orangeninja
Member
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2003
- Messages
- 3,117
The saga continues:
Today was another fine beautiful day at the range to punch holes in paper bad guys. After shooting about 100 rounds of full house .357 Magnum loads my last trip to the range, I shot some .38 Special out of it today, here are my observations.
1.) Fit, finish, trigger, ergonomics
This is a stock Taurus 650 .357 Magnum CIA, no frills, no muss. The bluing is on par with what you would expect from a Taurus, no gaps, fairly even bluing, all business. I’m not running to momma to show it off, but neither is it anything to be ashamed of. The trigger has a slight stack and then suddenly lets off, I really like that. It is not exactly easy to pull or stage (which a revolver shouldn’t be) and the trigger is smooth and what I would call quick, (for a revolver) since I pretty much do not anticipate when it will fire. This prevents me from flinching and helps with solid follow through on the trigger pull, I commit, then pull just like you should with a wheel gun.
The grips (stock Taurus rubber boot grips) were misaligned when I first got the gun, I took them off and took a very, very fine edged knife and trimmed them down evenly. I left a little roughing in the front which helps with holding on to the gun when dealing with the full house magnums. The grips were my only complaint, but after shaving them down and shooting it today, I’ve decided to stick with the factory grips for now.
The cylinder was as tight as a snare drum skin when I first got it, it wouldn’t budge in either direction. Since shooting the magnums it has the slightest bit of play, but not excessive, which is to be expected once a gun starts to get broken in a bit.
The empties eject promptly when striking the ejector rod smartly. I didn’t get any excessive hang-ups or shells sticking, not even when the gun got very hot, but since this is a J-frame gun, you do have to hit the rod smartly.
The front sight is a blued ramp style. I’ve decided after a little contemplation that I will paint it orange since I do have a bit of trouble seeing the front sight in low light and it’s nearly impossible to see in the dark. I will post a further report on that later.
Other than the above mentioned issues, this revolver is nearly perfect in every way for it’s intended purpose. Is it as slick as a Colt Dick Special or a Smith? It may rival the Smith (depending on year made) but it still doesn’t touch a Colt, but then a Dick Special isn’t something I would carry for personal defense. After all, if I had to use it and it was stuck in an evidence room somewhere for 2 years uncleaned with a case number engraved on it, I’d probably be sick. As for a Taurus, I’d just buy two for the price of a Colt.
Final word on fit and finish: Best buy, good workmanship and features and the best value for the dollar. It’s like a S&W but with an instant $200.00 rebate.
2.) Shooting
As before the trigger is surprisingly well done for a gun costing a little under $300.00. I have compared it with a Smith&Wesson and found the triggers to be very similar to one another. Personally I wasn’t blown away by either, but both were very manageable borderline good. I imagine if one were to polish up the trigger a bit, either gun would be slick as snot. I prefer the trigger stock with a little resistance.
Disclaimer: I am not a revolver shooter. I have owned just a handful of revolvers in my whole life and am not what you would call an aficionado of fine wheel guns. I like autos, will always carry an auto (except when described below) but the revolver fills a niche that no other gun will fill in my humble opinion. Thus my skills with a revolver are workmanlike and unpolished, I’m no Keith Elmer.
Shooting the .357 Magnums was at the high end of my tolerance level, border line painful which became painful after about 50 rounds. I believe that it is about like catching a line drive in little league, doable, but after about 50, it begins to get really old. The gun weighs 24 ounces and before shooting the magnums, I was contemplating trading “up” on an alloy framed .357 Ultralite, but after shooting it, I was thankful for every God given ounce of steel on that weapon. I do not advise going lighter for full house loads, head my advice and thank me later.
Upon shooting some WWB .38 specials the gun felt like a pussy cat. It just loved those rounds and I was grateful to feed it all it wanted. I was still ready to shoot after 100 rounds with no pain in my wrist or hand. I would say that it handles the target load .38 specials about like a Glock 17 handles 9mm, very similar recoil there. It wasn’t snappy; it wasn’t harsh or mean, it was smooth and graceful. Within short order I was making 30 foot headshots on a standard sized silhouette without a whole lot of time being used. I feel other people could do better with the gun than I could, but for a pocket pistol, I am elated about 30 foot head shots. How many head shots, you ask? 75 and I only dropped three of them off the head high and right, which were completely my fault because I started getting cocky and would fire off 5 relatively quick shots, about 1 a second.
Upon shooting strong hand only, I was able to make solid hits on the BODY of the silhouette as quickly as I could pull the trigger. We’re not talking surgical here, just center mass (ish) hits.
Upon shooting weak hand only (you do practice this right?) I was able to get center mass hits at about 1 shot per second, again, these were minute of torso and not “pie-plate” groups. At 30 feet this is acceptable as all shots were within the 5 ring of the silhouette using either hand. No misses. (Note: standard B27 Silhouette targets are 50 yard targets that score the “X”, 9 and 8 ring as a 5, the 7 ring as a 4 and everything else as a 3, this is a standard law enforcement target, at least as used by my agency.)
Final word on shooting: The gun shoots much better than you would think. I’m so happy with it; I think I’ll get a second one in stainless. This gets a “Best Buy” rating from me and I only have given that rating to about 6 other guns. If you are debating a snub, debate no more. When compared with a Taurus 605, this one is a bit slicker on the trigger and is easier to pocket carry. My preference is for the 650 by about a yard.
Continues....
Today was another fine beautiful day at the range to punch holes in paper bad guys. After shooting about 100 rounds of full house .357 Magnum loads my last trip to the range, I shot some .38 Special out of it today, here are my observations.
1.) Fit, finish, trigger, ergonomics
This is a stock Taurus 650 .357 Magnum CIA, no frills, no muss. The bluing is on par with what you would expect from a Taurus, no gaps, fairly even bluing, all business. I’m not running to momma to show it off, but neither is it anything to be ashamed of. The trigger has a slight stack and then suddenly lets off, I really like that. It is not exactly easy to pull or stage (which a revolver shouldn’t be) and the trigger is smooth and what I would call quick, (for a revolver) since I pretty much do not anticipate when it will fire. This prevents me from flinching and helps with solid follow through on the trigger pull, I commit, then pull just like you should with a wheel gun.
The grips (stock Taurus rubber boot grips) were misaligned when I first got the gun, I took them off and took a very, very fine edged knife and trimmed them down evenly. I left a little roughing in the front which helps with holding on to the gun when dealing with the full house magnums. The grips were my only complaint, but after shaving them down and shooting it today, I’ve decided to stick with the factory grips for now.
The cylinder was as tight as a snare drum skin when I first got it, it wouldn’t budge in either direction. Since shooting the magnums it has the slightest bit of play, but not excessive, which is to be expected once a gun starts to get broken in a bit.
The empties eject promptly when striking the ejector rod smartly. I didn’t get any excessive hang-ups or shells sticking, not even when the gun got very hot, but since this is a J-frame gun, you do have to hit the rod smartly.
The front sight is a blued ramp style. I’ve decided after a little contemplation that I will paint it orange since I do have a bit of trouble seeing the front sight in low light and it’s nearly impossible to see in the dark. I will post a further report on that later.
Other than the above mentioned issues, this revolver is nearly perfect in every way for it’s intended purpose. Is it as slick as a Colt Dick Special or a Smith? It may rival the Smith (depending on year made) but it still doesn’t touch a Colt, but then a Dick Special isn’t something I would carry for personal defense. After all, if I had to use it and it was stuck in an evidence room somewhere for 2 years uncleaned with a case number engraved on it, I’d probably be sick. As for a Taurus, I’d just buy two for the price of a Colt.
Final word on fit and finish: Best buy, good workmanship and features and the best value for the dollar. It’s like a S&W but with an instant $200.00 rebate.
2.) Shooting
As before the trigger is surprisingly well done for a gun costing a little under $300.00. I have compared it with a Smith&Wesson and found the triggers to be very similar to one another. Personally I wasn’t blown away by either, but both were very manageable borderline good. I imagine if one were to polish up the trigger a bit, either gun would be slick as snot. I prefer the trigger stock with a little resistance.
Disclaimer: I am not a revolver shooter. I have owned just a handful of revolvers in my whole life and am not what you would call an aficionado of fine wheel guns. I like autos, will always carry an auto (except when described below) but the revolver fills a niche that no other gun will fill in my humble opinion. Thus my skills with a revolver are workmanlike and unpolished, I’m no Keith Elmer.
Shooting the .357 Magnums was at the high end of my tolerance level, border line painful which became painful after about 50 rounds. I believe that it is about like catching a line drive in little league, doable, but after about 50, it begins to get really old. The gun weighs 24 ounces and before shooting the magnums, I was contemplating trading “up” on an alloy framed .357 Ultralite, but after shooting it, I was thankful for every God given ounce of steel on that weapon. I do not advise going lighter for full house loads, head my advice and thank me later.
Upon shooting some WWB .38 specials the gun felt like a pussy cat. It just loved those rounds and I was grateful to feed it all it wanted. I was still ready to shoot after 100 rounds with no pain in my wrist or hand. I would say that it handles the target load .38 specials about like a Glock 17 handles 9mm, very similar recoil there. It wasn’t snappy; it wasn’t harsh or mean, it was smooth and graceful. Within short order I was making 30 foot headshots on a standard sized silhouette without a whole lot of time being used. I feel other people could do better with the gun than I could, but for a pocket pistol, I am elated about 30 foot head shots. How many head shots, you ask? 75 and I only dropped three of them off the head high and right, which were completely my fault because I started getting cocky and would fire off 5 relatively quick shots, about 1 a second.
Upon shooting strong hand only, I was able to make solid hits on the BODY of the silhouette as quickly as I could pull the trigger. We’re not talking surgical here, just center mass (ish) hits.
Upon shooting weak hand only (you do practice this right?) I was able to get center mass hits at about 1 shot per second, again, these were minute of torso and not “pie-plate” groups. At 30 feet this is acceptable as all shots were within the 5 ring of the silhouette using either hand. No misses. (Note: standard B27 Silhouette targets are 50 yard targets that score the “X”, 9 and 8 ring as a 5, the 7 ring as a 4 and everything else as a 3, this is a standard law enforcement target, at least as used by my agency.)
Final word on shooting: The gun shoots much better than you would think. I’m so happy with it; I think I’ll get a second one in stainless. This gets a “Best Buy” rating from me and I only have given that rating to about 6 other guns. If you are debating a snub, debate no more. When compared with a Taurus 605, this one is a bit slicker on the trigger and is easier to pocket carry. My preference is for the 650 by about a yard.
Continues....
