Revolvers and GIGN

[Nephrology]

Being the capitol I’m sure there is stuff there in their wheel house. As I recall you will see French soldiers on foot patrol also, at least near higher profile targets like rail stations etc. Paris also has a municipal police force, some of whom are now armed.

Yeah, that would make sense to me. It's been a decade or so since I've been, but from what I recall they mostly did vehicle or foot patrols in areas near federal gov't buildings and rail stations.

[Shades]

In fact, the urban/rural, National Police/Gendarmerie divide can be pretty hazy. Same thing in Italy between the Polizia di Stato (national civilian police) and the Carabinieri (gendarme equivalent). In peace time, for domestic law enforcement purposes, the gendarmes operate under the authority of the Ministry of Interior. Overseas or in wartime, they operate as part of the military, i.e. the military police, with additional SOF-type responsibilities. And, in Europe generally, deploying armed troops to support law enforcement domestically doesn't present the constitutional issues it does here. (Or, that some folks think it does.)

[Trooper224]

This is why I can't stand it when cops in the US refer to other people as civilians. Ya'll bitches be fuckin' civilians. If we aren't in the fuckin' military, we're civilian. So unless your police powers come from Title 10 or Title 32 and you get a DD214 when you retire...….you're a civilian.

Since it seems to put sand in your mangina, straight from Merriam-Webster:

"one not on active duty in the armed services or not on a police or firefighting force "

If you want to get your panties twisted, you might want to make sure it's, at the very least, a semantically accurate argument.

[JRB]

(snip)



What in particular impressed you? How was the trigger compared to a K-frame? I'd think because of how beefy they are it'd be more similar to an L/N frame or GP100.

The MR73 I got to shoot was a 4in barrel model with fixed sights and the Tausch grips. POI was laser accurate to POA at 15 yards with .357, .38 WC's shot about 1.5in low at 15 yards but with the same laser consistency, and it was very easy to adjust the sight picture accordingly. The gun was vastly more accurate than I was skilled, but it was transparently easy to call my flyers. I watched the owner shoot a ~.90" group of 6 rounds at 25 yards. The owner fed it Fiocchi .357 JSP's mostly but I can't recall the bullet weight.

The trigger was the best part, though. I was told the trigger was adjustable, and the owner of that example had taken some time getting it 'just right' which resulted in a ~2lb single action that was hands-down the finest single action pull ever in my mediocre collective experience. The DA felt around 7-8lbs and it was very much like another friend's worked-over PPC 6in DAO model 64. Light initial pull that just rolled through the break very predictably with virtually no stacking or hiccups. Everything about the action felt like oil on glass, there wasn't a speck of unexpected resistance or grit anywhere.
It was difficult to resist dry-firing it over and over again in DA because it was so satisfying to see the sights stay solidly on target with virtually no effort.
Frankly, it made the pre-lock 4in 686 I'd brought along feel like a Taurus.

The example I shot was in vastly better cosmetic condition than those three at Allan's. But cosmetically rough or not, just *knowing* that kind of result is possible with an MR73 makes me want one in a bad way.

[TGS]

Since it seems to put sand in your mangina, straight from Merriam-Webster:

"one not on active duty in the armed services or not on a police or firefighting force "

If you want to get your panties twisted, you might want to make sure it's, at the very least, a semantically accurate argument.

Unfortunately, international law trumps Merriam-Webster's dictionary, given international law is where the concept of civilian-status is conceived and most applicable.

Cool story, though.

The MR73 I got to shoot was a 4in barrel model with fixed sights and the Tausch grips. POI was laser accurate to POA at 15 yards with .357, .38 WC's shot about 1.5in low at 15 yards but with the same laser consistency, and it was very easy to adjust the sight picture accordingly. The gun was vastly more accurate than I was skilled, but it was transparently easy to call my flyers. I watched the owner shoot a ~.90" group of 6 rounds at 25 yards. The owner fed it Fiocchi .357 JSP's mostly but I can't recall the bullet weight.

The trigger was the best part, though. I was told the trigger was adjustable, and the owner of that example had taken some time getting it 'just right' which resulted in a ~2lb single action that was hands-down the finest single action pull ever in my mediocre collective experience. The DA felt around 7-8lbs and it was very much like another friend's worked-over PPC 6in DAO model 64. Light initial pull that just rolled through the break very predictably with virtually no stacking or hiccups. Everything about the action felt like oil on glass, there wasn't a speck of unexpected resistance or grit anywhere.
It was difficult to resist dry-firing it over and over again in DA because it was so satisfying to see the sights stay solidly on target with virtually no effort.
Frankly, it made the pre-lock 4in 686 I'd brought along feel like a Taurus.

The example I shot was in vastly better cosmetic condition than those three at Allan's. But cosmetically rough or not, just *knowing* that kind of result is possible with an MR73 makes me want one in a bad way.

That's awesome, thanks for sharing.

The adjustable trigger aspect has me a little wary of buying them online. Used revolvers are already a bit of a pandora's box, and I certainly don't want to grab one that somebody fucked with the adjustable trigger on.

[JSGlock34]

After the 2015 Paris attacks we had a pretty good thread going on French military and police units. Many of the units involved were from the National Police (formerly GIPN, now RAID). I believe GIPN also had a history of using the MR73 revolver. Sorting out the units responding to the attacks was a challenge even for order-of-battle addicts. They were certainly well equipped, with considerable diversity of modern long arms and sidearms.

French LE Weapon Choices

As far as sidearms, these days they seem to carry Glocks. Lots of them.



There's a recent Osprey book on the various European Counter-terrorism units that is a pretty good overview, covering the various French teams (among many nations).

European Counter-Terrorist Units 1972–2017 (Elite)

[SeriousStudent]

.....

As far as sidearms, these days they seem to carry Glocks. Lots of them.

....

And in Serpa's. <shudder>

[HCM]

After the 2015 Paris attacks we had a pretty good thread going on French military and police units. Many of the units involved were from the National Police (formerly GIPN, now RAID). I believe GIPN also had a history of using the MR73 revolver. Sorting out the units responding to the attacks was a challenge even for order-of-battle addicts. They were certainly well equipped, with considerable diversity of modern long arms and sidearms.

French LE Weapon Choices

As far as sidearms, these days they seem to carry Glocks. Lots of them.



There's a recent Osprey book on the various European Counter-terrorism units that is a pretty good overview, covering the various French teams (among many nations).

European Counter-Terrorist Units 1972–2017 (Elite)

In France and Germany only the “cool guy” cops get to carry Glocks. Glocks may have simply replaced revolvers as the distinctive “cool guy” gun.

[zeleny]

The adjustable trigger aspect has me a little wary of buying them online. Used revolvers are already a bit of a pandora's box, and I certainly don't want to grab one that somebody fucked with the adjustable trigger on.

All adjustments of the MR73 trigger are reversible and readily accessible from the front grip strap. More information can be found here.

[Buckshot]

I'm not at all certain about the current use or not of the Manuhrin wheelies by GIGN, but for many years their usual M.O. was the 357 revolver on the right hip and a 9mm auto (usually Glock or Sig) up on their vest. The 357 was normally used as primary w/ the 9 as a BUG (in addition to long guns when used). Their lead assaulters would to rely on handguns as primary when doing tubular work, perimeter/overwatch dudes with SMGs or Carbines.