I recently acquired this interesting revolver. It is a single-action version of M1895 Nagant revolver called MTs-4-2 (МЦ-4-2) which was used by Soviet target shooters. It has windage-adjustable rear sight, but elevation adjustment is on the front sight, a but less counter-intuitive. The gun looks as if it was made using cold chisel and hammer, but I guess Soviets never cared much about the aesthetics, as long as it functions.
Speaking of function, nearly 6.5 pounds trigger pull is IMHO too much even for tough Siberian muzhiks. So I decided to take the gun apart and see if I can do anything to make it a bit lighter.
Inside it’s no prettier than outside. There are tool marks everywhere, and everything is covered in grease and dirt. Oh well, what else would I expect?
Well, I cleaned it up a little bit and stoned the trigger and hammer surfaces and it came down to pretty decent clean pull, still a bit too heavy at 4 lbs. I might need to grind down the mainspring a little bit. Or just have some vodka on the firing line, that will surely do the job!
A very interesting find, Eugene. Just out of curiosity – how did you come by a Soviet-era target revolver in the US?
As far as I know, a bunch of them were imported to the US in the late 90’s/early 2000’s. This particular one was listed for sale at the Empire Arms. They do show up on Gunbroker and other auction sites every now and then.
I’m still trying to make mine work. The trigger is still very heavy but despite that I get a bunch of light strikes with the factory Fiocchi ammo.