Revolver accuracy issue

[texaswoodworker]

I'm having a pretty bad accuracy issue with one of my revolvers. It's an M1895 Nagant made in 1937. I cannot seem to find ammo that it likes. I'm starting to think there may be a problem with the chambers in the cylinders.

I've tried wadcutters, a few different weights of LRN, and even .309" Hornady XTPs. None of them will group all that well. I'm talking pie sized groups at 10 yards. The reason I think it's the cylinder is because in that pie plate sized group, there are ALWAYS two rounds that are close to POA, and that are almost touching. The other 5 are everywhere else. I've noticed that some chambers seem to be looser than others. Some are pretty tight, and I have to sometime give the ammo a good push to get it seated all the way (hangs up just before the rim). On others, they are loose and even the empty brass will freely fall out.

The barrel is ok. There's some pitting towards the receiver end, but not much. It's dark all the way through.

Would having the cylinder rebored possibly fix this issue, or would I be better off taking a chance and buying a new $50 cylinder and having it fitted to the revolver?

The ammo I'm using is reformed 32-20 brass that has been cut back so that the bullet is exposed. Could using full length brass that covers the bullet like in the original rounds possibly help?

I like the gun, so I really don't plan on selling it. I'd like it to at least shoot a decent group though.

[ell198679]

Wouldn't the gunsmith work top the 50 dollar new cylinder? You wouldn't save that much by having it rebored. You sure its the cylinder?? Have you tried marking the chambers to see which two are not giving you trouble? Do the tight/lose cylinders always shoot close to each other? I am no expert but jut some ideas.

[BCRider]

From the reading I've done using cut down 32-20 brass was a compromise. Keep in mind that the original brass supported the bullet until it was into the barrel. There's no near bullet sized throat to guide the bullet like with our more usual revolver cylinders. So what you get is a bullet that comes out of the casing then has to funnel itself into the back of the barrel bore without the benefit of a proper forcing cone. And it has to do this after free flying from the end of the casing to the rifling over a fair distance. All the while the gasses are able to blow past the free flying bullet in the chamber. And that likely has some effect on how the bullet might cant and deform as it enters the rifling.

All of which is to say that I'd start with finding and trying some of the proper Nagant ammo. It can be commercial or you can get some Starline brass and reload your own.

[MtGun44]

+1 on finding proper ammo. The throats with short cases are HUGELY
oversized - the thickness of the brass, so the boolits are able to cock sideways
a lot after leaving the case, then slam into the barrel in random tilts.........
Not good for accuracy.

Bill

[RED333]

So I had to go and google this and found the dadburnedest formed case I have seen.
The mouth of the case is very diff, crimped then belled so when it fires it seals.
I did read that a 223 case could be used but the rim is small.
I will have to agree about getting the right ammo.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7.62%C3%9738mmR

[texaswoodworker]

I'll get some surplus ammo and see how it does. I've heard of people getting good accuracy with cast bullets in their Nagants before, so that jump must not always hurt the bullet.

I wonder if there's some way to reproduce that crimp, or at least get the brass into the throat to support the bullet without jamming up the gun. I may have to play with that some...

Thanks guys. :)

[leftiye]

A Lee FCD, maybe for a .32 H&R might crimp through the case well enough. I'd crimp in front of the boolit, and just only as little as necessary to stop bullet pulling to the front. Question will be if firing will be enough to iron out the crimp for reloading. The expander punch for those must be interestingly long!

[gandog56]

Only problem is the gas seal system doesn't work with 32-20 converted brass. You go from no cylinder gap flash to a lot of it, possibly affecting accuracy and for sure affecting velocity. I have been using Hotshot, PPU, and GFL brass that is boxer primed instead. I also have the old RCBS shellholder that they no longer make for 7.62 Nagant as the Lee's do not fit them.