Nagant 1895 revolver and .32-20 brass

[David LaPell]

I was looking at a few articles and videos online and saw that some shooters use .32-20 brass to reload their Nagant M1895 revolvers by running the brass though a 7.62 Nagant pistol round resizing die and if need be, thinning the rim of the .32-20 case down a little. I know this makes the gas seal not work, but has anyone tried this and if so, have you had good results and with what bullets? I spotted a Nagant revolver the other day for a cheap price and I have a lot of excess .32-20 brass on hand that would work well in case I got it.

[dubber123]

Just started doing this last week with a buddy, he is a member here, and needs the posts to up his pathetic post count, I will see if he will chime in. If not, I will. We are making it go bang with a minimal of tooling or trouble. It's a fun gun to tinker with.

[rond]

It works quite well, Lee made a die set just for this.

[swheeler]

It works quite well with the Lee 7.62x38R die set, better than it did with the 250 7.62 rev Starline cases I bought years ago for it. I use the Lee 93 gr sized to .313" after PC. I altered the breech block as shown on youtube, filed .007" off mine as opposed to his recommended .010", checked process as I went along and quit when I could rotate with no drag. These revolvers are quite simple to take apart and reassemble, think like 5 minutes, I used 600 grit paper to polish the main spring and deburr internals studs, gave it some light oil, I like it a lot better, fun.

[dubber123]

We trimmed the brass by chucking it in a drill, and spinning it against a flat file. The rim had to be reduced in diameter a bit, as well as thinned. We took the thickness off the rim on the case neck side, its a lot less work, and keeps the primer pocket depth the same. The shoulder on 32-20 brass hit in the chamber first, so we bumped it back in a 32 S&W size die until they chambered. We then loaded with regular 32-20 dies, using the RCBS 98 gr. SWC. We loaded it progressively warmer until cases were well fireformed. We loaded the same 7 cases 4 times, and had no chambering issues, even though we were basically just neck sizing in the 32-20 dies. Hopefully we can get some chronograph results this weekend.

[swheeler]

We trimmed the brass by chucking it in a drill, and spinning it against a flat file. The rim had to be reduced in diameter a bit, as well as thinned. We took the thickness off the rim on the case neck side, its a lot less work, and keeps the primer pocket depth the same. The shoulder on 32-20 brass hit in the chamber first, so we bumped it back in a 32 S&W size die until they chambered. We then loaded with regular 32-20 dies, using the RCBS 98 gr. SWC. We loaded it progressively warmer until cases were well fireformed. We loaded the same 7 cases 4 times, and had no chambering issues, even though we were basically just neck sizing in the 32-20 dies. Hopefully we can get some chronograph results this weekend.

Yah I did the alter 32-20 brass thing a decade ago, then bought 250 rounds of Starline 7.62 Nagant brass, but in the end the 10 minute alteration works the best of all, I'll only load 32-20 brass from now on. I never had to reduce the rim diameter to get 100% function? ??

[dubber123]

Yah I did the alter 32-20 brass thing a decade ago, then bought 250 rounds of Starline 7.62 Nagant brass, but in the end the 10 minute alteration works the best of all, I'll only load 32-20 brass from now on. I never had to reduce the rim diameter to get 100% function? ??

The rim diameter on the Winchester 32-20 brass would catch on the cylinder star and prevent it from chambering. It wasn't by much, but enough. We could still use the 32-20 shellholder, so we didn't take much off. This is a 1941 production gun, I'm sure they varied a little in tolerances over their production run.

[swheeler]

The rim diameter on the Winchester 32-20 brass would catch on the cylinder star and prevent it from chambering. It wasn't by much, but enough. We could still use the 32-20 shellholder, so we didn't take much off. This is a 1941 production gun, I'm sure they varied a little in tolerances over their production run.

They must have as I've read of guns that functioned fine with 32-20 brass with no alterations.

[9.3X62AL]

I have had fairly good luck using the Starline full-length 7.62 x 38R brass. I have used a combination of 30 U.S. Carbine sizer die and 32/20 WCF expander and seater die, then a 32 S&W Long sizer die to "taper crimp" a flush-seated Lyman #313492.

[BarkEater]

Good morning guys, and yes dubber123 I definately need help to up my post count. I'll let you continue with the progress of this deal I've dragged us into. Haha I'm just going to sit back and bask in the glory of guessing fps closer than you !!!
Mike

Sorry for hijacking your post David

[dubber123]

Good morning guys, and yes dubber123 I definately need help to up my post count. I'll let you continue with the progress of this deal I've dragged us into. Haha I'm just going to sit back and bask in the glory of guessing fps closer than you !!!
Mike

Sorry for hijacking your post David

Yeah, yeah, even a blind dog gets a bone once in a while

He was closer than me, by a long shot. He guessed 1,000 fps. I guessed 850. Actual velocity of the RCBS 98 gr. SWC seated as long as possible with 4.5 grains of Vectan Prima V averaged 1,011 fps. Primers were good, and cases ejected easily.

[swheeler]

With the 100 gr 2r Lee 4.6 WSF and 4.0 gr Herco both hit the 1000 fps mark but the 93 gr and 3.4 W231 at 800 fps shoots the best for me