I Decided I Wanted a Belt Revolver

[Tallball]

Sometimes my daughter and I go on hikes in the local woods, along the local creeks, by the lakeside, etc. Some of it's kind of remote. Our large pit-bull mix is our real protection, but I always bring one of my normal carry pieces, various 38 or 44 snub revolvers.

I prefer revolvers and have carried snubs regularly for a little over 30 years. I shoot them pretty well for an older guy. However, I can shoot a service revolver such as a 4" Model 10 a bit better than I can shoot a j-frame. Probably anyone can. They're just easier to shoot.

I started to think it would be nice to have a 38 special revolver with a 3" barrel to carry on my belt under a cover garment. I thought about a SA revolver. There are some cool 3"-3.5" models. I shoot them well. But I only carry DAO handguns, and decided it was unwise to break that rule. I tried a 3" j-frame surplus Rossi I got for next to nothing. It was nice, but the revolver itself was worn, and I wasn't sure that it felt that much different than a 2".

A 3" K-frame started to sound nice, especially with smaller grips. Even a used 3" S&W K frame in nice shape would cost more than my budget allows these days. While I was haunting GB looking for 3" K-frames, I saw a 3" Taurus Model 82 that looked practically new for $299 and decided to roll the dice.

It was in very nice shape, much better than any of my actual Model 10's. The finish and grips were nice. It barely had a turn line. The trigger was a bit stiffer than I prefer, but it was smooth and overall decent. I put 100 rounds or so through it. It was reliable and seemed as accurate as any of my 4" 38's or 357's with fixed sights.

I'd like to offer my sincere thanks to all of the THR members who have posted threads about making modifications to their own revolvers. I never learned about things like that when I was growing up, and the most ambitious gunsmithing projects I'd ever attempted had been to switch out some grips. After reading some old threads, I decided to make some simple adaptations to the Model 82 to make it a better belt revolver.

Painted the front sight red. Installed boot grips that were smaller overall, but give more to hold onto towards the trigger guard. Excellent grips, perfect if you normally tuck your pinky underneath. Replaced the factory mainspring with the heaviest one in the Wolff replacement spring kit (12#). The trigger became quite nice. After taking it to the range a few more times and carrying it around a bit, it was time to "fully commit" and grind off the hammer spur.

I like it. It's easy to carry and snag-proof. The DA trigger is good. I shoot it well, just like a 4" service revolver. I found a nice leather holster that carries it comfortably. It's hard to see, but easy to draw.

For my Christmas Break project, I plan to replace the barrel of my 2" Model 85 with a 3" barrel that I found on Ebay. I have several other 2" 38's, and thought it would be fun to make a 3".

Thanks again for the inspiration.

Taurus Model 82 38 special

• Tallball
• Oct 2, 2021

Taurus Model 82 boot grips

• Tallball
• Oct 19, 2021

Taurus Model 82 spurless

• Tallball
• Dec 11, 2021

 

[ontarget]

Awesome outcome.
Perfect SD revolver for your creekside walks.

 

[Zendude]

I thought the story would end with a 5.5 inch 45 long Colt on your belt.

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

I prefer the "golden age" Taurus revolvers to anything S&W pukes out now.

Nice score and mods!

 

[CarJunkieLS1]

That turned out to be a very nice CCW revolver. Congrats I really like it.

 

[crestoncowboy]

I carry a 329 pd for my belt revolver in the woods. Lighter than most any gun you can find, and 44 magnum power. Not a terrific shooter but a good defense gun and you can forget you are wearing it. Just can't forget your shooting it. Lol

I've always like most Taurus guns. Never seen a Taurus revolver i didn't like

 

[wcwhitey]

I like the idea of starting with a modest older Taurus and making it your own, well done!

 

[.455_Hunter]

Outstanding job!

Can we automatically lock-out comments by anti-defensive revolver people?

They seem to ruin many a thread on here.

 

[Tallball]

Thank you for all of the kind comments. The dog is our real protection. She knows if people are around and what their mood is. The largest animals are deer and coyotes. We only rarely see other hikers or fishermen. For most of my life I've always gone hiking or fishing with some kind of revolver on my person. When I was younger it was usually a 22 for snakes and small game and plinking.

I'm looking forward to putting the 3" barrel onto the Model 85. That thing will be coyote ugly. The revolver is blued and the barrel I found is nickel.

 

[Blkhrt13]

Thank you for all of the kind comments. The dog is our real protection. She knows if people are around and what their mood is. The largest animals are deer and coyotes. We only rarely see other hikers or fishermen. For most of my life I've always gone hiking or fishing with some kind of revolver on my person. When I was younger it was usually a 22 for snakes and small game and plinking.

I'm looking forward to putting the 3" barrel onto the Model 85. That thing will be coyote ugly. The revolver is blued and the barrel I found is nickel.

I think they call that a Palomino like the horse

 

[CajunBass]

I think they call that a Palomino like the horse

Close, but it's called a "Pinto."

I had one of those old Taurus 82's with a 4" barrel, back in the day. It fit into my holsters I had for a K-frame S&W perfectly. I added a Tyler's T-grip to it and shot the snot out of it. I actually shot it more than I did my Model 19. I saved my brass and reloaded 38 Wadcutters with a Lee "Wack-a-Mole" loader. Zero brand 148 grain wadcutters, a Lee dipper full of Bullseye and CCI primers. I'd load up a couple hundred during the week and shoot them up over the weekend. Rinse and repeat. Those cases lasted forever. The bullets and primers were fairly cheap back then, and a pound of Bullseye would last forever I believe with that little Lee dipper.

Anyway, the real point of this is those old Taurus guns were good guns. I suspect you'll enjoy it.

 

[Blkhrt13]

I knew it was something horse related. I read about them in gun digest 30 years or so ago. For some reason the paint made more sense. Either way now I want to build one. I’m not much of a horse person. But I do like the old Taurus. This belt job is my speed.

 

[RetiredUSNChief]

I'm sorry...but I must confess that my initial reason for checking this thread out is because I initially read the title as:

"I Decided I Wanted a Belt Fed Revolver"

My reaction was "Wait, what?"

Hoping to see what kind of mechanical genius was going on, I quickly paid a visit, only to discover it was a wee bit more mundane!



ANYWAY...

I wasn't really disappointed as I found you've a really practical setup going on for you... and a couple really beautiful revolvers to make us jealous of.

Nice work!

 

[buck460XVR]

Glad you found what you wanted. Being comfortable and confident with your choice of carry, goes a long way to felling safe. IMHO, shooting a dog in SD is going to be a ultra close experience. To justify to the owner(and to the police) that it was a legitimate threat and called for deadly force, is going to be difficult at best, even with eye witnesses. Having to go to the police and even the city council several times because of dog attacks on me and my own dog, I can tell you, if you do not have bites or torn clothing, you are going to get a raised eyebrow. Even videos of previous attacks are of little help unless there is a dog mouth on you. Thus, for me, the addition of a longer barrel is kind of a moot point, when the target is less than an arm's length away.

 

[WestKentucky]

I like the gun. I doubt I would go with plastic grips but that’s mainly because I like the Taurus oversized wood grips a lot.

 

[Rexster]

I'm sorry...but I must confess that my initial reason for checking this thread out is because I initially read the title as:

"I Decided I Wanted a Belt Fed Revolver"

My reaction was "Wait,




ANYWAY...

I wasn't really disappointed as I found you've a really practical setup going on for you... and a couple really beautiful revolvers to make us jealous of.

Nice work!

Quite nice cartridge belts are still being made, with cartridge loops sewn into place, from which one can “feed” one’s revolver.

 

[MedWheeler]

Nice job. I think three inches is about as close to ideal a barrel length for general wheelgun carry as one can get.

I have two of the "golden age" Taurus three-inchers, both fairly rare models. One is a stainless 85, made in 1995, what I call a "poor man's SP-101." I carry it quite frequently. The other is a stainless 941 (.22WMR) from around that same time. I haven't shot that one yet, despite having had it for maybe two or three years now. Both are downright handsome. The first handgun I ever purchased was a 66 four-inch back in 1987, the day after I turned 21. I still have that one. Even carried it on the job for a little while.

There was a three-inch stainless 431 (.44 Special) on GunBroker a while back. It was all I could do not to put in on it, even though I've never held a single round of ammunition in that caliber. It was opened at like $500.

 

[Tallball]

Thank you for the continued kind comments and compliments. That helps make me feel more confident for some upcoming projects.

My goal was a "compact" version of a 4" service revolver, like the "compact" version of a Beretta 92 or something. It's a little smaller in both the grip and barrel, which is nice if you have to carry it around a lot, but it still shoots about the same as the full-sized model.

It was fun to start with something inexpensive and common, then personalize it for my own needs.

 

[Rodfac]

Nice job and a fine write-up as well. I too like 3" 'belt revolvers', finding them just about ideal from an accuracy vs. concealability standpoint. My own versions are a pair of SS Smith J-frames in .22 LR & .357 Mag (M-63 & M-60). Either is good out to 25 yds or so on 4" steel plates making them truly fun guns to play with as well as reliable defensive tools should the need arise. And that slightly shorter bbl. (and smaller grip) hides easily even under a t-shirt tail in a high ride OWB holster.

Like many have said here before, it's often the grip that's the hardest part of concealment. For example, my K-frame M-66 Smith with its 4" bbl. is just that much harder to hide than my J-frames. It's not the bbl. length, but rather the larger K-frame grip that's the problem. But so it goes, after over 50 years of toting Smith & Ruger revolvers around, all in the same belt location, I just don't want to try a different system....YMMv Rod Here's my M-60 3" in my day to day rig.

​

 

[BrazilianSnowMan]

I carried a 3" Taurus for a few years.
I found out I shoot way better a 4". Its just an inch but it made all the difference for me.