Manurhin MR 73 for bullseye

First topic message reminder :

I made an impulse buy this weekend and bought an as NIB Manurhin MR 73 Sport 357 Mag with 6” bbl.  Registration / transfer can take up to 6 weeks here in Canada so I won’t get a chance to shoot it for a while yet.  While I’m waiting I was hoping to pick your collective brains on how well this gun will shoot mid range 38 WC loads.  I’ve read the barrel has a pretty slow twist rate at 18.75 inches (or something close to that) and I’m wondering if it will be enough to stabilize a slower (750 FPS) WC bullet?  Also, feel free to provide your opinions on this gun sans the French jokes… lol.

Interesting topic, as I too made an impulse buy, and have an unfired, Beretta imported MR73.  Not sure I will shoot it, as I truly want the MR38 MATCH for DR. The MR73 no doubt would be really fine, but I want the sights and barrel weight option of the MATCH. Plus the often debated accuracy difference shooting .38 SPL in a .357 chambered gun?  One thing to consider, is that DR requires the gun to fire both SA and DA. The MR38 MATCH comes in both SA and DA, but all that I have found are SA only.  So far a global search has only turned up stock in Europe, so to see one anytime soon, one will have to import one.  The retailers in Europe without inventory are quoting a 12 - 24 month lead time ... indicating you order 10 and get 2.  Annual production of the MR73/38/32 guns I hear is about 3000 units ...  An MR38 MATCH just sold on GB, but it was SA.

Fine piece of work, I'll say that!

Call EuroOptic, they have a batch of MR38's coming in soon and have 2-3 left unspoken for when I talked to them last week. They'll even get you a 5% discount if you ask which will take it to about $3500 shipped. They do require a full payment to hold. I though of getting one but decided on a new Python which won't really be a DR gun but something off my pistol bucket list. I decided to give the MR38 another year to see how people are doing with them.