Korth Combat Blue Plasma .357 Magnum Revolver

Look closely at the frame and you'll catch the color shifting from cobalt to violet to deep sapphire as the light moves. That's the Blue Plasma finish, and it's the reason this Korth stops people mid-stride. The treatment runs across the entire revolver, from the ribbed barrel to the fluted cylinder to the frame and trigger guard, and it never sits still. Tilt it one way and the topstrap reads royal blue. Tilt it the other and the recoil shield glows with bronze and purple heat colors.

Underneath the spectacle sits one of the finest double-action revolvers ever built. This is a West German Korth from Ratzeburg, the small Waffenfabrik that turned out a few hundred guns a year by hand. The barrel rib carries the .357 Magnum marking, the frame wears the Simpson Ltd import stamp out of Galesburg, Illinois, and the right sideplate carries the full Waffenfabrik Korth Ratzeburg address along with a discreet PF monogram. The grip is a smooth target-shaped walnut piece with a palm swell, the kind that fills the hand and settles the gun for slow deliberate work.

The four inch barrel balances the package well. You get the adjustable target rear sight, the polished bright trigger and hammer that contrast against the iridescent frame, and the roller-detent cylinder lockup Korth is known for. The action breaks the way only a hand-fit Korth does, smooth through the full double-action stroke and crisp in single.

It comes in its fitted Korth case with the original keys, the spare cylinder bushing tube, and the factory medallion. For a collector who wants a Korth that does more than perform, this one carries the engineering and an artist's finish in the same package. You don't see these surface often, and rarely in this condition.