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
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!
10/10Grips: 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
