Korth Mongoose .357 Magnum

Korth revolvers are made in Germany, and they're built by hand. In 2016, Nighthawk Custom became Korth's sanctioned importer for the United States, and the Mongoose was one of the models that came out of that deal. It's a German revolver with a few changes for American shooters. The biggest one is a thumb-operated cylinder release in place of Korth's traditional lever.

This is the base configuration with a 4-inch barrel. It's a six-shot .357 Magnum that also handles .38 Special, and it fires in both single and double action. The frame is fully machined from billet steel. The barrel is hammer forged and sits under a ventilated rib, and the whole revolver wears a black DLC coating.

The trigger is where the Mongoose earns its price. Korth uses a roller trigger system, and the internal mechanism can be adjusted for things like overtravel and mainspring weight. The single-action pull runs around 3.3 pounds and the double-action pull around 8.5 pounds, though each revolver can vary a little.

The sights are made for real shooting. You get a fully adjustable rear sight and a front sight with a gold bead. The cylinder swings wide for quick reloads, and Nighthawk offers an interchangeable 9mm cylinder as an option. That means you can shoot 9mm ammunition through the same revolver when you want to.

With the 4-inch barrel, it weighs 33.6 ounces. That's enough heft to settle magnum recoil without making the gun a chore to hold. Each revolver is hand-built and put together by a single gunsmith from start to finish. If you like a revolver made the slow way, the Mongoose deserves a close look.