Nagant M1895 Revolver

The Nagant M1895 is a seven-shot double-action revolver designed by the Belgian gunsmith Leon Nagant and adopted by the Imperial Russian Army in 1895, notable for a distinctive gas-seal cylinder mechanism that moves each cartridge forward as it is fired, closing the gap between the cylinder and barrel and marginally increasing muzzle velocity compared with a conventional revolver design. Chambered for the unusual 7.62x38mmR cartridge, whose bullet sits entirely within the case, the Nagant remained in Russian and later Soviet service for decades, issued widely to Red Army officers and to NKVD and other security personnel through the Russian Civil War and the Second World War. Its rugged simplicity and the gas-seal system's minor accuracy benefit kept the design in limited production and reserve use in the Soviet Union and several allied states well into the second half of the twentieth century, long after most other major powers had moved to semi-automatic sidearms.