Well, I finally got my registration in the mail so I went of to the indoor range in Fredericton last night with my new 6" MR88. While I own about a dozen S&W and Colt revolvers I've only been shooting handguns for a few years and am very far from an expert. Keeping that in mind here are a few impressions. I shot a mix of Centaure 125gr .38 and AE 158gr .357
The Manurhin looks and feels very well made. Zero cylinder play and the cylinder release button snicks in with precision. Everything feels very finely machined. maybe it's the rubber grips, the finish and the barrel profile but the gun gives more of an impression of brute force and strength rather than finesse or elegance
The Trausch grips (good review here http://www.gunblast.com/Trausch.htm ) fit my fairly large hand well and force quite a high grip. They absorb recoil very effectively. The only caveat is that they leave less space between the rear of the trigger guard and the front of the grip compared to my other revolvers. The knuckle of my index finger was touching the guard. A good recipe to get a sharp rap on the knuckles when shooting .357 if you're not paying attention.
I'm certainly not an outstanding shot by any means but this gun seemed to be easily as accurate as either my old '50's era K-38 or my Python that I shot back to back with it. I found the sights OK but, while hard to tell from the photos, the the ramp of the front sight is more of a gun metal gray rather than the sharp, jet black of the rear sight. That made it a little hard to pick up quickly for me. Keep in mind though, we're talking 58 year old eyes here
The DA trigger measures about 9.8 lbs on my cheap analog gauge and SA is right at 3.2. For comparison the Python measures 9/3 and the K-38 is 9.5/2.7 on the same gauge. The DA trigger is very smooth with no stacking, just a steady force until it breaks. SA is very clean and crisp.
Of far more value than my thoughts on the trigger........The RSO that was there last night is a former Canadian Olympic pistol coach. When he tried the trigger his comment was "Oh Wow!...that's nice".
Over all I am pleased with the MR88 but I have to wonder....If this is their entry level gun, just how nice is the MR73?
The Manurhin looks and feels very well made. Zero cylinder play and the cylinder release button snicks in with precision. Everything feels very finely machined. maybe it's the rubber grips, the finish and the barrel profile but the gun gives more of an impression of brute force and strength rather than finesse or elegance
The Trausch grips (good review here http://www.gunblast.com/Trausch.htm ) fit my fairly large hand well and force quite a high grip. They absorb recoil very effectively. The only caveat is that they leave less space between the rear of the trigger guard and the front of the grip compared to my other revolvers. The knuckle of my index finger was touching the guard. A good recipe to get a sharp rap on the knuckles when shooting .357 if you're not paying attention.
I'm certainly not an outstanding shot by any means but this gun seemed to be easily as accurate as either my old '50's era K-38 or my Python that I shot back to back with it. I found the sights OK but, while hard to tell from the photos, the the ramp of the front sight is more of a gun metal gray rather than the sharp, jet black of the rear sight. That made it a little hard to pick up quickly for me. Keep in mind though, we're talking 58 year old eyes here
The DA trigger measures about 9.8 lbs on my cheap analog gauge and SA is right at 3.2. For comparison the Python measures 9/3 and the K-38 is 9.5/2.7 on the same gauge. The DA trigger is very smooth with no stacking, just a steady force until it breaks. SA is very clean and crisp.
Of far more value than my thoughts on the trigger........The RSO that was there last night is a former Canadian Olympic pistol coach. When he tried the trigger his comment was "Oh Wow!...that's nice".
Over all I am pleased with the MR88 but I have to wonder....If this is their entry level gun, just how nice is the MR73?
