Well today after many years of looking and wondering how the hell I was going to pay for an 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 Miami. So it was priced at $900. Which is still pretty damm pricey. It's been in my local gunstore for approximately six months and I get the impression 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.
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 and a 12 gauge shotgun. I didn't pay anything and the shop owner is happy. His inventory has been gutted by the recent gun buying frenzy 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.
I've come to enjoy bullseye shooting more and more.
COBRA is the anti-terrorist unit in Austria. COBRA issued the MR 73 until 1992/93 when it switched to the GLOCK17. The surplus MR73's were bought by an importer and sold off in the U.S. in the mid-90's. Mine has definite holster wear and the hammer and trigger aren't strawed, but they haven't been re-finished. Makes me think that a tactical police unit might have ordered it's revolvers without shiney gold colored triggers and hammers. Can't imagine why. Anyway it's a very sweet shooter. I like that trigger action. It's also very accurate. So here it is. It's not a safe queen, no pampered revolver of a rich man. I guess you can say it earned it's keep. 
