Don't necessarily disagree with the overall gist but the 30% over pressure is CIP standard for proofing. So, if sold in Europe, Smith, Colt, whatever should survive it, a time or two. The question is lifetime durability. Assuming same quality of materials and construction, as historically pre-Chapuis, we know Manurhins should survive a steady diet of full power loads much longer than a Smith, etc.Originally Posted by RevolverRob
Hmm. Maybe then modified Smiths might be more like Corvettes versus Manurhin’s Porsche?
I like the Korth better. The Ratzeberg models are very nice as well as the new ones made in Lollar. I wanted a dedicated .38 special target gun to shoot wadcutters so I got the MR38 plus I just wanted one to have one. Now when You get into Janz territory it's a whole other ball game.
[brokenrecord] What's the speedloader situation on these? [/brokenrecord]
I think JCN will dremel out the cylinder for moonclips pretty cheap.
Out of curiosity, and not to make a tasteless comparison, but how does something like a Ruger GP hold up durability wise against something like a MR73?
I mean...it's basically like comparing a honda civic to Porsche...but my understanding is that if you want a gun to regularly run magnums through, you'd be hard pressed to wear out a Ruger before you gave yourself crippling arthritis.
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I tried to wear out both a GP100 Ruger Redhawk 44mag. Couldn't do it. Both guns got mostly mag loads, and heavy ones at that (180gr @ 1300 for the GP and 310 @ 1200 for the Redhawk). I gave up before they did.
FWIW, I went and did some reading on the MR73 and see why it's held in high esteem and why it could cost more. I'm unconvinced that it's *worth* that much, but I do see what differentiates it from a S&W, Colt, or Ruger.
Chris
I'm thinking the comparison is more like a Suburban 2500 vs a Land Cruiser. Both are heavy duty, durable vehicles that will last a very long time if used and maintained properly. One is a little smaller and lighter and just nicer.
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Not another dime.
Speedloaders designed for Smith K frames seem to work well with the basic wood profile grips. How they do with the Trausch or Nil grips - ???
The manager of a shooting range that rents guns says told me he gets maybe 20,000 rounds out of a GP100 before it’s dead. Given how most people in this location who rent guns are probably doing it for the “lol, big boom” aspect of things rather than actually wanting to shoot groups, I suspect that the vast majority of the 20,000 rounds are 357s. It’s not the six figure round count that issued MR73s have gotten up to, but considering that most range rental guns are mostly shot with garbage tier ammo, not cleaned until they stop running, and mostly abused by people who don’t know that you shouldn’t flip cylinders closed and god knows what else they get up to, that’s honestly not too bad.
Also, considering the easy ability for end users of Rugers to do work on their own guns, the factory and aftermarket support available, and the likelihood that shooting mostly 38 with the occasional midrange 357 loads will probably extend the lifespan of a gun to multiples of those reported 20,000 rounds, not to mention the fact that you are looking at about 15-25% of the price of an MR73, I don’t fault anyone for getting a Ruger and driving on.
Before I plonked down a bunch of cash on my MR73, I browsed some French gun forums with a translation app. The consensus there is that while these guns are up to shoot lots of full power 357 ammo, you will still bulge chambers with double charges (I think that what happens is that the chamber tends to develop a divot inside the chamber opposite the cylinder notch next to the chamber without full on failure of the cylinder, but translation apps are not that good for me to be exactly sure about that) or shooting max pressure ammo with severely leaded throats/chambers will do the same thing. There also appear to be occasional issues with small parts breakage, especially the hand springs getting worn out.
There are also lots of people on those forums who complain about MR73s being too expensive and not really any better than Smith and Wesson revolvers for twice to three times the price, too. If I ever win the lottery, I would consider getting a new MR73 or two for destructive testing to actually see exactly what’s gun forum rumor and what is fact. It’s definitely a damn nice gun, and you can see that no corners were cut during the manufacture of it, but at the end of the day, it’s a machine that can and will eventually break down.
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