Just picked up a Nagant Revolver

[Synack]

I've been a member on B&B for years and never noticed the Shooting forum before ;-).

I picked up a Mosin Nagant M91/30 a couple of months ago, which led into a C&R cruffling war between me and the dad.

His latest acquisition was a 1943 Tula Nagant Revolver -- Completely wacky 7.62x38R ammo, which ironically appears to be more available than other common calibers at the moment . I had so much fun plinking with his that I went to Gander Mountain quickly afterward and managed to snag the last one still slimed up in a box:

Before cleaning:

And after:

...Now I just need to find a LUX razor and some Astra blades for the SOTD before test firing .

 

[rickboone1]

crap, that's a nice clean up!!

 

[Synack]

Luckily when the Soviets rearsenaled their stuff they dunked them in Cosmoline (I think this was along the lines of axle grease ). Kinda tedious cleaning it up, but you can end up with a very minty looking 76 year old revolver .

 

[Wishoot]

Looks great! Always wanted to shoot one of these things.

FWIW I was poking around the internets last night and came across7.62x38R ammo at Aim Surplus...

 

[Wid]

Very nice.

 

[Obiwan]

very cool.

 

[FuturisticLinguistics]

I've been itching for one for a while, but, just as I predicted before leaving for Basic Training, as soon as I had acquired some good money to use on expanding my firearm collection, some jerk would go and kill a bunch of people, politicians would blame the guns, and the prices would skyrocket while the availability plummeted. And then it happened.

I don't suppose anyone knows of any places that still have these in stock, do you?

 

[Hayden]

Looks brand new, great find.

 

[dreadpirate]

C&R weapons are not always subject to the same restrictions as modern firearms, so they may have advantages in states that heavily regulate firearms.

 

[Synack]

I don't suppose anyone knows of any places that still have these in stock, do you?

Looks like AIM Surplus, J&G and the other online vendors are out of stock... Do you have a Gander Mountain nearby? Maybe you could still find one there like I did. (It would be in the used case.)

 

[noelekal]

Here's excerpt from a post I made to another forum in January of 2010 discussing the Nagant revolver. I was testing some .32 revolvers, both Colt and Smith & Wesson and thought to throw in the Nagant. It's been said that the Nagant revolver would fire standard .32 S&W Long ammunition with some degree of satisfaction. While I can't recommend the practice to others I tried it and found it was suitable for "emergency use."

______________________

I tried the Aguila in the 7.62 Nagant revolver that Chuck sent along to me last summer, just because so many claim that it is ok to shoot .32 S&W Long in the Nagant's factory cylinder. I've already tested the revolver for accuracy with .32 S&W Long and satisfied myself that it is a non-event to fire .32 S&W Long ammunition in it. All that remained was to test .32 S&W Long for velocity and consistency.

Aguila .32 S&W Long ammunition fired in a Nagant revolver

574 fps MV
72 ft./lbs ME
25 ES
15 SD

By studying the 7 cartridge cases from both the 7.62 ammunition and the .32 S&?W Long ammunition in the above photo, one may see a slight bulge in the .32 S&W Long that forms when it is fired in a Nagant revolver. I've fired most of a box and have not had a split.

The six shots in the center of the target were fired using some Fiocchi 7.62 ammunition. A six o'clock hold on the numeral "10 was used. The six shots at the bottom of the target were fired using the Aguilla .32 S&W Long ammunition. A six o'clock hold on the numeral "6" was used. Distance to the target was 10 yards in both instances.


The Nagant will give a really good accuracy performance with the .32 S&W Long ammunition, better in fact than it shoots its own proper ammunition. The revolver balances, and points much better than it looks. The double-action trigger is wretched, due to the fact that the trigger's action also effects the gas seal feature. The single-action trigger pull is reasonable. This revolver is hopeless to load and unload with any speed. Slower than molasses, it operates like a Colt Single Action Army but with a curious pivoting ejector rod that has no spring to retract it. If under attack or fighting hand-to-hand, in a combat situation, one would have it's cylinder's compliment of 7 shots with no reasonable way to reload in a timely manner. The gas seal system for which it is famous does work, but for no purpose since the ammunition is so feeble.

Here's a test of Fiocchi factory 7.62 Nagant ammunition with a 98 grain jacketed bullet.

672 fps MV
98 ft./lbs ME
84 ES
28 SD

When considering the operation of the Nagant, one would have been just as well off to try to beat back the German hoards in 1941 if he'd been armed with a Colt Police Positive .32.

 

[RichieRich3902]

They really shine when you thread the barrel and add your favorite 9mm suppressor.

 

[Synack]

It is neat that this seems capable of firing a few different rounds in a pinch. If they were still available I'd probably pick up the aftermarket .32 cylinder.

Ironically, 7.62 Nagant ammo is currently less expensive than .32 S&W Long...

 

[MrMurphy]

Rather oddly, the Russians went from .44 S&W Number 3's with simultaneous ejection and a serious caliber, which were apparently well liked, to a slower than mud single ejecting design in a small caliber.

They were attempting to 'modernize' and smaller caliber Nagant revolvers were in wide use at the time in European armies, and most of those armies treated (and still mostly due) pistols as a badge of rank and not a overly serious fighting weapon, so 'combat reloads' were not an issue.

Till fairly recently not much had changed, two former Soviet troopers I've spoken to said the Makarov was good for executing prisoners or committing suicide, but for fighting, get an AK..... and neither of these two knew the other one, statements given 3 years and 2 countries apart, with one being an Afghan-era vet, the other a Chechnya veteran.

 

[Colt Hammerless]

Synack,

I had to laugh at your comment about the ammo being more available than other cartridges right now. Sort of a "Meek shall inherit the Earth" thing. Are the aftermarket cylinders no longer being made? I remember they were available in .32 acp for a while.

Paul

 

[Synack]

Synack,

I had to laugh at your comment about the ammo being more available than other cartridges right now. Sort of a "Meek shall inherit the Earth" thing. Are the aftermarket cylinders no longer being made? I remember they were available in .32 acp for a while.

Paul

A bit of thread necro here, haven't checked in for a while... Yea, I've actually been looking for the .32 cylinder and couldn't find it either. (Though with all of the crazy buying lately even milsurp parts seem to be drying up!)