French
Guns
Manurhin MR93
c. Manurhin MR-93
By Emmanuel Baechler (baechler@lia.di.epfl.ch)
1 The origin of the MR-93: a short history of modern french revolvers
The Manufacture du Haut Rhin (Manurhin) has produced handguns at least
since the end of WWII. At the end of the war, it started producing
Walther handguns (PP, PPk and P38) that the german company couldn't
produce any more.
For a very long time after the end of WWII, the french policemen had
very poor handguns. Most of them had single action .32ACP Unique
Pistols. Although they were adapted to concealed carry, their stopping
power was much less than adequate and overpenetration was a major
problem. The french police had several cases of innocent people killed
by bullets after they touched their intended target [1]. Although the
policemen were aware of their problems, their administrative managers
did not acknowledge it for several decades.
The situation started to change when, at the end of the sixties, Mr.
Raymond Sasia, then director of the french national police, visited
the FBI. He became convinced that the .357 magnum revolver is the
ideal handgun for standard police duties [1], where self defense is
their primary use.
The creation of a new french revolver started at the beginning of the
seventies. It was a collaboration between Manurhin and the technical
services of the french national police.
The requirements for this revolver were:
- high quality
- Great robustness
- Great accuracy
So that the gun could be used both for service duties and ISU
competitions.
This study produced the MR-73. The gun was entirely made of high
quality forged steel and it was a remarkable success: it statisfied
all its requirements. Some MR-73 have been tested for durability. The
test was abandonned after 170'000 full power Norma .357 were shot. So,
the real lifetime of this revolver is not known. It is also the only
revolver with a trigger which is both DA/SA and whose weight is
adjustable. Its double action is also the smoothest of all
revolvers. Its accuracy is match grade out of the box. Unhappily,
this gun requires more than 12 hours of manual adjustments. This
amount of handwork makes it very expensive. It was so expensive that
it was only purchased for the special units of the french polices (and
by civilians). Other units got some special order S&W 3" mod 19 and
Some Ruger Security Six as a provisory solution.
In the same time variations of the MR-73, specialized for ISU
competitions and metallic silouette were created. The most famous are
the MR-38 match (chambered in .38 MIDRANGE special wadcutter), the
MR-32 match (in .32 SWLW), the MR-22 Silouette. A convertible model,
chambered .38, .32 and .22 has also been produced. All the competition
guns have special signle action only and adjustable triggers.
In order to produce a more affordable handgun, Manurhin signed an
agreement with Sturm Ruger. They got Ruger's investment casting
technology and know how. They did also start the production of a new
revolver. Although it had different names, it was finally known as the
MR-88. Thisd revolver kept the cylinder and barrel of the MR-73, but
the frame was the one of the Security Six. The french police was then
issued this gun.
After this gun was released, Manurhin started producing a new revolver
truely on his own. they tried to create an entirely new gun, based on
their knowledge of investment casting, machine tools and
manufacturing. This new model would finally be called the
MR-93. Pieces are all cast, except the barrel and the cylinder whixh
are still the ones of the MR-73, although they are differently
finished.
The most interesting aspect of the manufacturing of the MR-93 is that,
once it has been cast, each piece is machined on a specific CNC
system, where tolerances are automatically checked with lasers, and
maintained within 1/100 of milimeter. Then, it is stored. Revolvers
are assembled upon the reception of an order, within four hours. This
means that there is very little or no manual adjustment at all.
The MR-93 was released in, you guessed it, 1993. It is selling well in
europe. It is now becoming the ordnance pistol of the french national
police. I got mine as soon as it was comercially available In
Switzerland, so it is one of the earliest models.
2 Description
The gun is sold in a large plastic box. It contains an excellent
multilingual manual. It describes both the use of the gun and its
complete disassembly. A set of modular front sights (and a fixed rear
one) is also distributed in this case. More on this later.
You cannot confuse the MR-93 with any other revolver. Its silouette is
absolutely unique. Someone on the net qualified it as "cubist". I
disagree with this adjective, but it is much more angulous than
conventional revolvers (i.e. S&W and Colts).
The triggerguard is squared, which is unique among revolers. More
surprising, the cylinder release does not lie at the usual place.
It lies on the crane, as with the Dan Wessons, but on the opposite
side. The main consequence is that the cylinder can be released and
open with a single hand, in a single, fluid gesture.
Another difference is that the cylinder is locked by a vertical pin
under the barrel, plus the usual horizontal one at the rear end on the
cylinder.
The trigger is modular. In other words, it lies on a lateral plate,
which can be easily removed (the manual explains how). It can then be
tuned more easily. Manurhin claimed that it is preparing an additonal
match grade trigger as an aftermarket piece. I don't know however
wether they did ever release it.
The barrel is modular too. As on the Dan Wesson, it is distinct of its
casing. Space between the barrel and the cylinder is thus very easy to
adjust. In addition, the barrel's casing can easily be fitted
undependently so that the front sight lies vertically. Contrary to the
Dan Wessons, changing the barrel requires that you send your gun to
the factory.
Barrels are made in 3", 4", 5.25" and 6" currently. I guess that some
8" or 10" barrels will be made for metallic silouette.
Sights are modular too. The guns is delivered with an excellent
adjustable rear sight and a triangular front one, with an orange
insert. but you can change it with on of the other ones delivered with
the revolver. A low profile fixed rear sight is also delivred with the
MR-93, with the corresponding front sights.
Although this idea is excellent, the front sights (and the fixed rear
one) are made of two piece of cheap plastic. They are fragile and I
cannot discard the risk that one be broken in the case of a close
range fight. Another problem is that once a given front sight is
fitted on the revolver, removing it breaks it. As a consequence, it is
wise to have a few sets of front sights for this gun in reserve.
Grips are modular too. Two types of grips can be fitted, and they are
available in three sizes (small, mediuma and large). You can have a
rather standard and conventional wooden grip or an orthopedic wooden
grip made by Claudio Morini. The MR use a single grip which wraps
around a skeleton containing the hammer and its spring, a la Dan
Wesson.
The cylinder is the one of the MR-73, but is is finished
differently. Instead of being fluted, there are serrations at the
places where you usually see the "fluting". The distance between the
cylinder and the barrel is really small. It is the smallest that I
have ever seen.
Note that the cylinder rotates clockwise, i.e. "Colt Style".
As the Rugers and the Colts, the MR-93 uses the Iver Jhonson internal
safety. This means that it has a retractable transfer bar and that the
firing pin is separate from the hammer and that it lies in the frame.
The frame of the MR-93 is extremely strong and has a reinforcement
just behind the cylinder. This revolver can be easily considered in
the Super Strong class, with the S&W N frames, GP-100 and so on.
The MR-93 is only supplied in a black matte finish. It is not the best
feature of the gun. On my gun, in two places on the rear cylinder
shields, it turned into some matte grey spots.
The barrel casing is marked "made in France" on the left side, and
"Manurhin" on the right one. The mark "Cal. .357 Mag." lies on the
cylinder, between two serrated zones. Finally, the serial number lies
on the top of the frame, on the right side. The serial number is well
engraved. the marks on the barrel casing are quite well done, but the
one on the cylinder is really superficial. the last letter is now
almost invisible and the previous one is hard to see.
3 Manipulations and shooting
When I take it in hand, the most striking think is how well, the
Morini grips are adaptedt to my hand.
The trigger is quite large, whith a smooth face. It is at the right
distance of the grips and the trigger finger finds its proper
position naturally.
Although it is not as prefect as the one of the Mr-73, the double
action of the MR-93 comes very close. Several shooters of the MR-73
who tried my gun were impressed by the quality of the DA. This is even
more impressive when you notice how simple the trigger mechanism
is. In DA, the course is absolutely smooth, and the force to exert on
the trigger remains very constant on the whole course. In addition,
the time where the cylinder locks and the time where the hammer falls
down are closer than on a S&W, and that there is no significant change
in the trigger's weight when the cylinder locks. All these factors
combine to make the double action one of the very best. I have only
found some better ones on tuned Pythons, on MR-73 and on Korths.
Although it is good, the single action is not exceptional. It is a
little bit less good than the one of my S&W 686, which is very close
to the perfection. Anyway, it's still much better than the one of
the GP-100.
The barrel is surprisingly low, and the MR-93 points exceptionally
well.
The MR-93 is quite heavy and muzzle heavy too. This helps with hot
loads. the gun does not raise as much as a 686.
I do not have the ransom rest and the reloading experience that a
serious accuracy testing requires. But I notice that, in my
experience, this gun is extremely accurate. It is at least as good as
any 6" S&W 686 or even better.
Even with the hottest loads, recoils is more than managable. I guess
that this is due both to its low barrel and to the orthopedic grips.
I have been able to shoot some hot .357 (usually 125Gn) both quickly
and accurately in DA. In other words, the MR-93 shoots very well and
quickly.
Its chambers are really tight. I am convinced that this improves
accuracy. On another hand, I have pressure problems with the Remingon
.357 125Gn SJHP. The three first cylinders are shot without any
problem. But, during the later ones, I get a few cases where the
primer is partially extracted after the shot. In many cases it blocks
the rotation of the cylinder, which must be helped with the hand. I
had one case of a half extracted primer, where the only solution was
to open the cylinder (which was not easy). The strenght of the frame
is such that there is however no safety problem.
The Remington .357 110 GN SJHP did however not cause any problem.
The firing pin is another source of problems: its course is a little
bit short. There is a risk of failure to fire the round. Some brands
of ammo (especially the cheap ones like MagTech) are especially
vulnerable to this problem. I did however never have any firing
problem with quality ammunition, like Remington, Winchester and so on.
My conclusion is that Manurhin proved that modern manufacturing
techniques are not reserved to cheap revolvers. they can be used to
produce first rate ones. While Ruger is still producing revolvers
which may be judged acceptable FOR THE MONEY, Manurhin proved that
investment casting, CNCs, and so on can be used to produced true
legends in a modern way. Its handling and shooting capablilites
with hot .357 ammo are truely remarkable.
On another hand, the MR-93 has a few minor mistakes which keep it from
being the absolute winner it could be. The two ones which must
absolutely be corrected are the cheap plastic front sights and the too
short firing pin.
4 Accessories
Accessories for french revolvers are much less frequent than ones for
US made ones. The MR-93 is not an exception. In addition, the squared
triggerguard makes it harder to find good holsters.
The french company GK Productions makes a few excellent shoulder
holsters compatible with the MR-93. On another hand, their belt
holsters must be avoided at all cost: the triggerguard is not
covered.
Some holsters for the King Cobra may be ok for the Manurhin too, it
depends on the was the triggerguard is covered. If memory serves me,
there's a DeSantis which works well with it.
SKS makes some speedloaders which work with the MR-93 It's the
model 10.
I did not hear of aftermarket grips for the MR-93.
5 Evaluation for traditional target shooting (ISU)
The MR-93 is accurate enough for ISU centerfire shooting. It is quite
muzzle heavy, which is good for the duel part. When you add an
orthopedic grip contoured with your own hand, you get a near perfect
ergonomy.
On another hand, its standard trigger is not as light as the one of
competition pistols and revolvers. Unhappily, I don't know what is the
situation of the match trigger wich was previously announced.
For formal ISU competition, I recommend the 5.25" configuration. It
is barely shorter than a 6", yet it gives much more flexibility for
the orthopedic grips.
6 Evaluation for IPSC
For IPSC, the MR-93 is comparable to most other revolvers. Its release
system is likely to accelerate reloading, but I don't know if it is
important enough to have measurable effects.
7 Evaluation for personal defense
For personal defense, be sure to select a brand of ammo which is
both regularly available in your area and which works without any
problem.
The Remington 110Gn SJHP satisfies these conditions. It loses some
stopping power over the 125Gn SJHP, but its more limited penetration,
lower flash and noise makes it ideally adapted to urban situations. In
addition, its stopping power is still more than decent.
For home defense, I do no see any restriction to the use of the MR-93.
For concealed carry, you should keep in mind that this revolver is big
(it is service sized) and that the front sights are fragile. So, be
sure to find an adapted holster.
8 Evaluation for more specialized uses
Revolvers do not look any more adapted to special operations. Self
loaders are usually preferred. The french special police units do
however use the MR-73 as their standard sidearm. When I compare the
MR-73 and 93, I do not see any reason why they could not replace the
MR-73, which is no longer manufacured, with the MR-93, except, maybe,
the fragile front sights.
[1] Dominique Venner
Les armes de poing de la nouvelle generation
Jacques Grancher 1988