Nagant Wz. 30

Rewolwer Nagant wz. 30 and wz. 32 were two Polish derivatives of the Nagant M1895 revolver. They were almost identical to the Soviet variants with only minor differences in weight, length and sights design. The Nagant M1895 was mass-produced in Imperial Russia and the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

as a standard side-arm of officers and NCOs. After Poland regained independence in 1918, the

Polish Army The Land Forces () are the land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 62,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military history stre ...

inherited some captured revolvers and pressed them into Polish service as the rewolwer wz. 1895 Nagant - Mark 1895 revolver. After the Polish-Bolshevik War the army decided to focus on the 7.92 mm calibre and the Nagant revolvers were withdrawn from active service. The Nagant revolver remained in service with the State Police, along with a large variety of sidearms of all types and calibres. The Police used also

Modèle 1892 revolver The Model 1892 revolver (also known as the "Lebel revolver" and the "St. Etienne 8mm") is a French service revolver produced by Manufacture d'armes de Saint-Étienne as a replacement for the MAS 1873 revolver. It was the standard issue sidearm f ...

and

Rast & Gasser M1898 The Rast & Gasser Model 1898 was a service revolver used by the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I and various armies in World War II. History 180,000 copies were produced by the firm Leopold Gasser Waffenfabrik in Vienna from 1898 to 1 ...

revolvers as well as a number of pistol designs: Mauser M1910, Mauser C96,

Beretta M1923 The Beretta Model 1923 pistol was a service pistol used by the Italian Army from 1923 until 1945. The M1923 was designed to consolidate the improvements of the 1915/19 model and to use the 9mm Glisenti round. However, due to the vast amount of h ...

, various Browning pistols (wz. 1900, wz. 1910 and wz. 1922),

Ortgies Semi-Automatic Pistol The Ortgies 7.65 mm pistol was a hammerless semi-automatic pistol that was produced in Germany in the years immediately after World War I, first by its inventor Heinrich Ortgies and then by Deutsche Werke. Inexpensive, but of good qual ...

, Cebra wz. 1916, Frommer wz. 1910, Steyr M1912,

Roth–Steyr M1907 The Roth–Steyr M1907, or, more accurately Roth-Krnka M.7 Leszek Erenfeicht: ''Pra-pra-Glock: Repetierpistole M.7'', in: ''Strzał'' Nr. 1(80)/2010, , pp. 36–50. was a semi-automatic pistol issued to the Austro-Hungarian ''kaiserliche und kön ...

and Parabellum P08br>
In September 1927 the Police Headquarters started a poll among police officers to determine which firearm should be used as a standard sidearm throughout the police force, and the Nagant system was chosen for its durability and simplicity. As the number of Russian ex-military weapons was limited, in 1930 the state-owned Łucznik Arms Factory, ''Fabryka Broni'' works in

Radom Radom is a city in east-central Poland, located approximately south of the capital, Warsaw. It is situated on the Mleczna River in the Masovian Voivodeship (since 1999), having previously been the seat of a separate Radom Voivodeship (1975� ...

developed a slightly modified variant, designated "Nagant wz. 30". Comparing to the Russian or Belgian models, the new Polish model was slightly lighter, and the barrel was slightly shorter. In 1932 the design was further modified by the relocation of the sight (and giving a new "Rewolwer wz. 32" designation). Between 1929 and 1935 the Radom works produced 7,166 revolvers of both variants. Both the original M1895 Nagant and its later clones remained the standard police weapon used by the State Police and Postal Guards

throughout the 1930s, though with time they were often replaced with more modern designs like the

Beretta M1934 The Beretta Model 1934 is an Italian compact, semi-automatic pistol which was issued as the service pistol of the Royal Italian Army beginning in 1934. It is chambered for the 9mm Corto, more commonly known as the .380 ACP. History and usage ...

and

Walther PPK The Walther PP (german: Polizeipistole, or police pistol) series pistols are blowback-operated semi-automatic pistols, developed by the German arms manufacturer Carl Walther GmbH Sportwaffen. It features an exposed hammer, a traditional double-a ...

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They were also widely used by mobilised policemen during the German and Soviet

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...

of 1939. 7.62×38mmR firearms Revolvers of Poland Military revolvers Double-action revolvers World War II infantry weapons of Poland {{revolver-stub