I'll do my best to tell you about the MR73 revolver and the company. Manuhrin is a combination of Mulhouse, France (the City where the factory used to be located) and the the Rhine River (which runs by Mulhouse). the company started manufacturing firearms after World War II ended. The MR73 revolver was introduced in 1973. The model came into exsistence after the French had formed the elite anti-terrorist unit GIGN in the late sixties or early seventies.

The French felt that the .357 magnum revolver was more reliable and accurate than the semi-autos that were on the market back then. Plus they liked the power of the .357 magnum especially when compared to the 9mm Parabellum or the 7.65mm Browning. A hard hitting and accurate round. Just the thing for punching the ticket of a terrorist holding hostages.

Well the French purchased both Smith and Wesson and Colt revolvers. I've come across information that says they tried out the S&W Model 27, S&W Model 19 and the Colt Python. While the GIGN officers (I believe that all GIGN members are actually police officers - not soldiers) liked the Colts and Smith & Wessons the models couldn't stand up to the daily beating of the Norma 158 grain semi-jacketed loads that the French were pounding through them everyday. I've come across info that states the GIGN officers were feeding anywhere from 150 to 300 rounds of .357 magnum rounds through the revolvers every day for months on end. I would imagine that they were also feeding alot of +P+ 38 special loads as well.

So the French goverment contacted Manurhin with the specs for a revolver that combined the best features of the Colt and S&W designs, but also with the endurance of a tank. Looking it over it seems to me that the MR73 combines the compactness of the S&W Model 19 with the craftsmanship of a Colt Python from the 1950's. But the MR73 has several of it's own original features that make it truely unique.

The MR73 has a trigger bar that connects the trigger to the hammer. The trigger bar hooks into a guide piece, the same as a S&W revolver. But the guide mechanism does not run along the frame but over it with the assistance of four guide wheels. A fifth wheel is located in the guide mechanism for the trigger spring guidance.

The end result is a trigger action that literally runs on wheels. The trigger's pressure is constant both when depressing the trigger and when resetting the action. If the shooter does his part the revolver is capable of almost bench like accuracy even when being fired off-hand.

I've also read that every MR73 has to undergo twelve days of handfitting before being shipped out from the factory. Esentially every MR73 is semi-custom.

The steel of the barrel is cold hammered making it for a very strong barrel.But cold hammering is time consuming and expensive which is why it's almost never used for handguns. The German revolver maker Korth is the only other company that I know of who cold hammers handgun barrels.

The cylinder is also very strong and guaranteed to 6,300 bar. The MR73 has been proofed to withstand a double .357 magnum load. In other words the proof house at Etienne (spelling?) has loaded the MR73 with absolutely insane loads and fired those loads through all six cylinders. Not only has the MR73 held up but then they loaded the test specimen and fired it again with out any catastrophic failures.

In the year 2000 Chapius Armes bought Manurhin and moved the factory to Saint-Bonnet-le-Chateau. If you know that company (considering that this is Nitroexpress I'm sure you do) then you can be assured that nothing has changed when it comes to the quality.

Well that's all I know about the MR73. Perhaps one of our members from Europe can tell us more. As far as Korth revolvers go. Well I really doubt I'll ever see one in my lifetime, but then I thought that about the MR73 as well and now I own one.

Manurhin and Korth revolvers are truly amazing pieces of engineering. They prove that old saying about getting what you pay for. The manager of the gun library at the local Cabelas tells me that I'm one lucky S.O.B. I agree.