ISSF Center Fire. Choosing revolver.

[David M]

Its a bit hard to enter this poll, I have shot over 570 with all the above as well as a .38 WC auto and a 9mm auto.
The top scores over 580 have been with a number of .32 auto's (old GSP, Hammerli 280, Unique and current Tesro) and a Manurhin .38 Revolver.
My favorite is still the Manurhin Match .38 special.

PS The case catcher on the Manurhin works well all the time, the GSP about 90% and the Unique about 70% of the time. As for the Tesro, the cases are all over the range, everywhere.

[John Kasaian]

This was years ago. I shot a 6" Python with Herrett's custom grips. It was a very accurate and beautiful revolver with 148g HBWC, first Winchesters, then reloads supplied by Woody, the rangemaster where I was shooting, then my own brew with Speer HBWC (darned if I can remember the recipe) Woody cast his own bullets and his bullets were more uniform than Speer, IIRC, but sadly he passed away. I lost interest in Int'l CF after I discovered that I could shoot better scores with a .44 S&W Spl, which of course isn't an approved caliber for Int'l CF.

If I were going to get back in the game, I'd opt for a S&W K-17 with decent grips and a polish job from one of the better revolver 'smiths. S&B has good prices on 148gr HBWC in the US. I haven't shot them, but I'd be willing to test them out (especially since small pistol primers for reloading are scarcer then hen's teeth in my neck of the woods right now) It took me a lot of .38's to achieved anything. The coolest training tip I had was to leave a random chamber empty and when you pull the trigger on the empty it give a good indication if you've developed a flinch, which would be easy to do if you're coming from an AP or .22
Another nice thing about the K-14 is that you can also get an identical K-17 that's chambered for .22LR If reloading components remain scarce. switching to a .22 "duplicate" for training would certainly help keep the ammo bill more realistic.

Have fun!

[Shootist]

I shoot a Manurhin MR73 .32 Match with a Nill grip for CF, and prefer it over the pistol for several reasons, mainly better recoil controll, balance and the overall controll. I do have a Pardini HP and a GSP but none are close to the revolver.

I know you can do 596 with a MR73 - I've seen it done -:) (not me-:))

[RJP]

I shoot a S&W model 15 with a 4 inch barrel with Nill grips and a few other slight modifications. With a short barrel and orthopaedic grips, the gun fits the maximum size box easier than with a 6 inch barrel.

I also shoot lighter weights bullets, 124 grain semi wadcutter for reduced recoil.

[Alexander]

Two top-notch .32 S&W long target revolvers should be mentioned still: Erma and Korth.
Erma ER 773 was very good, while Korth was at least one, maybe two leagues above Manurhin.

[220]

@S&W owner: Have someone S&W's factory-test grouping of shots? May could You show it?

Nothing wrong with S&W with regards to accuracy.
Ran out of my usual powder and seeing as I had 1.5kg of trailboss sitting on the shelf for reduced rifle loads thought I would give it a go in the .38.
First load tried was 2.5gr behind 148gr HBWC CCI SP primer, put ten shots into the 10ring pic is the second load 2.7gr ave velocity was 647fps.
Stock standard S&W 686 that was in need of a good clean (heavy leading in the forcing cone) I would say groups could be shrunk at least 10mm with a machine rest and probably further improved with a good clean.

Edit: Ammo was loaded on a Lee Pro 1000 using the standard fixed cavity powder thrower.

[JamesH]

Finally, I've broken 570, twice, with a Toz 49.

[Guest]

I don't see how any revolver, even at twice the price (Korth) can possibly beat the Manurhin - in what category can there be any improvements?

[Jimbo]

The S&W Model 16 will shoot 10s all day long. Just hard to find nowadays.

[Jimbo]

Not in magnum cartridge obviously, in 32 S&W Long, 98 gn HBWC with about 1.5 gns of WST will do the job just fine.

[JamesH]

I don't see how any revolver, even at twice the price (Korth) can possibly beat the Manurhin - in what category can there be any improvements?

The Toz 49 or 36, with the gas seal system its almost equivalent to a single shot pistol.

As for S+W Model 16s, they were variable in barrel and forcing cone quality and 0.32 magnum is not a good starting point for using 0.32SWL, nor is a 1:18 3/4 twist terrific. Mine would not really group with any factory ammo.

[David M]

S&W has re-made the K14 in .38 special, for ISSF shooters they need to re-make the K14 .32 s&w long Masterpiece.