Taurus 650

[kngflp]

This morning I read the thread on how much everyone loves their S&W 642s, now an hour later I sit here dry firing a Taurus 650. My bank account is $260 less and I have a huge smile on my face.
I have always wanted a small revolver as a coat pocket gun and to load with snake shot when riding my bike in the river bottems.
I have never owned a revolver and my experience with them is limited. The grip feels great, the way it is contoured accomadates your pinky unlike small autos.
The trigger pull is a little heavy but I am used to DAO so its not a big deal, it is however smoother than I expected.
I am not a huge fan of bluing, but this bluing appears to be very nice.
I would have prefered it to be a 642 but I think it'll do just fine.

Oh being new to the revo club what needs oil/grease etc.?

 

[GlenJ]

Get ready for a lot of posts telling you how much better the S&W is. About the only thing i see better in a Smith is the pirice for the company owners. Congrats on the gun now all you need after mastering it is a CCW and a good pocket holster.

 

[MillCreek]

I have a stainless 650 and absolutely love it. What I like to do with all my new Taurus revolvers is this:

1. Remove the grip
2. In the top part of the grip frame you can see a opening up into the lockwork
3. I spray some gun cleaner spray up in there to flush out any debris or congealed lubricant
3. I then spray a small amount of BreakFree CLP up there and do about one hundred repetitions of dry firing
4. I then shake out the excess CLP and using a needle oiler, drop a few drops of Tetra in to lubricate the lockwork.
5. Replace the grips
6. Load up the snapcaps again and do a few hundred rounds of dry firing, and wipe off any excess lubricant that has worked its way out of the lockwork

I have found that this can really smooth out the trigger in a hurry. I also do a drop of lube where the cylinder crane meets the frame, on the ejection rod underneath the star, and up into the trigger mechanism.

I have handled and fired recent-manufacture models of a S&W 640 and 642, and am of the opinion that the Taurus trigger pull was actually better, at least after I did my clean and lube. If they ever come out with a 650 in titanium, I will buy one to accompany my 651 in titanium. They have a 850 in titanium and I am hoping for the 650.

 

[BryanP]

I don't own a 650, but I have nothing but good things to say about my 94, 617S and 66S. A 650/850 or a S&W 640/642 of some sort is on my list of things to acquire, along with a set of Crimson Trace grips to go with it.

 

[JimLally]

kngflp:

Enjoy the 650. I have the Taurus 617 stainless and the Taurus 651 blued. I love them both. I have a CCW permit and trust them both. (I also have a Taurus PT92AF (9mm), Taurus PT145 Millenium Pro, and an old Taurus .38 that I inherited when my Dad died a couple of years ago. Not a single problem with any of them.)

I have many 100's of rounds through my Taurus .357's without a single problem. Just keep them well maintained (cleaned and oiled after every range outing) and they will give you many years of service.

You did well!

Take care.

Jim

 

[SouthpawShootr]

I have a 650 in stainless and it's one of my favorite guns. I've always had a soft spot for the centennial design. Mine had functioned satisfactorily. Not quite as nice as my S&W 640 or 642, but this gun is well made and gets the job done. Mine was a nasty little cuss with full power .357 loads, though. I've mostly restricted 357 loads to carry and when I'm inclined to shoot this gun, I use a .38 Spl with a similar bullet weight.

Taurus is close to my heart for their continued manufacture of blued guns. I've always loved their high luster blue.

 

[Bandit01]

Dude, I love my Taurus 650. Here's the only problem with it. If you're not a reloader, shooting factory will hurt your hand. I'm a reloader and I've made some really great stuff to shoot. Now, I usually go through 200 rounds a week with it. Enjoy it. Personally, I've never gone through any problems with my pistol.

Good Luck!

 

[Diamondback]

You made a wise decision....your little Taurus 650 is a dandy little five shot and every bit as well made as a current production S&W J frame.....it's just that you saved yourself $100 ! enjoy your new cary piece...it is sure to serve you well. And thanks to Millcreek on his tips on how to quickly smooth out a trigger pull !

-Regards

 

[kngflp]

I am about to go out to shoot as we speak, my only complaints having not shot it are about the trigger. It is very smooth not gritty at all and I can barely feel the stages, when I do stage the trigger I find that the SA part of the trigger is very good. What springs would I need to change to achieve a lighter DA pull? Or would it be best to do a whole kit? Is this somthing that can be done at home or should it be trusted to a smith?
The other thing that bothers me is the actual shape of the trigger, it is flat and wide and the edge can really dig into my finger, is there any reason to not hit it with a dremel and reshape it a little?

 

[MillCreek]

On many of my new revolvers bought over the last few years, I have found the trigger edges to be too sharp. I 'break' the edges with some medium grit emery paper, and then polish the edges and the face with fine grit emery paper. This gives me a glass-smooth trigger on the face and edges, which keeps my finger from being sliced up!

In terms of swapping out the springs to achieve a lighter pull, one always runs the risk of lightening the pull so much as to not be reliable with primer strikes. In other words, you pull the trigger and the hammer does not fall with enough force to make the revolver go 'bang'. If you want to minimize this risk, a smith would be the ticket. I know of many people who swap out the springs themselves, test the gun thoroughly, and if it is not 100% reliable, go up to the next-heavier set of springs. This can take a little bit of time, and you could end up with some excess spring sets.

 

[kngflp]

Millcreek: Thanks for taking the time to give me such great responses, when I was oiling I went ahead and toook off the cover plate to see what was inside. While I was in there I cleaned and lubed.
What is the difference in emory paper and sand paper?

Thank you everyone for all of your responses I feel like I now have a new gun family.

I am still waiting for my girlfriend to get all dolled up for the range, I hope we get out sometime today!!

 

[MillCreek]

Hmmm, the difference between emery paper and sand paper. I had to think about that one a bit. My understanding is that emery paper/emery cloth has 'sharper' and more uniform abrasive particles for faster metal removal/polishing than does sandpaper. I believe this is the reason, in addition to longer-lasting abrasiveness, that emery paper/cloth is preferred in metalfinishing over sandpaper. If you get the emery cloth, as opposed to emery paper, the cloth is a bit more flexible and durable, and lends itself better to tight curves or confined spaces than the emery paper or sandpaper. Emery paper or cloth is commonly found in auto supply stores, paint shops and craft stores. For my metal polishing needs, I routinely use the 3M 240 (medium) and 320 (fine) emery cloth.

Now I must admit that Metal Finishing 101 is many, many years behind me, so if someone more expert than I can contribute on the emery vs. sand paper debate, please do so!

 

[kngflp]

Ok I shot finally got to the range, the gun is way more accurate in my hands than I had imagined.I ran some .357 and some .38 through it they were both range reloaded 125 jhp. Reading that the small j frames take some practice had me expecting little out of my first visit. I guess shooting a Kel Tec P-11 crossed over to this.

I had one problem, the first five I loaded seemed to catch after the first 2 rounds, the cylinder would not rotate. I unloaded the gun and reloaded and it happened again after the 5th round. After that it didn't happen again. the chambers were real tight and I usually had to pluck out spent brass.

 

[roo_ster]

Emery CLOTH, Sand PAPER.

I do believe the main difference is what the abrasive is glued to.

 

[kngflp]

Ok sorry to beat this dead horse of a thread but I have one more question for the wise ones. I now have the gun loaded with 130 grn 38+p, the rounds seem kinda loose. They move back little bit, is this because I have .38s in a .357? Could thid have caused my problem at the range with the cylander not rotating?

 

[MillCreek]

When you say 'the rounds move back a little bit', are you referring to the actual bullets themselves either seating deeper into the case or moving out farther from the case? Can you press down on the bullet with your hand and it moves deeper into the case? And what ammo brand are you talking about?

The reason I ask is that some ammo brands are notorious for not having a very tight crimp on the bullets, and under recoil, the bullets can actually start to creep out of the case, increasing the overall length, and sometimes dragging against the forcing cone. This can cause the cylinder to bind or lock up.

And when you shoot .38 special in a .357, since it is a shorter round in overall length, a small ring of residue is left in the cylinder chamber. This can cause difficult extraction. A quick swabbing out of the cylinder chambers to remove the residue will usually fix the problem.

So my guess as to your problem is that the .38 bullets were moving forward out of the case and this caused the cylinder to bind.

 

[kngflp]

Ok, at the range I was shooting the range reloads that are reloaded locally, everything was tight. Now I have some WWB loaded up, they seem loose, the just fall out without the use of the extractor. Maybe this is just due to better brass or the better cleaning I did after I shot the gun. When I say the rounds move I mean the whole cartridge slides back in the cylinder, you can't see it as much as you here it, sounds like rattle if you jiggle it. I know I should not be shaking a loaded gun but I was just curious if the cartridges should be perfectly snug.

Also has anyone tried the hogue grips for a S&W j-frame on the Taurus. I am really starting to become found of the bluing on this gun and think some nice wood grips would really work with it. I saw the section for the small frame Tauri but I want some boot grips.

 

[MillCreek]

So I just went to the gun safe and did an extremely scientific test, complete with hypothesis, theory and experimental data: I loaded up a SP-101, Model 60 (.38 only), Taurus 650 and 651 with first .38 and then .357 rounds (Speer, Federal and Remington) and gave them all a good shaking. All of them rattled upon shaking. The SP-101 sounded like a set of canastas. All of them, when loaded and the muzzle pointed upward, you could see the cartridge rim slide out a fraction of a millimeter for those chambers not in line with the barrel. All of them, when the cylinder was swung out and the muzzle pointed upward, the brass all slid out. This is no doubt due to clean chambers and nickel-plated brass.

My conclusion here is we are probably not talking about machining tolerances down to a millionth of an inch, with matching case dimensions, and that revolvers are probably going to rattle when shook. Some of my semi-auto magazines, when loaded and shaken, could easily substitute for the tambourine chorus in some of the 60's folk-rock songs.

In terms of the boot grips, be aware that although the grip frame for a J-frame Smith and a Taurus small-frame (Model 85) look to be similar in dimension, grips for one will generally not fit the other. The Taurus grip frame has a pin in a different location that does the Smith. There are several custom grip makers that make wooden boot grips for a Taurus. Craig Spegel and Eagle Secret Service grips come immediately to mind. I am sure that other readers here can recommend some grip makers. I myself am partial to rubber boot grips such as Butler Creek or Pachmayr, and have never had occasion to look into the custom wood grips.

 

[kngflp]

MillCreek,
Once again you have put me at ease. Thank you for taking the time out to do research. Everyone always rags on Kel Tec P-11s for their baby rattle like magazines. Canastas were the exact image I had but couldn't think of what they were called.

I to am quite found of hogue rubber grips I have them on all my autoloaders. I happened to see some nice wood grips for a j-frame for sale and was just curious.

I like the idea of the barami hip grips but the slick black plastic turns me off. Someone could easily machine a thin piece of metal to fit between the right grip and the frame that would come out and form a hip grip type clip.

 

[MillCreek]

I like the idea of the barami hip grips but the slick black plastic turns me off. Someone could easily machine a thin piece of metal to fit between the right grip and the frame that would come out and form a hip grip type clip.

Someone has! Although a little bit different from what you describe. Look here: universal ClipDraw

The FAQ on the website makes a point of stating that the J-Frame ClipDraw which attaches by screws will not work on a Taurus or Rossi since the S&W sideplate screws 'have unique thread patterns'.

I have often thought that a ClipDraw would be very practical for a stainless or polymer handgun since you would not be as worried about scratches or bluing wear.

 

[roo_ster]

kngflp wrote:

Ok, at the range I was shooting the range reloads that are reloaded locally, everything was tight. Now I have some WWB loaded up, they seem loose, the just fall out without the use of the extractor. Maybe this is just due to better brass or the better cleaning I did after I shot the gun. When I say the rounds move I mean the whole cartridge slides back in the cylinder, you can't see it as much as you here it, sounds like rattle if you jiggle it. I know I should not be shaking a loaded gun but I was just curious if the cartridges should be perfectly snug.

Factory ammo will almost always rattle if the chambers are clean. This happens with both my S&W686 & my Taurus 651 Ti. I suspect the reloads don't rattle because...they are reloads. The sizing die may "full length size" the brass, but it doesn't really do so all the way down to the rim. I learned this when reloading .357mag cases & tried stuffing them in a Dillion SAMMI min-spec case gauge. They fit fine in my 686's chambers (& in fact did the"canasta"), but could not be made to SAMMI min spec. The reloads you used are likely larger than factory & SAMMI spec near the rim.

Don't worry about it WRT the factory ammo. The reloads might be cause for some worry, if they get too sticky.