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Shooting & Reloading - Mausers, Big Bores and others >> Handguns

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Checkman
.333 member


Reged: 15/03/08
Posts: 256
Loc: Idaho
Got a Manuhrin MR-73 today
      #140614 - 15/08/09 10:13 AM

Well today after many years of looking and wondering how the hell I was going to pay for a Manuhrin MR-73 revolver I finally got one today. It's in 357 magnum and has a four inch barrel with adjustable sights.

The previous owner was a shooter (he passed a way a few months ago from Cancer) and there is holster wear to the finish, but it's a beautifully made revolver. Very high quality with a truly amazing action.All the research I've done states that the MR-73 is a hellishly strong revolver. Even stronger than the Ruger revolvers. Evidently it takes twelve days of handfitting at the factory before an MR-73 or it's smaller caliber siblings (32 caliber and 22LR) are shipped from the factory.

The blueing is so deep it's black in appearance. The cylinder and crane are designed to be removed with just the simple loosening of a screw. Which is nice for cleaning purposes. All in all it's a very well though out and handsomely made revolver.

Evidently the one I got (in it's current conditon) lists at $1,500 in the Blue Book. Brand new (if you can find one in the U.S.A.) would sell for somewhere in the range of $2,500.

Well this is Southwestern Idaho not Houston or Dallas.No slam on those cities, but I gather from this forum that there are many well off hunters down there who buy and sell big bore African rifles like I do with used paperback books. So it was priced at $900. Which is still pretty pricey for my area. It's been in the neighborhood gunstore for approximately six months and I'm pretty sure that I was the only guy who was consistently eyeballing it. I guess the price tag and the fact that it's French drove people away. In this case the prejudice towards all things French is silly.

Yesterday the gunshop owner said that since the owner had passed away it was now his and he wanted it to move. Which meant trade. So I traded a couple S&W .357 magnum revolvers (686+P w/4" bl & a S&W Model 28 Highway Patrolman w/6" barrel) and a Winchester Model 12 shotgun (12gauge).

I didn't pay anything and the shop owner is happy. His inventory has been gutted by the recent gun buying frenzy in the United States and he would rather have several lower priced handguns that he knows will move instead of one fancy French handgun that will keep taking up space in his display cabinet for many more months.

I can always get another S&W revolver.

So there you go. I go to the range Monday. The one in the photo has a three inch barrel but beside that it's an exact replica of mine to include the rubber grips. Think I'll buy the wooden grips from Numrich. I like to have a selection available.



Edited by Checkman (15/08/09 10:22 AM)


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André
.333 member


Reged: 28/06/04
Posts: 254
Loc: Brussels (Belgium)
Re: Got a Manuhrin MR-73 today [Re: Checkman]
      #140687 - 16/08/09 08:15 PM

Congratulations Checkman. You will soon learn that the MR73 is one of the 2 best revolvers in existence. Its only competitor is the German Korth, which is still more expensive...

--------------------
André
---------------------------------
3 shots do not make a group, they show a point of aim or impact.
5 shots are a group.


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Tatume
.400 member


Reged: 09/06/07
Posts: 1091
Loc: Gloucester, Va USA
Re: Got a Manuhrin MR-73 today [Re: André]
      #140693 - 16/08/09 10:56 PM

I'd like to know more about the Manurhin and Korth revolvers. On GunsAmerica I found several Manurhin auto pistols, but no revolvers. There was one short-barreled Korth 38 Spl revolver. Tell us more.

--------------------
Take care, Tom
NRA Life Member


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Rolf
.333 member


Reged: 26/02/07
Posts: 394
Loc: Germany, Bavaria
Re: Got a Manuhrin MR-73 today [Re: Tatume]
      #140698 - 17/08/09 02:29 AM

Gentlemen,

congratulation for your buy!
I think the DA and SA trigger is better than most of the other revolvers, and precision should be no problem!

Korth:
I was lucky to collect (in a very small scale) some german Korth revolvers and also the Korth pistol.

I did offer in another post to photograph my guns but no one replied.

If you are interested, and if somebody would help me with the display of photos in the forum, we can proceed...

best regards
Rolf


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Checkman
.333 member


Reged: 15/03/08
Posts: 256
Loc: Idaho
Re: Got a Manuhrin MR-73 today [Re: Tatume]
      #140703 - 17/08/09 07:07 AM

Quote:

I'd like to know more about the Manurhin and Korth revolvers. On GunsAmerica I found several Manurhin auto pistols, but no revolvers. There was one short-barreled Korth 38 Spl revolver. Tell us more.




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.


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Checkman
.333 member


Reged: 15/03/08
Posts: 256
Loc: Idaho
Re: Got a Manuhrin MR-73 today [Re: Rolf]
      #140704 - 17/08/09 07:12 AM

Quote:

Gentlemen,

congratulation for your buy!
I think the DA and SA trigger is better than most of the other revolvers, and precision should be no problem!

Korth:
I was lucky to collect (in a very small scale) some german Korth revolvers and also the Korth pistol.

I did offer in another post to photograph my guns but no one replied.

If you are interested, and if somebody would help me with the display of photos in the forum, we can proceed...

best regards
Rolf




I would like to see your Korths. Absolutely. The best way to post your pictures is to post them on http://www.tinypic.com/ or Photobucket. Once you have posted your photos on those sites they have the codes that are required for you to post them on this and other forums. that's what I had to do.Hope this information is helpful.

Oh by the way I see that you live in Bavaria. I was in the United States Army and was stationed in Bavaria for three years (1993 - 1996) outside of a small town called Hohenfels. Our daughter was born in Burglenfeld in 1995. We loved Bavaria. I was very fond of Regensburg while my wife liked Nuremburg. Naturally we spent more time in Nuremburg. We also liked to go to Munich and Wurzburg frequently and had a couple enjoyable visits to Augsburg as well. We hope to visit Germany in 2011. It will be good to get back and see your country again.

Edited by Checkman (17/08/09 07:19 AM)


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mehulkamdar
.416 member


Reged: 09/01/04
Posts: 3688
Loc: State of Ill-Annoy USA.
Re: Got a Manuhrin MR-73 today [Re: Rolf]
      #140718 - 17/08/09 02:59 PM

Rolf,

E-mail me the pictures and I'll post them for you.

Checkman,

Congratulations on a lovely buy.

--------------------
The Ark was made by amateurs. Experts built the Titanic.

Mehul Kamdar


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André
.333 member


Reged: 28/06/04
Posts: 254
Loc: Brussels (Belgium)
Re: Got a Manuhrin MR-73 today [Re: mehulkamdar]
      #140722 - 17/08/09 07:49 PM

http://www.korthusa.com/revolver_en.htm

--------------------
André
---------------------------------
3 shots do not make a group, they show a point of aim or impact.
5 shots are a group.


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Checkman
.333 member


Reged: 15/03/08
Posts: 256
Loc: Idaho
Re: Got a Manuhrin MR-73 today [Re: André]
      #145385 - 08/11/09 12:12 PM

Alas the firing pin has broken on my 73. I and my gunsmith tired everybody we could think of here in the United States and even a couple supply houses in Canada. Nothing.I've tried to contact the facotry in France and got no response. Same for the importer of MR revolvers in Australia. Oh well. So I now have a very nice wall hanger. Actually it has been moved to Training Aid status. I now have a revolver that I can dry fire to my heart's content and practice loading and unloading all day long. It's an expensive training aid, but life goes on.

I have since purchased a very nice pre - World War II Smith & Wesson Heavy Duty revolver (later named the Model 20) with a five inch barrel. Considering that it was manufactured in 1937 it's in amazing condition. So I'm happy.

Like I said life goes on.


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