However, this method of operation required unique manufacture which increased cost and complicated production. Additionally, the unique cartridge and action forced the operator to load each cartridge individually via a loading gate and extract each spent case manually. This made the M1895 a slow-loading weapon when compared to her contemporaries, some of which could use "half-moon" clips for speedy reloading and eject all spent cases with a single action.
The M1895 Nagant revolver was adopted as the standard Imperial Russian sidearm moving forwards (now alongside the equally-famous Mosin-Nagant service rifle). Initial production began in Belgium at Liege in 1895 and was then relocated to Russian territory thereafter. The type proved itself a reliable and very robust battlefield weapon and its qualities were highly valued by Russian infantry and officers alike. The revolver was still in standard issue by the time of the Russian involvement in World War 1 (1914-1918) though its revolution and subsequent civil war removed Russian participation from the global conflict. The movement gave rise to the Soviet Union emerging in the early 1920s.
The M1895 Nagant was still retained into the interwar years however. By this time, the revolver had been available through two distinct production forms - the "Private's Model" (or "Trooper's Model") featuring a single-action function and the "Officer's Model" with its double-action function. The single-action model forced manual management of the hammer for cocking, usually with the firing hand's thumb, with the follow-up action of pulling the trigger. The double-action model combined the actions of cocking and hammer/striker release in one. By the 1920s, the double-action breed had taken precedent and many single-action models were reworked to the double-action standard in time, making the single-action models something of a rarity for gun collectors today.
The M1895 revolver managed service into and throughout World War 2 (1939-1945) even as the semi-automatic pistol age was beginning to take hold in the Soviet Union. In 1930, the Soviet Army took on the Browning-inspired Tokarev TT-30 series semi-automatic pistol which led to the more famous, revised version, the TT-33 of 1933. Production of Nagants continued regardless for their worth was proven. By the end of the war in May of 1945, numbers of the revolver totaled around (or over) 2 million units. Even with the introduction of the excellent Makarov semi-automatic series of the 1950s, the Nagant persevered, albeit in limited service.
The M1895 was used in a multitude of conflicts beyond World War 1 and World War 2 including the Russian Civil War (1917-1922), the Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901), the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), the Soviet "Winter War" against Finland (1939-1940), the Chinese Civil War (1946-1950), the Korean War (1950-1953) and even into the Vietnam War (1955-1975). The weapon may still be found in far-off battlefields of today. Operators (beyond Russia/Soviet Union) have included Belgium, Kazakhstan, Norway, Poland, Sweden and Yugoslavia (among others). Norwegian and Swedish versions are notable in their chambering of the 7.5mm Nagant cartridge.
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