Certainly one of the most unique pieces of WW2 History that we have had, this revolver tells a story of duplicity and backstabbing betrayal of the Polish People at the hands of Stalin’s Soviet Russia. We have a Polish Pre-war Ng.30 Nagant Service Revolver that was captured in 1939 by the invading Russians who removed the Polish markings, added their own and reissued it in 1940.
All of the Polish inspection stamps are still intact and all the parts are all still Polish matching numbered as well. The Polish Arsenal high grade finish with fire blued small parts is also completely intact as is the distinctive slightly shorter barrel and early style front sight. The date 1940, is handstamped below the Tula Arsenal crest. This is a de-Polish-ized, Sovietized revolver….a stock Ng.30 with Soviet markings added. Only a few thousand of these Ng.30 Revolvers were ever made and they are quite rare. These revolvers were manufactured to arm the Polish State Police and Postal forces. The biggest difference between this and the Soviet model is that the barrel is slightly shorter. They saw combat during WW2 when the Polish Police were mobilized against the Germans and Soviets during the double invasion in 1939 and they also saw use by the Germans after the Polish Capitulation and now we know (from this example) with the Red Army as well. This is probably the Hardest of the WW2 era Polish Military handguns to find, I have only ever seen a few over the years. A big plus for this is that it is still matching, most of these are not.
AS FAR AS I KNOW, THIS IS THE ONLY KNOWN SOVIET CAPTURED POLISH NAGANT REVOLVER KNOWN IN THIS COUNTRY; IT ALMOST CERTAINLY HAD TO HAVE BEEN TAKEN BY THE NAZIS FROM THE RUSSIANS AND THEN TAKEN FROM THE NAZIS BY THE AMERICANS AND THEN BROUGHT BACK AS A GI WAR TROPHY……A TRIPLE CAPTURE!!!
