I am considering a Nagant revolver purchase but was concerned about the ammo availability. I came across a web page that had this to say about the 32ACP conversion....
In an effort to get around the problem, various outfits sell a Korean-made replacement cylinder to adapt the Nagant to the .32 auto cartridge. Unfortunately these don't always work well and often need to be hand-fitted by a gunsmith. All this is unnecessary. The Nagant will cheerfully digest ordinary American .32 S&W Long cartridges, or the considerably more powerful .32 Magnum. This last puts the old pistol back in the running as a serious weapon; there are commercial hollow-point loads for the .32 Mag that are not too far behind the standard .38 Special in effectiveness. For some reason not many people seem to know that the Nagant will take these commonly-available .32 loads; if word could be gotten out I think this would become a much more popular firearm.
Has anyone ever heard of this before?
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I've heard of it before, Yogi. But I don't know anyone with a Model 1895 Nagant who has tried these rounds in one. The people I know who have the pistols either shoot 7.62 Nagant out of it and reload their own; or more often they have changed over to the .32 ACP cylinder so they can shoot something affordable out of it.
No matter how you slice it, if you shoot anything but 7.62 Nagant out of a Model 1895 pistol, you are going to lose between 75 and 100 feet per second in velocity and dirty up the cylinder and frame thoroughy due to excaping gases because only the Nagant round allows the cylinder to properly seal to the barrel. I guess each shooter has to decide for himself whether to shoot rounds the pistol is not chambered for out of the original cylinder or to change over the the .32 ACP cylinder - which, by the way, costs nearly as much by itself as does the whole revolver!
I am considering a Nagant revolver purchase but was concerned about the ammo availability. I came across a web page that had this to say about the 32ACP conversion....
In an effort to get around the problem, various outfits sell a Korean-made replacement cylinder to adapt the Nagant to the .32 auto cartridge. Unfortunately these don't always work well and often need to be hand-fitted by a gunsmith. All this is unnecessary. The Nagant will cheerfully digest ordinary American .32 S&W Long cartridges, or the considerably more powerful .32 Magnum. This last puts the old pistol back in the running as a serious weapon; there are commercial hollow-point loads for the .32 Mag that are not too far behind the standard .38 Special in effectiveness. For some reason not many people seem to know that the Nagant will take these commonly-available .32 loads; if word could be gotten out I think this would become a much more popular firearm.
Has anyone ever heard of this before?
I highly suggest that you get the 1895,and use the ammo that it was designed to use.The ammo is not expensive,and the gun is a great piece of Soviet engineering.You won't be disappointed.
I second that- get one -they are nice in there own right and cheap enough to buy.. the ammo is a little pricey , but again what has not gone up way too much as of late over the years I have heard mixed results on the 32 acp conversion
Personally I do not favor mine. It was the first one I bought with my C&R and it took a few yrs for the ammo to get cheap enough to shoot it. When I did shoot it I found the trigger pull to be excessive and there to be no recoil which led me to believe that the round was under powered. This last part is only my feelings as I have not done any reloads or know of the ballistic capabilities of the round. Maybe someone here does and can enlighten me with those statistics.
My 13 yo son on the other hand loved shooting it. He could not cycle the trigger so he had to fire it from the cocked position.
I would suggest shooting one before purchasing it. I don't favor selling mine but I can't see buying another one in the future.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jason1965
I highly suggest that you get the 1895,and use the ammo that it was designed to use.The ammo is not expensive,and the gun is a great piece of Soviet engineering.You won't be disappointed.
I agree with Jason. It would be a shame to waste an interesting piece of engineering by shooting the wrong ammo or buying a cylinder that probably costs more than the gun itself.
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I am considering a Nagant revolver purchase but was concerned about the ammo availability. I came across a web page that had this to say about the 32ACP conversion....
In an effort to get around the problem, various outfits sell a Korean-made replacement cylinder to adapt the Nagant to the .32 auto cartridge. Unfortunately these don't always work well and often need to be hand-fitted by a gunsmith. All this is unnecessary. The Nagant will cheerfully digest ordinary American .32 S&W Long cartridges, or the considerably more powerful .32 Magnum. This last puts the old pistol back in the running as a serious weapon; there are commercial hollow-point loads for the .32 Mag that are not too far behind the standard .38 Special in effectiveness. For some reason not many people seem to know that the Nagant will take these commonly-available .32 loads; if word could be gotten out I think this would become a much more popular firearm.
Has anyone ever heard of this before?
I've heard about shooting .32 S&W and .32 mag, but I've also heard expect some cracked and/or stretched cases if you do. Don't expect to be able to reload any non 7.62 Nagant ammo fired in one.
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I agree with Jason. It would be a shame to waste an interesting piece of engineering by shooting the wrong ammo or buying a cylinder that probably costs more than the gun itself.
Actually I think Century International is selling the conversion cylinder for $55. Has anybody here got one? I keep hearing they may have to be fitted to your pistol, which is kind of keeping me from getting one to try it.
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I've used .32 S & W in my son's Nagant. The accuracy suffers a little, and it tends to spit lead sideways or into your face; wear shooting glasses. And yes, it stretches the cases.
The only 7.62x38 ammo we've bought specifically for it is some surplus wadcutters in yellow boxes that are specifically intended as target ammo. They do punch pretty holes, and in surprisingly tight groups. And they have no recoil worth mentioning, because paper is the only thing they're intended for. From what I've read, the Fiochi ammo available is also a target round. I assume the original military loads were hotter...
Nagants were originally designed as single-action revolvers. The double action feature was a later modification, and apparently most of the original single-action guns were converted when they were rearsenaled. I can't imagine anyone deliberately shooting them double-action, unless it's an emergency or they just like a challenge. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should..
I have sot the Hotshot brand and they shoot pretty good. You can find it for about $22 to $25 a box of 50.
Shotgun News ran a great 2 part story on these guns last year that goes over the trigger and fitting the cylinder. You might be able to find online still.
I've fired .32 S&W Longs out of mine before with no ill effect; it just takes a bit longer to clean up afterwards. I mainly use the Hot Shot brand stuff on the rare occasions I take my Nagant to the range.
surplus wadcutters in yellow boxes that are specifically intended as target ammo. They do punch pretty holes, and in surprisingly tight groups. And they have no recoil worth mentioning, because paper is the only thing they're intended for.
Nagants were originally designed as single-action revolvers. The double action feature was a later modification, and apparently most of the original single-action guns were converted when they were rearsenaled.
Troy thats the ammo I used. I might have to try that gun out on something else and see how it performs. Won't sell it though; how can you sell a gun your son loves?
That might explain why that trigger pull is so hard to pull.
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Last edited by SPOCAHP ANAR; 04-13-2009 at 06:49 AM.
Troy thats the ammo I used. I might have to try that gun out on something else and see how it performs. Won't sell it though; how can you sell a gun your son loves?
That might explain why that trigger pull is so hard to pull.
I've read in a couple of places that originally only the officers were given double-action Nagants, and non-coms and enlisted kept getting the single-action ones. Whether that's true or not, I don't know.
But yeah, I don't think Leon Nagant ever intended for people to work that complex gas-seal action with a trigger finger, instead of earing the hammer back with a thumb.
I'm still puzzled as to why an Army that was used to Smith & Wesson Russian .44's would settle for replacing them with a .32 revolver. I suppose it may be an indication they never really used handguns much in combat anyway...
I like my reloads using reformed .32-20 cases. Once fireformed, they are fully reloadable, and the mild load means they last forever. It's a good fun plinker, nothing more.
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I've read in a couple of places that originally only the officers were given double-action Nagants, and non-coms and enlisted kept getting the single-action ones. Whether that's true or not, I don't know.
I've also read that the single-action Nagants were intended for target shooting. It's said you can tell the target revolvers from the service revolvers because the former have adjustable rear sights and a slightly different front sight.
I've handled several Nagant revolvers, interwar and wartime production both, though I've never fired one. The thing that astonishes me is how, when there were so many superior revolver designs available, the Imperial Army put this one into service instead. It would have been worth it to them to license, say, the Mark I Webley, and around 1910 replace that with either the Colt Police Positive or the S&W Model 10. I guess the "Not Invented Here" Syndrome applies to the Russians quite as much as it does to the militaries of other nations, the United States included.
Alot of it also goes back to the Mosin- Nagant Rifles. Nagant actually turned in a design for another rifle and it was rejected. The Russian Brass gave him the pistol as sort of a concession for using his action on the rifle. ( the short story)
All my range employees and I have bought one of these within the last few weeks. We have been able to find ammo, and will get around to shooting them next week.
The reasons we got them are ...
1. As I have mentioned in other posts coyotes, cougars, and (Now this is very, very, very rare. Probably twice as rare as getting struck by lighting) bear have been known to be a problem around these parts. This gun, even though very underpowered, would be better to have than fists. The trigger pull will present a problem but as I said its better than nothing.
2. We have all dirt roads. The range gets dusty. We drive a Yamaha Rhino, a Polaris Ranger, and a couple of trucks that are past their prime... By 10 years. These pistols are so cheap, and yet rugged and sturdy the dust wont bother them as much as it would a semi-automatic, and it wont bother us knowing our nice 1911's, and S&W's are all dirty.
3. They came with a flap holster to keep some of the dust out.
4. They are a piece of history and really an awesome little pistol to shoot for everyone. Kids, men, women it doesn't matter. Trigger pull will be a problem for some but that is why they have single action.
5. Nagant ammo can be hard to find and expensive when you do... but we know a cowboy action shooter that shoots .32 SW Long and said he will reload ammo for us whenever we need it for free.
6. They are cheap and if anything happens to them we will think... " At least not have lost our 1911's"
7. The range master and myself both collect Vintage Military firearms... We didn't take much convincing.
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