"School me" on old Taurus revolvers

I know people hate the "school me" thing but I couldn't resist. What's the deal with these old Taurus brazil marked .38 special revolvers with the wood grips. The sights are almost non existent and they seem to be rather old. 4" barrels and I believe blued. They look so cool, and I LOVE revolvers. The older the better.

Found a pic:

Not a Taurus fan but that is nice. I like it and looks to be a keeper. Nice find!

I would check it out carefully first. I wish I hadn't sold my Taurus M605 - it was a good little gun.

REVOLVER CHECKOUT

WARNING: Most of these tests require violation of the "finger off trigger" rule. Therefore, be extremely careful about safe muzzle direction and personally making sure the gun is unloaded as you begin handling it.

Bring a small, high-powered LED flashlight. Feeler gauges if needed; at a minimum, bring a .002", .004" and .006".

No dry firing is required or desired at any point.

Cylinder play

With the gun UNLOADED (check for yourself!), close the action.

Thumb the hammer back, and while pulling the trigger, gently lower the hammer all the way down. Keep holding the trigger once the hammer is down. (You've now put the gun in "full lockup" - keep it there for this and most other tests.)

Check for cylinder wiggle. Front/back is bad. A little side to side is OK but it's a bad thing if you can wiggle it one way, let go, and then spin it the other way a fraction of an inch and it stays there too. At the very least, it should "want" to stop in just one place (later, we'll see if that place is any good). The ultimate is a "welded to the frame" feeling.

Cylinder gap

Still holding the trigger at full lockup, look sideways through the barrel/cylinder gap. If you're eyeballing it, you'll have to hold it up sideways against an overhead light source.

SAFETY WARNING: This step in particular is where you MUST watch your muzzle direction. Look, part of what's happening here is that you're convincing the seller you know your poop. It helps the haggling process. If you do anything unsafe, that impression comes completely unglued.

Timing

With the gun held in full lockup, shine a light into the area at the rear of the cylinder near the firing pin. Look down the barrel to make sure the cylinder bore lines up with the barrel. Check every cylinder.

Bore

Swing the cylinder open, or with most SAs pull the cylinder. Use the small flashlight to scope the bore out. Check each cylinder bore (chamber) with the light coming in from the front of each hole, you looking in from the back.

Trigger

To test a trigger without dry-firing it, use a plastic pen in front of the hammer to "catch" it with the off hand, especially if it's a "firing pin on the hammer" type. Or see if the seller has any snap-caps, that's the best solution.

SA triggers (or a DA with the hammer cocked) should feel "like a glass rod breaking". A tiny amount of take-up slack is tolerable, and is common on anything with a transfer bar or hammer block safety.

Detecting Bad Gunsmithing

Cock it, grab the hammer and "wiggle it around" a bit. Give it a bit of up/down, left/right and circular action with finger off trigger and watch your muzzle direction. You don't want that hammer slipping off an overly polished sear.

Check for too-light springs. Replacement factory or Wolff springs are cheap both to buy and have installed.

Quick Reminders:

Full lockup
Cylinder play
Cylinder gap
Alignment
Bore and chambers
Let off

when i handled this one it felt great. it was a gun shop rental, and suprisingly locked up VERY well. its just a cheapy that caught my eye, i had never seen one before, and it had character. im more into historical/old guns than modern tactical stuff.

anyone have any history on these? were they police guns or anything? i dont even know the model number! i might buy one.

Is the model number on it? Looks like an old Model 82. Biggest issue with Taurus revolvers is wild variation in quality control. Some are great. Many are junk, best off scrapped, especially if timing is off. A buddy of mine has a great one, similar to the photo above. Many owners aren't so fortunate.

Try logging on to Taurususa.com - Go to the bottom of screen and key onto find my model. If you have the serial # the revoler do a search and if the number is correct you will get info on you revolver and production year if it not to old == good luck

looks like it is a Taurus model 856, if im not mistaken.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taurus_Model_85

Fixed notch or adjustable rear sight? Ridges on the cylinder fluting? I'm reasonably certain it's an 80s series from the 1970s, assuming the grips are original. If that's what it is, it was manufactured by Taurus using the old tooling they got from S&W for the Model 10. Quality control was all over the place because the tooling was worn out and the Taurus employees had no experience with it. It's the same thing as what happened a couple of years ago when all the old Marlin lever-action tooling went to Remington with no transfer of employees.

I think fixed notch. Can remember I just looked at it. Interesting info thanks!

Ok I lied. I bought the one in the pic haha. Everything locked up GREAT, and it just needs a good cleaning. Like I said I love the character of old revolvers. I stopped in to shoot it today while the paperwork does its thing. I shot AWFUL! But once I learned the pistol I got better. It's my first SA/DA revolver and the sights aren't great. But it was a lot of fun to shoot and I look forward to the challenge of getting better with it. It was my first day shooting in a few weeks. (months possibly?) I feel so relaxed.

I'm getting a little verklempt

Talk amongst yourselves...I'll give you a topic

Are Taurus handguns any good?

Discuss.

BondJamesBond said:

I'm getting a little verklempt

Talk amongst yourselves...I'll give you a topic

Are Taurus handguns any good?

Discuss.

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I don't like the autos. But I'm a fan of the Raging Bull .454.

Indiana Jones said:

I don't like the autos. But I'm a fan of the Raging Bull .454.

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I was able to shoot one round out of a Taurus .454 at Free State. That has been making me want one.

mikec said:

I was able to shoot one round out of a Taurus .454 at Free State. That has been making me want one.

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A friend of mine has one he bought from a different friend of mine. Poor thing never gets shot anymore. It's a great pistol. Personally I like the 2" barrel model.

I only have a 17 HMR that is probably circa 2002 that has a heavy as heck trigger. Its course compared to my Rugers, S&Ws and Dans but shoots well enough.

Looking for a Taurus Titanium in .45LC now.

I have an 85CH that is beautiful. You would have to spend an extra $300 on a S&W for a trigger that good.