.

Some guns are worth owning even if you never want to shoot them. That Nagant has history, it's seen more years than me and both my guns combined (not counting the broken Winchester 62A I am working on fixing). I think there is something very cool about having something like that, even if it's not the best shooter in your collection. Especially something produced in the 40's, you know it was built with a purpose in mind. Who knows what it actually did, but I wager it would tell some stories if it could.

I bought a Husqvarna Nagant years ago for the very reason that it has history. It's a cool duck and sits on my hearth in full view of the world - in my home, anyway. I never even attempted to find ammunition for it. It's history on display.

Can't help ya, too much, Pard. However... just think of it like this here: you got the most expensive canoe-anchor money can buy. Just a real light canoe... at that.

Anything that goes wrong with a Nagant you can fix with a hammer . . .

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

This site is amazing for the offbeat knowledge of firearms, Someone just gave me a Russian TULA 1916 Nagant M1895. There were no strings attached with the gift so I don’t know what to do with it, I have no use for it. I was going to give it away as a Karma but I don’t have a C&R license so it would have to be transferred by FFL. It looks OK for a 99 year old gun, I tried cleaning the bore and got some rust on the few patches I ran thru it. I thought it was single action but when I really pulled on the trigger it did indeed fire double action. Any help would be appreciated I live near Cleveland, OH.
Thanks

The M95 revolvers are good guns. They were 'cutting edge' technology in 1895....but dated soon after by rapid advancements in self-loading pistols soon after.

As far as it goes...buying an extra cylinder in .32 acp is a gamble..as in "will it work in my M95?"....the last Nagant revolver I bought came with a mint/new .32acp cylinder. I have three M95 Nagants...however the .32acp cylinder will only 'drop' into one of those revolvers and work properly. Oddly enough the cylinder won't work in the revolver it came with...wouldn't work in the next Nagant either..dropped right in and works well in the third revolver....

A Nagant would be good burglar bait... so your good guns don't get stolen!

I have one that I enjoy shooting at the range, especially when other folks are around. I think it might make a good bunny gun. My brother is a Russian linguist and found the idea of putting a .30 caliber bullet between the mainspring and the frame in the manual I got with mine. It helped a lot. The DA is still long and fairly heavy but not like it was. SA pull isn't bad at all and is how I would target bunnies. Oddly, the grip feels good in my hand.

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CPT, Armor (Ret)
Luke 22:36

I like the Nagant revolver. The one I had was a great shooter with the low mojo Hotshot/PPU stuff. Yes the DA is stiff, but SA was decent and like another poster mentioned, sometimes they need to be cleaned up first as they may have been sitting for oh half a century or more.
I always thought it would be neat to find two extra .32acp cylinders, ream one of them to .32 H&R. You'd have a revolver that shoots .32acp, S&W, SWL, H&R mag and 7.62x38r without splitting brass.

Gator, you bought a milsurp collectible not a barbecue gun. It is a piece of history not so much art (though some likely disagree). The handgun of choice for WWI Russian officers, Bolsheviks, White Russians, supplied to North Korea and North Vietnam, is still the firearm of remote Russian police forces. My "expertise" comes from reading an article in Surplus Firearms (From Guns & Ammo) Magazine in the interesting October 2011 edition.

I still haven't shot the thing. Maybe this weekend if Halloween stuff does not get in the way.

The Red Army seems to have used handguns more extensively for close combat in WW2 than is generally assumed in the West. Certain special units akin to Rangers had suppressed Nagants. Others went to tankers -the Red Army having a lot of tanks, pilots, officers, and probably artillery men.

Backyard ballistic tests done by others show Russian military loads penetrating 21 " of ballistic gelatin. The PPU apparently manages 18". Fiochi apparently now loads it hotter, claiming almost 1100 fps. Some heretics think original Russian service loads were even hotter, in the 1300 to 1400 fps range and akin to the much later .327 Magnum, and thus essentially once a Russian secret weapon. Original criteria included being able to kill a horse at 50 yards apparently.

Where it may be interesting is in winter here. Some of the guns survive in the Wilds of Siberia simply because they fire even under terrible conditions. Winter here can be....interesting....as well.

For whatever reason the Russians wanted single ejection, despite having recently used their top break Smith and Wessons. Those revolvers were the original Russian Roulette guns if memory serves.

Well, I'm certainly inspired!
Keith

Have the gun scratched up, nickeled and put on some Reindeer head Ivory grips and you will be ready to attend a Borsch cooking. Larry

I like them myself, when they were really cheep ($80) I bought several and still have 5 of them. Tuned up one with a little polishing and the spacer under the mainspring and it is quite accurate in single action, the double action is smooth but heavy. When our store was selling these we had surplus military and target ammunition, the military loads were noticeably hotter than the target stuff.

Like the previous poster I found that 30 carbine die sets do a fine job reloading this round and I mainly shoot my own reloads now. They are fun to shoot and have a lot of historical interest.