Tag Archives: nagant pistol

Polish Nagant in the wild

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Last week I had posted an image of a very fine c.1935 FB Radom wz.30 Nagant revolver (the Polish Nagant) and as a follow up, I thought I would post this most excellent and very steampunk image of a Polish State Police (PP) officer using a re-purposed German Stahlhelm helmet (adorned of course with a Polish Eagle) and WWI-era armor plate as well as (most likely) a wz.30.

Enjoy:

"Policeman in full gear, Warsaw’s State Police (Policja Panstwowa m.st. Warszawy) Warsaw 1934. Photo Willem van de Poll

“Policeman in full gear, Warsaw’s State Police (Policja Panstwowa m.st. Warszawy) Warsaw 1934. Photo Willem van de Poll

Here are two more images of Stahlhelm/armored PP officers, with a locally made ballistic sheild. The guns of choice seem to be Mauser 1910/14s.

Policja8 Polish_State_Police_(Policja_Państwowa)_before_1939

The 1895 Russian Nagant Revolver

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In 1895, the new Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, approved an innovative revolver for his enormous army. At the time Imperial Russia was the only country in the world who mustered a military of more than a million men in peacetime. Once war was declared, the Tsar could count on another 14 million reservists to answer his call. They needed arms, and the Nagant M1895 revolver was their standard sidearm.

An enterprising pair of Belgian firearms inventors, Emil and Leon Nagant, has patented and sold, from their factory in Liege, a number of revolvers to the armies of Sweden, Norway, and Greece in the 1880s and 90s. When word came that the Tsar was eager to update the 1870s era Smith and Wesson .44 revolvers they carried with something more modern, the pair proposed an interesting design. Whereas most revolvers of the time offered either five or six shots, the Nagant brothers proposed a 7-shooter (take that Smith and Wesson!).

Read the rest in my column at Firearms Talk

nagant-revolver