Russian Imperial Nagant Revolver

[wbaad]

Hi All,
I have a 1913 unrefurbished imperial Russian revolver coming my way wand was wondering why the Peter the great markings are peened over on the gun. I have read this is common.
Any other relevant details are appreciated.

Information

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[Eaglelord17]

So your the lucky guy that got that, nice score.

I believe it was done by the Soviets as they wanted to remove as much Imperial markings from everything as possible. It was also more prominent early on when they were trying to distinguish themselves from the Imperials (and the hatred early on was pretty strong). Just imagine how much time and effort it would have taken to do this to a firearm, there is hundreds of strikes on that area, and having to line up the punch for each and every one shows someone really had a fair bit of energy to burn. That was likely at least 15-30min of effort, possibly more if they didn't have a vice.

I have a 1926 Mosin Nagant Infantry Rifle which was built on a 1898 Tula receiver which they left the markings on the receiver intact, most likely since it was rebuilt in 1926 about 9 years after the Soviets took over, and after all that 'tear down the Tsar and his symbols' effort would have been pretty exhausted (there is only so many symbols to tear down). Its like the Russian Capture K98ks (even though those were later), some were absolutely brutalized by punch to remove the markings when possible, and others the guys either didn't care or it had been a bit since they stopped caring.

Just think of it like any social movement, tons of energy early on, but they usually calm down after a bit (remember the Occupy movements?). Yours just happened to be captured/acquired early on.

[WarPig1976]

When you get, if you don't mind please post some pictures of the internals. Would love to inspect a non refurb.

[wbaad]

So your the lucky guy that got that, nice score.

I believe it was done by the Soviets as they wanted to remove as much Imperial markings from everything as possible. It was also more prominent early on when they were trying to distinguish themselves from the Imperials (and the hatred early on was pretty strong). Just imagine how much time and effort it would have taken to do this to a firearm, there is hundreds of strikes on that area, and having to line up the punch for each and every one shows someone really had a fair bit of energy to burn. That was likely at least 15-30min of effort, possibly more if they didn't have a vice.

I have a 1926 Mosin Nagant Infantry Rifle which was built on a 1898 Tula receiver which they left the markings on the receiver intact, most likely since it was rebuilt in 1926 about 9 years after the Soviets took over, and after all that 'tear down the Tsar and his symbols' effort would have been pretty exhausted (there is only so many symbols to tear down). Its like the Russian Capture K98ks (even though those were later), some were absolutely brutalized by punch to remove the markings when possible, and others the guys either didn't care or it had been a bit since they stopped caring.

Just think of it like any social movement, tons of energy early on, but they usually calm down after a bit (remember the Occupy movements?). Yours just happened to be captured/acquired early on.

Thanks for the info. So this gun would have likely been in service soon after mfg and during the imperial to Soviet transition? Pretty cool!
I'll post more pics when it's in my hands. Likely be single action only.

[Badger]

Check the MKL for an article on these revolvers as well...

1899 Nagant (Model 1895) Revolver

Also, you might want to try our Google CSE custom search engine located in the top right corner of the site.. It only searches our site using Google techniques and can be quite efficient. For example, in your case, type in the words russian imperial nagant revolver and see what happens.

Regards,
Doug

[Eaglelord17]

Thanks for the info. So this gun would have likely been in service soon after mfg and during the imperial to Soviet transition? Pretty cool!
I'll post more pics when it's in my hands. Likely be single action only.

Its hard to say if it will be single action only or not. Most of them were updated to double action if they were single action only so the odds of that would be very low. Your revolver would have served in a fair bit of places though, Imperial Russia during WWI, likely the Russian Civil War, likely in Soviet service after that, and who knows from there. Maybe even ended up in Finnish hands (which would explain why it is unrefurbished). Tons of possibilities, please post some photos when you get it, would love to try and figure out the history of this one.

[wbaad]

Will do.
Not many nagant a up here in Canada as the States got pretty much all of the surplus. This one may be a bring back or surplus from decades ago. I jumped on it since I love revolvers and guns with odd operating mechanisms. Also have 100 rounds I've been sitting on for a couple years for just this occasion

[Sentryduty]

That is an interesting find indeed, I do recall seeing some variation of a Nagant revolver in the "Gun Library" of Cabela's Edmonton South a few weeks ago, it wasn't the typical refurbished Soviet example either. At a glance it looked like it may have had the crest intact, but it may have just been a Liege stamping. Externally I would say it was in rough/white metal, but didn't investigate further due to the volume of shoppers crowding the area. I think the pricing was sub-$200 but again, I may have that wrong.

I remember it was about 5 years ago that it seemed that the local area was flooded with refurbished Tula models, complete with holster and cleaning rod, about $180 or so. I had wanted one for the collection but since it was so cheap, and to be honest, not the nicest pistol to fire, I assigned it below other purchasing priorities. I had thought they would be like SKS and TT33 imports, nearly unending, but I certainly misjudged that as now that I have the time to pick one up, supply has gone. More ironically, when the revolvers were available, the market was dry with ammo, none to be had with custom handloads being the only option, now the guns are all in private hands the ammo has sprung up.

[Eaglelord17]

I remember it was about 5 years ago that it seemed that the local area was flooded with refurbished Tula models, complete with holster and cleaning rod, about $180 or so. I had wanted one for the collection but since it was so cheap, and to be honest, not the nicest pistol to fire, I assigned it below other purchasing priorities. I had thought they would be like SKS and TT33 imports, nearly unending, but I certainly misjudged that as now that I have the time to pick one up, supply has gone. More ironically, when the revolvers were available, the market was dry with ammo, none to be had with custom handloads being the only option, now the guns are all in private hands the ammo has sprung up.

The ammo is the main reason more were never brought in. People were unhappy to pay for a firearm they couldn't shoot, and as such they took a while to sell. Fast forward a couple years the ammo is available, but now the revolvers aren't. Another big limiting factor is the fact that the importers if they import them are being asked to bring in large lots (I remember one importer saying about 5000 revolvers being the minimum). It might not seem like much, but when you factor in the fact in Canada they are restricted and the market is relatively limited, it would take a while to sell 5000, unless they were at fire sale prices.

[wbaad]

Pics up.
Has original front sight and is single action only.
Appears to have been rearsenaled at some point and sports an izzy cylinder but looks to be all imperial Tula marked parts.
Any idea when these would have been refurbed? I'm pretty sure they were all converted to da/SA suring refurb.
War time refurb? It's very pitted on the exterior and almost looks like it spent some time in the ground or wet in a holster. The peening of the Peter the great looks to have been done after the pitting was lightly removed, so could it be a 1920's refurb with repairs done during ww2 such as replacement cylinder? It does look to have been carried since it was last blued.
Gun is mechanically great and should shoot fine.