Loading 1887 7.5 Swedish Nagant
Hi: I recently acquired a nice 7.5 Husqvarna mfg. in 1897. I have been gathering loading info for some time as this gun was my dream antique. Below is some info I copied and pasted from other boards or forums. I have not tried anything as yet so anything I posted below is at your own discretion. I did slug my barrel and found it to be .3075 so am going to try molded bullets from a lee 311- 100 gr. round nose, I will size them to .309 and use 30 carbine dies, I am using 32-20 cases and trimming to 1.06 or 27mm this just gives an overall length when the 311 lee bullet is crimped in the top crimping grove that is just below the end of the cylinder. I know the original round was .895 or 22 mm but I think my extra case length will not hurt anything and then may follow Cuerno's loads, (thank you for that info) or may try a load of 452 AA , HP 38, Accurate #2 or 231 , have a keg of 452 and at least a can of the others --time to shoot some
Thank you guys for keeping a great thread like this going and please give me any advice you like. By the way did figure out to properly crimp cases trimmed to 1.06 or .895 in the Lee 30 M1 die, you will need to shorten die by a bit,, don't know how much as haven't got my bullets made. Cheers Jack
Check this link too.
http://forums.gunboards.com/showthread.php?744-Handloading-for-the-m-1887-Nagant
THIS INFO BELOW IS NOT FROM ME. JACK
I load for a Swedish Model 1887 Nagant. Supposedly it's 7.5mm, but slugging the barrel the groove diameter is .308. I use 32-20 brass and .308 TMJ carbine bullets loaded over light loads of AA 2, for safe, accurate, light plinking loads.
Dating from the late 1880's these revolvers were made for low pressure Black Powder cartridges. Great care has to be exercised if you intend to reload these with modern smokeless powder.
Although I owned one of the Swiss 7.5mm revolvers years ago, I never reloaded for it. My understanding is that the cartridge is the same as used for the Swedish Model 1887's. Although the Swiss revolvers were made as late as the 1930's, well into the smokeless powder era.
1887 HUSQVARNA DIS-ASSEMBLY
Start by pulling out the ejector rod and turning it to the side. Next, pull out the cylinder yoke. Open the loading gate and remove the cylinder.
Next to the screw on the right side plate, you will find the letter A. Undo this screw a bit, then tap it gently with the handle of a screwdriver or similar to loosen the side plate. Repeat this until you can easily remove both the screw and the sideplate.
Turn the gun over and check out all the letters found inside...
Next, #### the hammer and insert the screw you removed at A into hole B. Slowly de-#### the hammer (C) and then lift it out.
The cylinder hand (D) can now also be lifted out, as can the hammer (E) after that.
Undo the screw (F) at the forward end of the trigger guard. The trigger guard can now be turned down and then unhooked at the rear end (G).
This also releases the main spring (H), which can now be lifted out.
Dis-assembly complete! Reassemble in reverse order
Hi everybody! I recently obtained a very nice Husqvarna revolver chambered for the 7.5 Swedish cartridge. Loading data is virtually non-existent for this round, but I have been working on it. According to various internet postings, the challenge for this cartridge was finding a bullet matching the original .325" outside lubed version. I slugged the bore and came up with a groove diameter of .307" and a bore diameter of .296". There are some cast 308" bullets out there that should work just fine. My first attempt will be with the 93 grain Lee cast RN and 2.5 grains of Unique. All the unpublished data I found seems to hover around that weight of bullet and powder charge. We shall see. Cheers!
Joined: Wed Apr 19, 2006 4:20 pm
Posts: 305
Location: Middle Tennessee
Age: 60 The big problem with loading for the Swedish Nagant is the difference between the cylinder throats and the bore diameter. It's odd that anyone would design a revolver to use a .325" bullet in a .308" bore, but that seems to be what the Swedes did. It must have been a very soft lead 325" bullet.
I finally decided to use .32-20 brass in mine and loaded the cartridges with a M1 Carbine die set. The brass is long enough to go almost all the way to the front of the cylinder, so the case essentially becomes the chamber throat. The only kicker is that you have to use flush-seated bullets in order to avoid tying up the cylinder. I used 85 grain hollow-base wadcutters with 3.0 grains of Unique and got good accuracy. I did chronograph some 2.5 grain Unique loads, but they yielded low velocities so I bumped the powder charge a half grain.
Good luck with your loading efforts. The Swedish Nagant is a very well made and fun old gun to shoot.
Joined: Sat Jul 30, 2011 6:22 am
Posts: 21
Age: 51 Hi Bob,
I was hoping that someone would jump in soon! I have also tried the Hornady HBWC with good results. The powder charge of 2.5 to 3.0 grains of Unique sounds like a good place to work up loads. I also use 32-20 brass, but found an RCBS file trim die for a song, which really makes a difference! Cheers!
Joined: Sat Jul 30, 2011 6:22 am
Posts: 21
Age: 51 Bob, is your 30 Carbine sizing die of the 'carbide' persuasion? Do your cartridges chamber easily?
Joined: Sat Jul 30, 2011 6:22 am
Posts: 21
Age: 51 My hand loading venture was successful! My trimmed 32-20 cases, with a 93 grain Lyman RN bullet (for the 30 Luger), sized to .309", over 2.5 grains of Unique (Lee 020 dipper) was perfec
Joined: Wed Apr 19, 2006 4:20 pm
Posts: 305
Location: Middle Tennessee
Age: 60 Yes, my .30 Carbine sizing die is carbide. Chambering is fine. One chamber is a tad tighter than the other 5 and requires a gentle push to seat it completely; otherwise, they just drop in.
You are trimming your cases in order to use conventional bullets, and that's fine if you don't mind the trimming part, but I hate trimming. I'm using full-length .32-20 cases with Berry's 85 grain hollow-base wad cutter bullets and seating them flush with the case mouth. The Swedish Nagant has bored-through cylinders so there are no cylinder throats at all. The .32-20 case comes almost all the way to the front of the cylinder so the front of the case becomes the throat in essence. Works just fine, but your system will work equally well if you don't mind the trimming part.
Here is a ad that you might be interested in. Please send me $13.95 and I will put in an order. LOL --- Jack
Well, I'll be hornswaggled and hogtied, the light just went on, THAT's why you guys play with .32rf's. Ingenius. Up till now just figured y'all to be filthy rich at $3.+ a pop.
