Weird A-Z. N is for The Nagant Revolver and Russian Roulette

Weird A-Z. N is for The Nagant Revolver and Russian Roulette

Many have wondered why the Russian officer corps were so willing to attempt to play 'Russian Roulette', i.e. placing one bullet into the multiple bullet chamber of a revolver, spinning the chamber, pointing the muzzle at their heads and pulling the trigger.

The Nagant M1895 was the standard firearm issued to Russian officers between 1895 and 1933, and was still in use throughout the Second World War. As it had a gas seal, the gun is rumoured to be the only revolver capable of being silenced, and it is known that the various Soviet secret police forces used them in this clandestine manner. The seven-shot revolver had to be reloaded one cartridge at a time through a loading gate, and each of the used cartridges had to be manually ejected, making reloading laborious and time-consuming.

In the 'game' of Russian roulette, two players take turns spinning and firing the revolver so that each successive spin results in an equal 7-1 probability of the player being killed. Sometimes up to seven men would play, without spinning the chamber, so that the first man had a one in seven chance of dying, the second man a one in six chance etc. If all the first six players survived, the seventh man would obviously have a 1 in 1 chance of dying. Not good odds.

Sometimes a gambler would take bets from his fellow officers to play Russian roulette. With the Nagant M1895, a single cartridge would be loaded into the drum before it was spun. The heavy bullet tended to settle in the lower chamber, so a player could be reasonably confident that an empty bullet hole would be aligned with the hammer.

A recent study showed that about 80% of the victims of Russian roulette were white, all of them were male, the average age was 25 years, and alcohol drinking played a much bigger role than in other cases of suicide by shooting.