New (to me) Russian wheelgun

[DanTheEldest]

The Brown Truck of Happiness arrived with my first "official" C&R purchase (using the license to get it shipped direct to my place), and I'm very happy with the results:

1936 Tula-made Nagant revolver, chambered in 7.62x38R Nagant (with the funky collared rounds to help with the gas-tight joint at the barrel), holster, screwdriver, cleaning rod, and lanyard:



This pic shows the reverse, with maker's mark and hammer cocked to show the wicked firing pin (no transfer bars here) and cylinder sealed up tight against the barrel:



I ordered from my home-state guys at J&G sales, and I'm really happy with the piece. I paid the extra $10 hand-select fee, and the gun is in remarkable shape. Once I figured out how to pull the cylinder, I checked the bore and it's extremely nice--no corrosion and very defined rifling. The bluing is excellent, and my only small gripe so far is that the trigger guard/front strap piece seems to be a bit loose and wiggly, but I'll look into tightening it somehow. For a grand total of $89 (before shipping), I consider it a bargain and an interesting piece for any Russian or wheelgun collector. Test firing on Saturday morning if the ammo shows up in time.

Just for grins, here's a clip I found of a suppressed example, showing how effective the gas-tight joint is at controlling noise and combustion:

YouTube - Silenced 1895 Nagant revolver (NFA)

[daveIT]

Nice...if I can find ammo in Alaska I will be buying one of those.

[DanTheEldest]

Originally Posted by daveIT

Nice...if I can find ammo in Alaska I will be buying one of those.

You can order it from a couple different sites, and after researching it a little bit they also make conversion cylinders for the gun in .32 ACP, which should be a bit easier to find.

[nothingness]

Very nice. The silenced nagant youtube vid was cool too.

[daveIT]

Originally Posted by DanTheEldest

You can order it from a couple different sites, and after researching it a little bit they also make conversion cylinders for the gun in .32 ACP, which should be a bit easier to find.

Yeah, but can't ship ammo to Alaska via normal means, so it's pretty costly to get it here. I'll check around the local gun shops. Next year at this time I'll be somewhere in the lower 48 (please God not a gun-nazi state !!)

[Joeywhat]

Looks very nice...I'm not a wheelgun guy by any means, but that looks like a good piece.

[nothingness]

Looking at it again, I didn't expect old C&R stuff to look so clean. That doesn't look surplus gritty like alot of stuff i've seen. Even the grips are nice.

[daveIT]

Just be careful buying French weapons. They are usually damaged from them throwing them down.

[DanTheEldest]

Just in the way of updates, I took it out along with a few of its safe-mates yesterday to try it out. Everything works well, with no failure-to-fires, and the action worked the way it's supposed to every time. Recoil is extremely mild, maybe even milder than .38's in a .357. A couple of my discoveries:

1. Single-action shooting this piece is the way to go. The double-action pull is so heavy it would tend to throw off your POA, so cock it first.

2. It hits high for some reason. I was lining up the sights the way a typical post-and-groove sight usually works, and I found that it still hits a couple inches high at ten yards even when lined up properly. Gotta investigate that a bit more.

Overall it's a fun little gun and, while I probably won't shoot it much, it adds a distinctive touch to the Russkie collection.

[Tattooed Bard]

Sweet purchase Dan