Revolver Round-Table: Nagant M1895
History
The M1895 was designed for the Russian Empire by Belgian industrialist Léon Nagant and first went into production in 1895. It replaced a Smith & Wesson revolver as the standard issue side arm for police officers and soldiers and remained their official service pistol until 1950. Featuring a totally unique frame shape and indexing mechanism, the Nagant quickly obtained cult status and became a symbol of Russian ingenuity.
Two models were originally produced: the Private’s Model with a single action trigger system and the Officer’s Model with double-action. They looked almost identical, except for the hammer. The single-action hammer had a one-piece construction, while the double-action had two pieces with a screw to hold the "pawl" (the piece that engages the extractor ratchet and begins to rotate the cylinder).
What made this revolver truly exceptional was its revolutionary “gas-seal” system. Most revolvers have a “flash gap” between the cylinder and barrel—gas escapes when the bullet jumps the gap, which decreases speed and accuracy, and creates a dangerous burst of air.
The Nagant has a special mechanism that pushes the cylinder forward when the hammer is cocked, sealing the flash gap, and increasing muzzle velocity by as much as 45 FPS. For this reason, the Nagant had to have its own proprietary cartridges manufactured, the 7.62×38mmR, which were shaped to make an airtight seal around the flash gap.
movie appearance
A Naganat can be seen in Sherlock Holmes (2009), identifiable by the signature star next to the cylinder. In the film, Holmes (Robert Downey Jr) is attempting to create the world’s first gun suppressor for his Nagant revolver—which is a large continuity error for two reasons. For one, the story is set in 1891, several years before the Nagant was put into production. Second, the Nagant did not need to have a silencer invented, Nagant silencers were manufactured along side the revolver and issued to military personnel. Because of the Nagant's gas-seal system, it remains one of very few revolvers that is able to use a silencer.
airgun replica
Gletcher went to painstaking effort with this Nagant replica. Most air revolvers have elongated frames between the cylinder and hammer to make room for the CO2 valve, but this gun uses a unique reworked system to remain true to the Nagant's frame geometry. It fires in both single and double action to provide the firing experience of both the Private and Officer models. Although it does not have the gas-seal system, the 7-round cylinder does use realistic, specially designed shells, which can be loaded one at a time through the loading gate or speed loaded with the cylinder ejector.
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