M1895 7.62 Nagant Revolver

I've owned this thing for almost a year now, and just shot it for the first time last week.  The gun cost me $79, and the only place around here that carries ammo for it had it for $49 per box -- that's almost as much as the gun!.  That's almost $1 per round.  The gun shows had boxes for $35, but that's still too much.  I ended up finding ammo for it, as I've previously posted, for $21 per box.  THAT'S much better!  It shot pretty nice -- it was pretty accurate at 15 yards.  The recoil on it felt like I was shooting my Ruger MkIII .22, but it did have much more muzzle blast.

As you cock the hammer, the cylinder moves up to press against the barrel, and the way the cartridge is, the case forms a tight seal with the barrel, so all the gas goes out the front of the barrel, which explains the muzzle blast.  This makes it the only revolver in the world that can be silenced with a suppressor.  It also makes it REALLY easy to clean!

The Nagant was designed by a Belgian, adopted by the Russian military in the 1895 and carried until, I believe, WWII.  At that time it was mostly phased out by the Tokarev semi-auto.  You'll recognize the name Nagant, as it was developed by the same guy, Leon Nagant, who co-developed the Mosin-Nagant rifle that was the issue rifle for the Russian and Soviet Armies for the first half of the 20th century.