For some of the Wheelgun Wednesday loyalists in the TFB audience, you might remember when we began detailing the journey of acquiring an M1895 Nagant revolver (some 2 years ago), and the process of getting it threaded and finding a silencer for it. That long story comes to a close today because the silencer I chose to mate to my personal M1895 Nagant revolver was the Dead Air Odessa 9mm silencer, and it is finally out of NFA Jail and came home where it belongs.

Wheelgun Wednesday M1895 Nagant Revolver @ TFB:

• Wheelgun Wednesday: Suppressed Revolver? Nagant M1895 Adventures
• Wheelgun Wednesday: Tornado Technologies Nagant Barrel Threading
• Wheelgun Wednesday: M1895 Nagant Threaded by Tornado Technologies
• Wheelgun Wednesday: M1895 Nagant Trigger Job with a Bullet?

HISTORY recap OF THE NAGANT M1895

For those of you who are unaware – yes – you can suppress some revolvers and the M1895 Nagant is one of them for an extremely specific reason: it is gas-sealed. The Nagant M1895 is a 7-round, gas-sealed revolver that is over 100 years old. It is chambered in 7.62x38mmR (the large capitalized “R” denoting the cartridge is rimmed). This wheelgun was developed and produced by a Belgian industrialist named Léon Nagant as solicited by the Russian Empire at the tail-end of the 1800s. This revolver would be incredibly underwhelming and likely forgotten throughout history if not for its one saving-grace feature: the gas-seal system.

You cannot suppress revolvers with any meaningful results because of the gap between the cylinder and the barrel of the firearm. Trace amounts of gas escape as the bullet is hurled out of its shell casing from the cylinder and into the barrel. This has no detrimental effect on the accuracy of revolvers as we all know how impressively accurate they can be, but for suppressor lovers like our Editor Pete and even me, it means it is a no-go to silence wheelguns – except for the Nagant M1895.

Tornado Technologies – Selecting a Gunsmith to Thread an M1895 Nagant

If you cruise around the internet and talk to enough people about who should be threading your M1895 Nagant – if you happen to own one, too – all signs point to Tornado Technologies. They have been in business since 2007 offering a multitude of services:

• Cut and Re-Crown Barrels to Custom Length
• Index or “Clock” Muzzle Devices
• Mount Muzzle Devices with Rocksett
• Permanently attach Muzzle Devices

More importantly, they specialize in weird, peculiar, and odd asks when people want firearms threaded (and they do a great job, too). So, I sent my revolver off some time ago to get threaded, and after a period of a couple months, it came back looking impeccable and threaded. The longest wait throughout this journey (aside from finding a reasonably priced M1895 Nagant) was choosing, filing, and waiting for my silencer to finish this project.

Dead Air Armament – Dead Air Odessa 9mm Silencer

You may have seen other people here at TFB raving about the Dead Air Odessa 9mm silencer, and for good reason. Our Commander-in-Chief and Silencer Aficionado, Pete, has written positive reviews about it (SILENCER SATURDAY #83: Odessa Vs Wolfman – Modular Suppressors) as well as TFBTV lead man, James Reeves (Dead Air Odessa Review: The Best 9mm Suppressor There is?). It’s hard to deny a good thing when you see it, right? So, with all indicators pointing towards the Dead Air Odessa 9mm, I held my breath, filed my Form 4, and waited… and waited… and waited…

It took close to 1 year for a paper Form 4 to clear, but by some divine intervention, I finally got to take home my very own Dead Air Odessa 9mm to be a part of the Cool Kids Club. Additional incentive for me to get the Dead Air Odessa 9mm is because of its modularity. With the externally, stackable baffles, I can play around with how long of a silencer I want, and also fine-tune how much noise I am wanting to dampen. All good aspects when it comes to a new project like suppressing a revolver; especially since that is not common by any means.

Finally! Shooting the Suppressed M1895 Nagant 

So, what were my impressions and thoughts while shooting my M1895 Nagant 7.62x38mmR suppressed for the first time?… The most interesting and peculiar element of shooting the M1895 Nagant 7.62x38mmR suppressed was the noise of the suppressed shot. Every shot was particularly quiet – absolutely hearing safe – like one would hope, but it had a tone of Zing! to it. It was odd and unless you have shot one yourself, it is difficult to describe. Definitely a unique sound for a unique revolver. Also, you could hear the round impact really well (I fired at paper targets stapled to some wood logs) and there was a definitive CLAP every time a bullet got deposited down range.

I would be curious to get the decibel level professionally measured (not by a Wish.com meter, either) to see how much the noise gets dampened with this unique gas-seal system of the M1895. If you are ever in the hick woods of central MN and would love to shoot one, look me up. It is a wild-child of a gun and I had the silliest and happiest grin on my face the whole time I was firing it. As always, let us know all of your thoughts in the Comments below! We always appreciate your feedback.