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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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