nagant revovler

[casca]

any experinces with the 7.62x38R ?
any reloading experinces ?
Have been thinking about perhaps buying one to play with ? any thoughts ?

thanks
casca

[texassako]

I have reloaded it for a little pocket revolver, not the milsurp. I have tried BP, BE, and Trail Boss in Privi brass with 77gr and 115gr boolits. A Lee .32 ACP die set worked for neck sizing, seating into the case, and crimping. BP was the most fun and the BE with the 77gr boolit was a decent cat sneeze load. I quess I will need the real die set if I ever need to FL size the cases, but this has worked so far. A wadcutter boolit would really do well in this case I think.

[nwellons]

I collect Russian firearms and had to add the Nagants to my collection. They are a bit akward with slow loading, slow ejecting, and heavy single action pull. Don't even ask about the double action pull. But, they are still fun to shoot.

I reload for my 2 and have only used BP, a Lee 100g boolit and .30 carbine dies. Shoots great and is much hotter than the wimpy factory ammo that is available now. It takes a bit more figuring as to how to seat the boolit inside the case mouth but if I can do it, most anyone can. I use Hotshot and Privi Nagant brass.

If you decide to try BP, I have a "how to" Word file I can send you. PM me with your e-mail address if you want it.

There is a Nagant forum here with good reading: http://forums.gunboards.com/forumdisplay.php?18-M1895-NAGANT-Pistol-Collector-Forum

[mcnee229]

nwellons, I'd take a copy of that how to if you don't mind! My email address is my user name (mcnee229) at gmail.com

As for the Nagant, its a neat little revolver, with the cylinder camming forward to seal off the gap. Unfortionately, the energy to cam the thing forward has to come from somewhere, and that makes the DA about 45 pounds. Single action is probably in the mid to lower 20s ;-)

A definite must for any Russian collector, though. It goes nice with my Tula Mosin and AKM.

Scott

[jimb16]

I use carbine dies too. I'll tell you my secret to uniform bullet seating depth. I use a bullet sizing die nose punch! Chuck it into a drill press and use the press to seat the bullet. Then use a carbine crimp die to close up the mouth of the case so that it will go into the gas seal portion of the barrel throat.

[Stonecrusher]

The seating stem in my Lyman .30 carbine dies lets me seat well below flush.

[hendere]

There have been other posts about this over time but there is something I didn't notice being discussed. What are you guys sizing the boolits to? When I tried anything less than about 311 (give or take) the boolits would drop down to the bottom of the case. I had good luck with .313 (give or take) but I couldn't manage to chamber the cartridges unless I went to great lengths to resize them after seating the boolits.

[Stonecrusher]

I've been using the Lee 311-93-1r and sizing to .312" Mold drops at .314". Works great in my Nagant. I think I have the only small bore the Russians made, it slugs at .309".

[Nobade]

I had the Nagant revolver out today and it won a couple new converts! Those guys had never seen one and after shooting it and seeing how accurate it is, they both said they'd go find one for themselves.

I was trying a new boolit - the Accurate 31-110C "biglube" style for black powder. Loaded over 1,3cc (same charge as my 38 spl.) FFFg it is super accurate and rather powerful. Far better than any available smokeless powder loads, it's essentially a duplicate of the 32-20.

I sized them to .312", seated them with an arbor press, crimped with the 30 carbine seater (stem removed) and sized them just enough with the 30 carbine sizer to allow them to chamber freely.

Great fun!

-Nobade

[Bored1]

I have one and LOVE it. Haven't gotten around to reloading for it yet though due to trying to decide which die set you pick up to use! Best 91$ I have every spent on a gun. Thing has been a blast. Only down side I see is the cost of factory ammo, but even then it's ALWAYS instock even with the craziness going on. 24.99/50 isn't terrible, just makes for an expensive range trip!!!

[Nobade]

Dies get interesting. Like I have mentioned, I use a combination of 32-20 and 30 carbine dies. Since I reload for these two already it's no big deal. From what I have seen I wouldn't want to use the Lee dies, but they are the only affordable option. The arbor press seems to be the best way to seat boolits, and you don't resize the cases after they are fired except after the boolits are seated and then just enough to get them to chamber. I use the revolver's cylinder as a case gauge and check every one as it comes out of the press. Same way about the crimp - check it with the actual gun it'll be fired in to make sure it is enough, but no need to go as far as the factories do.

Come to think about it, a RCBS 30 carbine die set, 32-20 shell holder, and Lyman 32-20 "M" die would be a good way to go for loading this round. Oh, and a universal decap die to punch the primers out. Not too expensive to get set up, and works well.

-Nobade