any experience with Taurus 608?

[WestKentucky]

I'm starting the hunt for my next 357. I actually like Taurus guns and have had great luck with them. The 608 by description seems to resemble an L frame Smith. 8 shots of 357 seems very nice. I have a taurus m44 and it seems the frame size should be very comparable.

 

[Haywood]

I had a 608. Great gun. I liked it for target practice and camping. Never had a problem with it. It was too big for regular CC but I did carry it when working at a Gun Shop. I think it would be good for hunting ware 357 is applicable.

 

[45lcshooter]

Had a 608 for a while. Bought it for a good deal, shot it, then sold it for something else. Would make for a nice plinker/truck CC gun. Little big for me. I was hitting playing cards at 15-20 yards.

 

[gamestalker]

I have one my Son bought for me about 4 or 5 yrs. ago new. At first, I didn't like it, and I had put a good 7 or 8 hundred full tilt H110/296 jacketed loads through it, but it felt sloppy, and didn't seem to be timed very well.

So I pulled the side plate off one day and discovered lots of metal filings, some were piled up under and around the hand, machining derbies I assume. So I rinsed it out with acetone, then blew it out with air, and lubed all the contact surfaces. After reassembling it, I took it out for a test drive with my usual H110 loads and it functioned 100% better, timing was spot on, and lock up was nice and tight, accuracy was also very good.

I really like my 608, and I think they are a solid wheel gun. Taurus sometimes gets sloppy with their work though, so a little tuning can sometimes be necessary with them.

GS

 

[rhinoh]

Don't know about the 608 but I picked up a 66 (7 shot .357) this week, PSA closeout for $379.
The fit and finish were superb, every bit as good as my several S&W's.
But there was a catch- literally.
If one pressed the cylinder release all the way forward the cylinder would not release.
The "bolt" as Taurus calls it stuck out proud of the hole in the frame. The bolt tip was actually entering the hole in the cylinder axis enough to lock it back in place.
Once I figured this out it was relatively easy to take a little off to fix this.
Sigh.
Taurus came so close to really impressing me.


As an aside- I really wanted the 6" but all PSA was closing out was the 4". Almost a week after ordering they called me and said they had an inventory glitch and all they had was 6", and did I want that instead? Heck YEAH!

 

[rule303]

I have a 607, which is the older 7 shot version of the same gun. I have had it for about 15 years, and have fed it a steady diet of full power .357 hand loads. I have never had an issue, and it is as accurate and locks up as tight as when it was new. No idea how many rounds have been through it, but many, many thousands. Very little flame cutting, and no forcing cone damage at all, even with plenty of 110 and 125gr magnums fired before I knew that could cause issues.

 

[Tallball]

I had an old model 66 that I bought used. It was excellent, but was stolen. I replaced it with another used Taurus 357, I misremember the model number just now. Maybe it's a 686? It has also been great: it has never malfunctioned, has nice sights, a good trigger, etc.

I know that some folks have had trouble with their Taurii. Maybe I've just been lucky. But I would have to say that my Taurus 357's have given me good service. I paid $200 for the first one and something like $150 for the second.

 

[Onward Allusion]

Got 2 of 'em. One's a 6" in bright SS. The other one's a 4" in matte SS that I cut down to 3". That one's my sometime carry. The 6" is probably one of the most accurate 357's I've ever shot. Recoil is nonexistent (like a 22LR) with 38 Specials. Full-house 357 loads have VERY little recoil.

If there is one thing I would change with these guns would be to get rid of the porting. A gun that heavy, either 4" or 6", has very little recoil to begin with. Why waste 1 inch of barrel with porting? IIRC, there used to be non-ported models of this gun.

 

[gamestalker]

I really like the porting, I load and shoot nothing but full house H110/296 jacketed loads, so I like the way the porting helps to reduce muzzle flip on my 4".

A couple years ago one of my boys shot a big ol mule deer with that 608 at well over 100 yds.. He put the round right through the pump station, dropped that mule deer right there in his tracks. So it's proven to be a very accurate wheel gun.

GS