:righton:
Cross another one off the list...
... of Soviet-era small arms to add to my collection. 
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Nagant M1895 pistols are hardly uncommon or difficult to obtain, but I have been looking for a specific one... a 1944 Tula to match my 1944 Tula M-44 carbine. The 1944 Tula Nagant M1895 is rare as so few were manufactured. Just before the Tula arms factory was overrun by the Nazis in late 1941, a limited amount of production equipment and material was skirted away to Tula's sister foundry in Izhevsk, where a secondary plant using Tula's equipment and dies operated until the Tula arms factory returned home in early 1945.
Like the Mosin-Nagant M-44 carbines produced by the Tula arms factory in 1944, the vast majority of Nagant M1895 revolvers that year were issued to the Soviet units that first crossed the S-Bahn in the climactic final battle for Berlin in April 1945. I can't be certain, of course, but according to a Soviet military historian I have known for many years there is a 90%+ chance this revolver played some role in that historic battle.
This particular year features an unusual foundry mark... Rather than Tula's typical arrow-in-star it features a large hammer-in-star and uses Izhevsk punch dies to engrave the date. It has a mix of Izhevsk and Tula small parts (as by that point they were sharing them between the two factories) and appears to have a barrel cut down from a damaged Mosin-Nagant 91/30 rifle.
I will need to strip, inspect and lubricate the action and slug the barrel before I shoot this one... By this point in the war, there was such a desperate need for arms and so little capacity that many of these unique pistols incorporated hand-struck parts and were hand-fitted by civillian volunteers rather than trained gunsmiths. I will post a range report once I get that done and put some Prvi Partizan 7.62 Nagant rounds through it.
Many thanks to Southern Ohio Gun for keeping an eye out for one for me, and to UPS for delivering it into my eager hands this morning (03FFL, what did I do before I had you???).
Next on my list... either a late 1940s Russian SKS (the original production run with the early gas piston design and crucifom bayonet) or a semi-auto SBR build from a Russian PPS-43 parts kit. Decisions, decisions...
Nagant M1895 pistols are hardly uncommon or difficult to obtain, but I have been looking for a specific one... a 1944 Tula to match my 1944 Tula M-44 carbine. The 1944 Tula Nagant M1895 is rare as so few were manufactured. Just before the Tula arms factory was overrun by the Nazis in late 1941, a limited amount of production equipment and material was skirted away to Tula's sister foundry in Izhevsk, where a secondary plant using Tula's equipment and dies operated until the Tula arms factory returned home in early 1945.
Like the Mosin-Nagant M-44 carbines produced by the Tula arms factory in 1944, the vast majority of Nagant M1895 revolvers that year were issued to the Soviet units that first crossed the S-Bahn in the climactic final battle for Berlin in April 1945. I can't be certain, of course, but according to a Soviet military historian I have known for many years there is a 90%+ chance this revolver played some role in that historic battle.
This particular year features an unusual foundry mark... Rather than Tula's typical arrow-in-star it features a large hammer-in-star and uses Izhevsk punch dies to engrave the date. It has a mix of Izhevsk and Tula small parts (as by that point they were sharing them between the two factories) and appears to have a barrel cut down from a damaged Mosin-Nagant 91/30 rifle.
I will need to strip, inspect and lubricate the action and slug the barrel before I shoot this one... By this point in the war, there was such a desperate need for arms and so little capacity that many of these unique pistols incorporated hand-struck parts and were hand-fitted by civillian volunteers rather than trained gunsmiths. I will post a range report once I get that done and put some Prvi Partizan 7.62 Nagant rounds through it.
Many thanks to Southern Ohio Gun for keeping an eye out for one for me, and to UPS for delivering it into my eager hands this morning (03FFL, what did I do before I had you???).
Next on my list... either a late 1940s Russian SKS (the original production run with the early gas piston design and crucifom bayonet) or a semi-auto SBR build from a Russian PPS-43 parts kit. Decisions, decisions...
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