Some of the most beautiful work of this craftsman, and many others, are in this book “Ličge Gunmakers through their Work. 1800 - 1950”.
For more detail see: LIEGE GUNMAKERS
Nagant ŕ long canon
Here is a “classic” revolver of the house NAGANT with seven shots, but with an abnormally long barrel since 30 cm. Octagonal barrel, the upper part being guilloche. It bears the number 1 on several pieces. Probably the first. (only?) copy of a small series.
The acceptance mark ELG on a star in a crowned oval (used from 11 July 1893), and a B under a star, the countermark of a controller.
We finally see a V crowned with the « brevet NAGANT », but I couldn’t identify it.
As with NAGANT revolvers for the armed forces, the parts are numbered and have letters to facilitate disassembly/reassembly.
According to the very happy owner, the caliber is the “classic” Russian 7.62, with a long casing ending with a small collar: the bullet does not come out of the casing; when the shot starts, the barrel advances slightly, so that the collar of the casing penetrates into the barrel, thus ensuring less gas leakage (I will not go so far as to speak of “gas tightness”, as the NAGANT advertisement said).
There are no grooves or holes drilled on the back of the handle to attach a rivet to turn this very long revolver into a small rifle. But I seem to see, on one of the photos showing the right side of the gun, an “anomaly” in the part of the handle on the bridge side, which leads me to think that there must have been a stick, because a revolver of 45 cm in length is not really maneuverable...
The presence of the long sheath is just as exceptional as the existence of this weapon.
It is certainly a special order that will be very difficult to trace.
But we know at least another, for revolvers with a slightly shorter barrel, for a great explorer...
GP
