7 . 62×38mmR 7 . 62×38mmR ( also known as 7 . 62 mm Nagant and Cartridge , Type R ) is a unique ammunition cartridge designed for use in the Russian Nagant M1895 revolver . A small number of experimental submachine guns ( See Tokarev 1927 ) , designed by Fedor Tokarev , were also produced in a 7 . 62 mm Nagant chambering . None , however , were accepted into Soviet service . Background . The projectile is seated below the mouth of the cartridge , with the cartridge crimp sitting just above the bullet . When fired in the Nagant revolver , the crimp expands into the forcing cone , completing the gas - seal and ostensibly increasing muzzle velocity by approximately 23 m / s ( 75 ft / s ) . The 7 . 62 mm calibre was chosen , in part , to simplify the tooling used in barrel making and manufacture of projectiles — the Russian service rifle of the time — the Mosin Nagant M91 featured an identical bore diameter , being chambered for the 7 . 62×54R rifle cartridge . Commercially manufactured and loaded 7 . 62×38R cartridges are no longer difficult to find . Fiocchi of Italy manufactures cartridges in this chambering ; they fire 6 . 4 g ( 98 gr ) FMJ bullets at about 260 m / s ( 850 ft / s ) , which works out to an energy of 213 J ( 157 ft · lbf ) — comparable to a . 32 ACP semi - automatic . Prvi Partizan , a Serbian company , also produces a 7 . 62×38R load similar to Fiocchi ' s , originally under the " HotShot " brand but now under the standard Prvi Partizan label . Most commercially loaded ammunition for the Nagant , including Fiocchi and the " СССР " - marked yellow box imports , are target ammunition , and do not have great stopping power . The low power of these rounds has given the Nagant a reputation as an underpowered sidearm . However , the original military ball cartridges fired bullets in the 6 . 5 g ( 100 grains ) range at up to 330 m / s ( 1 , 100 ft / s ) , making them close to the . 32 - 20 Winchester and . 32 H & R Magnum in power . These original military ball rounds are very hard to find and are considered collector ' s items . One advantage of the round , if proper brass can be found , is that it leaves the chambers totally clean , and there is no need to scrape lead and powder residue out . Handloading . Many users of this calibre handload their own ammunition , though the proper brass cases are also expensive and difficult to come by . However , Starline has been developing and perfecting brass for the cartridge , and handloaders have had success using dies for the . 32 - 20 and . 30 Carbine to handload the rounds . 32 - 20 brass cases are inexpensive , readily available , and can be reformed and used safely in guns chambered for 7 . 62×38R , but the resulting cartridges are too short to achieve the gas seal . Cut down 223 brass reformed in 30 carbine dies can be utilized to load for the Nagant also . These will achieve the gas seal , but case rims will be undersized . Three other cartridges — . 32 S & W , . 32 S & W Long , and . 32 H & R Magnum — will also generally chamber and fire in the revolver , but will not achieve the gas seal . The case head of the . 32 S & W / H & R is about the same size as the case diameter of the Nagant cartridge , so the case head will sometimes actually end up moving into the chamber , thus preventing an adequate primer strike . Due to the dimensional differences between these cartridges and the original 7 . 62×38R cartridge , this practice is done at the shooter ' s own risk . The . 32 H & R Magnum in particular develops much higher pressures than the 7 . 62 Nagant or either of the . 32 S & W cartridges , which are all 19th century developments . The most common anomaly when firing these cartridges is bulged cases .