[Pete D.]

Why take the long way around to the outhouse?

'Cause it is kinda fun to make your own stuff.

The Nagant chamber will not accept a loaded round with the thicker brass and a .311 bullet inside.

Note: Regardless of what bores slug, etc., the actual spec bullet for the Nagant cartridge is a .308 JDEWC.
Graf and Sons sells them.

Pete

 

[CoyoteJoe]

Yes, I like making my own stuff if the end result is as good or better than I can buy, but a hard day's work to produce a result obviously inferior to what I could buy for 20 bucks doesn't sound like fun to me. After all the process of reforming the cases one by one in repeated steps, turning down rims and bases by crude and inexact means and trimming length repeatedly there is yet another step needed to make brass to properly fit the Nagant chamber and barrel throat, they will need to be inside reamed to reduce the neck thickness to Nagant specifications.
If factory loaded ammo comes with .308" bullets then that is what you have to accept when firing factory loaded ammo. One of the great advantages of handloading is that you can use bullets which fit the bore and all commonly available .32 pistol bullets run .311-.312", perfect for the Nagant bore. Who knows what the diameter will be a of bullet first resized buy running the loaded ammo back into the full length size die and then fired through the extra thick case mouth jammed tight in the Nagant barrel throat? And who knows what the pressure will be?
That seems like a heck of a lot of work to end up with something of questionable safety and efficiency when factory loaded Nagant ammo is one of the least expensive rounds you can buy and you then have proper brass which you can reload with readily available bullets.
Maybe it's just the inherent weirdness's of the Nagant revolver which causes people to get all weird in reloading for it.

 

[Pete D.]

yep

Can't disagree with a word of that. (Well....maybe Nagant ammo being inexpensive. Fiocchi Nagant = $31/50. Fiocchi .45 ACP = $21/50)
It is a heck of a lot of work. It was one of those things that I do so as to find out if I could. Just in case.
Pete

 

[CoyoteJoe]

You're right, I went a bit overboard in saying "one of the least expensive" but Graffs, Midway and Cabelas all have Nagant factory loads at about $25.00 for 50 rounds which is certainly reasonable in today's market. It's just a pet peeve of mine that so many people seem eager to use the wrong ammo in these little revolvers. Many years ago it was necessary to improvise when the only ammo available was the berdan primed Russian stuff but ever since the guns themselves have become common the boxer primed ammo has been as well. You may not find it at Walmart but you probably won't find .32 S&W Long there either. The only snag in reloading Nagant brass is that the tiny rim is easily pulled off, leaving a case stuck in the size die, so be sure to lubricate cases well and if using the Lee dies you do have to modify the bullet seating stem to seat a bullet below the case mouth and obtain a proper shell holder from RCBS.
After a bit of modification to the sights the Nagant revolvers make an OK small game gun, considerably lighter to carry than a Ruger Single Six and at about 1/4 the price.

 

[pastordl]

Have compared to Prvi rounds. Recoil at 2.5 gr is about the same as prvi. FPS is about the same also. At 3.5 gr just a little more recoil and about what original Russian ammo had for FPS. Also I slugged the barrel and it is .311. Have fired several hundred rounds w/o a problem. I am on disability and have much more time than money.