I've never fired one but I understand they will handle .32 magnum ammo just fine.
If that's the case I see nothing wrong with a handy seven shot .32 mag revolver.
The heavy double action pull wouldn't bother me 'cause I'd probably instinctively thumb-cock it anyway as I mostly shoot single actions.
They can kill - Here is one historical example where a feller nailed three Nazis with a Nagant.
"It was a bitterly cold and unusually quiet night early in 1942, and young Timofey Bogrov sat shivering in a slit trench on the frozen steppe outside Smolensk. The snow glistened like diamonds in the moonlight. For months the fighting in the area had dragged on, and now Bogrov was lost and unsure of his own position, much less those of his Red Army comrades or the Nazi enemy.
The only other occupant of the trench was a dead and nearly frozen Soviet lieutenant who had been there when Bogrov wandered in. The weary young soldier was on the verge of dozing off when, suddenly and without warning, three German soldiers appeared, jumping down from the edge of the trench. Bogrov glanced furtively at his Mosin service rifle, leaning uselessly against the wall a few feet away.
"Ruki werch, Ruki werch!" the German sergeant commanded: "Hands up."
Realizing that the patrol was looking for prisoners to interrogate, and staring down the barrel of the sergeant's MP-38 submachine gun, Bogrov quickly complied. He was relieved of his rifle and searched, although not as carefully as he should have been.
As the Germans gathered at the other end of the trench to talk among themselves, the young Russian reached into his greatcoat and pulled out the M-1895 Nagant revolver he had taken from the body of the dead lieutenant. He emptied the cylinder at his opponents, killing all three in a matter of seconds.
Later, Bogrov described the incident in his diary: "Captured a cigarette lighter, a gold ring, a fountain pen, two pipes, tobacco and a comb."
http://www.chuckhawks.com/nagant_revolver.htm
