Mateba, the future of revolvers?
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I first became aware of the Mateba autorevolver a couple of years ago, this new handgun design appeared quite strange to say the least but it promised to be a new innovative design that might make some major improvements to the revolver design that has been basically unchanged in the 20th century. I have heard and read several opinions that the Mateba might just be the most ugly gun ever made, and those people might just be right, but if the gun works as advertised does it really matter what it looks like, the form should always follow function in the design of any mechanical device. Personally I don't think that the Mateba is actually ugly, to me the gun is not ugly, just different, to me it looks like a revolver version of Magnum Research's Desert Eagle pistol.

The Mateba is a very high quality all steel 6 shot "autorevolver" made in Italy. It is available in several magnum calibers including .357, .44 and .454 Casull and several barrel lengths from 3 to 8 inches as well as also being available in a carbine version. The Mateba has several design features that set it apart from other revolvers in appearance and function. As you can tell by the accompanying photos this revolver is not like your "normal" revolver.

When you take your first good look at the Mateba the first major difference you notice is the barrel, in conventional revolver designs the barrel is at the twelve o'clock position of the cylinder while in this design the barrel sits at the six o'clock position, well under the sight line of the back sight, to compensate there is a raised "over" rib to bring the front sight up to the sight picture of the back. The designers went to all of this trouble not to make the gun ugly but to lower the barrel's bore axis to be as close to the hand as possible. By lowering the bore axis the designers have created a handgun that has much less felt recoil and muzzle flip as compared to regular revolver designs.

You might be wondering what exactly a "autorevolver" is? Basically the Mateba operates like a regular revolver, it holds six rounds, you fire them and to reload you open the cylinder, dump the empties and reload, but the way that the Mateba does all of this is very unconventional. First the grip and trigger assembly are a separate part from the barrel assembly and have slide rails just like an automatic pistol. The upper part of the handgun, the largest portion of metal (including the cylinder and barrel assemblies) will slide on the rails when the gun is fired. Every time that the gun is fired the "upper" moves back (about 7/8 inch travel) which causes the cylinder to be turned for the next shot and the hammer to be cocked. The trigger design itself functions like a standard double action auto pistol, the first shot is a long double action pull and all of the subsequent shots are fired single action. The effect of all of this is magnum handgun that can be fired faster than other magnums and with greater comfort.

The Mateba has several other design features that differentiate from most of the revolvers that we are all used to. First the Mateba has an interchangeable barrel system, not a bad feature to have in a handgun, the system is not unlike the system used on Dan Wesson revolvers for many years. The barrel is held on to the gun by a special nut at the barrel's end and by using a supplied wrench you can remove the barrel and the steel barrel shroud and change barrel lengths of your Mateba in minutes. All you need is the new length barrel and accompanying shroud and you could have 1 gun with many different uses. The sight is a fully adjustable target type sight but it is mounted on the front end of the gun's barrel on the barrel shroud, this has one advantage and one disadvantage. The advantage is that if you change barrels since the sight goes with the barrel you don't have to readjust every time you change barrel lengths. The disadvantage is that since the sight is on the front its adjustments are exactly the opposite of what we are used to for a sight mounted on the rear of a gun

There are other differences between the Mateba and conventional revolver designs, differences that don't really affect the performance of the gun but do add to the gun's uniqueness. First if you look at the photos of the gun you will notice that the Mateba has no top strap, it is not really necessary in the design but it does really look strange to see that big open gap. The cylinder itself is not the standard fluted design but has a hexagonal cross section, you will also note that the cylinder notches are not on the side but lock up on the back face where the gun is loaded, the cylinder locks up at a point next to the cartridge about to be fired. This lock up system is supposed to be stronger than the norm. The cylinder release is one feature I don't like; it is on the right side, completely backwards to any revolver that I have ever owned. It would require extra training to "relearn" how to use the cylinder release, training that shouldn't really be necessary if the designers had gone for the more conventional location. I understand that an ambidextrous lever might me coming later.

The oversized walnut grips are designed more for shooting comfort than anything else and have been described as a "plow" or "saw" handle. You will note the large tang on the grip, which is designed to help reduce the effects of muzzle flip and recoil. The grips in conjunction with the gun's operating system make shooting the Mateba very pleasant even with the hottest loads.

Looking at the Mateba your probably thinking how large it is, but it is probably not as huge as you think. The .357 Mateba is about the same size as a Smith & Wesson "N" frame (model 27 or 28) and is only a few ounces heavier. So if you can handle any large frame Colt, S&W, or Ruger you can handle the Mateba.

The reviews of the Mateba are very good, the gun does what it was designed to do. In the Mateba you have a magnum revolver that is able to be shot faster and with more comfort that any other magnum handgun even with the heaviest loads.

The one big downside is the price; the best price I could find right now on a new .357 Mateba was 799.99. That is nearly double what the Mateba's competition is going for. You have to remember that this handgun is made to a very high quality standard in Italy, but even with its high polish blue finish, oversized walnut grips, and fitted case that price seems high and is the only reason I haven't bought one yet. But I have been looking and when I see a nice used one at a good price I might just see for myself what all of the good reviews are about.

12-22-02
Mateba Autorevolver - Part II
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