Russian Nagant 1895 Chamber diameter question??

[6thAnspachJaegers]

Hello Folks.. can someone out there spare a few minutes and Mic measure the inside diameter of there 1895 Nagant Cylinder ??? I know they take the 7.62 Nagant Cartridge ..but someone gave me 3 new boxes of 32 S&W Longs and said they should fire in it.. and... all the forums also seem to agree... but when I insert a 32 S&W cartridge in my cylinder there is excessive gap around the cartridge in any of the 7 openings..My chambers Mic at .355"....the 32 S&W ammo mics at .335"... Is my cylinder just oversized?? My nagant looks almost unfired with mint barrel and bluing... Any help appreciated! Thanks!

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[kenwest516]

Well after I triped over the charger cord to my laptop,spilled half a glass of water, cleaned up the mess and got the keys to the safe. I came up with .355 also. I would not shoot 32 s&w for the same reason. Most places say they are hard on .32 brass for that reason. Around here I have to order either because it seems noone keeps them so I just order 7.62 nagant.

[jmoore]

If the rim engages, the .32 S&W ought to work after a fashion. But accuracy won't be helped by the usual offcenter position of the case. Chamber pressure is low enough that there's little possibility of case ruptures with new brass. But .32 H&R Mag or, especially (if it fits), .327 Magnum would be far worse choices!

Fiocchi has made the 7,62 Nagant round quite recently, but given the current ammo situation in the US, it might be a little hard to find.

[Aragorn243]

I believe to fire the 32 S&W you need to get a new cylinder. There were a few places offering them due to the lack of Nagant ammo. Nagant ammo is (or was before the panic) available all over the place recently both in surplus and the Fiocchi loads.

[Patrick Chadwick]

If you are a reloader, then 32-20 cases (not ammo!) are a much better fit in length and base diameter, the length being about the same as the Nagant up to the vestigial neck, thus allowing you to seat a bullet to about the same OAL as the Nagant round. But the rims are too thick, and you will probably have to thin them down at the front. If you thin them at the back, then the primer pocket will be too shallow for a small rifle primer. Theoretically I suppose you could thin them at the back and use a small pistol primer, but I have never done this and you will have to check the feasibility yourself.

This is a reloading tip only. Do NOT try 32-20 ammo!

P.S. PRVI now makes Nagant revolver ammo!

[kenwest516]

The replacement cylinders I have seen are in .32 acp. I havent seen one for s&w but I never really looked. I always understood it that the s&w would fire in the nagant cylinder.

[Bionicback321]

I also have a question about reloading ammo for the M1895 Nagant. Rather then modifying the rim of 32-20 cases, could you cut the cases of once fired 7.62X38 Nagant ammo (I have a box of new prvi partizan) and cut the case down to the same length as the 32-20 case. Then load it the same as if it were a 32-20 case. No need to trim the rim or reform the case. Any thoughts?

[jmoore]

Any thoughts?

if you can wrangle a collection of dies that will do the job, then it ought to work. But having not previously reloaded this round, what is the big drama reusing the cases "as is"?

[Bionicback321]

what is the big drama reusing the cases "as is"?

That is the $64,000 question. There is no die that will reload it back to "factory", and most of what I have found about reloading for the M1895 Nagant refers to the 32-20 case and the Lee dies for that case. The 32-20 case is about a 1/4 inch shorter than the 7.62X38r ( 1.315" vs. 1.530" ). Without cutting the 7.62 case the bullet would be completely inside the case as opposed to only 1/3 to 1/2 of the bullet length. How would the extra contact affect chamber pressures? I just don't know. As I said, most of the info out there is for a reformed and trimmed 32-20 case. Has anyone tried reloading a 38r with a wadcutter or semi-wadcutter flush with the top of the case? I would be very interested in learning how that worked out.

[jmoore]

I'm wondering if you could use 32-20 dies or some combination of dies to do the job with the Nagant cases and seat the bullet as it was before. Maybe a combo 32-20 and .32 S&W or Colt dies. Bullet seating could be done with the seating die turned out enough to avoid crimping...

Spare .30 cal turned down or maybe 6,5 or 7mm bullet seating stem to move the bullet past the case mouth w/o damage.

Lots of possibilities, but the question would be is it worth the trouble? Case life would seem to be limited, unless the amount of sizing required to reliably enter the barrel can be reduced from the usual factory swage.