[jonascord]

There was, actually, a Russian revolver that could be suppressed. The Nagant M1895. It used an extra long cartridge, and the bullet was seated fully within the case. The end of the case actually protruded out of the front of the cylinder. When the piece was cocked, the cylinder was shifted forward so that the case of the cartridge entered the forcing cone in the barrel.

The thinking, (This was back when the Tsar still sat.) was that with a gas tight seal, you got more muzzle velocity.

They kept building them until 1945, and they were only retired, finally, in 2003 as an issue weapon. They had a 2,000,000+ production run, so it is remotely possible that every silenced revolver you ever saw on TV was a Nagant. The design allowed for a functional suppressor.

[Oatka]

Yeah, I knew about the Nagant, but their scarcity - plus Hollywood’s and most of the publics’ ignorance, allowed them to use standard revolvers and then dub in the Pfftf sound.