Adventures with the M95 Nagant, in .32acp/7.65 Browning.

[Ugly Sauce]

Sign the waiver, heed the warnings: Do not follow any of my load data. These loads are intended only for MY revolver, with replacement non-fluted cylinder. They are too hot for small semi-auto handguns designed for the .32acp. Firing such loads in your pistol may result in death or injury, and may blow your face off. So there!

The .32acp cylinder I have for my Nagant is very accurate. The group above is below average. Usually six of seven shots will/would be in the bullseye. As my interest in this pistol is primarily a small game gun, the group above would represent six dead grouse out of seven. Also, it does that with any factory ammo I have tried. So my mission is to develop an equally accurate, small game hand load. And at the same time, develop a "power load" that exceeds "normal" .32acp ballistics for wolf and cougar repellent.

The group on the left, my first try, looked like it had promise. So, for small game I figured if I dropped the powder charge way down, I might "be there". But look, it strung the group vertically, like a string! So, back to the drawing board for the small game load.

Switching gears, for a try at a "power load" I grabbed the Hornady 30 Mauser bullets and put some over 2.5 grains of the Bullseye. I think the group would still be on the plate at 25 yards, so it's not "too bad" for a wolf or cougar size target at that range. (I would never shoot at one if it was over, or beyond the 25 yard line) But I don't like how five of the seven, or the group prints to the right. So I'm not going with this load.

What does seem to work is the Hornady 100 grain Short Jacket bullet. 2.3 grains of the Bullseye under a 100 grain bullet is where we get on the edge, or over the edge a bit as far as normal .32acp ballistics are concerned. But not over the pressure limits (IMHO) of the Nagant, the 7.62X38mm cartridge, or the beefy non-fluted cylinder. On the left group, 1.9 grns, all seven shots are there, look closely and you'll see one hole is a double. The right group, 2.3 grains of B.E., looks like it's not really getting bigger. It is a six shot group, with the flyer (first shot) in the middle of the green and black dot. !!?! Considering the horrendous trigger pull of this pistol, I don't see a practical difference, so I'll move up to 2.5 grains if I can, tenth grain at a time, and call it good. I like the fact that the Short-Jacket is grouping high, a little more point-blank range, which for the purpose of this load, won't be a bad thing.

Aim point on all targets was a six o'clock hold on the dot. Range was 15 yards, which is where I see the grouse and bunnies at.

For the small game load, I have some 71 grain .312" FMJ's loaded up for tomorrow. Ran out of light today. The Hornady bullets are .308", and the cast bullets were sized .309", so maybe the larger diameter will give better results. I may cast up some more 90 grain bullets, and see what they measure as-cast.

Also tried some Speer 100 grain, half jacket "Plinkers". .308". For some reason they bulged the case badly, and would not chamber. Strange as the Hornady is also .308" and does not do that. I suspect the half jacket on the Speer is thicker than the Hornady, and perhaps the Hornady squeezes down a bit. Those tiny cases are stout, not like loading bigger calibers. And, there is not much case before you are hitting the thicker head section of the case. On the other hand, the .312" FMJ did not bulge the case and they chamber fine. And yes, I measured the "Plinkers". They are right on at .308". ?

 

[Ugly Sauce]

The 71 grain, .312" FMJ's looked promising at 2.5 grains, but strangely enough, again, reducing the load by five tenths of a grain kind of opened things up. The left/2.5 group was only six shots, don't know how I only loaded six, can't count to seven I guess. Thought I had a miss-fire when I shot the group. On the right, with 2.0 grains of the Bullseye, (only working with B.E. as I have lots of it) I got three good hits, a big spread high and right, and one wild flyer way low and right.

Since the cast bullet seemed to shoot good at 1.9/2.0 grains, I'll see how it does with 2.5 grains, for my "power load", wolf and cougar repellent, and I think I'll just rely on my factory ammo for small game. I have quite a bit of it, and WW white box is not impossible to find. I've gone far enough down the rabbit hole.

So, I'll work the 90 grain cast bullet up to 2.5, maybe a bit beyond, and see if it's group gets better or worse. I like where it prints at 2.0 grains. I'll post the results of that, and "that will be all folks". I think. !! No promises!!

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

Meister sells a 94gr RFN for the.32-20WCF/.32H&R Magnum that would probably be a good fit for your predator load idea. They will look a little odd in the tiny ACP case but I don’t think the wolves/cats will notice.

32 RNFP H&R 94GR .312

hard cast bullets, lead bullets, smokeless lead bullet, cowboy bullet, Meister hard cast bullet

www.meisterbullets.com

And I just noticed they are OOS/No back orders. Well, if you come across them, they will probably be a good thing to try.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

I will have to check that out. Seems like everyone is "out of stock" on many of the bullets. I like that Hornady .30 Mauser bullet, it seems like a good fit, would like to experiment with it further, but I don't have many left, and Midway and everyone else is out of stock.

My own cast bullet which I think is 90 grains or a bit more is working out good. And of course, big savings $$$ to use a bullet I have a mold for. I did up it to 2.5 grains of B.E., which was too hot. But as noted above, it sure didn't like a light charge. I need to dig through my molds and make sure I still have it, as I think it might shoot a little better as-cast, rather then sized to .309". Anyhow, I loaded seven up dropping the charge back down to 2.0 grains, and I'll leave it at that if I get a decent/acceptable group. Having plenty of factory ammo I'll just use that for grouse, squirrels and rabbits.

Ha ha looking odd in the ACP case is a good thing, less likely to ever find it's way into my FEG/AP-MPB. I'm very careful about stuff like that, but that would be an extra visual "safety feature". I don't think the little semi-auto pistols would like a heavy bullet over 2.0 grains of the Bullseye. !!!!

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Well dang it. Bullseye sure is sensitive to 1/10th of a grain changes. Yes you can laugh. No duh. So, 2.0 grains Bullseye and the 90 grain cast bullet, sized .309, turned in this group just now. So, I'm taking it. 1.9 grains showed potential, but this is a keeper. It is the predator or "power load". With accuracy on par with the factory ammo. (this would be a typical factory ammo group)

For small game, again I'll just stick with the factory ammo for now, and avoid continuing down the rabbit hole. I was hoping to match the factory ammo in accuracy, with a much quieter report.

Much pleased with this group. The only thing left is to send some over the chronograph, quite sure it out-powers standard ballistics for the .32ACP, but I'm quite curious as to how much.

Once again, don't fire a 90+ grain bullet over 2.0 grains of Bullseye powder in your semi-auto .32ACP/7.65 Browning semi-auto pistol. It won't function, and



will probably damage the pistol. Heck, might even blow your face off. And, the weird and quirky, steam-punk M95 says: "thanks for listening".

 

[Ugly Sauce]

To wrap this all up, I chronographed my load, it's higher than I expected. Still not bear repellent by any stretch.

The pistol produces a lot of velocity even with the factory ammo, which should only be going around 850fps. Out of the Nagant I'm getting from 988fps, to a little over 1000fps. That's a mystery to me, considering the 1/2" of free-bore. The predator or "power load" is doing well over 1000fps, with a much heavier bullet, but that's all I'm going to say, lest someone will say I'm going to blow my face off. I won't be plinking with them, that's for sure. Field use only!!

Again, thanks for listening. I know the M95 Nagant is not everyone's cup-o-tea. To many it's a "revolving joke"! I like the weird, whacky, steam-punk quirkiness of it, and the French styling, but in it's defense they are (can be if you can pull the trigger) accurate and stout pistols. Yes, they do have many "faults", but it fills the bill for my purposes, surviving on small game and putting the hurt on predators up to, but not including bears.

 

[Toprudder]

Very interesting, thanks for sharing.

I may have to find a 32acp cylinder for mine. So far, I have loaded the standard Nagant brass using Meister 94gn .312 bullet, sized down to .310. Soft loads, about 800fps.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Very interesting, thanks for sharing.

I may have to find a 32acp cylinder for mine. So far, I have loaded the standard Nagant brass using Meister 94gn .312 bullet, sized down to .310. Soft loads, about 800fps.

Yes, I've done much reloading with the 7.62X38mm brass and cylinder. I've not got the accuracy of the .32acp cylinder yet for some reason. "pretty good" accuracy, but not that seven shot 2" or less at 15 yards grouse hitting group. Take the feathers off a grouse, and man that's a little target. About the size of a medium size pine-cone.

In my pistol, I think, believe, suspect that when it was arsenal referb'd that they cleaned up the forcing cone a little too much. If/when I fire any loads, even soft, with the full length brass they are very difficult to eject. I had to pound them out with my knife handle one time when actually shooting at grouse. (I did get one grouse out of two) So, what I've done, or had to do, is to trim the 38mm cases down to where they are the exact length of the chamber, and don't protrude. That supports the bullet while it jumps from cylinder to barrel. Negates the total seal of course.

As mentioned before, even without the full length cases, or the .32 cylinder, when the gun fires the cylinder is pressed up against the barrel, so there's actually zero barrel-cylinder/flash gap. To my mind, using short cases or the ACP cylinder, the function of the forward moving cylinder is not completely defeated. ? I can find very little evidence or soot on the face of my cylinders even after dozens of rounds. Nothing like a conventional revolver. ?

Good to hear there is another M95 fan out there. It certainly is a "unique" !!!! revolver.

 

[Toprudder]

Good to hear there is another M95 fan out there. It certainly is a "unique" !!!! revolver.

That is why I like it. At first I didn’t think about loading for it, I had a bunch of factory ammo for it. But, it wasn’t that accurate, and I found out the factory ammo had .308 bullets.

I don’t load hot rounds for it, but I do occasionally get a case that I have to tap out. I may try trimming the brass a little shorter to see if that helps.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

That is why I like it. At first I didn’t think about loading for it, I had a bunch of factory ammo for it. But, it wasn’t that accurate, and I found out the factory ammo had .308 bullets.

I don’t load hot rounds for it, but I do occasionally get a case that I have to tap out. I may try trimming the brass a little shorter to see if that helps.

Perhaps that would be "the trick" just giving it a light trim. ? Something to think about. I've found that the factory, or surplus ammo (I'm never shot commercial ammo) is not "great". With one batch of surplus ball, I got velocity variations of 800+to 1200fps. !!! Usually not accurate, even the surplus "target" ammo is inaccurate, in my pistol. However, the accuracy with the .32acp is so good I know there's nothing inaccurate with the barrel. With reloads in the 7.62X39mm cases, I've obtained "very good" accuracy, so yeah, nothing wrong or inaccurate about the pistol.