9.3X62AL
11-30-2005, 02:42 AM
Tuesday is Range Day for yours truly. I sauntered off to my long time desert area shooting spot that has served me well for some 25 years.
The old mining road I use to access the place didn't weather the past winter very well. The formerly firm dirt roadbed has been superseded by a much more interesting series of sandy, soft rivulet crossings that did their best to snag my 2WD truck and suck in an axle or two a couple times. I made it--but next time the 4WD Cherokee draws the duty.
A really nice day. I arrived about 11:00 A.M., temp about 60 degrees and very little wind blowing. Winds in this area stop blowing for maybe 17-20 minutes during any given decade, so conditions were about ideal.
I started with the Nagant, and a few comments about this revolver are in order. This one is barely pre-Soviet, a 1916 example that appears to be arsenal-refinished. This was its third range trip, and there were no surprises today. That is to say--the little wheeler was its usual difficult and recalcitrant self. It's reliable as can be--no issues with bottom-line functioning--but its double action trigger stroke must be experienced to be believed, and it's single action squeeze is no day at the beach either. It took some doing for the Tula Arsenal to develop a double action impulse that would cause you to view a P-38 trigger in a favorable light--and they accomplished it handily. Refinement is not a thing found in many things Russian--what can you say about a country that designs their fighter aircraft to be landed in cornfields when necessary?
The loads today were 100 of the Starline cases stoked with WSP primers and 3.0 grains of WW-231, capped off with Lyman #313249 sized @ .310" and seated with their noses slightly lower than the case mouth edge. This equates roughly (EVERYTHING about a Nagant is ROUGH) to a very low-end 32-20 revolver load, likely running ~700-725 FPS. Not a potent round by any stretch of the imagination, and the factory loads aren't a lot more energetic. One can only wonder what the Russian using services thought of these contraptions after having used the excellent S&W 44 top-breaks.
To the modern shooter familiar with well-made double action revolvers with swing-out cylinders and cylinder-based rod ejector/extractor, the Nagant looks like it was designed by committee members sequestered apart and communicating by telegraph. The design combines just about the worst attributes of solid frame construction, gate-loading design, and Colt SAA-like rod ejection into one very difficult and exasperating piece to reload. About the only system that reloads more slowly is the Colt open-top cap-and-ball regimen, and the Nagant is only a mild improvement.
The good news--no barrel leading, at all. These loads hit the same rough point of aim that loads using the Lee 100 grain RN struck, that being slightly low and hard to the left at 25 yards. The test target was an empty one gallon paint can at 25 yards, and I had to use one paint-can-width of right Vladivostok windage to connect in the vicinity of the can. I estimate about a 50% hit percentage on the can at this distance, with radial dispersion in healthy servings. At broom closet to pool table ranges, hits are a good likelihood--but at the power levels involved here, would raise quite a welt and would be likely to further anger the recipient. The revolver is far too small and light to use as an impact weapon once emptied, so a Louisville Slugger or Easton softball bat is strongly recommended as a back-up measure. Maybe as primary armament, come to think of it.
One interesting interlude took place during the firing. During the considerable time it took to eject spent cases and refresh the cylinder with new rounds, a lot could happen. Thankfully, the shooting sequence was taking place near Chiriaco Summit and not Stalingrad, so the delays were uneventful. During one such reloading cycle, I saw a jackrabbit come into view about 75 yards away and to the left of the area I had been shooting into. I briefly considered setting the Nagant aside and grabbing either the SIG-Sauer P-226 (cast loads already on board) or the Mini-14, but--no guts, no glory--I filled the Nagant's cylinder, pivoted the barrel back in place, screwed the ejector/extractor rod down (TOLD YA it's a PITA to reload), and drew careful aim at the ragged varmint--holding about 2 rabbits to the right and a bit high. I let drive, and saw dirt kick up directly behind the critter as he made a "tremor" motion for a second or two simultaneous to the shot.
Damn--I hit him. The tremor ceased, and the rabbit remained at rest as before--eyes open, ears aloft. Well, perhaps I missed. I held the same point of aim as before, and fired again. This time, the hit was well high, and the the rabbit had the same tremor again, but a bit longer in duration.
Strange.
Third time is the charm. I held the same point of aim as the first two shots, and carefully squeezed a third round off. This shot hit to the right of the rabbit, and the tremor ensued once again, this time lasting 3-4 seconds.
At this juncture, it dawned on me what was occurring. I was being laughed at. I set down the Nagant and picked up the SIG-Sauer, and strafed that obnoxious furbearer comprehensively. This put him in motion, and he wasted no time exiting the impact area. I was about 3 rounds deep in the third magazine when he finally went out of view. Friggin' animal.
In conclusion--the Nagant revolver offers the stopping power of the 32 S&W Long without its intrinsic accuracy--the trigger stroke crudity of early D/A autopistols--and a loading regimen that makes a SAA seem like fast-forward. And, it replaced the fine S&W No. 3 in 44 Russian--which sent a 246 grain 43-caliber boolit at 700 FPS with very fine accuracy. I don't know where the people wound up who engineered that particular armament upgrade, but their spirit lives on in the IT sections and bureaus throughout corporate America and within my old agency.
The old mining road I use to access the place didn't weather the past winter very well. The formerly firm dirt roadbed has been superseded by a much more interesting series of sandy, soft rivulet crossings that did their best to snag my 2WD truck and suck in an axle or two a couple times. I made it--but next time the 4WD Cherokee draws the duty.
A really nice day. I arrived about 11:00 A.M., temp about 60 degrees and very little wind blowing. Winds in this area stop blowing for maybe 17-20 minutes during any given decade, so conditions were about ideal.
I started with the Nagant, and a few comments about this revolver are in order. This one is barely pre-Soviet, a 1916 example that appears to be arsenal-refinished. This was its third range trip, and there were no surprises today. That is to say--the little wheeler was its usual difficult and recalcitrant self. It's reliable as can be--no issues with bottom-line functioning--but its double action trigger stroke must be experienced to be believed, and it's single action squeeze is no day at the beach either. It took some doing for the Tula Arsenal to develop a double action impulse that would cause you to view a P-38 trigger in a favorable light--and they accomplished it handily. Refinement is not a thing found in many things Russian--what can you say about a country that designs their fighter aircraft to be landed in cornfields when necessary?
The loads today were 100 of the Starline cases stoked with WSP primers and 3.0 grains of WW-231, capped off with Lyman #313249 sized @ .310" and seated with their noses slightly lower than the case mouth edge. This equates roughly (EVERYTHING about a Nagant is ROUGH) to a very low-end 32-20 revolver load, likely running ~700-725 FPS. Not a potent round by any stretch of the imagination, and the factory loads aren't a lot more energetic. One can only wonder what the Russian using services thought of these contraptions after having used the excellent S&W 44 top-breaks.
To the modern shooter familiar with well-made double action revolvers with swing-out cylinders and cylinder-based rod ejector/extractor, the Nagant looks like it was designed by committee members sequestered apart and communicating by telegraph. The design combines just about the worst attributes of solid frame construction, gate-loading design, and Colt SAA-like rod ejection into one very difficult and exasperating piece to reload. About the only system that reloads more slowly is the Colt open-top cap-and-ball regimen, and the Nagant is only a mild improvement.
The good news--no barrel leading, at all. These loads hit the same rough point of aim that loads using the Lee 100 grain RN struck, that being slightly low and hard to the left at 25 yards. The test target was an empty one gallon paint can at 25 yards, and I had to use one paint-can-width of right Vladivostok windage to connect in the vicinity of the can. I estimate about a 50% hit percentage on the can at this distance, with radial dispersion in healthy servings. At broom closet to pool table ranges, hits are a good likelihood--but at the power levels involved here, would raise quite a welt and would be likely to further anger the recipient. The revolver is far too small and light to use as an impact weapon once emptied, so a Louisville Slugger or Easton softball bat is strongly recommended as a back-up measure. Maybe as primary armament, come to think of it.
One interesting interlude took place during the firing. During the considerable time it took to eject spent cases and refresh the cylinder with new rounds, a lot could happen. Thankfully, the shooting sequence was taking place near Chiriaco Summit and not Stalingrad, so the delays were uneventful. During one such reloading cycle, I saw a jackrabbit come into view about 75 yards away and to the left of the area I had been shooting into. I briefly considered setting the Nagant aside and grabbing either the SIG-Sauer P-226 (cast loads already on board) or the Mini-14, but--no guts, no glory--I filled the Nagant's cylinder, pivoted the barrel back in place, screwed the ejector/extractor rod down (TOLD YA it's a PITA to reload), and drew careful aim at the ragged varmint--holding about 2 rabbits to the right and a bit high. I let drive, and saw dirt kick up directly behind the critter as he made a "tremor" motion for a second or two simultaneous to the shot.
Damn--I hit him. The tremor ceased, and the rabbit remained at rest as before--eyes open, ears aloft. Well, perhaps I missed. I held the same point of aim as before, and fired again. This time, the hit was well high, and the the rabbit had the same tremor again, but a bit longer in duration.
Strange.
Third time is the charm. I held the same point of aim as the first two shots, and carefully squeezed a third round off. This shot hit to the right of the rabbit, and the tremor ensued once again, this time lasting 3-4 seconds.
At this juncture, it dawned on me what was occurring. I was being laughed at. I set down the Nagant and picked up the SIG-Sauer, and strafed that obnoxious furbearer comprehensively. This put him in motion, and he wasted no time exiting the impact area. I was about 3 rounds deep in the third magazine when he finally went out of view. Friggin' animal.
In conclusion--the Nagant revolver offers the stopping power of the 32 S&W Long without its intrinsic accuracy--the trigger stroke crudity of early D/A autopistols--and a loading regimen that makes a SAA seem like fast-forward. And, it replaced the fine S&W No. 3 in 44 Russian--which sent a 246 grain 43-caliber boolit at 700 FPS with very fine accuracy. I don't know where the people wound up who engineered that particular armament upgrade, but their spirit lives on in the IT sections and bureaus throughout corporate America and within my old agency.