In the shadow of the "great revolver"
Revolver "nagant" was a regular for a very long time weapons officers of the Russian imperial army, which was also reflected in cinematography. Whatever film about the events of 1914-1917 you take, all the heroes use it, and, of course, we have the same thing in films about the civil war. There are simply no number of them. Here, for example, is a frame from the movie "Red Square" (1970)
“Few people associate the word “revolver” with the name of the Belgian weapons manufacturer Nagant in Liege, who at one time produced a successful design of a new system combat revolver. This word has become so rooted in the Russian language that in colloquial philistine speech it has long begun to mean "revolver in general", regardless of its device; non-military people often call so not only revolvers, but even automatic pistols: “snatched a revolver”, “shot from a revolver” ... "
"You and your name", Lev Uspensky, 1960
"You and your name", Lev Uspensky, 1960
Weapon stories. The noisy success of the Nagant revolver, and not only the revolver itself, but also the company of the Naganov brothers, understandably closed the eyes of many to its shortcomings and how, in fact, it came to us in Russia. And the point here is by no means only in technology, but in a whole series of other, "accompanying circumstances." Firstly, Nagan was known in Russia after the famous epic with a rifle in 1891. After all, then he, in fact, won the competition, and only a number of specific features of the Mosin rifle, and above all its great cheapness, caused Nagan to lose. He lost, but still participated in its adoption as a technologist, transferred to Russia all the patents he received for it, the technology for hardening trunks, and equipment drawings. Without all this, it would then have been installed for production for so much time ... and so, with his help, everything went much faster, for which he received 200 rubles.
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Before the First World War, the completeness of "revolvers" in the Russian army was 97%, that is, they were a little lacking. But on the other hand, a "revolver", and not of a Tula, but of a Belgian assembly, could easily be bought![/ Center]
So those who in our country were responsible for the rearmament of the army were well aware that they could rely on the Naganov company, and that it would not let you down with its “Belgian quality”. It only remained to draw up the performance characteristics and get the finished product from him under them. And such requirements were drawn up and included a number of points, among which, according to tradition, was the point that a revolver bullet should stop a horse from 50 steps. Well, then there was cavalry, and horses, like people, had to be killed without fail, and certainly from 50 steps! However, already at that time such a weapon as a revolver was considered in the Russian army more as a status weapon, rather than a combat one. Hence the reduction in caliber to rifle, although it would be more logical to stop the horses with a 9-mm caliber bullet, and the ultimate simplification of the reloading system. Like, seven rounds, my brother, you have enough for your eyes to solve all your problems, but you didn’t decide - here’s a saber that hangs at your hip - chop the enemy with it and die a hero. That is, the main criterion was, first of all, the cheapness of this type of weapon and the simplicity of its “fabrication”, and not at all any particularly outstanding fighting qualities.
Revolver Henri Pieper model 1886 with a folding drum. Right view. Such a revolver could well be in service with the Russian army. Photo http://littlegun.be
That is why a number of very interesting revolvers remained in the shadow of the “revolver”, which could well have been in service with our army and would have proven themselves no worse in it, but they didn’t hit and therefore couldn’t show themselves.
Revolver Henri Pieper model 1886. Left side view. Photo http://littlegun.be
In particular, Henri Pieper's very good revolver remained in the shadow of the revolver. We have already talked about this gunsmith on the pages of VO, but now we will dwell on some of his samples in more detail. The fact is that it was Henri Piper, and not the Nagan brothers, who came up with the idea of creating a revolver with complete obturation of gases from the drum when fired. Before him, a partial “exhaust” from the gap between the barrel and the drum was a recognized feature of this weapon and, perhaps, its most important drawback, because not all gases went into the barrel, which was reflected in the “battle force”.
Henri Pieper revolver model 1889. System with a drum advancing on the barrel. View from the left. Photo auctions.morphyauctions.com
The same revolver. The T-shaped protrusion on the barrel gave it greater rigidity and strength. Right view. Photo auctions.morphyauctions.com
And so Pieper came up with a cartridge with a bullet recessed into the sleeve and a crimped muzzle, which, being inserted into the revolver drum, protruded quite a bit from this same muzzle. At the moment of pressing the trigger, he gave the drum forward exactly 2 mm, but this was enough for the drum to press against the breech section of the barrel, and this most crimped muzzle was inside the barrel. By advancing the bullet, it was distributed to the sides and pressed by powder gases to the bore, so that the breakthrough of gases was completely excluded.
Pieper also produced such revolvers “especially for ladies” with ivory grips and engraved curlicues. Well, the market is the market! Photo http://littlegun.be
Pieper patented this system, and later produced revolvers of models 1886, 1890 and 1893. But in general, from 1861 to 1896, he received 69 patents in the field of machine tools, guns, revolvers, cartridges and gearboxes, as well as gun barrels, alloys, various cartridge magazines and machine-gun belts, etc. And then the validity of Pieper's patent is simply expired, was not extended, which was what the Nagan brothers took advantage of. By the way, Piper and Nagan met during a competition held in the Russian Empire, when the Nagan revolver was adopted for service. Piper was a competitor of Nagan, but his revolver, as more complex and expensive, was not accepted in Russia. They were adopted by ... Mexico, where revolvers of the 1893 model of the year and nine-shot revolver carbines based on it got into service, where they were used until the 1920s.
Revolver Henri Pieper for Mexico. Model 1893. Photo http://littlegun.be
Revolver carbine Henri Pieper model 1893 for Mexico. Photo https://www.icollector.com
Revolver carbine Henri Pieper model 1893 for Mexico. "Hunting Option" Photo https://www.icollector.com
And there were also experimental revolvers of the Austrian company Steyr, model 1893. In total, about 100 of them were made, mainly for testing in Austria-Hungary. These two examples are early examples with the Pieper gas seal system, in which the barrel is pushed forward when fired, and an extra long case seals off the gas leakage between the barrel and barrel. This slightly increases the muzzle velocity by eliminating gas leakage in the drum gap, but this is achieved at the expense of additional complexity of the revolver design and greater trigger pull.
Swiss experienced revolver "Steyr" 1893 Photo poulinauctions.com
The revolver was distinguished by its original finish - black bluing of the body and a golden coating on the drum, which made it very elegant! Photo poulinauctions.com
Front view. The lever that folded the drum is clearly visible. Photo poulinauctions.com
In addition to this system, the Steyr 1893 had a folding drum and a central extractor, which made reloading quite fast for that time. He, like the Nagant revolver, held 7 cartridges of a slightly larger 8 mm caliber. A later version received a fixed drum and an "Abadie door" through which it was loaded. But none of them were adopted. Instead, they chose the model of the Rasta and Gasser revolver of the 1898 model of the year.
This is how this Swiss revolver lay in the hand of the shooter. Photo forgottenweapons.com
A drum with a manual extractor made it possible to quickly discharge the revolver. Photo forgottenweapons.com
In order to gain access to the mechanism of the revolver, it was necessary to unscrew only one screw with a large cap. Photo forgottenweapons.com
And here is its internal structure. Photo forgottenweapons.com
Why he so seduced the Austrian military is not clear. Is it the greater capacity of your drum?! Even outwardly, it was a very bulky and old-fashioned design. In addition, the power of his 8-mm cartridge was small. But the design of the "steyrov" turned out to be, one might even say, very elegant, in no way inferior in its technical merits to the Henri Pieper revolver. However, for us, that is, for the army of the Russian Empire, it was a very good choice, because in terms of its combat qualities this revolver was almost an exact copy of ... "revolver", and only differed from it in the number of cartridges in the drum, and so to load and unloading it was just as inconvenient and long, and its handle was made in an unsuccessful way. You had to get used to it, but just like that, offhand, it was inconvenient to shoot with it.
Revolver "Rasta and Gasser" M1898. Total length: 222 mm. Barrel length: 114 mm. Weight 1 kg. Drum capacity: 8 cartridges 8x27 mm. Muzzle velocity: 213 m/s. Army Museum, Stockholm
The tests of these revolvers were carried out by the Austrian military in 1897. Possibly the most beautiful military revolver ever made, with a spectacularly profiled barrel, blued barrel and frame, and a blued front sight. In fact, it was these revolvers that laid the foundation for the more common Nagant M1895.
French state-issued revolver of 1887 with the characteristic hallmarks of Belgium, that is, most likely, this is a Belgian copy. And he, too, in all respects is very similar to the "revolver". Photo http://littlegun.be
The fact that they are more perfect than the “revolver” can not be said, as well as the fact that they recharged much faster. Yes, they were more expensive, but not by much. But how many lives were lost due to the slow reloading of the revolver, so no one calculated ...
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