Nagant Thoughts

[mooman76]

I was board today and I have often wondered why I can't get my Nagant pistols to shoot worth a darn. I'm not expecting it to shoot one hole groups at 25y but I should be able to put it on paper and it would be a fun little gun to shoot if I could hit something. I took them apart and started examining them.
I put a piece of fired unsized brass in it and stuck a lead RB in it from the front. It (the RB) measured .310 and was tight with the brass being tight in the chamber also.
I also measured the chambers the best I could using calipers. I don't have an inside micrometer to measue with. Anyway the chambers averaged .330 with the brass measuring .010 thick so it comes out pretty close to the same.
So my thoughts are that it's not going to shoot good no matter what I do, the way it currently is because the barrels on the two slug out to .313 and .315. I don't think anyone makes a 30or 32 cal hollow based mould and even so it would be near impossible to find.
I'm thinking to get it to shoot I either need to ream out the chambers a few thousandths or shorten the brass to where it has a big enough mouth to use a larger bullet.
Any thoughts?

[canyon-ghost]

I'm going on the thought that the Nagant is a lot like a 32-20 here but, what's your twist rate like? If you make a cleaning rod and see how far it rotates per length of the barrel you can guessimate what it almost is.
Got a photo?

[Bullshop]

Do a search for the Nagant. There has been a lot coverd on them here.
We get good performance from them. We have come to expect about 2" on our good days at 25 yards. We use 32/20 brass and on the first loading size then in a 30 carb die. All loadings after that are with a 32/20 die.
BIC/BS

[mooman76]

I think I may have left part of my point out or miscommunicated. With the brass being squeezed down that tight it would work the same as a regular revolver that has too tight of a forcing cone i the chambers. i.e forcing cone slug sized .310 and barrel slug sized .313

[Bullshop]

I cant remember for certain but think our chamber throats were much larger than yours.
What vintage is your gun? I think ours are 30'2

[mooman76]

Mine are maked 1942 and 1944. I'm thinking if I reamed out the chambers even a few thousanths it would help allot. I was looking on line and was also thinking maybe a plated bullet would hold up better and I noticed Gafs makes a special FMJ WC bullet specifally for the Nagant and I was thinking of giving them a try. I also though of a few other things to try like maybe a GC bullet or adding a filler. Sometimes that helps in a rifle, not sure if the same would help here.

[9.3X62AL]

My Nagant revolver (Tula 1916) has .340" throats and .312" grooves, as best I can determine.

In original form, the Nagant system used the case mouth of the LONG casings as the "throat" to guide the boolits into the barrel's forcing cone. I was lucky enough to get 100 of the Starline 7.62 x 38R cases before Starline gave up on making them. The case mouth mics about .012" and extends almost to the end of the throat. You subtract .024" from the .340" throat and yield .316", so on a .313" boolit there is still .003" of bullet release clearance upon firing. Most castings in my Nagant can credibly threaten or strike a 12" dinger plate at 35 yards.

If you are using 32-20 length casings, there will be .020"-.025" of unsupported throat area for the boolit to traverse before getting direction by the barrel's forcing cone. Shoulderless RN designs tend to self-center in a revolver's forcing cone better than sharp-shouldered WC or SWC designs when alignment or "clocking" might be imperfect. I would try something like the Lee 100 grain RN and see what develops. These boolits have done pretty well in my Nagant.

[mooman76]

I have some of the cases you are talking of. Lucky for me I bought som too but some are starting to split after just two firings. My cylinder opening are not as big as yours and I think that is my main problem. Makes bullets go in real snug. I believe what I need to do is ream out the cylinders a few thousanths so I can shoot slightly larger bullets. I did have an afte thought about shortening the cases realizing I would have allot of freespace there. I ran a slug through my chambers and it come out .334. I can pick up a spare cyl. pretty cheap if I mess this one up.