Nagant Model 1877

Liege-Belgium is one of the oldest centers of gun-making in the world. Since the Middle Ages, all kinds of arms have been produced in this city and its surrounding area. Liegemade weapons became well known in almost every country of the earth. Historically,coal was Belgium’s most important mineral resource. Mined since the 13th century, these coalreserves were instrumental in Belgium’s industrialization during the 19th century. The development of available iron ore and zinc deposits further contributed to the city’s position as a manufacturing center.

In the Principality of Liege, firearms first appeared about 1350. Their production knew a dazzling boom in the first half of the 17th century (The Thirty Years War and other international conflicts, as well as its ideal geographical location contributed largely to this development). The Belgium Proof House was instituted in 1672 for the benefit of commerce and to warranty to users a minimum level of product safety.

“Between 1789 and 1802, France was wracked by a revolution which radically changed the government, administration, military and culture of the nation as well as plunging Europe into a series of wars. France went from a largely feudal state under an absolutist monarch to a republic which executed the king and then to an empire under Napoleon Bonaparte.”[French Revolution 101 by Robert Wilde]

“In 1789, a few weeks after the start of the French Revolution, Liège experienced a revolution of its own during the absence of the prince-bishop. In 1792, the principality was dissolved and annexed to France until 1815. Liège then became part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, then of the Kingdom of Belgium in 1830.”
[Liège Travel Guide]

The Golden Age of Gun Manufacturing The Century 1814 to 1914 is referred to by Belgium historians as the Golden Age of Liege Gun Manufacturing. The quoted official figure is 107,173 guns tested in 1823 and the maximum record was in 1907 with 1,549,479 firearms proofed.
To this hub of arms manufacturing came the brothers Nagant, Emile (1830 – 1902) and Leon (1833 – 1900). They formed Fabrique d’Armes Emile and Leon Nagant, in 1859. The factory was located at 41 Port of Outré in Liège, Belgium. Also attracted to Liège was the representative of Remington (most likely Samuel Remington, who was in France for the Imperial Exposition in Paris). After meeting with the Remingtons in 1867, the Nagant brothers established a working relationship which lasted until after 1900. The license permitted Nagant to utilize patents held by Remington for the Joseph Rider “rolling block” system. Two statements were found in the literature concerning this license. Roy Marcot in “Remington – America’s Oldest Gunmaker” states that Nagant paid 4.5 franks royalty for every rifle produced. Alain Daubresse on his website – www. littlegun.be – states in his online commentary that the agreement permitted Nagant to use the Remington designs without paying royalty. Regardless of the financial arrangements between the two companies, this agreement made it possible for Nagant to secure an order to manufacture 5,000 Model 1868 “rolling block” infantry rifles intended for the Pontifical Zouaves of the guard of the Vatican. These weapons were ordered by the Belgian Catholics in 1867 for the Army of the Vatican.
This was not the first cooperation between Nagant and Remington. Nagant had been a sub-contractor on arms for Spain and Egypt. After completing the initial purchase, additional contracts for musketoon-length rifles and carbines were awarded to Nagant. Marcot states a total of 15,961 Remingtonlicensed rifles were shipped by Nagant to the Vatican. The two brothers separated in 1896. By this time, Émile’s progressive blindness had led to his withdrawal from the firm. Leon formed the “Factory of Weapons Leon Nagant.” In 1899, the two sons, Charles (1863) and Maurice (1866) launched an automobile manufacturing business(but that is another story). Upon the death of Leon in 1900, the name of the firm became “Factory of Weapons and Cars Nagant Frères.”

breach. Apparently a coil spring was sometimes employed for this function and it was considered unreliable and subjecting to failing when the spring broke or the firing pin was fouled. This addition to the breech block was claimed to be highly reliable. Interestingly, this simple device was not included on the Model 1877 pistol or on later Remington produced arms.

A third patent dates from September 19, 1872 and 14 April 1876 (Belgium Patent No. 039030) and followed by an improvement dated June 15, 1877 (Belgium Patent No. 42456) is perhaps the most original of all Nagant patents, and the one which had the most long time impact on firearms. This is a system for fitting double barrel arms with a single trigger, when the practice of the day was two triggers. This design allows the barrels to be fired sequentially. It well may be the first workable design for what is now common practice – single-trigger double-guns. The 1877 pistol fires first the right barrel and when the trigger is released and again pulled the left.

The central extractor and the single trigger were incorporated in the design of the Nagant Model 1877 Gendarmerie Piston as sold to the Belgium government. This was the Nagant’s first Belgium government contract. Commentary opined, “As always with Nagant’s patents, the design is so simple that one is surprised that no person had already thought of such improvements. To place these patents in context, they were not developed to meet informal contract requirements, rather to facilitate use of a new cartridge. The new ammunition was center fire 9.4 mm, made by Bachmann.”

Pistolet De Gendarmerie Model 1877

The Nagants designed and manufactured for theBelgium mounted police a double-barreled pistol, the Pistolet de Gendarmerie, Model 1877. The three drawings are marked as representing “the official designs of the Belgium mounted
police.” This was the first Belgium police service arm which utilized a metallic cartridge, a 9 mm center-fire round developed and manufactured by Bachmann Belgium, and known as the 9.4 Nagant and the 9.4 Belgium. The contract made Nagant the exclusive official suppliers of handguns to the State until in 1901, this greatly assisted Nagant in securing foreign contracts While other police forces converted to revolvers, (including Nagant’s wildly successful 1895/1898 “gas seal” revolver) this two shot pistol was retained in service until 1901, thereplacement, an auto-loading pistol, the Browning 1899. During this period Nagant produced a large variety of sporting and military arms which utilized the “rolling block” action.

The only accessories furnished with each pistol were a screwdriver, a flask of oil and a metal cleaning rod (Baguette) 292 mm in length. It is reported, each of these accessories was marked with the W and the serial number of the individual pistol, but I have not seen examples. In service, the pistol was carried in saddle holsters (fontes in

A long standing story concerning the Model 1877, speaks of 1,000 of the pistols being supplied to the Tsar of Russia. Feys and Smeet in Les Revolvers et Les Fusils Nagant address the claim as follows, “a series of 1,000 copies which would have been provided to the personal guard of Tsar Alexander II. Possibly, “copies are possible (but it’s probably) copies carried out after the Nagant patent (expired) by firms such as …-Marx or William Gran. Guns that were shipped as weapons of the civil market shooting)” we have looked for them, we have not discovered these copies despite our research. We conclude the Russian guns are a legend (may be based on a mistaken interpretation of W marks on Belgium weapons), which could seem to some exotic; in fact, all the Belgium weapons were marked the letter identifying the regiment or staffing unit: W is simply the letter identifying the Gendarmerie. We know, however, that there are other curious variations or copies almost equivalent.”

As you can see by my photograph, above, I had the opportunity to fire my pistol. Observations generated during shooting were:

• The breech block was quite effective in preventing firing of the pistol if it was held even slightly open by tight cartridge fit or rim diameter. A soft faced mallet was used to tap on the block’s lever to insure full seating of the cartridges. Since we were reloading just fired cartridges, some fire forming appeared to occur. These reloaded cartridges worked more easily upon loading and upon ejection.
• The pistol required high thumb pressure to cock. The main springs were extremely stiff, perhaps required by the lower sensitivity of period primers. It would appear the pistol, in service, would be cocked in anticipation of need. With both hammers cocked, the trigger demonstrated “military slack” and then long pull to fire the right barrel. The trigger was released to engage the left barrel. The left barrel could then be discharged with much lighter trigger pressure.
• Extraction of fired cartridge cases was flawless; Nagant did succeed in solving the extractor problems, at least for straight sided cases.
• Shooting a vintage pistol was enjoyable and provided additional insight into function of the arm and capability of ammunition of