Russian roulette was a game which the Russian officer corps played. People wondered why they were so willing to play it, since it was practically suicide. To play the game, they would put one bullet the chamber of a revolver, then soon the chamber. They would then point the gun at each other and pull the trigger. Two players take turns spinning and firing the revolver so that each successive spin results in an equal 7-1 probability of the player being killed. Sometimes, up to seven men would play, without spinning the chamber so that the first man would gave a one in seven chance of getting hushed blown off, the second man a one in six chance ect. If all the first six players were to survive, it would be very unfortunate odds for the seventh player, since he would obviously have a 1 in 1 chance of dying. Sometimes a gambler would take bets from his fellow officers to play Russian roulette.
With the Nagant M1895, which was used between 1895 and 1933 in Russia, a single cartridge would be loaded into the drum before it was spun. The heavy bullet settled in with the lower chamber, so a player could be reasonably confident that an empty bullet hold;e would be aligned with the hammer. Studys have shown that around 80 percent of the players were white, and they were all around the age of 25, and alcohol played a much bigger role than in other cases of suicide by shooting.