Cousin Mike
Member
A while ago I bought my first revolver – the Colt in my sig line. I’ve been wanting another revolver recently. This Colt is almost as old as my mama – and while it has character and a hell of a story attached to it now, it just wasn’t “doing it” for me anymore… I knew I wanted another revolver, but I wanted something more like a dream gun – something that looked and felt like it was made for me – and that is definitely not this old Colt. I’ve been thinking about selling it, but I was also thinking that maybe I’ll just give it to my pops. I think my gun obsession is rubbing off on him somewhat 
Recently I graduated from school, and as a present my family sent me some money. Enough money to buy a gun.
I decided that the graduation money would be spent on another revolver, a .357 or .44 Magnum - and wanted to see what I could find for what price (as I often do). I walk into my favorite local gun store here in Columbus, take a number, and wait to be ignored like I always am when gun shopping.
While waiting, I get into a conversation with someone (a serial collector – very nice guy with over 100 guns) about Makarov’s. We’re having a few laughs, and my number comes up – the salesman reluctantly walks over and asks what he can help me with. Well, since I had only been lingering around the counter for 45 minutes before being helped, I already had several guns picked out that I wanted to look at. All were .357 Magnums. The .44 Mag’s that they did have were not to my liking for one reason or another.
First I ask to see a very pretty (but very plain) 6-shot Smith & Wesson (forgot the model #) with a nice nickel finish and some plain black rubber grips. It had fixed sights, and a 4” barrel – and when I dry fired, OH BOY! The trigger is MUCH nicer than the trigger on my Colt in SA, and DA trigger pull was really nice also. Lockup was tight, cylinders line up perfectly when cycling, and she’s only $289 OTD. Not much not to like here, and I tell him to set that aside. At that moment, I am almost sure I am going to take this gun home, but I still have to look at the other two I had selected.
Next up was a Rossi 6-shot .357Magnum with an incredible deep-blue finish (one of the prettiest revolvers I have ever seen, seriously) and a 2” barrel. It’s got fixed sights, which are just okay. I love the way it looks, and it feels nice in my hand as well. It’s dirt cheap, and I’ve always been curious about Rossi revolvers. This one holds my interest. I like the sights, and I give it a dry fire. Wow! Almost as nice as the Smithy, just not quite as light a pull in SA. DA pull was sort of gritty. OTD for $200, NIB. I’ll pay $90 more for the Smith if I don’t like my 3rd choice. I tell him he can put that one back for now. If I don’t buy it today, I’ll come back later for it.
I notice my new buddy is watching.
Next up is (IIRC) an RSA Commanche II (might’ve been a III, I don’t remember) with a nice, solid black finish. I love the looks of it – it has adjustable sights and I believe a 7 shot cylinder. It has a somewhat tactical look, but it’s not tacky. I like it. I REALLY like it. I line up the sights and give her a dry fire.
I hate it. Put it back. This thing had a horrible trigger. It felt like there was sand in it – and it felt like a 32lb. trigger pull in DA. SA felt like 10 lbs. The salesman and my new buddy give a little chuckle at my disgust in the gun, and I ask to see the Smithy again. While I’m holding the gun and weighing my options, my collector friend looks over out of nowhere, and says:
“You’re lookin’ at .357 Magnums, right?”
I answer, “Yep… Why, you see somethin’ I didn’t?”
“Hell, I know what you want… You want the gun I traded in last week. Hey, (clerks name), show him that gun I traded in last week… The .357… you’re gonna love this one.”
I’m intrigued… I swear I scoured every inch of their revolver selection, and I didn’t see anything I liked the looks of. They had NO Taurus Trackers (which is what I originally wanted), their Taurus selection was incredibly expensive, and their Ruger’s were also obscenely priced. Like $600-for-a-GP-100-obscene. I looked at S&W’s in various flavors, and even the Rossi’s. They didn’t have much else that fit what I was looking for. But, sure enough, he pulls out this Taurus from under the counter that neither me or my girlfriend had noticed in nearly an hour of studying the counter displays. And my goodness, this thing is beautiful!
It’s a Taurus 608 with a matte stainless steel finish. 4” ported barrel, adjustable sights, and 8 shots (yeah… you heard right, 8 shots) of .357 Magnum. I freak out. I have been looking at Taurus revolvers non-stop for months, and somehow I had never come across the 608 model. And this thing is gorgeous! My new friend tells me that he’s a compulsive buyer – has over 100 guns of all types, and tells me about how he and his recently deceased dad constantly bought, sold, and traded guns of all kinds. He said that his dad was a S&W guy, but for the last 10 years or so, his father had never bought any other brand of revolver – they loved Taurus guns, and had never had a problem with any of the models they bought.
He tells me that this particular gun, he hadn’t even fired a 50-box of ammunition through. He was the first owner, and he reminds me about Taurus’ warranty. I am scrutinizing every inch of this gun, and I can’t find a scratch, the ports are clean, the gun itself looks completely new… I almost don’t want to, but I give her a dry-fire. I hate the thought that it might have a terrible trigger pull, and I might not want it if I dry-fire and find that such is the case. But I cock her back anyway, aim at the floor, and click!
Very nice! - maybe .5 lbs heavier than the S&W, but just as crisp and clean on the break. Amazing… But then the realization hits me, I’m about to buy a Taurus over a Smith & Wesson! What am I doing!? I look at the Smith & Wesson again. The nickel finish is scratched all to hell compared to this Taurus, which is virtually spotless. I give the Taurus a DA pull. Just as nice as the Smith. I look at the price tag. $350 will get me out the door with her. I notice there’s another young brother standing around watching. He looks over, and unabashedly says, “Nice one bro… You put that down and I’m pickin’ her up for sure!”
I give him a snicker… “Not today buddy!”
I reach in my pocket, pull out my cash and tell the salesman to ring me up. My ‘opponent’ congratulates me on a clean victory and a nice purchase. He’s off to look for his own deal. I tell him I saw a H&K USP40 at the front counter for $550 – he goes to investigate.
My new friend tells me that if I didn’t buy it, he would have bought it back for a 2nd time. This was not a consignment gun, and this guy was so obviously wealthy – I knew he was sincere. Not many people are friendly to me in gun stores (it’s an appearance thing, I’m convinced), and this guy was just open and talkative from the get-go. He re-assures me that I will love my new gun. He’s already right.
I buy some ammo - Remington UMC 125gr JSP’s, and 2 boxes of CCI 158 JHP’s - for target practice at the range the next day, and ask what they have in terms of super-hot SD loads. Of course, not much… 110gr. Cor-bon JHP’s, and something else in a funny weight I’m not familiar with. No Winchester Rangers, no Federal or Cor-bon 125gr. loads, nothing. I figure the 158gr.’s will work if I need them to, and plan on buying some hot HD stuff later on from Gander Mountain or Wal-Mart.
I go home. I can’t sleep. I wake up super-early the next day, and wait for the range to open. I pack up some .38spl. I have sitting around, and my new .357 ammo, and head off to the range to fire my new weapon. I wonder if it’s going to be accurate for me, and I’m also nervous about firing .357 Magnum again after all these years… But I’m ready and my girlfriend is also very excited to fire her first .357 Mag. This looks to be a great day in the making if everything goes right.
We get to the range, and it’s crowded as hell… Great! And now there’s some FNG (F***in’ New Guy) at the counter, and I don’t like the way this guy is looking at me already. I say hello to the other gentleman who work at my range, and we start talking while I fill out their little release form. The FNG starts eye-balling my firearm case in some weird sort of way, he looks like he wants to tell me something… I politely ask him what he’s looking at. He asks what kind of ammo I’ll be shooting as a response.
“Three-fitty-seven magnum… is that cool buddy?”
His face changes…
‘Awww sh*t.. What is it NOW?!’ I can’t help but thinking…
“Um, sir, we have restrictions about firing full-house .357 Magnum on our range, due to the level of noise it creates. We also have a prohibition on hollow-points or copper-jacketed ammo in that caliber. You’re not going to be allowed to fire that thing here.”
I look at him shocked… “Ya’gotta be f****in’ kiddin me.”
“No, sir, I’m not,” he assures me. “We DO reload for the caliber if you like, you can buy a box of our reloads. They’re lead rounds, and they're toned down quite a bit though for the convenience of the other shooters.”
I’m disgusted. And pissed. On their website it said they had restrictions against super-hot reloads in .357, .44 and .41 Magnum, but they don’t say that you can’t fire anything other than THEIR reloads…
“I’m alright buddy, I’ve got some .38Spl, I’ll just shoot that for today since I’m already here.”
This range is about 20 minutes out of town to the north. I live way out on the east side of the city. That’s too far of a drive to turn around and go home, but now I’m pissed. I’ve got half a mind to go in and fire .357 regardless of what he said, but I quickly decide against that and settle for a nice Saturday at the range with my girlfriend instead.
So, why did I shoot this thing better than any other gun I own? I shot better with this Taurus at 15 yards than I can with my Sig P220… And I am one HELL of a shot with my P220. This thing points almost effortlessly for me. The sighting is absolutely perfect! I’m just as good in DA with this thing as I am firing all my shots SA. I really can’t believe this is happening. I’m shooting a brand new gun better than a gun I’ve owned for almost a year now. Better than I’ve ever shot ANY gun, to be quite honest. At around 50ft., POI is about .75” high of POA – not bad at all if you ask me, but I’m no expert on these things. I know I could knock a fly off the wall with this thing one-handed with .38Spl loads.
The porting makes .38Spl MUCH softer than 9mm – I almost don’t know what to compare it to. I know that .357 will feel like .38 at best out of this thing, but I have yet to fire it – I’ll let you all know as soon as I do, but that crap at the range was completely unexpected. On the good side, I have 150 rounds of .357Mag ready to go to another range at some point this week. On the bad side, I still haven’t got to use it to it’s full potential yet, but the accuracy and function of this thing is amazing so far. I fired about 3 50-boxes of .38Spl, and have nothing to report in terms of failures, dud rounds, or anything else negative. This gun is a pleasure to fire. I think getting used to the porting is going to take a little while, but it obviously isn’t hindering my accuracy any.
I love every gun I’ve bought so far, but this is probably going to become my favorite gun VERY fast. My girlfriend loves it just as much. We can’t wait to fire some really hot .357 loads out of this thing, and I will make sure to let everyone know how that turns out. My groups were a consistent 2” at 15 yards – nice enough to earn me an invitation into someone’s shooting club! Very friendly guy I’ve seen at the range every once in a while complimented my group, and told me that I need to join his .22 pistol club. I told him I’d love to! This guy was SERIOUS, by the way – punching ragged holes in a 6” target at max distance, one handed… So I took an invitation from him as a serious compliment to my shooting. I’ll also let you guys know how that one turns out
Guess I can't get away without owning a .22 after all, huh? Anyways, back to the point...
All in all, the past couple of days have been very interesting, but I have a BEAUTIFUL new gun that I can’t put down. My arm is sore – not from shooting, but from handling it so much. It weighs about 44oz., very heavy weapon but I’m a big guy – big enough to carry this hogleg if I want to – and I’m sure I will. It functions perfectly. And 8 rounds of .357 Magnum is nothing to sneeze at!
However, finding a speedloader for this thing is proving to be virtually impossible. Anyone know where I can get one?! Anyways, this is already super long, so I’ll just thank you all for reading, and letting me share my gun buying experience with you good folks! Pictures coming soon! Anyone else own this model? How has it held up for you over the years?
Thanks again!
Mike
Recently I graduated from school, and as a present my family sent me some money. Enough money to buy a gun.
I decided that the graduation money would be spent on another revolver, a .357 or .44 Magnum - and wanted to see what I could find for what price (as I often do). I walk into my favorite local gun store here in Columbus, take a number, and wait to be ignored like I always am when gun shopping.
While waiting, I get into a conversation with someone (a serial collector – very nice guy with over 100 guns) about Makarov’s. We’re having a few laughs, and my number comes up – the salesman reluctantly walks over and asks what he can help me with. Well, since I had only been lingering around the counter for 45 minutes before being helped, I already had several guns picked out that I wanted to look at. All were .357 Magnums. The .44 Mag’s that they did have were not to my liking for one reason or another.
First I ask to see a very pretty (but very plain) 6-shot Smith & Wesson (forgot the model #) with a nice nickel finish and some plain black rubber grips. It had fixed sights, and a 4” barrel – and when I dry fired, OH BOY! The trigger is MUCH nicer than the trigger on my Colt in SA, and DA trigger pull was really nice also. Lockup was tight, cylinders line up perfectly when cycling, and she’s only $289 OTD. Not much not to like here, and I tell him to set that aside. At that moment, I am almost sure I am going to take this gun home, but I still have to look at the other two I had selected.
Next up was a Rossi 6-shot .357Magnum with an incredible deep-blue finish (one of the prettiest revolvers I have ever seen, seriously) and a 2” barrel. It’s got fixed sights, which are just okay. I love the way it looks, and it feels nice in my hand as well. It’s dirt cheap, and I’ve always been curious about Rossi revolvers. This one holds my interest. I like the sights, and I give it a dry fire. Wow! Almost as nice as the Smithy, just not quite as light a pull in SA. DA pull was sort of gritty. OTD for $200, NIB. I’ll pay $90 more for the Smith if I don’t like my 3rd choice. I tell him he can put that one back for now. If I don’t buy it today, I’ll come back later for it.
I notice my new buddy is watching.
Next up is (IIRC) an RSA Commanche II (might’ve been a III, I don’t remember) with a nice, solid black finish. I love the looks of it – it has adjustable sights and I believe a 7 shot cylinder. It has a somewhat tactical look, but it’s not tacky. I like it. I REALLY like it. I line up the sights and give her a dry fire.
I hate it. Put it back. This thing had a horrible trigger. It felt like there was sand in it – and it felt like a 32lb. trigger pull in DA. SA felt like 10 lbs. The salesman and my new buddy give a little chuckle at my disgust in the gun, and I ask to see the Smithy again. While I’m holding the gun and weighing my options, my collector friend looks over out of nowhere, and says:
“You’re lookin’ at .357 Magnums, right?”
I answer, “Yep… Why, you see somethin’ I didn’t?”
“Hell, I know what you want… You want the gun I traded in last week. Hey, (clerks name), show him that gun I traded in last week… The .357… you’re gonna love this one.”
I’m intrigued… I swear I scoured every inch of their revolver selection, and I didn’t see anything I liked the looks of. They had NO Taurus Trackers (which is what I originally wanted), their Taurus selection was incredibly expensive, and their Ruger’s were also obscenely priced. Like $600-for-a-GP-100-obscene. I looked at S&W’s in various flavors, and even the Rossi’s. They didn’t have much else that fit what I was looking for. But, sure enough, he pulls out this Taurus from under the counter that neither me or my girlfriend had noticed in nearly an hour of studying the counter displays. And my goodness, this thing is beautiful!
It’s a Taurus 608 with a matte stainless steel finish. 4” ported barrel, adjustable sights, and 8 shots (yeah… you heard right, 8 shots) of .357 Magnum. I freak out. I have been looking at Taurus revolvers non-stop for months, and somehow I had never come across the 608 model. And this thing is gorgeous! My new friend tells me that he’s a compulsive buyer – has over 100 guns of all types, and tells me about how he and his recently deceased dad constantly bought, sold, and traded guns of all kinds. He said that his dad was a S&W guy, but for the last 10 years or so, his father had never bought any other brand of revolver – they loved Taurus guns, and had never had a problem with any of the models they bought.
He tells me that this particular gun, he hadn’t even fired a 50-box of ammunition through. He was the first owner, and he reminds me about Taurus’ warranty. I am scrutinizing every inch of this gun, and I can’t find a scratch, the ports are clean, the gun itself looks completely new… I almost don’t want to, but I give her a dry-fire. I hate the thought that it might have a terrible trigger pull, and I might not want it if I dry-fire and find that such is the case. But I cock her back anyway, aim at the floor, and click!
Very nice! - maybe .5 lbs heavier than the S&W, but just as crisp and clean on the break. Amazing… But then the realization hits me, I’m about to buy a Taurus over a Smith & Wesson! What am I doing!? I look at the Smith & Wesson again. The nickel finish is scratched all to hell compared to this Taurus, which is virtually spotless. I give the Taurus a DA pull. Just as nice as the Smith. I look at the price tag. $350 will get me out the door with her. I notice there’s another young brother standing around watching. He looks over, and unabashedly says, “Nice one bro… You put that down and I’m pickin’ her up for sure!”
I give him a snicker… “Not today buddy!”
I reach in my pocket, pull out my cash and tell the salesman to ring me up. My ‘opponent’ congratulates me on a clean victory and a nice purchase.
He’s off to look for his own deal. I tell him I saw a H&K USP40 at the front counter for $550 – he goes to investigate.My new friend tells me that if I didn’t buy it, he would have bought it back for a 2nd time. This was not a consignment gun, and this guy was so obviously wealthy – I knew he was sincere. Not many people are friendly to me in gun stores (it’s an appearance thing, I’m convinced), and this guy was just open and talkative from the get-go. He re-assures me that I will love my new gun. He’s already right.
I buy some ammo - Remington UMC 125gr JSP’s, and 2 boxes of CCI 158 JHP’s - for target practice at the range the next day, and ask what they have in terms of super-hot SD loads. Of course, not much… 110gr. Cor-bon JHP’s, and something else in a funny weight I’m not familiar with. No Winchester Rangers, no Federal or Cor-bon 125gr. loads, nothing. I figure the 158gr.’s will work if I need them to, and plan on buying some hot HD stuff later on from Gander Mountain or Wal-Mart.
I go home. I can’t sleep. I wake up super-early the next day, and wait for the range to open. I pack up some .38spl. I have sitting around, and my new .357 ammo, and head off to the range to fire my new weapon. I wonder if it’s going to be accurate for me, and I’m also nervous about firing .357 Magnum again after all these years… But I’m ready and my girlfriend is also very excited to fire her first .357 Mag. This looks to be a great day in the making if everything goes right.
We get to the range, and it’s crowded as hell… Great! And now there’s some FNG (F***in’ New Guy) at the counter, and I don’t like the way this guy is looking at me already. I say hello to the other gentleman who work at my range, and we start talking while I fill out their little release form. The FNG starts eye-balling my firearm case in some weird sort of way, he looks like he wants to tell me something… I politely ask him what he’s looking at. He asks what kind of ammo I’ll be shooting as a response.
“Three-fitty-seven magnum… is that cool buddy?”
His face changes…
‘Awww sh*t.. What is it NOW?!’ I can’t help but thinking…
“Um, sir, we have restrictions about firing full-house .357 Magnum on our range, due to the level of noise it creates. We also have a prohibition on hollow-points or copper-jacketed ammo in that caliber. You’re not going to be allowed to fire that thing here.”
I look at him shocked… “Ya’gotta be f****in’ kiddin me.”
“No, sir, I’m not,” he assures me. “We DO reload for the caliber if you like, you can buy a box of our reloads. They’re lead rounds, and they're toned down quite a bit though for the convenience of the other shooters.”
I’m disgusted. And pissed. On their website it said they had restrictions against super-hot reloads in .357, .44 and .41 Magnum, but they don’t say that you can’t fire anything other than THEIR reloads…
“I’m alright buddy, I’ve got some .38Spl, I’ll just shoot that for today since I’m already here.”
This range is about 20 minutes out of town to the north. I live way out on the east side of the city. That’s too far of a drive to turn around and go home, but now I’m pissed. I’ve got half a mind to go in and fire .357 regardless of what he said, but I quickly decide against that and settle for a nice Saturday at the range with my girlfriend instead.
So, why did I shoot this thing better than any other gun I own? I shot better with this Taurus at 15 yards than I can with my Sig P220… And I am one HELL of a shot with my P220. This thing points almost effortlessly for me. The sighting is absolutely perfect! I’m just as good in DA with this thing as I am firing all my shots SA. I really can’t believe this is happening. I’m shooting a brand new gun better than a gun I’ve owned for almost a year now. Better than I’ve ever shot ANY gun, to be quite honest. At around 50ft., POI is about .75” high of POA – not bad at all if you ask me, but I’m no expert on these things. I know I could knock a fly off the wall with this thing one-handed with .38Spl loads.
The porting makes .38Spl MUCH softer than 9mm – I almost don’t know what to compare it to. I know that .357 will feel like .38 at best out of this thing, but I have yet to fire it – I’ll let you all know as soon as I do, but that crap at the range was completely unexpected. On the good side, I have 150 rounds of .357Mag ready to go to another range at some point this week. On the bad side, I still haven’t got to use it to it’s full potential yet, but the accuracy and function of this thing is amazing so far. I fired about 3 50-boxes of .38Spl, and have nothing to report in terms of failures, dud rounds, or anything else negative. This gun is a pleasure to fire. I think getting used to the porting is going to take a little while, but it obviously isn’t hindering my accuracy any.
I love every gun I’ve bought so far, but this is probably going to become my favorite gun VERY fast. My girlfriend loves it just as much. We can’t wait to fire some really hot .357 loads out of this thing, and I will make sure to let everyone know how that turns out. My groups were a consistent 2” at 15 yards – nice enough to earn me an invitation into someone’s shooting club! Very friendly guy I’ve seen at the range every once in a while complimented my group, and told me that I need to join his .22 pistol club. I told him I’d love to! This guy was SERIOUS, by the way – punching ragged holes in a 6” target at max distance, one handed… So I took an invitation from him as a serious compliment to my shooting. I’ll also let you guys know how that one turns out
Guess I can't get away without owning a .22 after all, huh?
Anyways, back to the point...All in all, the past couple of days have been very interesting, but I have a BEAUTIFUL new gun that I can’t put down. My arm is sore – not from shooting, but from handling it so much. It weighs about 44oz., very heavy weapon but I’m a big guy – big enough to carry this hogleg if I want to – and I’m sure I will. It functions perfectly. And 8 rounds of .357 Magnum is nothing to sneeze at!
However, finding a speedloader for this thing is proving to be virtually impossible. Anyone know where I can get one?! Anyways, this is already super long, so I’ll just thank you all for reading, and letting me share my gun buying experience with you good folks! Pictures coming soon! Anyone else own this model? How has it held up for you over the years?
Thanks again!
Mike
