Nagant Revolver

[essohbe]

I have a tendency to tinker. I was looking at the Nagant revolver and saw that Century offers a replacement cylinder in .32acp.

I think it would be a cool little gun to have and shoot in both cartridges.

Has anyone here ever done this? I should be able to leave the barrel as is, right? Unless something's really wrong.

[Wildalaska]

Cylinder. Replacement cylinder.

Shoot the real stuff, reload if you have to.

WildkilledtheczarandhisministersanastasiascreamedinvainAlaska ™

[MagnumWill]

Some people replace the cylinder on that gun for .32acp, I haven't heard of needing to change the barrel. Some people don't even replace the cylinder, they just shoot .32LC in it and throw the cases away

[SigP6Carry]

Wild, YOU'RE BACK!

In anycase, don't bother with the .32ACP cylinder. You can fire .32 S&W long and short and .32 H&R Magnum in the Nagant. And those rounds generally cost about the same as .32ACP. I'm not sure if it'll fire .327 Federal, doubt it. You can also get 7.62Nagant made by Fionchi and reload that.

To me: the .32ACP option just sucks. I'd rather keep a Nagant Revolver loaded with .32 H&R Magnum for SD than .32ACP.

What happened to all the nagants?

[Wildalaska]

Dont shoot .32 H&R in it except in an emergency. No 327 Federal at all

WildbewareAlaska ™

[essohbe]

"You can fire .32 S&W long and short"

Yea? The longs? I didn't know. Never looked at one up close.

Thanks for the info.

[Tom2]

Even with plenty of cash in hand, and the minimal investment they represent, upon close examination I have always put my wallet back in the pocket. Man, those are some rough looking guns. I suspect the early pre soviet ones might have been finished as good as something else european, but the commie ones look like alot of rough filework on iron bar stock to me. Besides the ammo issue. My cheap wartime MN rifles are probably just as rough more or less, but the attraction is tons of easy to get ammo and they do work fine.

[noelf2]

Save your money. More often than not, the 32acp cylinder won't work without some fitting/filing and such anyway. Also, I don't know of anyone that gets any decent accuracy with the 32acp cylinder.

And it does seem that the Nagant is pretty scarce these days.

[SigP6Carry]

Wait, no .32 H&R Mags? I've heard that out of the .32 S&W based calibers H&R's got the best accuracy. I've read several examples of it firing those, the only catch is: the cases generally bulge or split, making them un-reloadable. But, do you have any sources as to the "don't fire .32 H&R" in them?

edit: also, I almost bought one of these, researched all the ammo and prices and such, and when I was ready to buy: couldn't find one anymore. And when I finally did, they wanted $250 at my local Gander. Man, I hate that place. A $70 pistol for $250?!

[johnwilliamson062]

I bought one. It didn't work. Had a "smith" fit it. Only sort of worked. THey are total junk. Aoid at all costs. There is a guy who sells guns with a matching/fitted cylinder. I talked to him once and I think he actually just buys a bunc h and tries them until he finds a gun they work in. If I was going to go the cylinder route again I would get one of his.

[James K]

I got a .32 ACP cyllinder and reamed it for the .32 H&R Magnum, so now I can shoot four cartidges (plus the 7.62 with the original cylinder). Still not much of a gun, though I admit they are rugged and apparently served the Russians and others well enough.

There is an article in this month's Gun Collector (Arms and the Man) about how some fakers are removing the hammer strut from the common DA/SA Nagant and passing the guns off as the rare SA "enlisted man's" model. The fake is so easily detected that I can't imagine anyone falling for it, but then I can't see anyone paying much for either version.

Jim

[Wildalaska]

There is an article in this month's Gun Collector (Arms and the Man) about how some fakers are removing the hammer strut from the common DA/SA Nagant and passing the guns off as the rare SA "enlisted man's" model. The fake is so easily detected that I can't imagine anyone falling for it, but then I can't see anyone paying much for either version.

Its a cult Jim

Among the 12 I have now I have an Imperial Single action, non import. I have an import pending on a one of a kind one out of Germany, and I saw a Polish one sell for $1800...

Dont forget they were modified for Olympic Competition. I shoot a 1933 generally, and can put 7 shots in a 3 inch bullseye with my loads which is dang groovy considering it has a 12 pound Single Action Pull with the hammer taking 6 months to descent, along with sights as nonexistent as an honest Chicago politician


WildgimmesomekvassandashapkaAlaska TM

[SigP6Carry]

I'm still stuck on the whole "don't use .32H&R" thing. I know that the cases are slightly thinner, but the bullets and case head are almost perfect in the chamber. Plus, these guns were built to fire a 100gr projectile at 1100FPS, much like a .32H&R. Target rounds these days are rather anemic compared to the Military Ball Ammo.

[James K]

Hi, Wildalaska,

I am sure the guns are accurate and can be worked over to much higher standards than the military models.

But I remember a story from back in the 1960's. The Russian pistol team (not sure it was the Olympics, but it was some international competition) showed up with Nagants and made a great show of practicing with them. The Americans relaxed, feeling that the Russians would not be much competition.

On match day, the Russians showed up, opened their shooting boxes, and hauled out S&W K-38's. The cleaned the Americans' clock. Which goes to show that 1) maybe the Nagant is not that great as a compeition revolver and 2) he who gets overconfident is in trouble.

Hi, Thomme,

I have little doubt that the conversion cylinders are better steel than the originals, but the .32 H&R goes some 5000 psi over the Nagant cartridge, so there is some cause for concern. But, the .32 ACP is in the same pressure range as the .32 H&R, so whatever goes for one should be true of the other.

FWIW, I have fired a limited number of .32 H&R Magnum rounds in a Nagant with the conversion cylinder, and had no problems.

Jim

[Cheapshooter]

One thing you all missed in the OP. essohb said he is inclined to tinker. With that said, and the low cost of the 1895 Nagant, why not one left stock, and tinker with the 32ACP cylinder on another. I'm thinking about that one myself. Not for a more reasonable ammo cost, just to have one. I already have a really nice 1895, probably pick up another if Cole's have any at Knob Creek this April.

[SigP6Carry]

Are those the SAAMI pressure standards of modern Nagant ammo, or is it the original Military Ball Ammo?

[Wildalaska]

No one knows what the SAAMI pressure of the original ammo was, since it had numerous incarnations between 1895 and now, and it would have not been in CUP anyway

WildfiocchiislowAlaska ™

[essohbe]

..."why not one left stock, and tinker with the 32ACP cylinder on another?"

Yea! Why not? Lol.

Ever seen a silenced one? ---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvF4yurWSc0

[SigP6Carry]

I've never heard a single negative about firing .32 H&R in the Nagant, aside from the split cartridges.

And to answer the "why not get two and keep one stock and mod the other:" the huge pool of $60 revolvers has dried up pretty thoroughly. I can't really find one right now.

[darkgael]

"these guns were built to fire a 100gr projectile at 1100FPS"
Remember that that bullet was at .308 dia. (I have heard as small as .295")
Grafs sells a 98 grain .308 TMJ DEWC that is listed as specifically for the Nagant revolver.
I wonder how these different diameters affect pressure. .295 to .314 is quite a range.
Pete

[Cheapshooter]

And to answer the "why not get two and keep one stock and mod the other:" the huge pool of $60 revolvers has dried up pretty thoroughly. I can't really find one right now.

Some of the last flyers got from the distributes still listed them for under $100, but I checked their websites, and it looks like you're right. Darn! Hope they find another warehouse or so filled with them soon.

[SigP6Carry]

Last I saw: $150 (a good bit down from the $250) at Gander and $145 at a local shop. Broke my heart a little. Really wish I bought one when they were cheap, what kept me from doing it was the cost of ammo. At this point, I'm thinking I should have said "ammo be damned!" and bought one. Same thing with the FEG PA-63, Tokarevs and the SKS. I hate the Com-bloc weapons price rising.

[Wildalaska]

I shoot .311s in my Nagants

WilddoasearchAlaska ™

[SigP6Carry]

And the bullet Diameter of the H&R Magnum is .312. And if the Nagant fires an similar sized and weighted projectile at the same speed as an H&R magnum, why wouldn't the H&R magnum be a viable candidate as a substitute cartridge? I may just be misunderstanding the concept of chamber pressure vs. velocity. But, it's common practice to one-use the .32 S&W derived cartridges (up to H&R, not the new .327) in the Nagant. I've read testimonies of people who will reload the cartridges and then for the third reload, fire them in the Nagant instead of their .32's.

[noelf2]

First of all, the Nagant revolvers are OLD. May look clean if arsenal re-finished, but they are still old. I've seen the 32 mags shot from them and they spit from the barrel/cylinder pretty impressively. Wouldn't be surprised if the gasses start cutting the top strap. They don't have a normal forcing cone and tend to shave lead/copper and sting your hand with it (look at youtube video of the guy shooting 32mag, he's wearing gloves, and you can see the fire coming from the barrel/cylinder gap on his second shot).

http://tinyurl.com/yf9xsth

The Nagant was not designed to spit anything from the barrel/cylinder gap. Have fun with these old revolvers, but don't push 'em too hard. 32 swl is plenty cool to shoot from them. So is the actual ammo from Fiocci and HotShot, or get creative and roll your own like Wildalaska does. In a pinch I would shoot 32mag from mine but if I can get Nagant ammo for about the same price, that's what I'll shoot.