Nagant over .44 Russian?

[ABnormal]

Why did the 1895 Nagant, with its relatively mild cartridge, replace the break-top S&W revolvers in .44 Russian?

It seems to me, that even in its blackpowder loading of 246 grain bullets moving at 750 fps, the S&W packed a more desirable wallop than the Nagant.

[NRAJOE]

:Imconfuse

[Q-gunner2]

Smokeless powder, man.

The Russians wanted COMPLETE standardization when they updated their arsenal for smokeless powder- it allowed them to make the manufacturing process simpler and was a money saver- from the gun making process to the cleaning kits.

Look at what they used in WWII
7.62x38mmR
7.62x25mm
7.62x54mmR
7.62x39mm

See the pattern?

[ABnormal]

Smokeless powder, man.

The Russians wanted COMPLETE standardization when they updated their arsenal for smokeless powder- it allowed them to make the manufacturing process simpler and was a money saver- from the gun making process to the cleaning kits.

Look at what they used in WWII
7.62x38mmR
7.62x25mm
7.62x54mmR
7.62x39mm

See the pattern?
Granted.
The change to smokeless was unavoidable, but did the U.S. follow suit and replace the .45 LC for .32 S&W? No, they did go slightly lighter for a bit with a .38, but realized their mistake and switched to .45 well before WWI.
The Brits switched their .455 from blackpowder to smokeless and kept using the same basic break-top design through WW1 & WW2.

As for a WW2 pattern you talk about, well, thats forty years after the adoption of the Nagant. I think a better pattern would be the .30mauser, .30luger, etc....

[raxar]

a couple of reasons, 1. the russians,like the rest of the world (except US and england) realized that the pistol was nothing more than a badge of rank and had no value in combat, and 2. in the pre-ww 1 days in europe it was fasionable to have a pistol that was the same caliber as your MBR, the idea behind this was that you could make the barrels on the same machinery. the russians have stuck with this idea even till today, with the 5.45x18 round