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What does a revolver look like? Pistol "Nagan": photo, technical characteristics, device. Mechanism for removing spent cartridges of a Nagan revolver

Total released: 2 000 000 Characteristics Weight: Weight of the revolver without cartridges, kg: 0.75

Weight of loaded revolver, kg:0.835

Length: 235 mm Barrel length: 114 mm (Number of grooves 4) Cartridge: 7.62×38 mm Nagant (Initial bullet speed, m/s 290

Bullet energy, J 290)

Caliber: 7.62 mm Mechanism: double action mechanism Rate of fire, rounds/min: 14-21 Muzzle velocity, m/s: 272 Sighting range: 50 Maximum range: 250 Type of ammunition: 7 round drum Sight: Rear sight with an aiming slot on the top of the frame, front sight on the front of the barrel.

Nagan system revolver, Revolver- a revolver developed by the Belgian gunsmiths brothers Emil ( Émile) and Leon ( Leon) Nagan ( Nagant), which was in service and produced in a number of countries in the late 19th - mid-20th centuries.

History of creation

The M1893 model was also adopted by the Serbian Army. The Argentine Navy orders Nagant revolvers for the American .440 caliber from German factories. The Russian Empire buys a license to produce a 3-line revolver and also orders its production from a Liege company.

The “classic” Nagant model of 1895, as well as its modifications, are produced by numerous arms companies around the world. Among them: Belgian Lepage, Bayard, Francot, German Enel in Suhl, Russian Imperial Tula Arms Factory, Spanish Arizmendi-Goenaga, Polish in the city of Radom and many others.

Adoption into service in Russia

Knights of St. George with Nagan 1915

At the end of the 19th century, the Russian Empire was forced to begin massive rearmament of its army. As a basic sample small arms a 3-line rifle of the Mosin system of the 1891 model was chosen. The standard revolver was a model of the 4.2-line (10.67 mm) model of the Smith-Wesson III system (1880), which was obsolete by that time. The “Commission for the development of small-caliber guns”, headed by Lieutenant General N. G. Chagin, was involved in the search for promising models. The main requirements for the new army revolver were as follows:

Great stopping power of the bullet. Since cavalry was one of the main types of troops, a shot at an effective range (up to 50 steps) should stop a horse.
The “fighting force” should be capable of penetrating four to five inch pine boards
Light weight (0.82-0.92 kg).
The caliber, number, direction, profile of the barrel rifling, etc. must coincide with those of the three-line Mosin rifle, then in the manufacture of revolvers it will be possible to use defective rifle barrels.
The revolver should not be equipped with a “self-cocking” firing device, because it “harmfully affects accuracy.”
The initial velocity of the bullet must be at least 300 m/s.
The revolver must have good shooting accuracy.
The design should be simple and technologically advanced.
The revolver must be reliable, insensitive to dirt and poor operating conditions, and easy to maintain.
The extraction of cartridges should not be simultaneous, but one after another.
Sights must be designed so that the bullet's flight path intersects the aiming line at a distance of 35 steps.
Drum capacity of at least 7 rounds
Cartridge with flanged brass case, jacketed bullet and smokeless powder.

The rejection of self-cocking firing and simultaneous extraction of spent cartridges was caused by the opinion that, firstly, they would complicate the design (which would negatively affect the reliability and cost of the revolver), and secondly, they would lead to “excessive consumption of ammunition.”

The announced competition and potential gigantic order aroused enormous interest among domestic and foreign manufacturers weapons. Several modifications of the existing Smith and Wesson revolver were introduced, including revolvers and automatic pistols. The main struggle took place between the Belgian gunsmiths Henry Pieper with the M1889 Bayard revolver model and Leon Nagan with the M1892.

Leon Nagant had to remake the revolver for the Russian 7.62 mm caliber and, as in 1883, eliminate the possibility of self-cocking shooting, worsening the characteristics of the weapon in accordance with the requirements of the competition. Two options were presented - 6 and 7-round revolvers. Pieper's revolver was rejected due to its large mass and unreliable design. Leon Nagant's victory in the competition was probably largely due to the fact that he had long had established connections(during a similar competition for small arms, the Nagant rifle lost to the Mosin design, but Leon Nagant received a huge prize of 200,000 rubles in gold). For a patent for a revolver, Nagan asked for 75,000 rubles, which he was ultimately denied and a repeat competition was scheduled with new, clarified conditions. In addition to the characteristics, they stipulated a bonus: 20,000 rubles for the design of a revolver and 5,000 for the design of a cartridge, in addition, the winner “gave his invention into the full ownership of the Russian government, which received the right to manufacture it both in its own country and abroad, without any or additional payment to the inventor." Pieper submitted to the competition newly redesigned revolvers with original automatics, which the commission considered “ingenious, but not practical.” S.I. Mosin's six-barreled revolver was also rejected. The improvements in the design of the Nagant revolver were less significant, and after comparative tests with the 4.2-line Smith-Wesson revolver, the design was approved. It is interesting that, based on the results of military tests, the officers participating in them expressed an insistent desire to obtain a “double-action” revolver with the ability to self-cocking. Returning to the self-cocking version of the revolver, the commission did not consider it completely satisfactory, so it was decided to adopt two types of revolvers for service with the Russian army: an officer's double-action and a soldier's - non-self-cocking.

After making a number of minor changes, the design was approved in the spring of 1895. By decree of Nicholas II, the Nagant revolver was adopted by the Russian army on May 13, 1895. The purchase price of a revolver produced in Belgium did not exceed Russian army 30-32 rubles. The contract provided for the delivery of 20,000 revolvers of the 1895 model over the next three years. Also, the Belgian side was contractually obligated to provide assistance in setting up the production of revolvers at the Imperial Tula Arms Factory. The design of the Russian-made revolver underwent a slight modernization: the back of the handle was made solid (and not split as in the Belgian version), and the shape of the front sight was simplified. Production technology has also been improved. The cost of the Tula Nagan was 22 rubles 60 kopecks. The order for five years from 1895 to 1904 amounted to 180,000 units.

7.62 mm revolver cartridge (“Nagant”), see 7.62×38 mm Nagant
Caliber, mm	7,62
Cartridge (case) length, mm	38,3-38,8
Case neck diameter, mm	7,1-7,8
Case body diameter, mm	9,0-9,1
Sleeve flange diameter, mm	9,7-9,9
Bullet type	Shell with lead core
Bullet length, mm	16,26-16,51
Bullet length in calibers	2,1
Bullet diameter, mm	7,79-7,82
Macca cartridge, G	11,6-12,8
Case weight, G	4,83
Bullet weight, G	6,2-7,2
Core weight, G	5,22-5,40
Charge mass, G	0,54-0,89

First successful combat use revolvers designed by Nagant date back to 1900. The Russian expeditionary force took part in pacifying the “Boxer Rebellion” in China. On June 3, 1900, during the capture of the Taku fortification, which blocked the mouth of the Peikho River, the commander of the combined company of the 12th Siberian Regiment, Lieutenant Stankevich, one of the first to break into the enemy’s position, shot and killed two attacking Chinese soldiers.

Reductions in War Department appropriations since 1903 led to a sharp decline in revolver production, and the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War forced the government to use emergency loans for the purchase of weapons. In 1905, the Tula plant was ordered to produce 64,830 units of the 1895 model revolver, but only 62,917 revolvers were produced. After the war, funding for the army rearmament program was once again reduced, and an interdepartmental commission created in 1908 allowed the production of revolvers on orders directly from military units.

Combat modifications

Before the First World War, a limited number of carbines with a barrel length of 300 mm and an integral butt and a revolver with a barrel extended to 200 mm and a removable butt were produced for the border troops.

A shortened (so-called “commander”) Nagant revolver.

In 1927, a more compact version of the revolver was developed for concealed carry for employees of the OGPU and NKVD. The length of the barrel and handle was reduced. From 1927 to 1932, a shortened Nagan revolver, created by order of the NKVD, was produced in small batches for operational workers. The main goal was to reduce weight and reduce size.

Using Silencers

Before World War II, an experimental batch of revolvers equipped with the BRAMIT silent-flameless firing device was produced for reconnaissance and sabotage units.

Sports modifications

Based on the 1895 model revolver, E. L. Khaidurov created the TOZ-36 sports revolver, a modified version of which in 1967 received the TOZ-49 index. This modification is distinguished by a shortened drum chambered for a special cartridge. Sports/training revolvers chambered for a standard small-caliber rimfire cartridge were also produced.

Traumatic modifications

On the basis of the Nagant revolver, a traumatic “rubber-shot” civilian self-defense weapon P1 “Naganych” chambered for the 9P cartridge was developed. A. (Ukrainian versions - “Kombat” and shortened “Kombrig”) and “Nagan-M” chambered for 10x32T. In the production of “Naganych” and “Nagan-M”, revolvers (of any year of manufacture) stored in warehouses are used, which are subject to modifications that exclude the combat use of the product.

Nagant system revolver, Nagant (7.62 mm Nagant revolver model 1895, GRAU Index - 56-N-121) - a revolver developed by Belgian gunsmiths brothers Emile (Émile) (1830-1902) and Leon (Léon) ( 1833-1900) Nagant, which was in service and produced in a number of countries at the end of the 19th - mid-20th centuries.

Revolver Nagan - video

In the last quarter of the XIX century, many states began to think about rearmament of their armies. By that time, the most promising examples of personal short-barreled firearms were revolvers, which combined sufficient simplicity of design, multiple charges and reliability. The Belgian city of Liege was one of the European centers of the arms industry. Since 1859, there was the Emile and Leon Nagant Arms Factory (Fabrique d'armes Emile et Léon Nagant) - a small family workshop that repaired Dutch revolvers and designed its own firearms. The first revolver of the original design was presented by the elder brother Emil for testing to the Belgian military department, and it was adopted as an officer and non-commissioned officer weapon under the name “revolver model 1878”.

The Model 1878 9mm revolver had a six-shot design and was equipped with a “double action” mechanism, meaning cocking could be done directly by the shooter’s hand or automatically when the trigger was pulled. For non-commissioned officers of the infantry, cavalry and support staff On the instructions of the leadership of the Belgian army, the “9-mm Nagan M/1883 revolver” was developed with deliberately degraded combat qualities: due to the introduction of an additional part, the possibility of “self-cocking” firing was eliminated; after each shot, the hammer had to be cocked again. Several more modifications of the revolver were produced in different calibers and barrel lengths. Soon, Emil Nagan almost completely lost his sight as a result of illness, and the main work on improving the design was undertaken by Leon Nagan.

Model 1886

In the 1886 model, the weight of the weapon was slightly reduced and the reliability and manufacturability of the design were significantly improved, for example, the four springs of the trigger mechanism were replaced with just one two-spring one. Also, the new model took into account the existing trend in the development of weapons towards a reduction in caliber; the most common 7.5 mm cartridge with smokeless powder was chosen at that time. One of the main problems facing revolver designers was the breakthrough of powder gases into the gap between the breech end of the barrel and the front end of the drum. In the design of the Belgian gunsmith Henri Pieper, a solution to the problem of obturation was found: before the shot, the trigger mechanism pushed the revolver drum forward, the cartridge had a special design, the bullet in it was completely recessed into the cartridge case, the role of the seal was played by the barrel of the cartridge case, distributed and pressed by the powder gases at the moment of firing bore, which eliminated the possibility of gas breakthrough. This principle, with a significant simplification of the design that pushes the drum onto the barrel, was used by Leon Nagan in 1892; a cartridge with a sleeve equipped with an elongated barrel was developed for the new model of the revolver. This model of the Nagant revolver has become a classic; subsequent modifications did not bring any noticeable changes to the design.

Design

All revolvers of the Nagan design have common fundamentals and features:

The presence of a double-action trigger mechanism, which made it possible to shoot with both pre-cocking and self-cocking (with the exception of “soldiers’” and “non-commissioned officers” pre-revolutionary models, in which the self-cocking mechanism was blocked in order to reduce ammunition consumption)

Monolithic one-piece frame

A door that opens the chambers of the drum by turning it to the side. The exception is the 1910, which has a door that swings back to release the drum, which swings to the right.

The barrel is screwed into the frame with a tight fit

A ramrod, in the combat position, is hidden in the axis of the drum, and after firing plays the role of an extractor (ejector) of spent cartridges

The mechanism, located in the frame, is closed with a flat lid

The cylinder of a revolver is both a chamber and a magazine. The most common model (model 1895) and most of its modifications have a drum capacity of 7 rounds. The hollow axis of the drum is inserted into the frame from the front and held in it by a ramrod tube installed in front of the drum on the neck of the barrel with the ability to rotate on it as on an axis. On models with a drum pushed onto the barrel, the drum is equipped with a return mechanism consisting of a drum tube and a spring. On the right wall of the frame there is a drum locking device, the role of which is played by a spring-loaded door. In the open (tilted to the side) position, the door allowed the revolver to be loaded and unloaded; when closed, it covered the chamber, preventing the cartridge from falling out and preventing the drum from turning counterclockwise. The drum has seven slots and recesses for the door protrusion in the open and closed positions. The revolver mechanism consists of parts that perform the functions of a locking mechanism, a trigger mechanism and rotate and push the drum onto the barrel: a breech, a slide, a trigger with a pawl and a mainspring. Sights consisted of a rear sight with a sighting slot on the top of the frame and a front sight on the front of the barrel. In total, there are 39 parts in the design of the 1895 model revolver.

Trigger mechanism

The trigger mechanism is hammer-operated, double-action (a version with only a single-action trigger was also produced), the firing pin is hinged on the trigger, the mainspring is plate-type, double-fingered, located in the handle. The sear is integral with the trigger. There is no safety, but when the trigger is not pressed, a special part prevents the firing pin from coming into contact with the primer. When cocking, the hammer also activates a specific locking mechanism that moves the revolver drum forward, and the trigger ensures that the drum is stopped from rotating.

Fighting power

From 35 steps (25 m) on a package of dry pine boards, 2.54 cm (one inch) thick, located at a distance of 8 cm from one another, penetration is observed: 3 boards - 100% bullets, 4 boards - 70%, 5 boards - 25%. One board penetrates at a distance of up to 200 steps (140 m).

Production

Already the early 9-mm model of 1878 received positive reviews from the Belgian army, which contributed to the popularity of the Nagan factory brand on the world market.
The 1895 Nagant revolver, as well as its modifications, were produced by many arms companies around the world. Among them: the Belgian “Lepage”, “Baillard”, “Francot”, the German “Enel” in Suhl, the Russian Imperial Tula Arms Factory, the Spanish “Arizmendi-Goenaga”, the Polish one in the city of Radom and others.

Adoption into service in Russia

At the end of the 19th century, the Russian Empire began massive rearmament of its army. The Mosin rifle of the 1891 model was chosen as the main model of small arms. The standard revolver was a model of the 4.2-line (10.67 mm) Smith-Wesson III revolver of the 1880 model, which was obsolete by that time. The Commission for the development of small-caliber guns, headed by Lieutenant General N. G. Chagin, was involved in the search for promising models. The main requirements for the new army revolver were as follows:

Great stopping power of the bullet. Since cavalry was one of the main types of troops, a shot at an effective range (up to 50 steps) should stop a horse.

- “Strength of combat” should ensure the penetration of four to five inch pine boards.

Light weight (0.82-0.92 kg).

The caliber, number, direction, profile of the barrel rifling, etc. must coincide with those of the three-line Mosin rifle, then in the manufacture of revolvers it will be possible to use defective rifle barrels.

The revolver should not be equipped with a self-cocking firing device, because it “harmfully affects accuracy.”

The initial velocity of the bullet must be at least 300 m/s.

The revolver must have good accuracy of fire.

The design should be simple and technologically advanced.

The revolver must be reliable, insensitive to dirt and poor operating conditions, and easy to maintain.

The extraction of cartridges should not be simultaneous, but one after the other.

Sights must be designed so that the bullet's flight path intersects the aiming line at a distance of 35 steps.

- Drum capacity is at least 7 rounds.

Cartridge with flanged brass case, jacketed bullet and smokeless powder.

The announced competition and potential gigantic order aroused enormous interest among domestic and foreign arms manufacturers. Several modifications of the existing Smith and Wesson revolver were introduced, including revolvers and automatic pistols. The main struggle took place between the Belgian gunsmiths Henri Pieper with the M1889 Bayard revolver model and Leon Nagan with the M1892.

S.I. Mosin's six-barreled revolver was also rejected. The improvements in the design of the Nagant revolver were less significant, and after comparative tests with the 4.2-line Smith-Wesson revolver, the design was approved. Based on the results of military tests, the officers participating in them expressed an insistent desire to obtain a double-action revolver with the ability to self-cocking. Returning to the self-cocking version of the revolver, the commission did not consider it completely satisfactory, so it was decided to adopt two types of revolvers for service with the Russian army: self-cocking for officers and non-self-cocking for non-commissioned officers and privates. After making a number of minor changes, the design was approved in the spring of 1895.

On May 13, 1895, by decree of Nicholas II, the “soldier” and “officer” models of the Nagan revolver were adopted by the Russian army, but according to the military department, revolvers were officially adopted into service in June 1896, by order of the Minister of War No. 186.

The purchase price of a revolver produced in Belgium did not exceed 30-32 rubles for the Russian army. The contract provided for the delivery of 20,000 Model 1895 revolvers over the next three years. The Belgian side was also contractually obligated to provide assistance in setting up the production of revolvers at the Imperial Tula Arms Factory. The design of the Russian-made revolver underwent a slight modernization: the back of the handle was made solid (and not split, as in the Belgian version), and the shape of the front sight was simplified. Production technology has also been improved. The cost of the Tula revolver was 22 rubles 60 kopecks. The order for five years - from 1899 to 1904 - amounted to 180,000 units. However, when comparing prices, it should be taken into account that in Russia the revolver was produced at a state-owned enterprise and many costs were not taken into account. For example, to establish production, the treasury purchased machine tools worth more than a million rubles from the USA. If this amount had been paid directly by the Tula plant, the production price would have been much higher.

Use in Russia and USSR

1900-1917

The first successful combat use of revolvers of the Nagant design dates back to 1900. The Russian expeditionary force took part in pacifying the “Boxer Rebellion” in China. On June 3, 1900, during the capture of the Taku fortification, which blocked the mouth of the Peikho River, the commander of the combined company of the 12th Siberian Regiment, Lieutenant Stankevich, one of the first to break into the enemy’s position, shot and killed two attacking Chinese soldiers.

The tsarist government began to prepare for big war too late: the “Great Program to Strengthen the Army” was announced only on July 7, 1914, three weeks before the start of the First World War. At this time, the armies of developed countries begin to replace revolvers with self-loading pistols, the best examples of which are superior to revolvers in combat characteristics (especially in rate of fire, reloading speed and dimensions). In Russia, another rearmament was considered inappropriate.

By July 20, 1914, according to the report card, the troops had 424,434 Nagant revolvers of all modifications (out of 436,210 required by the state), that is, the army was provided with revolvers by 97.3%, but already in the first battles the losses of weapons were significant. Measures were taken to reconstruct the arms industry, and 474,800 revolvers were produced between 1914 and 1917.

The 1895 model revolver was distinguished by its comparative simplicity of design, manufacturability and low cost. The labor intensity of manufacturing one revolver was about 30 machine hours. At the same time, some assembly operations (installation of the mechanism axes into the frame) required fairly highly qualified personnel. In combat conditions, one of the main advantages was unpretentious operation and reliability: thus, a misfire did not in any way affect the possibility of firing the next shot and did not cause a delay. You can also note high maintainability revolver.

1917-1939

Nagant became one of the symbols of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the subsequent civil war, and later the word “Nagant” became a common noun - in colloquial speech “Nagant” was often called any revolver, and sometimes a self-loading pistol.

Only the self-cocking (“officer”) version of the revolver was adopted by the Red Army, while the technological documentation was transferred to the metric measurement system in 1918. During the Civil War, the Tula Arms Plant continued to produce revolvers - in the period from 1918 to 1920, 175,115 pieces were manufactured (52,863 pieces in 1918, 79,060 pieces in 1919 and 43,192 pieces in 1920). After the end of the Civil War, the issue of rearmament of the Red Army was repeatedly raised, but even after the TT pistol was adopted for service in 1930, the production of revolvers continued.

In June-July 1930, the design and production technology of the revolver underwent a slight modification: the sight slot became semicircular instead of triangular, the front sight was supposed to be changed to rectangular, but then a more complex semicircular-truncated shape was introduced.
The cost of one Nagan revolver (with a set of spare parts) in 1939 was 85 rubles

1939-1945

Until the beginning of World War II, the production of revolvers and pistols at the Tula plant was maintained at approximately the same level; from 1932 to 1941, more than 700,000 revolvers were produced. The advantages of pistols were quite obvious to the leadership of the Red Army, but for a number of reasons the TT pistol and revolvers were produced in parallel. One of the reasons was the opinion that the pistol must be suitable for firing through the embrasures of a tank. The TT pistol was clearly not suitable for this, and new models of pistols that had a barrel that was not covered by a casing turned out to be worse than the TT. In 1941, the Tula Arms Plant was evacuated to Udmurtia, to the city of Izhevsk, where the production of revolvers continued, and in 1942 a partial re-evacuation was carried out from Izhevsk to Tula.

More than 370,000 revolvers were produced between 1942 and 1945. The revolver was in service with the Red Army, the Polish Army, the 1st Czechoslovak Corps, the 1st Romanian infantry division named after Tudor Vladimirescu, 1st Yugoslav Infantry Brigade, French fighter air regiment "Normandie-Niemen".

During wartime, the percentage of defects in production increased, due to the lack of qualified personnel. The finishing quality of military-issue revolvers was lower than in Peaceful time. The combat use of revolvers revealed the obsolescence of its design and insufficient combat qualities; the most noticeable loss in comparison with self-loading pistols was the low practical rate of fire (i.e. big loss reload time).

After the end of the Great Patriotic War The revolver was removed from service by the Soviet army and its production was discontinued. However, Nagan system revolvers were in service with the police until the mid-1950s, and in the paramilitary security and collection systems for much longer. At least until 2000, revolvers were used by geological enterprises. According to the regulations of the USSR Ministry of Geology, the heads of parties and expeditions, chief and senior geologists were armed with revolvers.

Combat modifications

soldier's revolver- a revolver with a non-self-cocking trigger mechanism, production discontinued in 1918;

officer revolver- a revolver with a self-cocking trigger mechanism;

carbines- before the First World War, a limited number of carbines with a barrel length of 300 mm and an integral butt and a revolver with a barrel extended to 200 mm and a removable butt were produced for the border troops.

commander's revolver- a compact version of the revolver, intended for concealed carry, with a barrel length reduced to 85 mm and a shortened handle. Developed in 1927, produced until 1932 in small batches, about 25 thousand pieces were produced. Entered service with OGPU and NKVD officers.

in addition, for reconnaissance and sabotage units in 1929 it was developed revolver with silencer, equipped with a silent-flameless firing device “BRAMIT” system of the brothers V. G. and I. G. Mitin.

Nagant wz. thirty- Nagan revolver model 1895, made in Poland, from 1930 to 1939 it was mass-produced at the arms factory in Radom, a total of 20 thousand units were produced in Poland. Revolver revolvers in two modifications: Ng wz.30 and Ng wz.32

Sports modifications

Nagant-Smirnsky model 1926 training revolver- designer A. A. Smirnsky, in 1925-1939. 3500 pieces produced. chambered for a 5.6 mm rimfire cartridge.

Nagant sports revolver- model 1953, had a weighted barrel, non-self-cocking firing mechanism, adjustable sights

MC-4- 1955 model with a barrel length of 147 mm, designer - V. A. Paramonov. The revolver was produced in 1956-1966, a total of 8220 units were produced. MC-4 and MC-4-1.

TOZ-36- a sports revolver, model 1962, designed by E. L. Khaidurov.

TOZ-49- sports revolver model 1972, designer E. L. Khaidurov.It is distinguished by a shortened drum for a 7.62×26 mm revolving cartridge.

TOZ-96- export version of TOZ-49 chambered for .32 S&W Long Wadcutter, produced since 1996.

Conversion into sporting and hunting weapons

- conversion model chambered for .22 LR, representsis a revolver “revolver” with a barrel extended to 500 mm, a wooden forend andintegral wooden butt. The weight of the carbine is 2 kg. Productioncarbine was launched in 2010

Revolver "Thunder"- a conversion model produced by the Ukrainian company SOBR LLC, a sports training revolver chambered for the 4-mm Flaubert cartridge

Conversion to civilian self-defense weapons

In the early 2000s, based on the Nagan revolver, several variants of gas and traumatic revolvers were developed, which were produced by converting them from combat “revolvers”.

Russia produces civilian self-defense weapons: traumatic revolvers R1 "Naganych" chambered for 9 mm R.A. and VPO-502 "Nagan-M" chambered for 10×32 mm T, as well as a service traumatic revolver RS chambered for 10×23 mm T.

Part 1. The main revolver of the Russian Empire

At the end of the 19th century, in the Russian Empire, as in other countries, a variety of revolvers were widespread as the main weapon of self-defense. Thus, American Smith-Wesson revolvers were in service with the army, police, Gendarme Corps and Border Guard Corps; in addition, the gendarmes and police also had English service Webley revolvers. For sale to the civilian population, ITOZ (Imperial Tula Arms Factory) produced seven-shot pocket revolvers "Strelets" - Russian copies of the "Velodog" chambered for a 5.75 mm center-fire cartridge, and 6 mm "Francaise" rimfire revolvers. The counters of gun stores were overflowing with both imported revolvers and assorted different-caliber Anteys, Vityazs, Ermaks, Muzhiks and Skifs made in Russia - often these weapons were not of high quality. However, all this motley variety did not suit the army, which needed a light, but powerful and reliable multi-shot weapon that could become the main weapon for a wide variety of military branches for many years. And it was precisely this main army revolver, the main revolver of the Russian Empire, that became the later famous Nagan, adopted for service in 1895, and continues to be used to this day - for 117 years!

Order for the army of the Russian Empire

By the end of the 19th century, in connection with the invention of smokeless gunpowder and the rapid development of civilian and military equipment, there was an urgent need for the massive rearmament of the Russian army with new weapons, including officer weapons. Therefore, in the 90s of the 19th century, competitions were announced for a new rifle and revolver for the Russian military department; the prize for the winners of this competition was a huge government order from Russian Empire for the supply of weapons. Naturally, the most famous gunsmiths in the world hastened to take part in the competition. A commission headed by Lieutenant General N. G. Chagin was involved in the search for promising models. The main requirements for the new army revolver were as follows:

1. Great stopping effect of the bullet. Since one of the main types of troops was cavalry, the “lethality” of a weapon at that time was determined by the fact that a shot at an effective range (up to 50 steps) was supposed to stop a horse. I'm wondering how they checked this? Did they really shoot the horse? In addition, the “fighting power” must be capable of penetrating four to five inch pine boards.
2. Small weight of the weapon (0.82-0.92 kg).
3. The caliber, number, direction and profile of the rifling of the barrel must coincide with those of the three-line Mosin rifle, then in the manufacture of revolvers it will be possible to use defective rifle barrels.
4. The revolver should not be equipped with a “self-cocking” firing device, because it “harmfully affects accuracy.”
5. The initial speed of the bullet must be at least 300 m/s.
6. The revolver must have good accuracy of fire.
7. The design should be simple and technologically advanced.
8. The revolver must be reliable, insensitive to dirt and poor operating conditions, and easy to maintain.
9. Extraction of cartridges should not be simultaneous, but sequential.
10. Sights must be designed so that the bullet’s flight path intersects the aiming line at a distance of 35 steps.
11. Drum capacity is at least 7 rounds.
12. Cartridge with flanged brass case, jacketed bullet and smokeless powder.

Of particular note is the refusal of the Russian military leadership from self-cocking firing and simultaneous extraction of spent cartridges, as well as the specification of the expected caliber. These requirements were caused by the desire not to complicate the design (which could negatively affect the reliability and cost of the revolver), fears that the self-cocking mechanism and the mechanism for accelerating reloading would lead to “excessive consumption of ammunition”, and would also make the weapon too bulky. Thus, the main shortcomings of the Nagant, which critics of this weapon find fault with today - alternate extraction of cartridges and a caliber too small for a good stopping effect - were built into this weapon by the requirements of the competition, which Leon Nagant had to fulfill. In other words: what the Russians wanted, they got...

Why exactly did the Russian military leaders want this? The requirements for a 7.62 mm caliber are explained by the commission itself: “the caliber, number, direction, profile of the barrel rifling must coincide with those of the three-line Mosin rifle, then in the manufacture of revolvers it will be possible to use defective rifle barrels.” That is, there were primarily considerations of economy. But not only. The entire 2nd half of the 19th century was marked by a reduction in the caliber of army weapons, which became possible after the invention of powerful smokeless gunpowder; This was done with both rifles and revolvers in all countries, obtaining a significant gain in the weight of the weapon and the amount of ammunition carried. And since the turn of the 19th-20th centuries was relatively peaceful, gunsmiths did not have enough combat experience to understand when to “slow down” in this process so as not to “go too far.” The concept of the stopping effect of a bullet during this period was still very vague and not understood mathematically and biologically: it was not for nothing that I drew attention in my remark to the commission’s requirement to stop a horse with a bullet! What does it mean to “stop the horse”? Naturally, a wounded animal, feeling pain, will stop or rush back. But will it fall? And if it falls, then after how many seconds (minutes)? But this is an unreasonable animal that has no goal. And what about a stricken, but still capable of action, person, whose goal is to reach the enemy and destroy him?.. History is full of examples of what even a dying person is capable of...
So, at the end of the 19th century, the concept of the stopping effect of a bullet was still poorly understood. And therefore, in those historical conditions, the demands of the Russian commission, first of all, to increase the penetrating ability of weapons, which were then usually understood as a “stopping effect,” become quite logical - after all, Nagan really killed, and killed well. But the question of whether the enemy he has actually killed will have time to do something against the shooter before he dies has not yet been considered by anyone.
The military departments of almost all countries followed this path at that time. The exception was literally a few states that were distinguished by increased conservatism and adherence to traditions - first of all, these were Great Britain and the USA (by the way, they fought the most at the end of the 19th century, and therefore had the opportunity to test the impact of bullets of different calibers on the enemy). In fact, they were the only ones who retained the large caliber of their revolvers by the 20th century, and the subsequent combat experience of the 1st World War showed everyone that it was this stubborn conservatism that turned out to be correct. However, in 1895, no one knew this yet, and Russia simply followed the general weapons fashion, while also trying to save money...

Issues of economy (primarily) and reliability also determined the requirement for alternate extraction of spent cartridges. After all, the vast majority of revolvers in the world at that time had just this method of reloading. And in this regard, the Nagan was no worse (but no better) than the foreign revolvers of its time. The question inevitably arises: why? After all, before the Nagant, Russia was armed with a “breaking” Smith-Wesson revolver, excellent for its era, with simultaneous extraction of cartridges. Why did Russia suddenly take a “step back” in this regard? My opinion: precisely because such a revolver was already in service. The large caliber and automatic cartridge ejection mechanism made this weapon too bulky and heavy. At the same time, the military was very critical of the newfangled folding drums, pointing out their unreliability and the loosening of the fastening unit during frequent firing. The influence of component wear on shooting accuracy was also considered important. The experience of many years of operation of the Smith-Wessons has shown that over time, a complex mechanism begins to present problems, breakdowns become more frequent, repair costs increase, and the cost of producing technically complex weapons is much higher than simple ones - again a matter of cost savings traditional for Russia (with incompetent extraneous expenses...).

Where did the Nagant revolver come from? The progenitor of our Nagant and a whole family of his relatives was born in the city of Liege (Belgium) at the “Fabrique d'armes Emile et Le"on Nagant.” This factory belonged to the brothers Leon and Emile Nagant. True, despite the loud name, at first it was a “factory "was, in fact, a small workshop for the repair of small arms, which the Nagan brothers founded in 1859. While repairing other people's revolvers, they came up with the idea of creating their own. One of the first models appeared in 1878 - it was a six-shooter 9 mm caliber revolver, which was lucky enough to be adopted into service in the Belgian army. This model already received positive reviews from the military, which contributed to the popularity of the Nagan factory brand on the world market and the growing popularity of its products. Therefore, a new version soon appeared - “Nagant M1883" (with a single-action trigger) chambered for the Swiss 7.5 mm cartridge - it was adopted by the Luxembourg army and exported to Sweden.The Swedes themselves produced 13,732 Nagant M1887 revolvers from 1898 to 1905. However, all these “protonagans”, for all their positive qualities had a common drawback common to many revolvers at that time: powder gases broke through at the joint between the breech of the barrel and the drum. The Nagant brothers struggled with the problem for more than ten years, after which they borrowed a solution from another Liege gunsmith, Henry Pieper.
In fact, the real creator of the later famous revolver was the eldest of the brothers, Emil; but he soon became blind and virtually retired. Therefore, the younger brother, Leon, was involved in improving the model and commercially promoting weapons on the international market.

So, in accordance with the terms of the competition for a new revolver for Russia, Leon Nagan was forced to remove the “self-cocking” from his revolver and reduce the caliber, converting the weapon to the Russian 7.62 mm caliber; however, it was precisely this circumstance that made it possible to increase the drum capacity to seven charges. Nagan's main opponent at the competition was Henry Pieper with the model of the M.1889 "Bayard" revolver, who met the commission's requirements more than other competitors. It was outwardly quite a massive weapon of 8 mm caliber with a drum for 7 charges (as required by the competition), which tilted to the side to simultaneously remove all the cartridges; the weight and initial velocity of the bullet of this weapon are unknown to me (the revolver was not widespread, and therefore its performance characteristics were not included in the reference books available to me). I do not know whether Pieper tried to reduce the caliber of his revolver and make the cylinder non-reclining, because the original characteristics of his revolver did not quite meet the conditions put forward by the Russian commission. However, it was this weapon that was Nagan’s main competitor because only these two revolvers had the same feature, which attracted the attention of the commission and put them ahead in comparison with all other contenders for laurels. This feature is a powder gas obturation system, which solved the problems of gas breakthrough between the barrel and the drum and increased shooting accuracy. This drawback was originally inherent in all revolvers; it remains the “scourge” of revolvers even today; the breakthrough of gases into the gap between the drum and the barrel significantly reduces the speed of the bullet and prevents the shooter from aiming (and if the revolver is gripped incorrectly with the second hand, it can seriously damage the fingers). But Pieper managed to solve this problem by forcing the drum to move onto the barrel at the moment of the shot; Now all the powder gases pressed only on the bullet, increasing the sharpness of the shot and maximizing the energy of the cartridge. As expected, Pieper patented his invention, which excluded the use of this system by other gunsmiths, but after the expiration of the term he did not renew it. And then the Nagan brothers took advantage of his idea; this allowed Nagan to become Piper’s main competitor in the weapons competition for Russia.

(IMG:http://img1.liveinternet.ru/images/attach/c/6/91/851/91851761_06_nagan_vzveden_baraban_na_stvole.jpg)
The obturation system in action: the Nagan revolver is cocked, the drum is moved forward and is closely adjacent to the barrel.

Unfortunately, it is not mentioned anywhere which other revolvers, besides the Nagan and Piper, participated in the competition. Were there newfangled American Colts and French Lebels with throwout drums? However, even if there were, they clearly did not meet the conditions of the competition either in caliber or technical simplicity. So they had no chance of winning.
What made the commission choose the Nagan revolver for the Russian army, and not the Pieper? I think it was due to a number of factors. Firstly, Leon Nagant was better known to the Russians than his competitor (before that Nagant had participated in the competition for Russian rifle and received an award from the Russian military department based on the results of a rifle competition - a prize of 200 thousand rubles in gold), but they saw Piper for the first time. I cannot say (“not caught, not a thief”), but I fully admit that Leon Nagan, who already understood the essence of the bureaucratic machine of the Russian state, could “foist” a bribe on someone that influenced the final decision. But what is known for sure is that he began to “punch” his revolver according to all the rules of the bureaucratic game. Thus, for advertising purposes, Nagan manufactured at his factory “for personal presentation” as a gift to “His Majesty the Emperor, His Highness the Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich and the Minister of War” several, as they now say, “presentation” revolvers. And he succeeded in this. In fairness, it should be said that Nagant revolvers passed very stringent tests and proved their reliability and reliability, unlike the more capricious Bayard. Secondly, Nagan more successfully adjusted his weapon to the requirements of the commission than Pieper, who was proud of his own innovation (I mean the ejectable drum, which complicated the design). Thirdly, it seems that the Nagant was lighter than Pieper’s “Bayard” (I don’t know exactly the weight of the “Bayard”, but even in the photo it is noticeable that Pieper’s revolver is more massive). It seems to me that there was a fourth factor. Don't laugh if this seems silly, but knowing that 19th century man viewed the world much differently than we do today, I would venture to guess that another factor that determined the winner was the beauty of the Nagant revolver. Then people aimed at beauty and the aesthetic principle much higher than we do. And educated officers, intelligent nobles, could not help but pay attention to the appearance of the contestants. Nagan is graceful and elegant, like a nobleman, “Bayard” is massive and rough, like a peasant. Guess which weapon should have appealed more to the generals and officers who were members of the commission?..

In general, be that as it may, as a result of the competition, the Nagan revolver was recognized as the best. True, due to numerous requests from Russian officers, at the second stage of the competition, the “double-action mechanism” was returned to this weapon. As a result, two versions of the Nagan revolver entered service with the Russian army: an officer’s double action and a soldier’s single action (non-self-cocking). The design of the revolver, already in the Russian version, was finally approved in the spring of 1895, and on May 13 of the same year, by decree of Nicholas II, the Nagan revolver was adopted by the army. Under the terms of the contract, Russia was to purchase, within three years, 20 thousand revolvers produced at the Leon Nagant and Co. factory in Luttich (Liège, Belgium). Then the Belgian side was obliged to provide tools and patterns to launch the production of revolvers in Russia. It is interesting that if the purchase price of a Belgian revolver was 30-32 rubles, then the Tula “Revolver” cost the state only 22 rubles 60 kopecks. The state order for the period from 1895 to 1904 amounted to 180 thousand weapons. In terms of time, the manufacture of one such revolver took 30 machine hours.

Performance characteristics of the Nagan revolver model 1895
Caliber 7.62 mm
Revolver length 234 mm
Barrel length 114 mm
Weight without cartridges 0.75 kg
Weight with loaded drum 0.837 kg
Muzzle velocity 305 m/s (Belgian cartridge)
Drum capacity 7 rounds
Cartridge 7.62x39 mm
Sighting range 50 m
The rate of fire is not targeted - 7 shots in 3-4 seconds.
Target rate of fire – 7 shots in 15-20 seconds.

When shooting at a package of 10 pine boards with a thickness of 25.4 cm, at a distance of 25 m, a bullet fired from a Nagan revolver pierced 5 of them. In service, the Nagan was distinguished by high service and operational characteristics, trouble-free and reliable operation of all mechanisms, in any conditions, including the most unfavorable ones.

Advantages and disadvantages of Nagan

Now let's figure it out: was Nagan good or bad at the time of his appearance? If we compare the performance characteristics of the Nagan with the characteristics of revolvers that were or were put into service in 1895, it is immediately clear that the Nagan is the lightest and smallest of all contemporary army models from the main countries of the world. Moreover, it is also the most powerful (in terms of initial bullet speed and penetration ability). True, the stopping effect of the 7.62 mm caliber is not very high, but at that time they did not understand this and did not know how to calculate it (this is the 19th century, and even today this problem has not yet been finally and unambiguously solved). In addition, the officer's Nagan, thanks to the self-cocking mechanism, fires faster than most revolvers in service at that time European countries. As for the reload speed, the Nagan was equal in this regard to most revolvers of its time, actually inferior in this area only to the newest ones: the British Vebley, the French Lebel and the American Colt New Army. Moreover, in real combat, when quickly reloading a revolver is a problem even for a system with a folding cylinder or a “turning point”, the Nagan with its 7 charges was somewhat superior to other models with their 6 charges. The only weapon that surpassed the Nagant in this area was the Austrian Rast-Gasser with its 8 cartridges in the drum, but it appeared only 3 years after the Nagant and became the last army revolver in history with alternate loading...
And of course, the peculiarity of the Nagant, its “trick” that distinguished this weapon from other competitors, was the obturation system, which consisted of pressing the drum to the barrel before firing, as well as a special shape of the cartridge in which the bullet was completely covered by the sleeve. When fired, the edges of the cartridge case “swelled” somewhat, covering the cracks and protrusions, and allowing the bullet to freely enter the barrel. This system made it possible to use powder gases without loss, strengthening the shot and increasing its accuracy. There is still debate about the rationality of such a system (in the entire history of weapons, it was used only in two revolvers - the experimental Piper “Bayard” and the serial Nagan). Some argue that the obturation did not justify itself, others say that this is the main “masterpiece” of the Russian revolver... I am not so strong in engineering to convincingly prove the correctness of the reasoning of one side or another. However, it seems to me that if this system did not complicate the weapon and did not interfere with its operation (and it did not interfere - this is proven by the history of the combat use of the Nagan), then it is no longer so important whether it justified itself “fully” or not.
Thus, summing up the comparison of Nagan with his contemporaries, we get a weapon with approximately a “four” in terms of school system points. A good revolver for that time for a country that was not very rich (or rather, did not know how to manage its wealth). Yes, of course, the Nagan design no longer had prospects and opportunities for development, in contrast to the Colt “New Army”, which in some ways surpassed the Nagan and became the progenitor of a whole series of new type revolvers. However, we must not forget that the New Army of 1892 was not as good as its descendants. The main disadvantage of this model was the unreliable drum fixation system. In addition, the New Army drum, when rotating, instead of pressing the rotating earring of the drum against the frame, worked to tear it off. As a result, in many samples the chambers of the drum did not exactly coincide with the barrel, causing scratches and nicks to form on the bullets, which affected the accuracy of shooting. In Nagan, thanks to the obturation system, this problem was successfully solved. So, in terms of design reliability and shot accuracy, the “backward” Nagant was noticeably superior to the “advanced” Colt...
However, all this was no longer important. Literally a year after the Nagan was put into service, “the first bell rang”: the first combat-ready weapon went on commercial sale in Germany serial pistol- Mauser S.96, still bulky and clumsy, but already surpassing in its characteristics all military revolvers in the world without exception. In an instant, all - even those still just being developed, still “lying in the drawings” - army revolvers became outdated, became an anachronism (only the conservative military did not yet understand this). Another 4 years later, the great John Moses Browning released a magnificent, still civilian model of a pistol (Browning model 1900), in which he laid down the main features of the modern layout of this weapon. The appearance of this model caused a “pistol boom” all over the world, and the most far-sighted officers of various armies even then began to privately replace their drum-type Gassers, Colts, Lebels and Nagans with these pistols. And in 1903, the appearance of a new version of Browning - a full-blooded, large-caliber, but compact army pistol, and even with a clip-on holster-butt! – put an end to the army biography of His Majesty Revolver. And countries, one after another, began to switch to pistols; However, this process turned out to be quite long...

Officially, the new revolver was put into service in 1895 and almost immediately won love in the Russian army: in terms of its combat characteristics and reliability, it was far superior to the Smith-Wesson revolver that was then in service, and the size and weight of the new revolver were completely beyond competition. Its first combat use by the Russian army occurred in 1900-1901, when the Russian Expeditionary Force took part in suppressing the so-called “Boxer Rebellion” in China. History has even preserved the name of the man who was the first to fire at the enemy from the Russian Nagant. He turned out to be the commander of the combined company of the 12th Siberian Regiment, Lieutenant Stankevich: during the capture of a heavily fortified fortress, he was one of the first to break into the enemy’s position and shot two Chinese soldiers attacking him. In total, in the hands of Russian fighters, Nagan went through five wars and a huge number of armed conflicts with honor.
As we remember, under the terms of the contract, Russia was supposed to purchase 20 thousand revolvers produced at the Leon Nagant and Co. factory in Luttich (Liège, Belgium) within three years. Then the Belgian side was obliged to provide tools and patterns to launch the production of revolvers in Russia. In this regard, in 1897, a decree was issued on the purchase of American and English machine tools for installation at the Imperial Tula Arms Factory. In 1898, Russian production of the Nagant began, and by June 1901, 90 thousand domestically produced revolvers were produced in Tula, and at a lower price (22 rubles 60 kopecks versus 32 rubles from the Belgians). In fact, the state order for the decade (from 1895 to 1905) amounted to 180 thousand weapons; however, the onset of the financial crisis and the associated lack of funds led to a sharp reduction in allocations to the War Ministry, and as a result, to a decrease in weapons production in 1903. But when the Russo-Japanese War began, Tula gunsmiths were ordered to urgently produce another 64,830 Nagans; However, until the end of the war, only 62,917 units were produced.
Already in the Russo-Japanese War, the Nagan was successfully used in battle more than once. For example, in August 1904, Captain 2nd Rank Alexander Vasilyevich Lebedev, commander of the cruiser Zabiyaka, accomplished his feat. During the defense of Port Arthur, he went ashore with his team to repel the Japanese assault. Defending the fort entrusted to him, Cavorang Lebedev with a saber in one hand and a Nagant in the other, in front of his colleagues, destroyed 20 attackers Japanese soldiers before being killed by a direct hit from an artillery shell. And near Vafangou, it was Nagan who saved the life of non-commissioned officer Avvakum Volkov of the Primorsky Dragoon Regiment. Sent to reconnaissance under the guise of a Chinese peasant, Volkov, upon returning with the information received, came across a Japanese cavalry patrol numbering up to a platoon of soldiers. The Japanese, based on some signs, realized that this was not a Chinese man in front of them and tried to capture the scout. Avvakum snatched from his bosom the officer's Nagant gun, given to him by the regiment commander, and shot the patrol commander and six Japanese hussars; before the others came to their senses, he jumped on one of the freed horses and galloped off to his own under the belated bullets of his enemies...

However, the heroism of ordinary soldiers could not compensate for the numerous mistakes of the high command. The end of the shamefully lost war brought the finances of Imperial Russia to the brink of collapse, and Tula again reduced its weapons production. Trying to retain qualified personnel, the Main Artillery Directorate in 1908 allowed the Tula plant, which until then had worked only for the Main Artillery Directorate, to produce revolvers for private orders from military units and other departments, which themselves paid for the production of weapons for them. Thus, from 1908 to 1910, 38,133 officers’ and 5,202 soldiers’ Nagants were produced. It is interesting that at this time the Russian police also became interested in the new army revolver; police departments in many cities asked management to allow them to order Nagants to replace outdated Smith-Wessons. And soon Nagan revolvers appeared on the shelves of gun stores: this was another way to finance a weapons company without the participation of government funds. True, Nagans were sold to the civilian population in a “weakened” form - they did not have an obturation system (the drum was not mounted on the barrel at the moment of firing). Such revolvers cost from 25 to 30 rubles (about half the monthly salary of a collegiate secretary or army second lieutenant); for a hundred rounds of Nagant cartridges they charged 8 rubles 50 kopecks.
Only the danger of a new war forced the government to again increase funding for military orders, and in 1910 - 1913. the army received another 175,589 revolvers. However, there was a new challenge ahead. At that time, many countries began to develop fundamentally new weapons - automatic pistols. If at first Nagans won due to their simplicity and reliability, then quickly developing self-loading pistols forced them to make room in the arms markets due to their undeniable advantage in rate of fire. In Russia we also had to discuss the problem of replacing a revolver with a similar pistol. Supporters of the new weapon rightfully pointed to the slow reloading of the Nagant, some also referred to the inconvenience of carrying a revolver due to the protruding cylinder.
However, the problem of replacing personal weapons turned out to be much more difficult than imagined. After all, there was no guarantee that, having spent a colossal amount on development and production, it would be possible to recoup it with the advantages of a pistol. Military experts raised what seemed to be quite reasonable objections. First of all, they concerned the speed of reloading and rate of fire. In conditions of a fleeting battle, the capacity of the 7-round drum in the Nagant would be quite sufficient, they believed, and it was unlikely that anyone would have time to reload the weapon after firing the cartridges. This applies to any automatic pistol. Thus, the prevailing opinion among the Russian leadership was that the speed of reloading, which is so important for rifles, is not a decisive factor for short-barreled models - the capacity of the drum or magazine comes to the fore. As a result, the not very significant difference in the combat characteristics of revolvers and early pistols, with the higher service and operational qualities of the former and the numerous still design shortcomings of the latter, convinced the Main Artillery Directorate that there was no need to replace the Nagans. However, officers were allowed to purchase pistols at their own expense. At that point the discussion was stopped.

Meanwhile, Russian gunsmiths sought to expand the capabilities of the Nagan. So, in 1912 - 1913. For a separate border guard corps, they produced a number of revolvers with barrels extended to 300 mm and wooden butts. This weapon was intended for mounted border guards and allowed targeted shooting at a distance of up to 100 m. However, the large dimensions (total length of almost 700 mm), the low destructive power (at a considerable distance) of a light revolver bullet and the same “bagginess” of reloading prompted the abandonment of the elongated Nagant. At the same time, they developed a version of a revolver with a 200 mm long barrel and a removable wooden butt for arming lower ranks in the technical troops (machine gunners, signalmen, telegraph operators, sappers), who were previously issued both rifles and revolvers. But this model was also considered unacceptable.

By the summer of 1914, the Russian army was almost completely equipped with modern short-barreled weapons. As of July 20, it had 424,434 Nagants of all modifications (instead of 436,210 required by the state). They were going to make up for combat losses using state factories, but already in the first year of the war these calculations were overturned - the troops began to feel the lack of all types of weapons. The military department had to purchase it abroad and hastily reconstruct its enterprises. To increase the production of weapons, new machines were urgently purchased from the USA and Great Britain, and the necessary equipment was also requisitioned from private enterprises. The re-equipment of the Tula Armory made it possible to increase the production of Nagans. Before the war, production was planned at 60 thousand annually; but thanks to increased capacity in 1914, the army received 76 thousand, and in 1915 - 131.8 thousand Nagans. In total, in 1914 - 1917. 474.8 thousand revolvers were produced, that is, more than in the previous 15 years. Moreover, the overwhelming majority were self-cocking revolvers. Indeed, in tsarist Russia, “officer” and “soldier” Nagans were produced in an approximate ratio of 8-10 to 1. The fact is that every Russian officer, not only the army, but also the navy, had to have a revolver. The vast majority of soldiers were armed with a rifle; revolvers were issued mainly to soldiers servicing heavy weapons or bulky equipment, in which the rifle interfered. Usually these were numbers 1 heavy machine guns, telegraph and telephone operators, 1st and 2nd numbers of gun crews in artillery, motorcyclists, drivers and machine gunners of armored vehicles. As far as I know, cavalry sergeants, as well as standard bearers and buglers, also had “soldier” Nagants.
First World War was a war of heavy weapons; The “main violin” in it was played by large-caliber guns, machine guns, armored cars, tanks and airplanes. However, the light, short-barreled Nagan also played its role in battle more than once, saving the lives of its owners. For example, in August 1914, on the Southwestern Front near the village of Yaroslavitsy, the squadron commander of the 10th Ingrian Hussar Regiment, Lieutenant Barbovich, distinguished himself in equestrian combat. During a saber fight, he found himself in a difficult situation: the Russian hussar was surrounded by several Austrian cavalrymen at once; Realizing that now he would simply be hacked to pieces, the lieutenant threw away his saber and grabbed his revolver. Within a second, two killed Austrians fell from their horses, and two more raised their hands up, surrendering to the mercy of the brave Russian officer.

The October Revolution and the civil war that followed opened new page in the history of Nagan. Nagan became the most famous revolutionary weapon, and in Russian the name of the gunsmith became a common noun, and any revolver was now called Nagan. During the years of devastation, its production decreased noticeably; however, from 1918 to 1920, another 175,115 Nagant revolvers were produced.
During the years of maneuver Civil War s, replete with cavalry skirmishes and sudden attacks at close range, the role of short-barreled weapons increased noticeably. And Nagan among the “short-barreled Civilian guns” was the most widespread and popular model. True, thanks to cinema, a legend has taken root in our country that the most favorite weapon of commissars and other revolutionaries was the famous charismatic Mauser S.96, but in fact, many war participants who knew about weapons preferred a more reliable and unpretentious weapon to the various pistols that spread throughout Russia during the war years. revolver. Indeed, in maneuverable conditions field war, when it was often impossible to clean dusty and mud-stained weapons (and often due to the lack of gun oil), newfangled pistols kept failing, but Nagan fired in any conditions. In this regard, the incident that occurred with the division commander from the 1st Cavalry Army Oka Gorodovikov is very indicative. In February 1920, on the banks of the Manych River, by chance, he found himself alone against a half-squadron of white cavalrymen. Gorodovikov grabbed the Mauser S.96 and tried to shoot back, but it was silent: the grease froze in the cold! Then Oka Ivanovich grabbed the Nagan; the revolver started working, despite the frost. Gorodovikov shot three Cossacks and successfully broke away from his pursuers...

True, for a number of understandable reasons, the quality of revolvers produced during the Civil War decreased noticeably. The quality of both cartridges and revolvers inevitably gradually declined throughout the First World War. The lack of supplies forced some of the cartridges to be filled with smoky (“brown gun”) gunpowder. However, during the Civil War, things got really bad: the growth in production was almost entirely due to quality. The quality of the cartridges has especially fallen - due to savings in materials, even the weight of black powder was reduced, which significantly reduced the power of the shot; poorly made capsules began to misfire frequently.
Only this can explain the rare, but still factual, cases of Nagant failure. Thus, during the suppression of the Antonov mutiny in 1921, brigade commander Grigory Kotovsky fired a Nagant three times at Ataman Ivan Matyukhin, and - an incredible thing for this weapon! - three misfires in a row... At the same time, Kotovsky was holding in his hand a brand new Nagant, just sent from the factory, produced in the confusion, storming and lack of control of the Civil War. Revolvers produced in tsarist times never allowed this to happen. It was not for nothing that M.V. Frunze later recalled: “We did not particularly trust the quality of the wartime Nagant, and every commander preferred products made before 1914.” It was possible to restore normal production levels only in the mid-20s, but this is a completely different page in the history of the famous revolver...

In psychology, there is a test called “associative series” - this is when a person is told a word or shown a picture, and he must name the word that he associates with the presented object. For example, “hare” - “wolf”, “rain” - “puddle”. What association does a person have with the word “revolver”? If the question were posed to a resident of the United States, the answer could be “Smith and Wesson,” but from residents of the post-Soviet space you can hear only one answer - a revolver. The revolver is a legend of several generations. In all feature films about the First and Second World Wars, about bandits and law enforcement agencies- a revolver is used everywhere. All the schoolchildren, if you show them the legendary revolver, without hesitation, will say that it is a revolver, and they will also ask you to shoot.

It all started with the requirements for the tactical and technical characteristics of the revolver

Historically, at the end of the nineteenth century, local gunsmiths did not produce short-barreled concealed weapons for the Russian army. At that time, the Smith and Wesson revolver was used, which performed well in the Russian-Turkish war, but its weight and technical performance left much to be desired. For a country that is constantly in armed conflicts, defending its borders from attacks by enemy armies, a self-cocking weapon was needed for shooting at short distances. Russian military commanders organized a grandiose tender of that time for all gunsmith designers in Europe. The task was not easy, but it was precisely because of this that it became the most massively produced in the world and became legendary among weapons connoisseurs. Among them were the following:

The revolver must stop a horse from 35 meters, or pierce half a dozen inch boards from the same distance.
The initial speed of the bullet must be more than 300 meters per second.
The weight of the revolver should not exceed a kilogram.
The caliber should be three lines - 7.62 mm according to the new standards.
The drum capacity should hold more than the then standard six rounds.
Smokeless powder was used and the case material should be brass.

A huge number of demands were put forward to the manufacturer, but most of them described tactical specifications already existing weapons that were used by the Russian army.

The cunning and ingenuity of Belgian gunsmiths perpetuated their creation for centuries

Belgian gunsmiths Leon and Emil Nagant were already developing such a revolver at that time. However, the caliber of their revolver was 5.45 mm, and there were only six cartridges in the drum. The brothers resorted to a trick - they made two dozen revolvers and presented them to the Russian Tsar, all the ministers and military commanders. The tender for choosing a gunsmith ended before it even began. Even several years later, the revolvers presented by European gunsmiths could not surpass the revolver of the “revolver” system.

To meet all customer requirements, the designers had to create a new seven-round drum and increase the bullet caliber by using barrels from three-line rifles. Having fulfilled all the terms of the contract, the Nagan brothers supplied twenty thousand revolvers to the Russian army within three years and ensured the production of the Nagant at the Tula Arms Plant.

Belgian gunsmiths also provided two versions of their creation. By slightly changing the design of the revolver, they made it so that the revolver could now have a self-cocking mechanism, as well as a manual cocking mechanism. This change affected the price of the revolver. Thus, an ordinary soldier was supposed to cock the hammer with his finger during battle, and officers received self-cocking weapons.

World fame in a few years

Having studied the drawing for the Naganov pistol patent, any gunsmith could reproduce it without much effort. After all, the design of a revolver "revolver" is simpler than any similar competitor. A few years later in the US territories, South America and Europe, revolvers of the same name with a reduced bullet caliber began to appear. However, the entire mechanism was very similar to the Tula revolver - a revolver. Photos taken by reporters over a century confirm this fact:

Self-cocking firing mechanism, which retracted the trigger by pressing the trigger.
Monolithic, non-demountable revolver frame.
The ramrod tube in the firing position is retracted inside the drum axis.
The barrel is screwed into the frame with a tight fit.
The entire firing mechanism is mounted in the frame and covered with a removable cover.
Smokeless powder is used.

On the other hand, it was precisely thanks to the growing popularity of the revolver throughout the world, and, accordingly, mass production, that a large leather holster for a revolver appeared. Historical documents indicate that there were no holsters in tsarist times. However, if we talk about the production of a revolver in Serbia, then a holster for it appeared there, exactly the same as the one used by the Red Army.

Favorite weapon of bandits and Red Army soldiers

If you turn to history, be it a textbook, film or documentary video, you can first of all pay attention to the lack large assortment weapons from the warring parties. The Maxim machine gun, the Mosin rifle and the most popular weapon - the revolver. The revolver is present among fighters on both sides of the conflict. Any military man will confirm that the fewer types of weapons there are in a war, the greater the likelihood of finding the necessary ammunition for your weapon in battle. To conduct a battle you need the weapon itself, supplies for it and its fault tolerance. And if you consider that cleaning and disassembling the revolver "revolver" was carried out at a very short term, then this can explain why he was liked by all participants in the conflict.

Until the start of World War II, the revolver's only significant drawback was the difficulty of pulling the trigger to fire a shot. The indicative ease of shooting simultaneously with both hands is false for that time. You can see a similar technique in the film “The Elusive Avengers”.

The best weapon for SMERSH

From the beginning of World War II until Cuban missile crisis In 1962, Soviet gunsmiths developed a huge number of pistols and revolvers, which they tried to promote in military circles. Having misfired once during test firing at the firing range, the then unknown Tula Tokarev 7.62 mm caliber was stuck for a long time in the laboratories of the arms factory. However, having appeared towards the end of the twentieth century, the TT 7.62 mm pistol became the favorite weapon of criminals, thanks to its low price, excellent fault tolerance and enormous destructive power.

The leadership of the state, GRU intelligence officers, spies and the NKVD received at their disposal the best revolver in the world. The revolver pistol has undergone many modifications. Along with an ordinary revolver, in the museum you can find a revolver with a silencer and flame extinguisher for SMERSH and GRU employees. The revolver carbine, which was intended for border troops and allowed combat at long distances, is still in demand among weapon collectors.

Favorite weapon of the military in peacetime

At the end of World War II, all weapons used by soldiers in battle and captured from the enemy were placed in military warehouses of many Soviet republics. The country was built and developed both spiritually and sportingly. It was thanks to the development of sports in the USSR that they remembered the “Revolver” revolver. Reviews from former combatants all insisted that for sport shooting better than a pistol no, than a revolver. Considering that in the thirties, development of a 5.6 mm revolver (with less destructive power) was already underway and a limited number of it was produced. The 5.6 mm caliber was not new to Russian gunsmiths, as it was found in Smith and Wesson revolvers imported by Russian generals from abroad.

They didn’t invent anything new, they just changed the barrels and drums. This is how revolvers with a caliber of 5.6 mm appeared in sports shooting clubs. They were joined by three-line rifles, converted to 5.6 mm caliber, which received the factory marking TOZ, popularly called “small things”. High shooting accuracy, very low recoil, easy maintenance and a long sighting range - characteristics due to which the revolver (revolver) and small-caliber rifle can still be found in sports clubs and weapons of internal troops.

Change the flag to a revolver during the start

It is unknown who came up with the idea of replacing the waving of the flag when runners start with a shot from a revolver, but a revolver was used as a weapon in all competitions. The development of the 30s for the 5.6 mm caliber came in handy here too. The cartridge was completely replaced with a bullet, the power of which was sufficient to produce a loud shot. The system using a gun was converted for shooting, and a “revolver” signal revolver also appeared. Before the collapse of the USSR, it will completely disappear from the market, forcing people to believe that the time of revolvers is in the past. But the revolver can easily compete for a place in a private collection.

If you look at it, over the course of a century, a huge number of modifications of the revolver have been produced, which, having different tactical and technical characteristics, have found their application in different areas. However, the trigger mechanism incorporated into the revolver at the end of the nineteenth century has not undergone any changes at all.

Traumatic weapons as a revolver's step into the masses

Magnificent weapons not only acquire legends, but also gain fans who want to purchase the famous weapon for themselves legally. This is exactly how the “revolver” was created. The caliber of the rubber bullet was reduced to the standard 5.45 mm, since with a caliber of 7.62 mm the rubber bullet, with good aiming, was still able to stop a horse. Also, in order to reduce the lethal force, the barrel of the revolver was significantly shortened, and the revolver moved from a rifled weapon to the niche of smooth-bore pistols. Such a modification legendary weapons The fans didn’t like it, but due to the lack of analogues I had to

The popularity of the revolver in the traumatic version is still very high. Besides traumatic pistol, like the original one, still shoots bullets due to powder gases, and for fans of military weapons, a revolver in this design is more valuable than a pistol that shoots. Having appeared in a timely manner at the same time, it will still make buyers not for a second forget about the legendary weapon.

Shoot - so shoot

The famous Izhmash concern, which is known throughout the world for the production of Kalashnikov assault rifles, has been producing and modernizing the Nagan revolver since 1942. Indeed, during the Great Patriotic War, the Tula arms plant was evacuated to Izhevsk. And during the collapse of the USSR, thanks to the export of weapons to foreign countries, the plant increased its capacity.

From the end of the twentieth century to the present day, it has become very popular Airguns. The pneumatic revolver "revolver" quickly found its buyers and admirers. Externally, it is very similar to the original from the late nineteenth century. But upon closer examination, you can see that a compressed gas cylinder is built into the handle. The walls of the barrel, unlike the original, are very thin; the same walls are found in the “revolver” signal revolver in one of the early modifications.

Don't forget about collectors

The demand for a revolver that is as close as possible to the original among collectors has never diminished. Now it is no longer possible to say for sure why the signal revolver "Revolver MP-313" was released to the masses without consulting with famous collectors. By polishing the serial number of the product and applying the Baikal plant marking with a laser over the original stamp, the manufacturer deprived the revolver of its historical value, discouraging collectors from purchasing a revolver. Seeing the market reaction to the new weapon, the concern changed its production technology. This is how the signal revolver "Revolver R-2" appeared. Leaving the serial number and original markings, the factory placed the logo on the back of the revolver.

Having studied the negative customer reviews about the bored barrel, the manufacturer refused to change the internal diameters of the barrel barrel. Damage to the revolver to protect it from firing with live cartridges was done in two ways - the drum was bored out to 10 mm, adding inserts for the gun, and the barrel was drilled through the frame on the right side and a large pin was inserted. An 8mm diameter pin is welded to the barrel and carefully ground around the edge.

What about Flaubert?

The Flaubert cartridge with a caliber of 4 mm, which sets the acceleration of the bullet with the energy of powder gases, has not been evaluated in the post-Soviet space. At first, no one could believe that the Flaubert cartridge did not require permits, then the 4 mm caliber was ridiculed. But faced with problems of increasing the initial velocity of a bullet in air pistols, in which either the cylinder has low pressure or the spring is not stiff enough, buyers turned their attention to the new product. And the appearance of a revolver of the “revolver” system chambered for Flaubert’s cartridge contributed to the growth of demand for such a wonderful pistol on the arms market.

It was a combat pistol that did not allow one to kill or injure a person, fired bullets using the energy of powder gases and did not require permission from the authorities. This is just a dream. An excellent purchase - both for a home weapons collection and for outdoor entertainment.

Nagant and modding

Taking into account the trend of the 21st century, it can be seen that modification of products, both visual and improving tactical and technical characteristics, is popular among weapon owners. First of all, the revolver handle is subject to modernization. The material used is carved wood, textolite, organic glass with supporting patterns or non-ferrous metal. For good accuracy and accuracy of fire, the revolver can be equipped with a folding butt. This solution will allow you to shoot not in weight, but with a rest, like from a rifle, which is very convenient when learning to shoot.

To improve performance characteristics, laser, optical or collimator sights are installed, this allows for improved shooting accuracy. A muffler is mounted on the barrel, which serves as an excellent counterweight during shooting, reducing recoil to zero. And although there are many variations on the theme of modernizing a revolver, nothing will overshadow the first example of the legendary revolver of the Nagan system of the late nineteenth century.

The famous 7.62-mm Nagan revolver, adopted by the Russian army in 1895, was developed in Belgium and has a long history of its appearance and use.

In 1878, at the Belgian enterprise of the Nagant brothers, elder brother Emil developed a 9.4-mm revolver with a double-action trigger, the Nagant M 1878, which was adopted into service in Belgium. In 1883, to arm non-commissioned officers and auxiliary personnel of the Belgian army, a version of a revolver with a single-action trigger was created - Nagant M 1883, and in 1886, younger brother Leon Nagan developed the Nagant M 1878/1886 revolver, improving the 1878 model.

position of the cylinder of a revolver Nagan model 1895
with the trigger pulled (above) and cocked (below)

In addition to Belgium, Nagan revolvers have also gained wide recognition in the armies of other countries. Until the mid-1890s, they in various modifications (Nagant M 1884, M 1887, M 1993) were adopted by European countries chambered for 7.5 mm caliber and Latin America chambered for 11.2 mm caliber. However, at that time, a serious flaw in the design of Nagan revolvers was the breakthrough of powder gases between the breech end of the barrel and the front end of the drum.

In 1892, Leon Nagant created a seven-shot model of the Nagant revolver with a powder gas obturation system. He improved his brother’s weapon, embodying the best features of the 1883 and 1886 models, and also borrowing from the Liege gunsmith Henry Pieper the powder gas obturation system - in particular, sliding the drum with cartridges onto the barrel before each shot.

The creation of a new revolver of the Nagan system coincided with the efforts made by Russia to resolve the issue of re-equipping its army with modern models of personal self-defense weapons, when the question of replacing the outdated standard 4.2-line (10.67 mm) Smith-system revolver arose quite urgently. Wesson. The Russian Military Commission established that “a military revolver must have such a strike that it can stop a horse at a distance of up to 50 steps with one bullet. If the bullet penetrates four to five inch boards, then the fighting force is sufficient.” To do this, the revolver had to have: a mass of 0.82 - 0.92 kg; caliber - 3 lines (7.62 mm); simple non-self-cocking trigger mechanism; accurate shooting accuracy at a distance of 35 - 50 steps (25 - 35 m); initial speed not less than 300 m/s. The design of the revolver must be simple to manufacture, maintain, insensitive to contamination and reliable in operation in difficult conditions.

The announced competition for a new short-barreled weapon for the Russian army and a potential gigantic order has aroused enormous interest among domestic and foreign weapons manufacturers. Several modifications of the existing Smith-Wesson revolver, revolvers and automatic pistols were presented, but the main battle was between Belgian gunsmiths Henry Pieper with the M1889 revolver model and Leon Nagant with the M1892.

Single action trigger (top)
and double action trigger (below),
used in Nagan model 1895 revolvers

Nagan, feeling that he could make a significant profit, adapted his revolver to the requirements of the Russian military. The Model 1892 Nagant was redesigned for a 3-line (7.62 mm) revolver cartridge. Along with the weapon, the gunsmith presented two versions of cartridges with bullets weighing 6 and 7 g, filled with low-smoke black powder, because the gas obturation system required a special sleeve with an elongated barrel that would cover the entire bullet. Also, taking into account the requirements of using a single-action trigger, Nagan had to deliberately worsen the design of his weapon - he followed the already beaten path, adapting the design of the new revolver in a similar way to converting the 1878 model into the 1883 model, which excluded the possibility of self-cocking shooting. In a weapon converted for non-self-cocking firing, to open fire it was necessary to first cock the hammer with the thumb of the right hand and only then pull the trigger.

However, many minor flaws were identified in the design of the Nagan M 1892 revolver. In addition, Leon Nagan offered the Russian army to buy the patent for this revolver from him for 75,000 rubles. The Russian military refused to pay, returned the revolver to the Belgian and scheduled a repeat competition, setting a premium of 20,000 rubles for the design of the revolver, 5,000 for a cartridge with smokeless powder, as well as Russia receiving all rights to the winning model, including production rights, just like in Russia , and abroad, without any additional payments to the inventor.

During 1893 - 1894, Nagan consistently developed several improved models of his weapons, in which almost all the shortcomings of the 1892 model revolver were eliminated: the sight slot was enlarged; the recess on the right side of the frame for inserting cartridges into the drum is expanded; the diameter of the drum is slightly increased (by 0.2 mm); the front sight received an inclined rib at the rear to reduce the glare of light; recesses appeared on the surface of the drum to make the weapon lighter; They took a different shape and the barrel, handle and ramrod were shortened.

case and cartridge 7.62x38 R
for revolver Nagan model 1895

In the new competition, the compact and lightweight Nagan model 1894 revolver very quickly came out ahead. However, the Russian army, at the request of the officer corps, also required a more advanced revolver with a self-cocking trigger. Leon Nagan, working for the future, at the end of 1894 presented to the Russian military commission a sample of such a self-cocking revolver. In addition, a number of minor changes were made to the design of the revolver, which by the spring of 1895 had taken its final form: the chamber sockets in the drum were deepened by 0.15 mm - the connection of the movable tube with the drum became simpler; The design of the cartridge has changed - the muzzle of the cartridge case has received a reinforced crimp, and the bullet, shortened by 1 mm, began to have a flat tip instead of a spherical one - as a result, the edge of the cartridge case began to be located 1.4 mm higher than the top of the bullet, which significantly improved the obturation when shooting.

As a result, it was decided to adopt two types of Nagan revolver into service with the Russian army: an officer’s revolver with a self-cocking trigger mechanism and a soldier’s revolver with a non-self-cocking single-action trigger. Along with high performance weapons themselves, an additional factor that persuaded the Russian military to conclude a deal with Nagan was a fairly acceptable purchase price, which did not exceed 30-32 rubles. for a revolver. On May 13, 1895, by decree of Emperor Nicholas II, soldiers and officer samples Nagan revolvers were officially adopted by the army as a standard short-barreled weapon. According to the military department, the adoption of the 3-line (7.62 mm) revolver of the Nagan system of the 1895 model was carried out by order of the Minister of War No. 156 of June 26, 1896.

According to experts, the Nagan M 1895 revolver stood on par with the most advanced examples of this weapon of that time. It was significantly superior in combat and operational qualities to the Smith-Wesson revolver that was previously in Russian service. From the point of view of the concepts of that era, it was a typical representative of military weapons - powerful and reliable in operation, but at the same time simple and relatively cheap.

Nagan model 1895
with door closed (top) and door open (bottom)

The 7.62-mm Nagan revolver, model 1895, consisted of: a frame with a lid, a barrel with a front sight, a ramrod tube with a ramrod, a drum with an axle and a return spring, a locking mechanism, a door with a spring, and a trigger guard.

The frame of the revolver was composite, consisting of a barrel and frame, firmly fastened together with a screw connection, a ramrod tube with a ramrod placed on the barrel, a detachable side cover and a trigger guard.

The barrel with 4 internal right-hand rifling had a stepped-cylindrical shape with a massive ledge on the muzzle. The barrel shoulder was the base of the front sight and had a dovetail groove for attaching the front sight itself. The bore had four grooves running from left to top to right, the chamber was in the form of a bored area to accommodate the barrel of the cartridge case. In the breech of the barrel there was a threaded stump for screwing with a frame, a neck and a belt for a ramrod tube.

The ramrod tube was put on the neck of the barrel and turned on it, and its tide entered into the cutout of the belt, thereby limiting its rotation. A ramrod and a ramrod stopper - a spring secured with a screw on the ramrod tube - were mounted in the ramrod tube.

The frame of the frame was a complex milled part with a large number of grooves, groove cutouts and pressed axles for attaching various parts of the revolver. On the front of the frame there was a threaded hole for connection to the barrel. The rear bent part of the frame, together with a detachable side cover, and two wooden cheeks formed the handle of the revolver. The connection between the side cover and the frame was carried out using a connecting screw. The steel convex butt plate of the handle had an oval shape, with a movably fastened ring for a safety cord. In the middle part of the frame there was a rectangular window for the drum and a hole for its axis. The upper part had a groove and a sighting slot.

Nagan model 1895
when charging

The drum was both a chamber and a magazine. It had seven chambers for storing cartridges. On the outer surface of the drum, seven recesses were made to reduce weight and a belt with seven deep recesses for the rear trigger protrusion and seven sockets for the door tooth. At the rear end of the drum there was a ratchet wheel for interacting with the pawl. At the front end of the drum, concentric with its chambers, grooves are made along the outer diameter of the barrel hemp. The drum was placed in the window of the frame and rotated in it on an axis.

The drum axis with a profile head was inserted from the front into the frame holes, held in the frame by a ramrod tube, which was installed in front of the drum axis head with its tide.

The return device consisted of a drum tube and a spring. The tube was placed in the central channel of the drum and could move along its axis, limited by the shoulder of the tube entering the annular groove of the channel. The spring was placed in the same drum channel, resting against the tube in front and against the channel wall at the back.

The drum locking device consisted of a door with an axis-screw and a door spring with a screw. The drum door was located on the right wall of the revolver frame and rotated on an axis screwed into the door lugs and passing through the hole in the frame post. The door had a tooth for interacting with the sockets of the drum belt, a protrusion for connecting to the ends of the drum, and a knurled comb. In the open position, the door folded down, releasing the chamber connected to it. The door protrusion fit into the end recesses of the drum, fixing it for loading or unloading.

The breech was placed in a socket in the rear wall of the frame window and rotated in it on an axis pressed into the frame.

The slider moved vertically in the grooves of the frame and cover and had a groove on top for the passage of the trigger; the bottom of the groove was beveled; the tail of the slider had a recess for the cranked trigger lever; the bevel affected the breech protrusion.

The trigger had a complex shape, was placed at the bottom in the frame socket and rotated in it on an axis pressed into the right wall of the frame. The trigger had a tail, a cranked protrusion that served to interact with the slide, a ledge to limit rotation, a sear to hold the hammer in the cocked position, and an oval head to act on the trigger connecting rod. There was a hole to accommodate the pawl rod, and a recess to accommodate the lower feather of the mainspring. In addition, the hook had two protrusions - rear and front, associated with the operation of the drum.

The revolver trigger had the following parts: a firing pin swinging on a pin, a cocking spoke, a spring-loaded connecting rod for self-cocking and decocking, a combat cock, a ledge for compressing the mainspring, a cut-off platform for resting the upper feather of the mainspring, and a tail for closing the frame socket for the trigger on top. The trigger was placed on the right wall of the frame behind the slide and rotated on an axis pressed into the wall of the frame.

The V-shaped mainspring was located inside the revolver handle and was attached to the right wall of the frame with its spike going into the frame hole. The upper feather at its end had a finger for acting on the beveled trigger pad and an oval protrusion for interacting with the trigger ledge. The thin end of the lower feather of the mainspring was located in the recess of the trigger. The chainstay also rested on the trigger guard.

The revolver had two types of trigger mechanism: a double-action trigger for the “officer” model and a single action for the “soldier” model.

The drum was loaded with one cartridge at a time through a door that hinged to the right and down. Removal of spent cartridges from the drum was carried out one by one using a cleaning rod turned around the barrel with the door open.

In 1895, the tsarist government entered into a contract with the Liege company Nagan to supply the Russian army with 20,000 Nagan model 1895 revolvers over the next three years. At the same time, the contract specifically stipulated the obligation of the Belgian side to assist Russia in establishing the production of revolvers at the Tula Arms Plant. Therefore, the very first samples, mainly with a double-action trigger mechanism, were purchased directly from the Belgian company Nagant brothers in Liege and were intended primarily for arming officers and non-commissioned officers. By 1899, their production in Belgium ceased, and Russia began its own production of Nagans.

handles of a Russian revolver (left)
and Belgian (right) production

The production of the revolver in Russia was organized at the Imperial Tula Arms Plant (TOZ) in two versions: with a self-cocking mechanism, intended for arming officers (“officer” model) and its degraded version without a self-cocking mechanism (“soldier” model) for arming lower ranks. At the same time, Tula gunsmiths not only mastered the production of the 1895 Nagan revolver, but simultaneously improved its design and production technology. Moreover, the cost of a Russian-made revolver was only 22.6 rubles, which was almost a third less than the cost of a Belgian-made Nagan, while fully maintaining the high combat qualities of the weapon. Changes were made to the back of the handle, which became solid rather than split, and the front sight, which received a simplified semicircular shape instead of the truncated conical one in the original model.

In addition, Russian TOZ gunsmiths, trying to expand the functionality of the revolver, in 1912-1913 produced a very limited number of revolvers with a barrel extended to 300 mm and an integral butt upon request of a separate border guard corps. New model it was supposed to equip mounted border guards. This weapon, which actually belonged to the class of revolver-carbines, was intended to hit targets at distances of up to 100 m. However, its exceptionally large dimensions (total length was almost 700 mm), the low lethal effect of a light revolver bullet at firing distances of over 50 m, as well as its “bagginess” "Reloading problems were the main reasons for abandoning this sample.

view of the detachable stock mount
modifications Nagan model 1895
for lower ranks of technical troops

Around the same time, the designers of the Tula plant developed another version of the revolver with a barrel extended to 200 mm and a removable wooden butt, intended for lower ranks in the technical troops (machine gunners, telegraph operators, signalmen, sappers) in order to replace two types of weapons (revolver and rifle) only one sample. However, this model also turned out to be unacceptable for the army, and remained only in prototypes.

Before the First World War, the Russian army was almost completely equipped with modern short-barreled weapons. According to the weapons report card, by July 20, 1914, the troops had 424,434 Nagan system revolvers of the 1895 model of all modifications. And in the period from 1914 to 1917, Tula gunsmiths produced another 474,800 revolvers of all modifications.

After the revolution of 1917, the revolver was adopted by the Red Army and the security forces of Soviet Russia. At the same time, the “soldier’s” model was abandoned, leaving only a more advanced model of a self-cocking revolver in service.

By the mid-1920s, the Soviet state, taking into account the experience of using Nagan revolvers during the First World War and the Civil War, decided, simultaneously with work on the creation of new self-loading and automatic pistols, to carry out a partial modernization of well-proven revolvers. But the changes made to their design affected only the sighting devices: the sight slot instead of a triangular one became semicircular, and the semicircular front sight was replaced with the same one, but with a “truncated” one. top part, more convenient for aiming. The technology for manufacturing revolvers has become somewhat simpler, although the labor intensity of their manufacture has not decreased, amounting to 30 machine hours per product.

Nagan model 1895
produced by TOZ (USSR)

In 1927, the Tula Arms Plant mastered, along with the production of standard revolvers of the 1895 model, the production of a new modification of the revolver - with a shortened barrel (85 mm long) and a handle. This compact revolver, the so-called “commander’s” revolver, was intended primarily to arm the operational staff of the OGPU and NKVD, where the specifics of the service required the concealed carrying of personal weapons. These weapons were produced in very small quantities (no more than a few thousand) until 1932.

In 1933, the Tula Arms Plant mastered the mass production of the self-loading TT pistol, which later became also famous, which was adopted by the Red Army. However, Tokarev pistols could not completely displace 1895 model revolvers from the standard weapon system, mainly due to their high service and operational qualities. Therefore, the production of both types of short-barreled weapons continued in parallel at TOZ. Between 1932 and 1941, more than 700,000 Nagan system revolvers were produced.

Shortly before the start of the Great Patriotic War, a pilot batch of revolvers with BRAMIT (Mitin brothers) devices for silent and flameless shooting was produced specifically for state security agencies at TOZ. This muffler had a fairly effective expansion chamber with rubber gaskets - seals. Soon this weapon received its baptism of fire, albeit on a very limited scale, being used by security officers deployed as part of reconnaissance and sabotage groups behind enemy lines.

With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, Tula residents had to evacuate their main facilities to the Urals in October 1941. The production of revolvers was already launched in Izhevsk at the beginning of 1942 by a branch of machine-building plant No. 74, which was assigned No. 622 in July 1942. However, the constantly growing needs for weapons led to the fact that in addition to the Izhevsk plant, from the end of 1942 the production of revolvers resumed in Tula (and continued in Izhevsk until the end of the war). In 1942 - 1945, Soviet gunsmiths handed over more than 370 thousand revolvers to the front. The relatively small production volumes are explained by the fact that preference was given to the TT pistol. The excellent fighting qualities of the Russian revolver no longer met the requirements of maneuverable combat, which required a weapon with a high rate of fire - automatic, with high-capacity magazines.

The new weapons system of the Red Army, formed in 1944 - 1945, was focused on promising models of automatic weapons, among which there was no longer room for the 1895 model revolver, and after the end of the Great Patriotic War it was first withdrawn from production and then from service. Over the entire time it was in service with Russia and the USSR, over 2 million units of this weapon were produced.

Nagan model 1895
with plastic cheeks

With the end of the Great Patriotic War and removal from service in the army, some revolvers were stored in arsenals, and a significant number of revolvers continued to serve in the police for many years. After the rearmament of the internal affairs bodies in the mid-1950s with more modern models of personal weapons, the revolvers were transferred to private security units and cash-in-transit services, where many of these revolvers were still in use 100 years after their creation, until their circulation in Russia was limited by the Weapons Law adopted in 1993.

Considering many years of operation and the high demand of many interested organizations for service weapons, in the 1960-1970s, almost all remaining revolvers underwent a major overhaul and, in connection with this, underwent some changes. So, on most of the revolvers, plastic grip cheeks were installed, replacing the old wooden ones that had worn out over many years of use. In all revolvers before 1922, the trigger mechanism was converted into a self-cocking mechanism. All weapons produced in 1931-1932 received, instead of semicircular front sights, front sights of the 1930 model with a “truncated” upper part.

In general, the design of the 1895 Nagan revolver became a classic in its time. Along with the widely established production of Nagans in Russia, and later the USSR, many foreign companies repeatedly copied its design. Thus, the Belgian companies Lepage, Bayard, Francott, as well as the German company in Suhl C.G.Haenel have established production of both direct analogues and several modified Nagan revolvers of the 1895 model. In the 1920-1930s, the Spanish arms company F. Arizmendi y Goenaga produced a modified Nagan revolver mod. 1895 chambered for 7.5 mm caliber. From 1930 to 1935, under the designation “Nagan Model 30,” it was also produced by the Polish state arms arsenal in Radom using equipment purchased during the liquidation of the Belgian company of the Nagan brothers in 1930.

In addition to combat and service use, the Nagan revolver model 1895 was also used in sports competitions. In pre-revolutionary Russia, no major changes were made to the design of revolvers for target shooting. At the competitions, a standard revolver with a non-self-cocking trigger was used, which was distinguished by its high stability and accuracy of combat.

In 1926, one of the founders of Soviet shooting sports, an outstanding shooter and gunsmith designer A.A. Smirsky proposed a project to convert a standard army 7.62 mm revolver to a 5.6 mm rimfire cartridge (.22 LR). Revolvers of this type were intended for initial training in shooting from short-barreled weapons and for sport shooting. The new training weapon, in addition to the caliber, differed from combat revolvers primarily in the presence of a non-self-cocking trigger, a reduced front sight height, and liners in the drum chambers for cartridges with much smaller dimensions and case diameter than standard cartridges. In addition, the modernized revolver had a slightly different firing pin arrangement, which was due to the use of rimfire cartridges. Quite deservedly, these revolvers enjoyed a reputation as good target weapons, with good accuracy of fire and combat accuracy at distances up to 25 m, which was due not only to the good qualities of the weapon itself, but also to the fact that the trigger force in the Nagan-Smirnsky training revolver was not more than 1.5 kg.

In the 1930s, the Research and Testing Station for Sporting Weapons of the Central Council of Osoviakhim created a special training device for firing small-caliber 22 LR cartridges from a standard 7.62 mm Nagan revolver. The device consisted of a 5.6 mm caliber insert barrel and a shortened seven-round drum. The revolver converted in this way had a fairly high accuracy of combat, as well as significant survivability. The disadvantages of this design include the excessively high cost of manufacturing a small-caliber insert kit for standard revolvers, although such a conversion cost less than the production of new 5.6 mm Nagan training revolvers.

In 1953, specialists from the Central Design Bureau of Sports and hunting weapons(TsKIBSOO) in Tula they are creating a 7.62-mm “re-barrel” sports revolver of the Nagan system. It differed from its predecessor not only in the target “weighted” barrel of a larger diameter and length of 147 mm, but also in modified sights, with an adjustable sight and front sight, as well as a more comfortable orthopedic handle. In addition to changing the design of the weapon itself. especially for it, on the basis of a standard revolver cartridge, a new 7.62x38 mm target revolver cartridge “B-1” was developed.

In 1962, the famous gunsmith Efim Leontievich Khaidurov began work on the creation of a new 6-round sporting target revolver, later designated TOZ-36. In this weapon, Khaidurov retained many of the components and mechanisms tested in the revolver. A feature of Khaidurov’s revolver was the presence of a trigger force regulator (1.5-1.8 kg) and a trigger stroke (0.5-2.0 mm). Sights consist of a horizontally and vertically adjustable rear sight and front sight. For more comfortable holding of the weapon when shooting, the revolver was equipped with a walnut handle of a semi-orthopedic type. The revolver was highly stable during aiming and firing, had excellent balancing and adaptability, which, together with a long sighting line, ensured high accuracy of the weapon.

TOZ-36 (top)
and TOZ-49 (bottom)

In 1969-1971, based on TOZ-36 E.L. Khaidurov developed another revolver - TOZ-49. It differs from the basic model mainly in a shortened drum and improved trigger adjustment (1.3-1.7 kg), which was due to the use of a new sports cartridge 4 ELP. 1000 with a sleeve length of 26 mm.

At the turn of the 20th – 21st centuries, on the basis of the Nagan revolver of the 1895 model, they created a traumatic rubber-fired civilian self-defense weapon P1 “Naganych” chambered for the 9P cartridge. A. (Ukrainian versions - “Skat 1R”, “Kombrig”, “G-Nagan” and the shortened “Skat 1Rk”) and “Nagan-M” chambered for 10x32T. For the production of civilian revolvers “Naganych” and “Nagan-M”, revolvers stored in warehouses were used, which had undergone modifications that excluded the combat use of weapons.

In the first decade of the 21st century, a number of Russian enterprises began to rework military revolvers stored in warehouses various years release into signal (noise) modifications, firing from which is carried out with Zhevelo capsules. This weapon received the designations “Nagan-S” and “Bluff” (manufacturer - Vyatsko-Polyansky Molot Plant), MP-313 or Nagan-07 (manufacturer - Izhevsk Arms Plant), R-2 (manufacturer - Izhevsk Machine-Building Plant) . The design of these revolvers eliminates reverse conversion military weapon(the chambers of the drum were converted to the caliber of the primer, the barrel was bored out, and a plug was inserted into the breech of the barrel). At the same time, the appearance of the revolvers is completely preserved, and disassembly, assembly and maintenance are carried out in the usual way.

Weapons » Revolvers » Russia / USSR
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What does a revolver look like? Pistol "Nagan": photo, technical characteristics, device. Mechanism for removing spent cartridges of a Nagan revolver

History of creation

Adoption into service in Russia

Combat modifications

Using Silencers

Sports modifications

Traumatic modifications

Revolver Nagan - video

Model 1886

Design

Trigger mechanism

Fighting power

Production

Adoption into service in Russia

Use in Russia and USSR

1900-1917

1917-1939

1939-1945

Combat modifications

Sports modifications

Conversion into sporting and hunting weapons

Conversion to civilian self-defense weapons

It all started with the requirements for the tactical and technical characteristics of the revolver

The cunning and ingenuity of Belgian gunsmiths perpetuated their creation for centuries

World fame in a few years

Favorite weapon of bandits and Red Army soldiers

The best weapon for SMERSH

Favorite weapon of the military in peacetime

Change the flag to a revolver during the start

Traumatic weapons as a revolver's step into the masses

Shoot - so shoot

Don't forget about collectors

What about Flaubert?

Nagant and modding

What else to read

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