Nagant m.1895

Russian-made Nagant revolver (circa 1925)

Russian-made Nagant Revolver (circa 1925)

 

Cut-out view of the M1895 Nagant revolver

Cut-out view of the M1895 Nagant revolver

Type: Double Action
Chamber: 7.62mm Nagant
Weight unloaded: 750 g
Length: 230 mm
Barrel length: 114 mm
Capacity: 7 rounds

 

This revolver was designed in Belgium by the Nagant brothers (Emile and Leon) in the late 1880s – early 1890s, and was adopted by numerous countries, including Sweden and Poland. However, the major user and manufacturer was undoubtably Russia (and later the Soviet Union). The Russian government adopted the Nagant revolver in 1895, and local production began in 1898 (first shipments were from Belgium). It was the standard Russian sidearm until 1930, when the M1895 Nagant was declared obsolete. It was however, still widely used and manufactured during World War 2, and production finally ceased circa 1950.

Later, some sporting revolvers, both in 7.62mm and in .22LR were developed on the Nagant platform. Intertestingly enough, the M1895 revolvers still can be seen carried by some security personnel in Russia, especially by Railroad Security and by some armed guards. Usually, those revolvers are 2 to 4 times older than the men who carry these guns.

From a technical point of view, Nagant revolvers were almost outdated at the moment of their adoption in 1895, since the newest revolvers like S&W Hand Ejectors or Colts with side-opened cylinders were much faster to reload. On the other hand, M1895 had some unusual and interesting features, one of which was a gas sealed cylinder, which made the Nagant a rare example of a revolver suitable for mounting a silencer. Such a practice was known by NKVD and some Red Army special forces (recon and scouts) during WW2. A special silencer, called a “Bramit device” was designed by the Mitin brothers and could be mounted on the barrel.

M1895 Nagant is a solid frame, seven shot revolver with a non-removable cylinder. The loading and unloading was conducted via the loading gate at the right side of the frame, individual cartridges, one by one. Spent cases were ejected by the ejector rod, which, when not in use, was concealed within the cylinder axis. It was swung to the side on the ejector rod link to be used. The original guns were double action, but the Tsarist government ordered that some of the M1895’s should be retrofitted with Single Action triggers and issued to enlisted men, while DA guns should be issued only to Officers and Police. In the Red (Soviet) Army only double action Nagants were issued.

The gas sealed cylinder, as mentioned above, was designed to use all of the powder gases available to propel the bullet (in most revolvers some gases escape from the gap between the cylinder face and barrel breech). To achieve that, the cylinder moves ahead a bit when the hammer is cocked, enclosing a barrel breech area with a recess in front of each chamber. The cartridge, unique to that design, had a long case with a tapered mouth with bullet totally enclosed inside the case. When the cylinder moves forward, the cartridge case mouth entered the barrel breech and was used as an additional seal. This was a complex mechanism, the main benefit coming only when the guns were used with a silencer (suppressor).

Although somewhat complicated and relatively slow to reload, with ammunition of marginal power, Nagants were otherwise good guns, reliable, acurate and quite popular among the troops.