Hi All,
Just a few questions on revolvers. I have just received a New revolver purchased from the GunSource.com. A Taurus 66 .357 Magnum. My first impressions upon briefly inspecting this gun were favorable, at least as far as the finish went. There were some very minor flaws, assorted scratches and some tool marks left unpolished and Blued over. But, I am not a nit-picker so all seemed acceptable. Since I am not licensed these first impressions were done at my FFL dealer. The more deliberate inspection could be done, I thought, once I returned home. If there were any major problems the cost would have been the same I reasoned, I would have to pay his Fee plus shipping back. Anyway, upon delving into this gun all I can say is I am very disappointed with Taurus’s craftsmanship. I used to hunt as a kid, but over the years I’ve gotten away from guns altogether and I’ve never owned a handgun. Now, times being what they are I find myself in need of a handgun for Home defense. So I need some opinions if someone would be so kind. Just to make sure I’m looking at things properly. After reading the Jim March Checklist (and many thanks to him) I proceeded to go over this gun. The Bore looked fine with no irregularities and the SA trigger pull seemed excellent, precise with no slack, in fact something to be very careful with. The DA was another story though, the trigger pull seemed hard and with a slow deliberate pull, inconsistent. Cycling most chambers seemed fine while hard they were smooth with no discernable roughness. Two of these chambers (or places) would however, tighten-up, almost to the point of binding this would pull the gun way off target and so seemed to me dangerous. I cycled though all seven chambers several times with basically the same results. A little more or a little less. Its hard to get a handle on that. I found if I pulled the trigger in a more rapid way while there was a noticeable hitch before release the tightening-up wasn’t near as severe. Does this sound logical to anyone?
Now for the cylinder, I put the gun in lock-up and it seems to lock-up correctly in two chambers only. The other five seemed so far out of wack. That I put a dial indicator on each chamber just to make sure what I was feeling. As I said two seemed right, one had .005 wiggle but seemed under tension and would tend to return to center once released. The same for the second one, that had .008 slack but would also tend to center itself although not as well. The other five had anywhere from .017 to .029 wiggle and would stop at either end of that range with no chance of re-centering. So, those chambers could possibly be misaligned by half of their respective tolerances. I don’t know what the spec.s are but that to me seems unsafe. The forcing cone in this gun is not cone shaped, but merely has a .020 or so chamfer. Like I said I don’t know much about handguns, I’m just trying to reason my way though this.
Also the cylinder face (barrel side) to my reasoning should be smooth with no nicks mars or indentations. Anything that could lead to cracking. Not to mention maintaining a close cylinder to barrel gap. There are two decided tool marks (vertical nicks) near the apex of and running right to the edge of two chambers this is the thinnest part of the cylinder and would seem to me to be under the most pressure during firing. Should they not have been polished out or that face surface ground? Or am I being to fussy? Any opinions, advice or criticisms welcome, just go easy on the criticisms.
Thanks, Z-11
Just a few questions on revolvers. I have just received a New revolver purchased from the GunSource.com. A Taurus 66 .357 Magnum. My first impressions upon briefly inspecting this gun were favorable, at least as far as the finish went. There were some very minor flaws, assorted scratches and some tool marks left unpolished and Blued over. But, I am not a nit-picker so all seemed acceptable. Since I am not licensed these first impressions were done at my FFL dealer. The more deliberate inspection could be done, I thought, once I returned home. If there were any major problems the cost would have been the same I reasoned, I would have to pay his Fee plus shipping back. Anyway, upon delving into this gun all I can say is I am very disappointed with Taurus’s craftsmanship. I used to hunt as a kid, but over the years I’ve gotten away from guns altogether and I’ve never owned a handgun. Now, times being what they are I find myself in need of a handgun for Home defense. So I need some opinions if someone would be so kind. Just to make sure I’m looking at things properly. After reading the Jim March Checklist (and many thanks to him) I proceeded to go over this gun. The Bore looked fine with no irregularities and the SA trigger pull seemed excellent, precise with no slack, in fact something to be very careful with. The DA was another story though, the trigger pull seemed hard and with a slow deliberate pull, inconsistent. Cycling most chambers seemed fine while hard they were smooth with no discernable roughness. Two of these chambers (or places) would however, tighten-up, almost to the point of binding this would pull the gun way off target and so seemed to me dangerous. I cycled though all seven chambers several times with basically the same results. A little more or a little less. Its hard to get a handle on that. I found if I pulled the trigger in a more rapid way while there was a noticeable hitch before release the tightening-up wasn’t near as severe. Does this sound logical to anyone?
Now for the cylinder, I put the gun in lock-up and it seems to lock-up correctly in two chambers only. The other five seemed so far out of wack. That I put a dial indicator on each chamber just to make sure what I was feeling. As I said two seemed right, one had .005 wiggle but seemed under tension and would tend to return to center once released. The same for the second one, that had .008 slack but would also tend to center itself although not as well. The other five had anywhere from .017 to .029 wiggle and would stop at either end of that range with no chance of re-centering. So, those chambers could possibly be misaligned by half of their respective tolerances. I don’t know what the spec.s are but that to me seems unsafe. The forcing cone in this gun is not cone shaped, but merely has a .020 or so chamfer. Like I said I don’t know much about handguns, I’m just trying to reason my way though this.
Also the cylinder face (barrel side) to my reasoning should be smooth with no nicks mars or indentations. Anything that could lead to cracking. Not to mention maintaining a close cylinder to barrel gap. There are two decided tool marks (vertical nicks) near the apex of and running right to the edge of two chambers this is the thinnest part of the cylinder and would seem to me to be under the most pressure during firing. Should they not have been polished out or that face surface ground? Or am I being to fussy? Any opinions, advice or criticisms welcome, just go easy on the criticisms.
Thanks, Z-11
