From the comments to the article about the German silent revolver PDSR 3, it turned out that people remember only one of the Nagant brothers, Leon. Emil was forgotten, although it was thanks to his work that the well-known M1895 revolver appeared. Let's try to correct this injustice, and at the same time we will try to trace the entire development path of the revolvers of the Nagant brothers, from the first models to the last most massive and successful one.
From industrial equipment repairs to the first revolver
In 1859, the eldest of the brothers, Emil, proposed to the youngest, Leon, to organize an enterprise whose specialization would be the repair and production of industrial equipment. Despite the very good business of the young company of the Nagan brothers, gradually the specialty changed, and after a short time, a greater amount of work was associated with the repair of revolvers, rifles and rifles from other manufacturers.
Of course, only one repair could not satisfy the young designers. Seeing the imperfection of the designs of those weapons that fell into their hands, the brothers began to develop their own weapons, concentrating their attention on rifles. It was then that the company of the Nagant brothers received its name "Fabrique d'Armes Emile et Leon Nagant". Despite the fact that the rifles of the Nagant brothers were in many ways simpler and cheaper to manufacture, the designers could not offer anything fundamentally new on the market. To win a place among the arms companies with famous names, it was necessary to come up with something that would be superior in its characteristics to other samples. The designers even enlisted the support of Samuel Remington: having visited their production, he praised both the enterprise itself and the developments of the designers, having concluded an agreement with them for the production of his rifles and carbines in Europe. The Nagant brothers, with the permission of the American designer, somewhat modernized the bolt of his weapon, and the Remington-Nagant bolt-action rifle was adopted by the Luxembourg army.
The first recognized revolver Nagant M1878
This small victory of the designers gave them the opportunity to declare themselves as full-fledged gunsmiths, and soon they developed a primitive, but outrageously cheap double-barreled pistol for the Belgian gendarmerie. So, the brothers completely switched from long-barreled weapons, and since at that time the main short-barreled weapon was a revolver, the designers took on the development of revolvers more seriously.
In 1877, in the Belgian army, the question arose of replacing the not very successful Chamelo-Delvin revolver, and just at the same time Emile Nagant patented his revolver with a double-action trigger mechanism and a ramrod ejector, which was fixed on the weapon frame and retracted into the drum axis after performing its functions.
After a number of improvements, this revolver was submitted to a competition for the Belgian army, and from the first days of testing, it left the competitors behind. The integral frame of the weapon allowed the use of more powerful ammunition without harm to the revolver itself, and the individual structural elements were elementary more convenient and reliable. The price of the weapon also played a key role: despite the fact that the design of the trigger was not the simplest, and the revolver itself required a large amount of high quality metal, the Nagan brothers offered to supply it at a lower cost than competitors.
As you might guess, the M1878 revolver was adopted by the Belgian army. This weapon became personal for warrant officers, senior sergeants, and later the same revolver became the main weapon of the Belgian mounted gendarmerie.
The revolver was offered under the cartridge developed by the Nagant brothers. The cartridge consisted of a metal sleeve, into which was placed a lead shellless bullet with a caliber of 9.4 mm and a mass of 12 grams. The muzzle velocity of a bullet fired from a revolver reached 200 meters per second. The revolver itself was a fairly heavy weapon. The mass of the revolver was 1, 1 kilogram. The total length of the weapon was 270 millimeters with a barrel length of 140 millimeters. The revolver was fed from a drum with 6 chambers.
This revolver, developed by Emil Nagan, became the starting point for the further development of weapons of this class among the brothers. All subsequent models, one way or another, were based on this first successful revolver. The well-known side-folding "door" for extracting spent cartridges and equipping the revolver drum with new cartridges appeared in this version of the weapon.
Degradation of the M1878 revolver: the Nagant M1883 revolver
Weapons do not always follow the path of development, sometimes it is also the path of degradation. In the model of the M1878 revolver, the trigger mechanism was double-acting. Despite the relatively low cost offered by the Nagan brothers, the highest military ranks felt that the weapon was too good to arm them all without exception. The designers were asked to abandon the double-action firing mechanism and develop a cheaper revolver with a single-action trigger. This is how a revolver appeared under the designation М1883.
Brothers gunsmiths greatly simplified the trigger mechanism of the weapon, making it a single action. Externally, the revolver could only be distinguished by the drum, the surface of which became smooth without grooves. In general, the characteristics of the weapon did not change, if we forget that now, before each shot, it was necessary to cock the trigger manually, but the cost of the weapon changed, albeit not significantly.
Despite the fact that the firing mechanism lost individual elements due to the heavier revolver drum, the mass of the weapon remained unchanged and was equal to 1, 1 kilogram. The length of the revolver was still the same 27 centimeters with a fourteen centimeter barrel. The cartridge was used all the same 9, 4x22.
Revolver М1884 Luxemburg - old revolver with new cartridge
Another modification of the M1878 revolver was the M1884 Luxemburg revolver. The army of this small state was armed with rifles with Remington bolts, improved and produced by the Nagant brothers. Apparently, the satisfaction from the cooperation and the final product played in favor of the fact that when the question arose about replacing revolvers in their army, the military officials of Luxembourg again turned to the Belgians.
The main problem was that the military, under no pretext, did not want to switch to the cartridge offered by the brothers, therefore new revolvers were developed for a different ammunition - the Swedish 7, 5x23. True, the designers managed to "push through" their own ammunition, but more on that below.
For Luxembourg, Emil developed three weapon models at once: with the designation Officer, Safety, Gendarme.
The first was a military revolver, with the designation Officer, and in fact was still the same M1878, but chambered for a new.
It is worth immediately citing the characteristics of the ammunition used, so that it is clear why Luxembourg was so resistant to the Nagan ammunition. As is clear from the designation of the cartridge, the length of the sleeve is 23 millimeters with a bullet diameter of 7.5 millimeters. The bullet itself was already in a copper sheath and had a mass of 7 grams. The muzzle velocity when fired from the M1884 Luxemburg revolver was 350 meters per second. If you compare with what the Nagan brothers proposed, then there is nothing to compare, the advantages of the Swedish patron are obvious. But back to the revolver.
The Nagant М1884 Luxemburg Officer revolver had the same mass of 1.1 kilograms, the same barrel length of 140 millimeters with a total length of 270 millimeters. That is, the designers simply reduced the drum chambers and replaced the barrel of the revolver.
More interesting was the model with the Safety designation. It's no secret that the perfect balance in a weapon, between maximum safety and constant instant readiness for use, immediately after extraction, is achieved precisely in revolvers. However, even this seemed not enough in Luxembourg. For weapons that were used to protect civilian objects and prisons, a special modification of the M1884 revolver was ordered, in the design of which a non-automatic safety device was provided against an accidental shot. There is no doubt, with firearms it is better to play it safe once again, but the fuse of the revolver is already overkill.
Structurally, the safety catch was a lever that blocked the drum of the weapon, thereby pressing the trigger became impossible to produce, as well as manually cock the hammer. The switch was fixed with an additional part attached to the frame of the weapon. The characteristics of the revolver remained the same as those of the Officer version of the weapon, only the mass increased by 70 grams.
As mentioned above, the designers managed to persuade the Luxembourgers to use their cartridge in one of the versions of the M1884 revolver. This revolver was the Nagant M1884 Luxemburg Gendarme, which, as the name of the weapon implies, was intended for law enforcement.
The main distinguishing feature of this revolver was the longer barrel, which had to be increased due to another interesting requirement from the customer. The fact is that the Luxembourg gendarmerie asked to make it possible to mount a bayonet on a revolver. What was the use of a thin bayonet with a length of only 10 centimeters remains only a mystery, but it caused well-known problems. The bayonet fastening interfered with the convenient use of the ramrod-ejector of spent cartridges, it was for this reason that the barrel of the weapon was lengthened. In addition to the longer barrel, the revolver could be recognized by the smooth surface of the drum.
The elongation of the barrel by a seemingly meager value of 20 millimeters significantly affected the accuracy of the weapon, but other parameters of the revolver also changed. So, its mass began to be equal to 1140 grams without a bayonet. The barrel length was 160 millimeters. The total length, respectively, increased by the same 20 millimeters and became equal to 290 millimeters. As mentioned earlier, the revolver was powered by cartridges 9, 4x22.
Revolver М1878 / 1886: weapon updated by Leon Nagant
In the process of working on revolvers for Luxembourg, Emil Nagant began to develop vision problems. The long work with documents and drawings in poor lighting and the age of the designer also affected. While the elder brother was recovering his health, the younger did not sit idly by and developed a new double-acting trigger mechanism, which was not only cheaper to manufacture, but also more perfect. The mere fact that as many as 4 springs were used in the old trigger mechanism of the Nagan brothers, says that there was still much to develop.
It was this development that Leon suggested. In its trigger, instead of four, only one spring was used, and separate different elements of the old design became one whole piece. Undoubtedly, complex parts were more expensive to manufacture, but their smaller number more than compensated for this, making the overall result cheaper. In addition, the reliability of the weapon was significantly improved, which now withstood the most barbaric treatment.
In addition to the more sophisticated and cheaper firing mechanism of the revolver, Leon thoroughly worked on the frame of the revolver, removing excess metal where the loads during the shot were minimal, which led to a lighter weapon.
Finally, thanks to Leon, cartridge 9, 4x22 was modernized, which began to be equipped with smokeless powder, and received a bullet in a copper sheath, which, in turn, had a favorable effect on the general characteristics of the revolver. An interesting point is that initially Leon planned to develop a weapon chambered for 7, 5x23, but after weighing the losses from ammunition sales and problems with the promotion of weapons in the army and law enforcement agencies, where 9, 4x22 ammunition was used, it was decided to modernize his own ammunition. As it turned out later, the development of a new revolver chambered for 7, 5x23 was not in vain.
The new weapon was proposed to the Belgian army, which happily accepted a new, cheaper revolver with a double-action trigger mechanism, and even more reliable and lightweight. By the way, all three versions of weapons that were in service with the army served until the end of the First World War and were replaced only because of the ammunition used.
The new revolver weighed 940 grams. Its length was all the same 270 millimeters with a barrel length of 140 millimeters.
One might get the impression that Emil interfered with his younger brother with his authority, but in reality this is not at all the case. All previous developments of the designers were joint work, while authorship is usually awarded to the one in whose name this or that patent was registered. The brothers' disagreement arose a little later, and although the disagreements were about the arms company, they had nothing to do with firearms.
A series of M1878 / 1886 revolvers with a shorter barrel for various ammunition
As mentioned earlier, Leon Nagan initially developed a new revolver chambered for 7, 5x23, but abandoned this ammunition in favor of modernizing his own cartridge. However, the developments were not wasted. A year later, Sweden announced a competition for a new revolver for its army chambered for precisely 7, 5x23, the only requirement for which Leon's already practical ready-made revolver did not fit is the length of the weapon. The solution to the problem turned out to be the simplest: the barrel was shortened from 140 to 114 millimeters. Accordingly, the total length began to be equal to 244 millimeters, and not 235, as it is written in many reference books: except for the barrel in the weapon, nothing has changed, and the frame remains the same. The new revolver weighed 770 grams and was designated the Nagant M1887 Swedish. As you might guess, he won the competition for a new short-barreled weapon for the army.
The same revolver can be designated Nagant М1891 Serbian, under this name the weapon was adopted in Serbia. The same weapon has another name - Nagant M1893 Norwegian, under this name it was adopted in Norway and was absolutely no different from the Swedish version of the revolver.
On the basis of the M1878 / 1886 revolver, variants were made for other ammunition, namely for 11, 2x20 and 11, 2x22 for Brazil and Argentina, respectively. These revolvers already had a barrel of 140 millimeters and a length of 270, while the mass was 980 grams. These revolvers are designated Nagant M1893 Brazilian and Nagant M1893 Argentinian.
So why did they forget Emil Nagan, but remember his brother? Nagant M1895
Despite the fact that Emil Nagan retired from managing the company and devoted more time to restoring his damaged health, his blindness only progressed. Perhaps not used to sitting around, or perhaps wanting to leave a significant mark in history before he becomes completely blind, the designer began work on his last revolver.
One of the main disadvantages of revolvers is the breakthrough of powder gases between the barrel and the barrel of the weapon at the time of the shot. Such an irrational use of a powder charge could not be overlooked by gunsmiths, and many tried to minimize it.
In 1892, Emil Nagant registers several patents, among which you can find a variant of the trigger mechanism, forcing the revolver drum to "roll" onto the barrel of the weapon and a cartridge with a deep-seated bullet inside. It was these developments that became the basis for a new revolver, which was designated M1892, but was not mass-produced.
The weapon did not go into the series due to the fact that this particular revolver was presented in the competition for a new short-barreled weapon for the Russian army. All the efforts of the designers were aimed at winning this time, after losing the competition for a new rifle. In the process of improving the revolver, both Emil and Leon went to a variety of tricks, because everyone knows the phrase that the barrel of the Nagant M1895 revolver can be made from discarded Mosin rifle barrels. The original cartridge of the weapon, the barrel was changed and all this was deservedly rewarded with victory.
The race for a contract from the Russian army finally undermined Emil's health, and after winning the competition, he retired in 1896. It is this event that can be considered the one that erased his name in history. From 1896 the arms company was renamed from Fabrique d'Armes Emile et Leon Nagant to Fabrique d'Armes Leon Nagant. Why there was a change in the name of the company is difficult to say with certainty. Perhaps the reason was that Leon Nagan saw a prospect in the development of the automotive industry, while Emil remained faithful to firearms. After the model of the M1895 revolver, the arms company already Leon Nagan could not please with anything fundamentally new, concentrating on the development of cars, and not new weapons. In 1900, Leon Nagant passed away at the age of 67. Emil, with his undermined health and already virtually complete blindness, could not replace his brother even as the head of the company.
Continuation was, but short-lived
So in 1900, Emile's children, Charles and Maurice, became the leaders of the Nagant company. True, it is necessary to make a reservation that the children were no longer children, but successful men who had previously taken an active part in the affairs of the company.
Just like their uncle Leon, they saw the future of the company in the automotive industry, but they did not abandon the arms business, however, for them it was in the background.
Of all the developments of the children of Emil Nagant, only one model of the revolver deserves attention, namely the Nagant M1910. At its core, it was an M1895 revolver, but with one significant difference - its drum was thrown to the right side for reloading, which significantly accelerated this process. Unfortunately, such a weapon update was a little late, as the revolvers were seriously pushed back by self-loading pistols.
The mass of the revolver developed by the children of Emil Nagant was 795 grams. The length of the weapon was 240 millimeters with a barrel length of 110 millimeters. The revolver was fed from a drum with seven chambers with cartridges 7, 62x38.
In 1914, the production of weapons and ammunition at the Nagant company was discontinued. The First World War and the general low demand for cars after it did not allow the company to develop in the car market. In 1930, the company, founded by Emil and Leon Nagan, closed.
Based on articles by Sergei Monetchikov and the guns.ru forum
