I just purchased my first Nagant, an arsenal rebuilt 1944 Izhevsk, and ran my first 14 rounds of Hotshot 7.62 Nagant through it. I am concerned. The piece seems to have either some sort of timing issue, or an excessive amount of cylinder play; especially in double action (but occasionally in single) the indexing and cylinder advance don't seem to quite match up. Usually, the cylinder is slightly under-rotated when the advance causes the lip of the round to catch on the left edge of the forcing cone, but once or twice I caught Naughty Izzy doing exactly the opposite and slightly over-rotating before the advance. When it hangs like this, the hammer will not fall (thank goodness!) I've shot a friend's '40 Tula and never experienced anything like this, but we've always used Fiocchi ammo.
What's up here? Is it likely to be the gun, or the ammo, or is it my technique on the idiosyncratic Nagant trigger? How might I diagnose and fix this?
What's up here? Is it likely to be the gun, or the ammo, or is it my technique on the idiosyncratic Nagant trigger? How might I diagnose and fix this?