Recommendations and thoughts on Taurus Revolvers Revolvers

[leroy]

Yet again I'm having another " Old Age Mania ".. I'm wanting to carry a " K " frame size 3 or 4 inch 38/357 revolver, but I don't want to take one of my beloved Smiths out of the safe. 

That said; I'm interested in the brotherhood and sisterhood's opinions on medium and small frame Taurus Revolvers, along with any recommendations.  

Thanks as always...

leroy ...

[JustEd]

Taurus are fine in my experience. Not fancy, maybe a bit rough finish wise. They don’t seem to have as much of the timing and parts breaking issues once infamous for. 
 

I have a semi-auto G3c which I think highly of for a cheap gun

Thos week looked at a model 605 at Bud’s in Sevierville. Price was good but decided it was a bit lacking in fit and finish. FOR ME I am willing to spend the extra bucks for a Smith or a Kimber revolver.  The Kimber K6XS is under 600 and is very well made. I carry one in rotation  it’s also 6 shot

 

 

Edited Monday at 01:46 PM by JustEd

[Patton]

My experience is kind of limited. I have a judge that has had many weak primer strikes with shotgun shells but has been 100% with 45 Colt.  I have a Taurus 7 shot 38 snubby that is okay.  It has a stiff trigger, and it doesn’t hold the tightest groups. 

[Sleep profit]

Stay with the Smiths  if you’re going for reliability  

[Patton]

I will add, the money I would spend on ammo to test the reliability of a Taurus could go toward the purchase of a nice Smith. 

[mikegideon]

Last time I bought a new revolver, I tried to buy a Taurus. They look good, and the price is right. But, I walked out with a Smith and Wesson. The Taurus was sloppy compared to the S&W. I'm betting you will come to the same conclusion if you go fondle them in person.

[Will Carry]

Sounds like you are looking for a truck gun.  Go ahead and buy the Taurus.  I have a couple of Charter Arms truck guns that I would trust my life to.  The only Taurus revolver I have owned was 20 years ago and it was a POS. I understand they have made improvements in their Quality Control since then. I also know some Taurus fan boys who love them. 

[LangdoniousRex]

About 15 years ago I bought a used Raging Bull in 454 Casull with an optic rail and a red dot. Put over 1k rounds of 454 and 45LC through it without an issue. Since it's a large frame, they probably over build them. The finish quality has definitely gotten cheaper over the years. While they've stepped up their game with their semi autos, their revolvers nowadays seem like afterthoughts. 

[jeff43]

I’ve had good luck out of them, had several through the years.

[Wheelgunner]

Will Carry nailed it.  What you want is a knockaround gun that you won't worry about and can just enjoy.  One of the old (pre-lock) Taurus revolvers would do that job fine.  

[Choatecav]

2 hours ago, jeff43 said:

I’ve had good luck out of them, had several through the years.

Me too.  I've owned a half dozen Taurus's in my days and never had a bad one.  (Or is the plural of Taurus, "Tauri"?)

[LangdoniousRex]

21 minutes ago, Choatecav said:

Me too.  I've owned a half dozen Taurus's in my days and never had a bad one.  (Or is the plural of Taurus, "Tauri"?)

Taurususes

[jeff43]

I had a model 66 4” 357 that I wish I’d kept. It had a really good trigger and shot really tight groups.

Edited Tuesday at 01:27 AM by jeff43

[papa61]

I've had a few. I'll pick up a 605 at some point as a mate to my 608. Only issue I've encountered was a heavy trigger on a concealed hammer 357. Can't remember the model number of that. Never had an issue with breakage, timing, or accuracy from any of them. To make it clear, I haven't bought a new Taurus in 30 years so I missed the problem years.

My 608 was a used import, it's so smooth I have to believe it had some work done by a previous owner. It's heavy of course but the porting and weight make it pleasant even with full power 158gr slugs. 

At the moment I have 3 PTs in 45 acp and am looking for more. Plan is to own one of every Taurus 45. 

[Moped]

I have a Model 627 Tracker 7 shot .357 that’s a wonderful gun to shoot! Very accurate, decent trigger and the barrel ports do a great job taming recoil. I recommend it! It’s been my hiking pistol for the last 4 years.
 

The men and women over at Pistol-Forum.com, mostly think highly of the 856 in either 2” or 3” barrels. Most claim to see as many issues now a days with the S&Ws as the Taurus. I think @Jamie Jackson would back me up on that.

I’d be glad to let you try it out.

Edited Tuesday at 03:30 AM by Moped

[scatman]

I've owned a 605, 605 polymer, a tracker, all .357, and I've loved them all. Granted, I don't recommend shooting hot loaded .357 magnum out of the 605 polymer unless you have some strong wrists and hands, but the 605 poly was a great backup edc, kept one in an ankle rig for a couple of years with Hornady Critical defense .357 mag. The metal 605 is a nice backpacking carry, and I've used my tracker for a trail gun when I use to ride horses. Note: D/A pull on the 605 isn't the smoothest until you run about a 700 pulls, so some snap caps and dry fire drills are a want, just to help break in the trigger without having to go through ammo, or causing harm to the firing pin. S/A they're decent. 

[jeff43]

I had a 605 also, I wished I kept.it grouped good , and was dead on.

[Jamie Jackson]

9 hours ago, Moped said:

The men and women over at Pistol-Forum.com, mostly think highly of the 856 in either 2” or 3” barrels. Most claim to see as many issues now a days with the S&Ws as the Taurus. I think @Jamie Jackson would back me up on that.

Absolutely @Moped. 100%

I read Pistol-Forum daily (around 10 years) as I do TGO (for around 15 years). Lots of knowledge on both forums, just a difference in focus usually. I learn from both.

50-50 issues seems to be about right from what I read there (P-F), and a lot of the folks are active or retired trainers within their departments, active professional trainers, or industry folks, and some very knowledgeable "hobbyists" .

If I weren't buying a 30+/- year old S&W Revolver (usually "shooter-grade") that's within my limited gunsmithing skills (parts replacement and a little honing) I would seriously look at current production Taurus. But it's certainly not unusual for each to occasionally make trips back to the "Mothership" for tweaking...

I think the risk as it relates to a Taurus 856 having issues is relatively low currently. But the risk just seems to remain with both S&W and Taurus...probably most gun manufactures these days, sadly.

But Taurus customer service seems to have improved dramatically over the past couple of years.

That said, I've had a great experience with Smith's customer service just last year.

 

Life has risks  

 

[Choatecav]

15 hours ago, LangdoniousRex said:

Taurususes

I'm gonna use that in a sentence today...........somehow.  

[pop pop]

I have 3 Taurus 617 style 7 shot SS 2" brl 357/38 revolvers. One is blued. They are K frame size. No issues with any of them and have had them 10 years. Carry one of them every day and have for the past few years. All shoot to aim and have smooth triggers on them. One is an ultralight and only fires 38 special and is + P rated. I highly recommend later models of Taurus revolvers.  The one I carry has several rounds (1,000+) through it. Is still very tight and functions well, although most of the rounds through it was 38 spl practice ammo. Have fired 4 boxes of 357 full power through it though. 

[Moped]

Leroy, let us know what you end up doing. While I like Taurus Revolvers, I also like old S&Ws.

My two latest revolvers are a Model 10-5 (1983) pencil barrel which is a joy to shoot! The trigger is smooth as butter. I do wish it were a 2 or 3” though. I also recently got a pre Model 30 (early 1950s) .32 S&W Long 6 shot I frame with the flat latch. It’s very accurate, but the tigger is no where near as smooth as the Model 10.

[Wheelgunner]

I appreciate all the comments above, especially from folks like pop pop who have firsthand experience owning multiple Taurususes. 

The 605 I had years ago was reliable, easy to carry, and grouped well.  Its trigger had a slightly gritty feel to it, but to me that's OK in a workhorse/knockaround gun.  

[10-Ring]

I was a Taurus hater for a long time. Taurus has really upped their game in the past couple of years. I own a 15 year old Judge that is a piece of junk. Great for shooting rats at <12 feet. Puts down shotgun sized groups with 45LC at 20 yards. Clunky, bad finish, poor craftsmanship, etc. I picked up a 4" Taurus Tracker in 44mag a few months ago. I really like it. The timing is as it should be, the trigger is crisp, and the fit and finish are very good. And it's plenty accurate. They're right at half the price of a comparable Smith. I am 100% happy with it. Plus, I bought it to pig hunt with. It's going to get used and beat around. With the price that Smith's have gotten to, it kinda hurts when you add a character mark.

Edited Friday at 02:55 AM by 10-Ring