Any Manurhin Fans?

Better than a Korth?!
Click to expand...

There's a je ne sais quoi about the Manurhin that's hard to explain. It just has more soul or personality in some ways than the Korth, which feels like it was designed to be perfekt by bearded German scientists in a lab. Both are incredible revolvers, taking the #1 and #2 spots on the pyramid thanks to fabulous build quality, indestructible strength, superlative accuracy, and perfect actions, but the MR73 just has a little something else. IMO, of course. :)
 
"Better than a Korth?!"

<faints>

Looking solely at the price tag of a Korth, I confidently proclaim them "finely distilled diminishing returns" as far as design. A kind of functionally needless (compared to even the very next best offering that is all but numerically equal to the superior breed) achievement that is mostly notable as a technical or philosophical exercise of human ability. The ridiculous dimensional tolerances held on the Parthenon (for absolutely no reason other than the Geeks thought it was cool) at enormous expense are another example. Yes, a more finely crafted government building will never be, but the local grey DMV works just as well for shading bureaucrats :p

The main thing the craftsmanship of the Korth offers, is justification for even more expense being lavished upon it in the form of exotic metals, processes, or artistry. A completely bedazzled Korth 'makes sense,' whereas a similarly embroidered Colt strikes me as shallowly flamboyant. Knowing the care and skill expressed on the outside can only at best equal that on the interior does carry an artistic significance all its own. An artistic significance that also happens to be very practical at delivering lead on target, unlike most all others ;)

"There's a je ne sais quoi about the Manurhin that's hard to explain. It just has more soul or personality in some ways than the Korth"
It's for sure got more soul than my S&W TRR8. That thing is loads of cool, but is about as deep as the latest Call of Duty. This MR73 makes me wonder if the ding at the end of the underlug was from pavement, or a criminal's tooth :eek:. Honestly, it seems more film noir-ey (and not just because it's French, though that helps :D) than old 38's that actually existed back then. Quintessential "cop gun" :cool:

Just funny that it happens to be French :p

TCB
 
Last edited:
Never had a Manurhin revolver, but if they are anything like their Walthers they're in a class all their own.
 
I believe mine is one of the Austrian police surplus models shipped into the states in the 90's when the Austrian police went to semi-autos. Picked it up about four years ago. It's seen some use, but it's a good shooter and mechanically very clean.



 
Supposedly Manurhin made the 4" model with the adjustable sights for the Austrian anti-terrorist unit. I believe it's called COBRA. Anyway my model has seen lots of use and I'm fairly certain it's been refinished, but mechanically it's still very tight and the bore is clean. Very smooth trigger action by the way.
 
Range report time:
Good news, and bad news. The good, the gun loved 125gr Gold Sabres, and I was good enough to hold about 2" groups at 10yrds shooting double-action despite the 40deg, dark, dreary, windy, misty, yet somehow also dusty shooting environment at the range. The gun is a wee bit lighter than my N-Frame scandium TRR8, and quite a bit smaller, but recoil was not unpleasant (just more commanding of attention; if I forgot to firm my grip it jumped a lot more, slowing followup shots)

Bad news, was that the gun held 1" groups at the same range with 140gr Hornady FTX levergun ammo...when it fired. I'd heard these guns had a fatal design flaw regarding how the hand is sprung against the ratchet, and basically recoil can bounce the hand off the star and cause it to miss on the next shot, or tie up the action (at least until you open and shut the cylinder). This seemed to happen on the second round of every cylinder (4 total), and I realized I was "stiff arming" the revolver after the first shot, if that makes any sense. Loosening my upper body slightly so the gun could shift back/up more, and I had no more issues for the rest of that ammo. I also had a single pierced primer on this ammo, but the added recoil didn't seem out of the ordinary for 140gr-class bullet weight magnums; I doubt the ammo was bad, or anything. Lesson learned, these guns, at least once clapped out, apparently really don't like LeveRevolution ammo :eek:. I lubed up the gun before the trip, but I need to do a more detailed inspection/cleaning/service to see if I can't address this hand-spring issue. Unless Remington magically pulls a bunch of newly-perfected R51's from the usual place, I'd like to tap this gun for my carry piece.

I did a cylinder or two in single action, but I actually found that kind of boring for some reason. Normally I'm a single action shooter with the TRR8, but something about the grip being farther back, and the double action trigger being so smooth and short made it more attractive to shoot uncocked. On the big S&W, that double action is just so long compared to the trigger of any other gun I own, and stacks up very unevenly. The MR73 is about the same travel as a double action semi-auto, but very consistently heavy throughout.

TCB

PS: On an unrelated but revolver-related note, the Mateba 6 Unica did awesome at the range with both kinds of ammo. I also liked its double action better even though it is not nearly as good as the MR73's or the S&W's, but because the SA trigger (both manual and auto-cocking) was so short and light I kept firing a split second before I expected the shot, which was slightly unnerving. It was pretty awesome holding 4" at 10 yards firing as fast as I could, which is like 3 or four shots a second since this is an autoloader :p. My non-Miculek-ian fingers can only squeeze off 2-3 rounds a second with the MR73, and it'd be jumping around more than I'd be comfortable with at a shooting range.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top