A member of the forum told me that some Spohr revolvers made it to US dealers. I had another opportunity this week to check out some latest production Spohr revolvers, and I feel like I have a pretty good picture of what you can expect now. Here's my take:

Finish: All Spohr revolvers I've seen so far were stainless, so I can't comment on the blued ones. The stainless finish is very good and somewhat similar to the finish on stainless Performance Center revolvers. If you like that, you'll like Spohr's stainless finish. If you prefer a polished finish as found on the new Pythons and Anacondas, you won't like it all that much. I like it, so for me it's: 10/10

Fit: Very good, very solid, nothing is canted, no ungainly gaps or hidden flaws. 10/10

Trigger group: Very good, perfect timing, and feels great. Perfect lockup on all chambers. I'd say close to current production Korth revolvers, but both feel and sound are a bit less "Swiss-timepiece-like" and more "rugged" than on the Korths. But it's really good, much better than any out-of-the-box Smith. If you like revolvers and you check out the action of a Spohr revolver, your impulse will be to take it home with you. I warned you! 10/10

Grips: Apparently they are made by Spohr, and they are quite nice, various color combinations available. Wood quality and checkering is perhaps not on par with Nill, but when it comes to ergonomics, they felt very good in my (large) hands. 9/10

Sights: Good, but nothing special. Rear sight is the good and well-known LPA sight that also fits all S&W revolvers (except J-frames), which is great, but from an aesthetic point of view, it is kind of disappointing. Korth uses LPA sights too, but they mill the frame to accept just the rear part of the LPA sight, which is so much more elegant than the "screw-on-top" setup of the Spohr. This setup is okay on a Smith, it's an after market part you install on an existing revolver, but Spohr could have come up with something better. This somewhat "cheapens" this otherwise high-end high price gun. 8/10

Cylinder: Very nice, I really like the smooth part on the rear. But here I found the one thing I don't like: The ejector rod is too skinny, and it's not just an aesthetic thing, it also doesn't move all too well. It binds quite easily if you don't push perfectly straight, which *will* happen if you reload in a hurry. Don't know how easily it would bend, I guess that would depend on the steel, which is probably top notch. Maybe these brand-new revolvers just need to be broken in and lubed well, but I still think it should be designed and built in a better way. 7/10

Frame: Very solid and heavy, and in my opinion quite elegant. Modern look without looking all weird. The rails on the Tactical edition are by far the most elegant rails on any revolver, very well done. The Competition has some milled out grooves on the underlug, don't really know why. They are not very deep and apparently reduce the weight by just an ounce. I guess it's just about looks. But all the Spohr revolvers are very nice and elegant, so: 10/10

Precision: Here I can only report what two very extensive (!) tests of a German gun magazine found when they compared S&W, Korth and Spohr, one set each of standard revolvers (S&W 686 Target Champion, Korth NSC, Spohr L562 - all 6") and one set of competition revolvers (S&W 686 Competitor, Korth Super Sport ALX, Spohr 286 Competition - all 6"). Summary is that in the standard revolvers test, the revolvers are very close, with Korth shooting the best individual group. In the competition revolvers test, the Spohr falls behind a bit, with Korth once again scoring the best individual group. Obviously they only tested 6 revolvers in total, but I guess it's safe to assume that a Spohr revolver will probably not offer more precision than a 686 or a Korth, maybe on average even a bit less. 8/10

Overall: I like them a lot, they are like perfectly tuned S&W revolvers, which I guess they kind of are, as these guys tuned S&W revolvers for a long time before they started making their own. Would you want to buy one? It depends. They don't have the history of S&W or the legend of Manurhin, so from that point of view, they are not very desirable. But if you're looking for a heavy medium frame 6-shot .357 Magnum revolver that will come out of the box pretty much *perfect*, you'll definitely want to look at Spohr. There's currently no other revolver at this level (and available) other than Korth, and even if you put a lot of work and money into a modern production Smith, the trigger group will never be that good. The Spohr's internals are precision machined solid steel, and you know it the first time you cock the hammer. You have to pay a steep price for these, but you'll remember what you paid for every time you pick up this revolver, trust me on this. For me personally it's kind of a weird thing. I see and admire the quality, but I just don't get that special feeling you need to buy such an expensive nonessential item. Overall rating: Half a star gone for the mediocre performance in the precision tests (not better than S&W at double the cost), half a star gone for the ejector, half a star gone for the somewhat lazy rear sight setup. 8.5/10

Thank you for the write up.

I have never seen or heard of one before but your review was very well written.

Tim

__________________
SWCA #3463
SWHF #970

The name is a little unfortunate. Phonetically you would probably hear the same from your Professional Hunter while tracking in Africa.

__________________
Release the Kraken

Well, it's the name of the guy behind the revolvers, naming your company after yourself is always okay in my opinion. Also, in German, the word doesn't mean anything, it's just a name. The sound of the German word for "track" is related but sounds different, nobody will confuse it with the name Spohr.

Saying they'll be EXPENSIVE would be a gross understatement!👀👀😊😊

Looks interesting. Way too much money for such a wimp cartridge.

You're kidding, right?

But I forgot to mention: These revolvers are large and heavy, so you'd expect them to be 7-shot. Maybe there are some regulations (competition related) that require them to be 6-shot, not an expert on that, but there should be a 7-shot option in my opinion.

Thanks for a great writeup. You seem to be a very competent and knowledgeable gun guy, Mark8.

Very good video about them. I do appreciate the high quality and workmanship of the Euro brands. It does my heart good to know that such beautiful and well made guns are out there.

We can't ship to Europe, thanks to ITAR, but we make a drop in hammer kit for S&W K,L, and N frame with firing pin in frame guns that gives a better trigger pull than any of the high dollar Euro revolvers. I tested 4 Korths and 4 Manhurins on the trigger pull gage in the RevUpAction.com videos, and they were not close to the same as ours. No need to spend thousands to get a really good trigger on a revolver.

__________________
protocalldesign.com

I look forward to reviews on this company's revolvers as more of them become available. TFB on YouTube just previewed their 3" version that's soon to be here in the USA. Possibly the Best 3" Revolver Ever Made Coming to the US: The Spohr Club Edition - YouTube

When did .357 magnum become a "wimp cartridge"?

Interesting thought but unfortunately it's based on flawed logic. Following that logic a .454 Casull Taurus Raging Hunter should be worth much more than a whimpy Performance Center 627, 686, or 327.

__________________
FFL08

German name. It doesn't sound like spoor.

Phonetically, take the word pore, and put an sh before it. Shpore. That will get you an Americanized pronunciation.

That isn't quite correct. Auf Deutsch the O sound will be longer than an American O sound. The is R is almost silent.

Benefits of being first generation German American.

If we spoke in person, you'd be able to hear the difference. Trying to describe it in written form is best left to more erudite folks than me.

I'd love to have one of these someday. For now, I'll stick with my 686-4 4".

__________________
All lost in a boating accident

German name. It doesn't sound like spoor.

Phonetically, take the word pore, and put a sh before it. Shpore. That will get you an Americanized pronunciation.

That isn't quite correct. Auf Deutsch the O sound will be longer than an American O sound. The is R is almost silent.

Benefits of being first generation German American.

If we spoke in person, you'd be able to hear the difference. Trying to describe it in written form is best left to more erudite folks than me.

I'd love to have one of these someday. For now, I'll stick with my 686-4 4".

__________________
All lost in a boating accident

The thing I find most interesting about them is that the importer is located in Maryland and the guns cannot be sold here because they're not on the MD approved handgun roster. Not banned or anything like that, just not submitted for approval.

You're in luck. They plan to bring out a .44 Mag. soon.

__________________
The best I can with what I got

Nice looking guns. 3000+ euro? No thanks...

__________________
Psalm 27:2

First time I've seen one was a used one for sale at new local gunshop. I think they were asking $660 for it. The price stuck out. It was pretty scratched up, like carried in a pouch, unholstered, with other loose metal items.

You could buy 2 new Pythons for the price of one Spohr.

A guy I know put both brands in a Ransom Rest. The Python out shot the Spohr. Maybe that why the Germans conveniently omitted the Colt.

I was wondering how long it would take before Spohr was mentioned here. First time I'd heard of them was in a "Visier" magazine review, then I saw that MMB was importing them. It's been a couple years and quite a few are floating around.
My initial impression was that of disappointment. To me, precision/accuracy is just about always at the top of the list. If that's not there to a degree appropriate for the price, I walk away. Then, all the things you need to extract that accuracy from the shooter's standpoint come next. That means trigger and sights. For the price, the sights on the Spohr are a joke.
Given that the finish quality on the Spohr is basic and utilitarian to my eyes, I think for the price (which is in the middle between American factory and Korth) the minimum machine rest standard with a variety of factory ammo should be 20-25mm for six shots at 25 meters.
Better yet, test at 50 meters with an objective of 40-50mm group sizes. The cartridge is quite capable of this. (Not even going to dignify the "wimpy" comment. But, it was good for an eye roll!)

Maybe a better comparative review would've been between the Spohr and the current Manurhin MR73 production? List prices are comparable between the two.
Even though Beretta bought out Manurhin from Chapuis, and some concern has been expressed about how that might impact quality, I think the Manurhin would bury the Spohr, especially with the Manurhin match versions (MR38 and MR32, in 38 Spl and 32 S&W Long wadcutter, respectively).

Thank you Mark8 for an insightful review.

I've had the Spohr 562 Standard 4.0 for several months now. Compared to the rest of my revolver collection, I would be distraught if I didn't have the Spohr. The build precision, material 'beefiness' and action are unreasonably superb. Worth every penny. My $0.02.