The definitive reader post on this, and TOTALLY the last word. Strong
stomach required towards the end.
“Ye gentle reader cited is not correct, the Makarov was developed after WW
II … and thus, while very likely used to commit executions since the days
of Khruschev, was not the tool of choice for killers such as Yagoda.
“The two common handguns in the 1930’s would be the Nagant revolver,
developed under the Tzar in the 1890’s, and the Tokarev autopistol, based on
the work of John Moses Browning. Both fired a .30 bullet, the revolver out
of a curious tapered cartridge in which the bullet was seated all the way
into the brass, the automatic in .30 Tokarev, a cartridge very similar to
.30 Mauser, the cartridge pioneered in the C-96 or ‘broomhandle’ Mauser
(Churchill carried one at Omdurman)…
“The NKVD cellar executions involved a close range shot to the back of the
head, as your book tells you. The autoloaders would likely not be used
because there’s no need for more than one or two shots, and the revolvers
would do; plus likely the autoloading Tokarevs were symbols of rank, and not
to be handed out to executioners. Thus the most likely handgun is the .30
Nagant revolver.
“Legend has it that the Lubiyanka executioners sawed off about 2 inches of
the barrel of their Nagant revolvers, since the front sight wasn’t needed
and sometimes hung up on the victim. They also might need to grab and hold
their victim if he or she got desperate at the very last instant, so the
short barrel was considered a requirement. Again, this is legend, not
documented.
“IIRC the Nagant fires a 90 grain bullet at 1000 f/s or so (7,000 grains ==
1 pound, typical 9×19mm bullet today is 115 grains), a metal-jacketed bullet
from such a gun might well go all the way through a human head, but a lead
bullet would likely deform enough that it would remain within the victim.
“The executioners already had the older handguns, likely they had the older,
lead-bullet, slower-velocity ammo as well. So it is likely that indeed the
executioner had to chop open the heads of Kamenev and Zinoviev in order to
dig out the bullets for Yagoda.”