Bought my first taurus, looking for some information.

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MidRoad

MidRoad

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Up until now I only owned Ruger and Smith's. Well stopped at my LGS for the first time in a long while. In the display case sat a really nice looking taurus model 66. It's in good shape and seemed to lock up nice and had a clean trigger . It was 350 bucks. My brother was with me said he toss in a 100 bucks as a congratulations gift for the birth of my little one. So for 250 bucks how could I say no?

Anyways I used the Taurus serial number look up tool and no year came up,.serial number is LE618178, it's a 6" blued model as pictured (poorly) below. I sent an email to taurus to see if they can get some more info on it's age . Does anyone have an idea of approximate age? I believe it to be an 80's model. Anyone have good experiences with these? How do they fair with .357's (158 grain). I do plan to run .357s for hunting and shoot mainly 38's out of it for target.Hopefully will pick it up in a week or so (silly NY).

Excuse the photo quality. I just took a quick shot at the store.
KIMG1297.JPG

Edit: received an email back from Taurus saying the gun was made 9/23/1992
 
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158 jsp or jhp are good choice. I shoot only jacketed in all but 22 and 38sp. Like them because there is no leading problems.
 
Late 80s through mid '90s, the Golden Age of Taurus.

That is a fine revolver, nearly the equal of a contemporary S&W and, IMO, better than some current Smiths.

Although a strong gun, I would take it easy on the old girl as hand/ratchet parts may be hard to come by these days. Id avoid 125 and 110 screamers and she should last a long, long time.

Congratulations!
 
NIGHTLORD40K said:
Late 80s through mid '90s, the Golden Age of Taurus.

That is a fine revolver, nearly the equal of a contemporary S&W and, IMO, better than some current Smiths.

Although a strong gun, I would take it easy on the old girl as hand/ratchet parts may be hard to come by these days. Id avoid 125 and 110 screamers and she should last a long, long time.

Congratulations!
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Thanks! I've kind of been jonesing for an older model 19 and hoping this is going to scratch the itch, price was right! I thought I remembered reading how the older Taurus were a decent piece, glad that's the case, looking forward to some range time.
 
That is a nice looking handgun. I love blued revolvers with wood grips, and that certainly is a pretty example.

NIGHTLORD40K said:
Late 80s through mid '90s, the Golden Age of Taurus.
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That's encouraging... I have a Model 83 (4" adjustable sight .38 Special) that I bought in early '94. The gun was made in November of '93. I bought it, smoothed out the trigger, shot it a little and put it in the safe, where it sat for many years. I've been messing around with it this fall and it's finally getting some range time.

I took the wood grips off and replaced them with Hogue rubber ones that felt a little better. I couldn't stand the look and put the walnut back on. :)
 
desmobob said:
What county are you in? I'm in Washington County and the Sheriff's Office had my permit amended in two days. My previous handgun was on the permit the very next day.
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Wow you're close, I'm in Rensselaer county.

It's usually about a day or two , drop it off to Charles the country clerk in the morning,he sends it to the judge and he usually calls you the next afternoon or even sometimes the same day if things move right along. Getting time off from work to get to the clerk's office during their buisness hours is the tough part. Rensselaer is really great to deal with generally speaking.

I've had times where it's taken a week or so, depending on what the judge has going on.
 
Should be a solid shooter. My first handgun was (is) a M66, purchased new in 1987, as a 21st birthday present to myself. I still have it. Only issue has been an ejector rod sleeve that sometimes worked loose, locking the cylinder shut. A dab of Loc-Tite fixes that. I even carried mine for a little while on the job. ;)
 
My first "real" handgun was a blued 4" Taurus Model 66 that I bought barely used from a co-worker in 1988 for $200. It had a nice trigger and was a very good shooter. I lost it in a burglary in 2000 or so.

I replaced it with the Model 689 above. It also cost $200 used. Its trigger isn't quite as good as the first one's was, but close.

I bought the 6" stainless Model 66 a year or two ago. I think it cost me more like $300. It's from somewhere around 1982-ish, from when they still had a S&W style trigger block instead of the transfer bar. Its trigger is ridiculously good, better than some of my Smiths.

I don't prefer the wooden factory grips, but the older grips are different than the newer ones (don't recall the exact dates), so if you get Pachmayars or something, you have to make sure to get the correct ones. I don't think there are aftermarket grips for my "Old Model 66" below, but if anyone knows differently please let me know.

Taurus Model 66

Taurus Model 66

 
The 65s and 66s are good guns. Solid build and accurate. Don't have mine anymore because Ive gone to 9mm for my handguns but would but another one if I were to come across one.
 
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I need it like another hole in the head but if it felt good in my hand (most important) and checked out I would have bought it at that price even without the incentive from my brother. Now you need to commit to leaving the revolver to your little one when you pass, he/she has a stake in it too. Said with hummer as my intent.
 
Here's a shot of the Taurus
KIMG1316.JPG

I did some work on it lastnight. The single action pull is very crisp but a bit heavy at 4.5lbs. however the double action was heavy and very gritty along with the hammer being hard to cock, like you could feel something dragging. So I popped the side plate and removed burs on the edges of the hammer and the trigger where it runs against the transfer bar and the hand. Alot smoother and no where near as heavy to cock but still a little gritty. Think this ol girl just needs to be shot now and she should smooth up.
 
They're good guns I think, but then I've never seen much of anything wrong with Taurus revolvers anyway. I've owned both a 66 (7 shot) and an older Model 65 (same gun, but fixed sights). Neither one got shot a lot, but they were good shooters when I did. The fit and the finish on both would rival that on a S&W from the same time period. I especially liked the wooden round butt stocks. Those things were comfortable I tell you. Not as bulky, especially at the bottom as S&W target stocks, they just felt better to me. Not bad looking either.
 
Nice guns, great price on that one! My son had a new (@2014) 7 round 66 4", he sold it last year. I wish he'd have offered it to me first. He dropped a deer with it with a 125 Remington Golden Sabre.
 
I have a 4" fixed sights and a 6" adj sights that I've had about 25 or 30yrs, although I shoot mostly 38s they handle 357s well, mostly my reloads with 158gr, the 6" is an accurate shooter and I feel I could hunt with it.
I also have 2 Taurus 38sp 1 steel the other an ultra light that are 5 shots and they are good shooters also with better triggers.
 
My first centerfire handgun was a satin nickel M66 I bought at Bucksport Sporting Goods in Eureka Ca. In 1988.

I really liked the gun, it was affordable and shot very well. I had to send it packing to help pay the rent, but if I found a deal on a Taurus from that era I’d snap it up without hesitation.

It looks like you found a good one, congrats! :thumbup:

Stay safe.
 
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