Found an old school Taurus 85 today

Another "five screw" standout is Model 65. I like those grips they look better then what is usually found on Smith & Wesson.

Nice find. Mine's an ultralite stainless model. I got it in 96 and carry it often. I pocket carry the gun and it rides back up to my 3" Taurus 66 when I go to the big city. One thing that still impresses me with mine is the unreal good trigger, best DA out of the box I've ever felt on a revolver. I've felt better tuned triggers, but not out of the box. It's amazing.

Good looking gun. Enjoy it.

I've got a few older Tauri myself.

That puppy should serve you well.

Out of all my guns, the 85 was the most unkind to me. I bought it new, and after running about 20 rounds through it each time the action would bind up something wicked. Cleaning didn't help.

Sent back to Taurus 3 times, they said it was a forcing cone issue. After the third trip I just couldn't trust it, and sold it letting the new owner know about all the issues.

I love Taurus, and have great examples when they work. I just wish that darn 85 was one of them.

My Sister got my 85, the Wife got my 605, I'm not giving up my 617. I mean how can you beat 7 rounds of 357 mag? It's the DAO model and the action is smooth as can be. The weight of the gun makes shooting 357 ammo a breez. At the 7 Yard line my groups are nice and tight with some holes overlapping. It's easy to carry AIWB. My LCR357 backs it up and I'm good to go.

I never met a Taurus I didn't like. The 85 is no exception. I'd love to have a good, old 85 like yours. My 85s have all been the concealed hammer variant. Good little .38 snubs.
I wish I had my 3" blue 65 and 3" blue 431 back.

old school Taurus

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Gosh!

I must be getting very old school!

I can remember when they were not imported or sold in the USA!!

That was in the 1960's.

The first ones I can recall came in about 1968 or so.

rc

Very good looking gun. Congrats

Man, I had a stainless concealed hammer 85 back in the early 90s too. What a great revolver, I wish I still had it. Congratulations on your find!

Handsome gun. One year newer than my first handgun, which was a Taurus M66, purchased new in July of 1987 as a 21st birthday present to myself. I still own it and it's been a solid and reliable performer.

Nice buy.

I bought a model 85 SS in '88 . It was my CC for 20 years before moving to a more modern pistol.
Still a very good revolver that's help train a a few folks that never fired a handgun and was used by all for there CC class's. When brand new I polished all the wear surfaces and softend the edges of the trigger group parts . After it was retired my girls wanted to shoot something bigger than a .22 so I installed a wolff hammer spring in it to help with trigger pull and loaded some soft 38 loads for it. . Do not do that as you will never want to take that spring out again. It will make all brands of DA triggers feel heavy and rough.
My 85-

GrandmasterB, Nice looking revolver you picked up. Will a smaller similar to the Smith and Wesson magna style grips fit your new M-85?

My circa-1991 Model 85-CH stainless is an awesome little piece. Great trigger, real accurate, dead-nuts reliable. It and my S&W (lock-less) 442 are the only j-frame sized wheelguns I ever carry.

I've got one of the stainless jobs that I've used as an off-duty gun for about 30 years.
It's been very reliable and reasonably accurate....Mine has the Pachmayr-style rubber grips and a dehorned hammer.

oldbear, I'm pretty sure that S&W grips don't fit Taurus revolvers as a rule. I hope I'm wrong, though.

GrandmasterB, that is a very nice-looking revolver. I am really, really envious!

in the late 80s and early 90s Taurus was trying to get recognized so they built guns to look like the S&W fit and finish. in the 2000s they tried to innovate and had some success but also so flops. the era of them adding the built in lock seemed to separate the good Taurus as a standard from the good Taurus as the occasional.

I'm a big fan of those older Taurus revolvers, and have owned several. Nice looking 85 BTW. I've got a 96, 22 now that the Taurus S/N records don't list, and just found an old nine shot, 94 with the wood grips like those that I put on layaway for a bit.

I've owned 80's, 82's, 83's, 85's as well as the 96, and another 94. They were all good shooters

In the 90s I worked in a shop that sold and serviced a LOT of Taurus revolvers. I loved the M 85. It ain't a S&W but for the money it's not bad. They have a few problems which are fairly easy to fix. We had very few problems with the guns from that period. I hear the new ones are pretty funky on parts fitting. They respond well to a little trigger work. We tuned one up for the boss's wife and you'll never get that gun away from her.

I almost bought one of those in the early 90s. It would have been my first gun. I got a Ruger .22 MKII Standard auto instead because I figured I could afford to shoot it more, but I've often thought that I would have been well served by that Taurus.