Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Anybody have experience with the Taurus .357 revovlvers?

My only experience with the Taurus revolvers was with a small, snub nose, .38 purchased by a friend of mine back in the late 1980s. He still has it. I recall liking it a lot. It had a very smooth double action trigger pull.

When I was in the business working almost exclusively on revolvers for competition I recall a few customers bringing early Taurus 66’s, 83 and 85’s in for trigger jobs, timing general DA slicking up. The biggest problem I ran into was these early guns were a metallurgical nightmare. Instead of hardened cylinder hands they were hit and miss and all I ran into could be easily filed and bent. The hand noses that engage the ratchets were often found to be worn and misshaped, the ratchets usually held up okay but un-hardened hands can create all kinds of timing and carry up issues. Actually some hands were so badly screwed up they actually picked up the ratchets a bit early creating accidental early carry up but how long that would last who knows. I could find parts but there were no oversized hands so trying to improve timing and carry up requires some light bending.

In addition you need to be very careful with the trigger and hammer frame pins as they are also soft and with lots of rounds I would suspect they would wear maybe bend creating unrepairable slop in the lockwork. Be very careful around these pins so make sure you pull the hammer and trigger straight out and try not to pry or rock them and bend a pin. Side plates are again soft so alway tap them loose carefully and never pry. This was back in the early to mid 80’s but I’ve been told by other smiths I know that Taurus has corrected these metal problems.

Rick

Exactly!

Well, Caribou,

I haven't heard of barrels falling off of Smiths, but I have seen 2 barrels come off Taurus.
that being said ,I would not have a new Smith, Colt or Ruger.

As for Taurus , I had a couple, sold 'em before the barrels fell off.

I think they make some of the best looking revolvers on the market today.
I've been burned a few times for some of their quality control so I soar off of them
I've been thinking lately again especially on their Hunter models. and they're supposed to be really good but I'm kind of gun shy myself. especially at the price tag.

I did recently buy a Taurus tx22 now it does do awesome it shoots all ammo I've tried in it very reliably. then I learned about they had some barrel issues on chattering in the rifling. broke out the borescope and yep sure enough there it is. mine wasn't as bad as examples I've seen that caused bullets the tumble when it starts fouling but bad enough thought about sending it back to Taurus or contacting them and I see there's some other companies making barrels for them I'm just going to order a different barrel and put in it..
they got so close with that model to really having something..

I have one. An ultralight titanium 38. Its light for carry but I don't shoot it much. I'm not going to toss it out but I'd trade it for an old Smith and Wesson if I had a chance.

I’ve had a couple model 85’s in .38, a 66 in .357, a 441 in .44sp, and a 94 in .22lr. They all worked fine. The .22 chambers would get sticky after a couple hundred rounds. I wish I’d have kept the .44

I've had one and it was quite good with no issues. Lost it in the buy back/recall but got paid more than I bought it for, so no loss. Would definitely buy another. Its a great drop in the jacket pocket, as a back up for a bad day.

My brother had a Taurus 85 stainless steel snub nose 38 special that worked very well. I think he wound up selling it to finance another gun. I had a Taurus 605 that I sold to my other brother, that gun has always worked well, no issues. My father had a Taurus 66 stainless steel 4” that we never had issues with, it now belongs to my son.

My dad had a 669VR Stainless 6"

It was from the late 80's or early 90's and was a pretty expensive gun, even then. It was one of the more impressive revolvers I ever ran.

I had a 94 .22 LR. After the 6th trip back to Florida, I sold it to someone who wanted it.
Just before the last trip, the service rep (same one all the way through this ordeal) intimated it may just be operator error.
I told him I wasn't offended, and had wondered why that question hadn't come up earlier.
Sent it back with 2 witnessed targets - both fired at 20 yards.
Taurus .22 - a 6" +/- group, and a group from my .44 mag Anaconda (with full house loads) - a 1 1/2' group, both fired sitting, over my knees.
When it came back, after a cylinder AND barrel change - it was still a 3" shooter.
Soured me on Taurus - every since ~ 1994.
I know Ken Howell liked his Taurus revolvers very much, and had great experiences with the brand, however.
He told me so himself.
I just can't bring myself to give 'em another try, however.
As they say - YMMV - and I hope it does.