Mr. Mosin
Member
- Joined
- Jun 26, 2019
- Messages
- 2,112
My cousin bought a Taurus 608 (.357 Magnum, 8 shot, 6 inch ported barrel). Second day he had it, he brought it to me to look over and shoot. I looked it over. The cylinder locked up... tolerably, the cylinder latch had a gap that I could put a US dime, probably a quarter; between it and the frame (and no, tightening the screw didn't help). The barrel ports were not cleanly cut; and the rear sight was wobbling like the belly of a fat woman doing the hula. I attributed it to a loose screw, and set to it.
Reluctantly, I loaded it at the seven yard line and fired eight 158 grn .38's through it. Tweaked the sights, and fired another cylinder's worth of .38's through it. It shot to point of aim, so I loaded a cylinder's worth of 158 grn .357's in it, and fired em. The ported barrel helped... absolutely none. At this point, praying to God Almighty that this thing wouldn't blow up in my hands, I loaded a mixed cylinder of .357's and .38's, and dumped the cylinder into the target... or intended to. One hit on target, out of eight.
I thought to myself "Hmm. It's been a while, but I can't be *THAT* rusty." Looked it over, sights were out of wack. Set em back to were I had em; and fired another cylinder through it. Nada. Junk.
At this point, the cylinder was barely locking up, and I could easily slide a quarter in between the cylinder latch and frame.
I my cousin (who holds a very well paying job, and at this time was a bachelor with few bills) that he should have put another $100 with what he paid, and bought a S&W 686 or Ruger GP100,b done with it; and have a gun he could pass on to his kids, not a $650 paperweight. He didn't like that too much. Liked it even less when I told him he should peruse the used counter at our local pawn shops; that one of our mutual friends has a 75 year old S&W .38 (the M&P Victory I've discussed in the past) that locks up tighter, functions better; and is more accurate than his new piece of junk.
It would be different if he was scraping together bit by bit, and could barely afford said gun, but when your making 10k a month, with nothing but a phone bill, truck insurance, and fuel bill, you aught have no issue buying almost anything the average Joe wants. I feel no pity if you were too cheap to go with a reputable manufacturer instead of Taurus (and no, current Taurus doesn't class as a 'reputable manufacturer' in my book).
Reluctantly, I loaded it at the seven yard line and fired eight 158 grn .38's through it. Tweaked the sights, and fired another cylinder's worth of .38's through it. It shot to point of aim, so I loaded a cylinder's worth of 158 grn .357's in it, and fired em. The ported barrel helped... absolutely none. At this point, praying to God Almighty that this thing wouldn't blow up in my hands, I loaded a mixed cylinder of .357's and .38's, and dumped the cylinder into the target... or intended to. One hit on target, out of eight.
I thought to myself "Hmm. It's been a while, but I can't be *THAT* rusty." Looked it over, sights were out of wack. Set em back to were I had em; and fired another cylinder through it. Nada. Junk.
At this point, the cylinder was barely locking up, and I could easily slide a quarter in between the cylinder latch and frame.
I my cousin (who holds a very well paying job, and at this time was a bachelor with few bills) that he should have put another $100 with what he paid, and bought a S&W 686 or Ruger GP100,b done with it; and have a gun he could pass on to his kids, not a $650 paperweight. He didn't like that too much. Liked it even less when I told him he should peruse the used counter at our local pawn shops; that one of our mutual friends has a 75 year old S&W .38 (the M&P Victory I've discussed in the past) that locks up tighter, functions better; and is more accurate than his new piece of junk.
It would be different if he was scraping together bit by bit, and could barely afford said gun, but when your making 10k a month, with nothing but a phone bill, truck insurance, and fuel bill, you aught have no issue buying almost anything the average Joe wants. I feel no pity if you were too cheap to go with a reputable manufacturer instead of Taurus (and no, current Taurus doesn't class as a 'reputable manufacturer' in my book).