NiB Taurus Model 905 (9mm snub)

Tallball

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My preferred carry pieces are a S&W 642 and a Ruger LCR. I have an old Taurus 85 to use as a practice piece and thereby keep most of the wear off of the "real " 38 snubs. But 38 special is annoyingly expensive and has been for a while now. Some months ago I decided to get one of the Taurus j-frame snubs in 9mm as my new practice snubby when I found one for cheap enough.

After keeping my eyes open for a while, I got this one NiB for $380 OTD. They don't show up used hardly ever, and that was a decent price for a new one.

I've owned Taurus j-frames in various configurations/calibers. This is probably the first one I've owned that was made after the year 2000.

It came with three moonclips. They work fine. IDC about the moonclips because it's just for practice and the empties fall out easily, but the ones it came with worked fine for me. I ordered more from TK Custom for no good reason.

I dislike the finish. It's like a bad parkerized finish had a love child with a bad cerakote finish. It might be ugly, but I doubt it will be durable. :)

The grips are interesting. They don't have to be this narrow. I have mixed feelings about the little thumb ledge on the left side. I very much like the little pinky spot towards the bottom - I can actually get my pinky onto it (XXL hands). If I decide I don't like the grips, I've got other rubber or wood sets that will fit. These will probably be fine.

The trigger is like a not very good Taurus j-frame trigger. They range from "meh" to very stiff. This one is towards the stiff side. The SA is crisp enough. I already ordered a set of Wolff springs. After I install them, the DA trigger will be fine, too.

I shot about 50 rounds of scrubby bottom-of-the-bag range ammo through it today. No malfunctions. I shot mostly seven yards standing. Baseball-sized groups were NP in SA. DA was like a dessert plate after I got warmed up. It's stiff, but decently smooth.

It's what I expected. It goes bang. The trigger will be acceptable after I replace the springs. It started out ugly, so I won't have to cry when it gets scratched and worn. It will be just fine for practicing with. I'll shoot it most of the time, and the 642/LCR just occasionally. For me, practice with a snubby is practice with a snubby. It seems to transfer from one j-frame to the next just fine.

Feel free to comment if you've also had some decent Taurus revolvers. Or if yours were garbage, here's a good chance to vent. :)

Anyone else have practice pieces that they use instead of their "real" CC handguns? Maybe I'm the only one who uses that as an excuse to buy more guns...

There's also the question as to whether or not snub revolvers are adequate for SD at all, being of antiquated design and limited capacity (much like the author).

 
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I wish Taurus would go back to doing the rubber ribbed grips. Not for the J frames, but the bigger models.

I don't like the black finish on these either, I turned down a .22 LR/Mag Tracker used for 450 last year after seeing how bad it looks. Matte Stainless only for me with Taurus from now on. The ultralight anodized Aluminum snubs I could accept, kind of a two toned black to them that isn't so bad.
 
I have the 905 Stainless. When I got it, one cylinder was too small. Shipped it back on Taurus' dime, they had it back to me in 3 weeks running smoothly.

My trigger was stiff too, but broke in quickly. I like 9mm revolvers, I also have a Taurus 692 and SP101 9mm. The 905 is my favorite of the three.

9mm is more efficient than .38/357 in snubs. Velocity ends up closer to .357 than you would imagine.
 
I have the 905 Stainless. When I got it, one cylinder was too small. Shipped it back on Taurus' dime, they had it back to me in 3 weeks running smoothly.

My trigger was stiff too, but broke in quickly. I like 9mm revolvers, I also have a Taurus 692 and SP101 9mm. The 905 is my favorite of the three.

9mm is more efficient than .38/357 in snubs. Velocity ends up closer to .357 than you would imagine.

Stainless would have been about $100 more RN. Could have waited until a really good price came by on a stainless one. Decided to get one now and live with the ugly finish instead.

I sure wish I'd gotten a 692 when they were new and inexpensive. I've heard good things about them. :)

It seems like the 9mm should hit a bit harder than a 38 special. It has more recoil in otherwise identical revolvers.
 
I have the 905 Stainless. When I got it, one cylinder was too small. Shipped it back on Taurus' dime, they had it back to me in 3 weeks running smoothly.

My trigger was stiff too, but broke in quickly. I like 9mm revolvers, I also have a Taurus 692 and SP101 9mm. The 905 is my favorite of the three.

9mm is more efficient than .38/357 in snubs. Velocity ends up closer to .357 than you would imagine.
I agree with you .. the 9mm is close to the
357 mag out of a 2 inch barrel snubbie
And the 9mm self defense ammo will out perform the 357 mag out of a 2 inch barrel
 
I was at my LGS the other day and they have a bunch of Taurus snubbies and a few of their hunter revolvers. I keep toying with the idea of buying one, but they aren’t high on my want list.
A 905 would be interesting, but I haven’t encountered one yet.
 
I agree with you .. the 9mm is close to the
357 mag out of a 2 inch barrel snubbie
And the 9mm self defense ammo will out perform the 357 mag out of a 2 inch barrel
This is really good to hear. I had been debating something very similar and was afraid 9mm out of a snubbie would be really snappy. Glad to hear my guess was correct.
 
Stainless would have been about $100 more RN. Could have waited until a really good price came by on a stainless one. Decided to get one now and live with the ugly finish instead.

I sure wish I'd gotten a 692 when they were new and inexpensive. I've heard good things about them. :)

It seems like the 9mm should hit a bit harder than a 38 special. It has more recoil in otherwise identical revolvers.
Thanks for sharing this experience I was really curious how 9mm would feel out of a snubbie for my own purposes a few weeks ago. It's nice to hear someone else's results from a very similar idea.
 
Thanks for sharing this experience I was really curious how 9mm would feel out of a snubbie for my own purposes a few weeks ago. It's nice to hear someone else's results from a very similar idea.

Felt recoil varies from person to person. For me, 38 special in a steel j-frame is NBD. I can shoot it until my arms are tired. Also for me, the recoil of 357 in a j-frame is unpleasant and I'll only shoot a cylinder so my buddy doesn't mock me. The 9mm feels a lot more like 38 special. Like when I bought some Norma target 38's that weren't +P, but definitely had some oomph to them.
 
I've had really good luck with my Taurus revolvers. My 905 is polished blue and shoots and looks good :). I usually shoot 38spl because I reload boat loads of it. My 3" 856 usually gets the nod for range time.
I also have a 431 (3" K Frame sized 44 spl) and 445 ( 2" w/ bobbed hammer 44 spl).

I wanted the 905 for when I just wanted to shoot 9mm. Funny I take that and my Blackhawk when I've been too lazy to reload. I don't reload 9mm anymore because the small pistol primers are used for expensive off the shelf ammo. 32 H&R, 327, 38S&W, 38spl, and 357 Mag. If primers become more available I might reload 9mm again. I miss being able to walk in and just pick up a 1000 primers of whatever I needed.
 
It seems like the 9mm should hit a bit harder than a 38 special. It has more recoil in otherwise identical revolvers.
This. I moved heaven and earth finding a 940 Smith, and found it remarkably rappy, especially compared to a steel 640 with .38spls. The 147 9mms feel much more like .38spl.
Moon
 
I agree with you .. the 9mm is close to the
357 mag out of a 2 inch barrel snubbie
And the 9mm self defense ammo will out perform the 357 mag out of a 2 inch barrel
Careful, if you say this the guy who chronographed Buffalo Bore .357 180gr and got 600 ft/lbs from a snub will pop in and say that.
 
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Careful, if you say this the guy who chronographed Buffalo Bore 180gr and got 600 ft/lbs from a snub will pop in and say that.
Paul Harrell, Lucky Gunner, and other testing on YouTube videos I've seen would disagree with this assessment. Buffalo Bore was not used in their testing.

This is the first time I've heard such a claim. I'm sure anecdotally some 9mm loads can out perform some 357 loads, but overall and generally speaking, I have not seen it substantiated by any reputable sources that 9mm will out perform 357 mag both out of 2"ish barrels. I seen the exact opposite.
 
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Paul Harrell, Lucky Gunner, and other testing on YouTube videos I've seen would disagree with this assessment. Buffalo Bore not included. This is the first time I've heard such a claim. I'm sure anecdotally some 9mm loads can out perform some 357 loads, but overall and generally speaking, I have not seen it substantiated by any reputable sources that 9mm will out perform 357 mag both out of 2"ish barrels. I seen the exact opposite.
Corrected, I left out it was about .357
 
Just a quick update. I decided to change out the springs and grips yesterday.

The newest Taurus j-frames are apparently a little different from my older ones.

The grip frames are the same, but the grip is held on by one pin, instead of a screw and a pin. The older boot grips that I want to use will fit, but I'll have to drill a couple of shallow holes for the new pin location. Annoying that they chose to do this to save 1.5 cents per gun or something.

The hammer spring was easy to change out. The DA trigger went from pretty bad to pretty good in ten minutes. Apparently there's something new about the trigger springs, too, so I'll read up on that before I change it out.

This will probably go to the range with me most of the time. The finish is ugly, but all it needed was $10 worth of springs to have a decent trigger. It'll be completely acceptable for snubby practice.
 
Now you need to start thinking about a 942, which is close to that 9mm in everything but firepower. For more even more practice!

Just wait for the Stainless ;)
 
Just a quick update. I decided to change out the springs and grips yesterday.

The newest Taurus j-frames are apparently a little different from my older ones.

The grip frames are the same, but the grip is held on by one pin, instead of a screw and a pin. The older boot grips that I want to use will fit, but I'll have to drill a couple of shallow holes for the new pin location. Annoying that they chose to do this to save 1.5 cents per gun or something.

Eh? The stock pin location should be exactly the same.
The hammer spring was easy to change out. The DA trigger went from pretty bad to pretty good in ten minutes. Apparently there's something new about the trigger springs, too, so I'll read up on that before I change it out.

This will probably go to the range with me most of the time. The finish is ugly, but all it needed was $10 worth of springs to have a decent trigger. It'll be completely acceptable for snubby practice.
 
Now you need to start thinking about a 942, which is close to that 9mm in everything but firepower. For more even more practice!

Just wait for the Stainless ;)
I'm pretty sure that the 942, 905, 856, 327 all use the same frame, so the feel between each is identical. The .380 might be a tad different, but IDK who would buy a .380 revolver over a .327.

Actually, now I'm wondering if Taurus might make a .32 H&R model on that lightweight .380 frame. Would give the Undercoverrette a run.
 
@lee n. field "Eh? The stock pin location should be exactly the same."

I checked again. The grips I was trying to put on it definitely don't have the pin in the same location as in the new Model 905. I bought them NOS some years ago and had them on an older Model 85 that was killed by faulty reloads. Apparently at some time in the far reaches of the past, the pin was in a different location. I found some newer wooden Taurus Model 85 grips in the same parts bag, and they fit the Model 905 just fine.

@maxxhavoc "Now you need to start thinking about a 942, which is close to that 9mm in everything but firepower. For more even more practice!"

I've been tempted. My Pathfinder has never functioned properly. Probably should give CA one more chance at fixing it before I try a 942.
 
The hammer spring was easy to change out. The DA trigger went from pretty bad to pretty good in ten minutes. Apparently there's something new about the trigger springs, too, so I'll read up on that before I change it out.
Hey, Tallball, been a long time since I was inside a Taurus/Rossi...do I recall what would be the 'rebound slide spring' in a Smith being a spring on a rod to power the trigger?
Thnx,
Moon
 
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