Range Report Taurus 650 CIA .357 Magnum

[alduro]

I posted this at THR, but for all you non-highroaders, I posted it here too. Heck if nothing else it'll help someone doing a search one day.


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Well I just came back fresh from the range with a brand new Taurus 650B CIA (the “B” meaning blue steel) .357 magnum.

The Gun

A basic no frills job in blue steel weighing about 24 ounces with 5 shot capacity on a J-frame. It is hammerless with one of the Taurus safety locks just above the grips and out of the way above the back strap so as I never once noticed it while shooting. The grips are the standard rubber pebble grips from Taurus and will soon be replaced with Pachmyer or Hogues as the factory grips have a rough seam down the front that gets irritating during shooting. The front sight is of course a fixed blade style sight and functions well for what it is.

The Ammo

A mixed bag of .357 Mag Golden Sabers and Hydrashocks both 125gr. And a couple of heavy 158 gr. Hydrashocks from WAY back (about 10 years old or more).

The Range

Indoor climate controlled well lit with the target being a standard silhouette style and a basic target with 3 inch bulls-eye. Shooting was between 15 and 20 feet (it is a snub after all). All shooting was done off hand with 2 slow deliberate 5 shot strings along with several quick 5 shot strings.

The Rest of the Story

So I load up this little unassuming monster, gun-snobs casting nary a glance at my little Taurus as they fire off their Colt’s, Glocks and Sigs around me. I plop 5 Golden Sabers into the gun, take aim and squeeze the trigger. The trigger is very smooth, much like the S&W revolvers that it patterns itself after; there wasn’t even a hint of grittiness.

The trigger slid smoothly back, the front blade sight on target when suddenly; “BOOM” a fire ball the size of a burning orangutan jumps out of the end of it. The concussion inside the little cubicle that surrounds the shooter was noticeable and I saw at least a couple shooters look down towards me to see what kind of fist artillery I was playing with. Surprisingly the recoil wasn’t as bad as I had anticipated (I had anticipated really it to be really bad). Soon I was shooting controlled pairs and quick five shots. Was I rapid firing like with my Glock 17? No, but I was able to place about five shots in 3 seconds without getting outside of the 5 ring on a silhouette, not bad.

I shot the gun one handed, albeit much slower with my strong hand and I was about at my limit for recoil. I switched to the weak hand and was above my limit for recoil as my hand became quickly fatigued. At 20 feet head shots were easily accomplished with concentration. I did notice that I had a tendency to pull my shots to the right, which is probably a combination of not being used to a DAO revolver trigger, small grips and catchers mitts for hands (I have larger hands). When shooting two handed the recoil wasn’t so bad that I couldn’t have finished about 300 or so rounds in one sitting (swelling will subside). This thing will be a real ***** cat with some .38 specials in it.

The accuracy was very acceptable, I placed multiple shots through a single ragged hole and I'm not much of a revolver shooter. The gun is more accurate than I am.


Overall given the cost of this gun and its performance I would have to say this gun gets a “best-buy” from me. Solid reliable and smooth, don’t expect any frills with the 650.

Carrying

Well I bought an equally thrifty Uncle Mikes IWB holster for this gun and dropped it right into my pants pocket. No sweat, the gun stays put, the holster breaks up the printing and it feels like I’m carrying a wad of keys around. At first I was concerned about the guns weight (prior to actually wearing it), since 24 ounces isn’t in the same neighborhood of the 12 ounce .38 special, but then I remembered that this was a magnum, not a .38. After shooting it, I was thankful for every precious ounce this gun had, but the gun balances so well, it doesn’t feel like it weighs 24 ounces. Just for a quick reference, a fully loaded Glock G26 9mm weighs about the same, give or take an ounce and I’ve never heard anyone complain about carrying a G26 as being heavy.

I’ve carried the 650 for 3 days now in my right front pocket with no trouble. I’ve even used it as a BUG to my standard Glock 23 .40 and didn’t feel like Pancho Villa. I just drop the 650 in my pocket, move all the keys, wallet, etc to my left pocket and I feel very balanced without my pants falling down and I wear my pants LOOSE like most young guys. For IWB carry the gun simply vanishes. It carries so well that the only other thing like it is a Glock G26.

The Myth of the Snub Magnum

Now I’ve been told by many gun-shop gurus that the snub magnum is just all powder flash and no velocity. That the gun simply becomes a hot .38 special at higher velocities. Upon performing a bit of research, partly through Chuck Hawks http://www.chuckhawks.com and a few other sources and have come to find that the 2 inch snub magnum is still a magnum. The .38 special coming out of a 2 inch barrel at about 950 FPS (feet per second) doesn’t even hold a candle to the .357 coming out of the same gun at 1250 FPS. Does that guarantee the venerable “one shot stop”? Of course not, shot placement, not caliber dictates that, but the magnum will do it’s thing if the shooter does his/her part and I just don’t feel like carrying a mouse gun auto when I could carry the magnum for roughly the same weight and size.

Conclusion

If you need a small but powerful pocket pistol I recommend a Taurus 650 be given at least a second look. It shoots the inexpensive .38 special target rounds, it will shoot the hottest .38 special +P or +P+ defensive rounds and if your up to it, the Holy Grail of defensive rounds, the .357 Magnum 125 gr. without undue hardship and pain on the shooter that some of the alloy frame revolvers produce. At under $300.00 (if you look), you’d be hard pressed to find better.

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[alduro]

Taurus 650 Range Report #2 (after owning and carrying it a while)


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. Before I wrote I could take up to probably 300, which is physically possible, but I'd need a bucket of ice afterwards. 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 ***** 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.

3.) Carry

I bought a snub for 3 very good reasons. First, it makes a great pocket pistol for when running to the corner store and I don’t want to “gear up” with all my crap. Secondly, I will carry it as a BUG (backup gun) for those times that duty would necessitate that as prudent action or when traveling to areas of town where everyone should be issued at least a 12gauge, which every city has that area. Thirdly, it doesn’t jam; getting one of these to malfunction would take major abuse or a manufacturer error. If I ever have to access the BUG feature of this, it is very likely I will have limited strength from fatigue or injury, possibly may only have the use of one hand, not necessarily my strong hand and I may limp wrist the crap out of the gun because of all this; or I may have to jam it firmly into some scumbags ribs as hard as I can and pull the trigger multiple times while he is on top of me. A BUG should be unbreakable, it’s your LAST CHANCE TO SURVIVE, and though I like my Glock 26 a lot, it won’t do all that.

As for pocket carry, it fits in my duty trousers or pants front weak or strong side pocket. I could be standing in line for food or talking to you face to face with my hand on my gun ready to go and nobody is the wiser. It’s instant, it’s fast, it’s entirely practical, but it’ll never make the cover of a S.W.A.T. Magazine with a sexy flashlight next to it, but as the French say, “who gives a rip”. (Much luv to SWAT mag).

The gun weighs 24 ounces, which is about equivalent to a fully loaded Glock 26 subcompact 9mm. They are almost identical in this respect, it carries IWB very well, and is not intrusive on my (not so thin) waistline, but I prefer pocket carry for the above reasons.

As for myy last reason for getting a snub to carry as a BUG and corner store gun, if I only get 5 rounds between me and the Almighty, make them .357 Magnum 125 gr. Gold Dot or Golden Saber, nobody can argue with their track record in the field and I will likely be shooting at the “officer fatality range” of less than 10 feet. We’re talking bad breath range where skills and accuracy won’t save you, alertness and speed will.

My final word on carry: One of the easiest guns on earth to carry. Any smaller or lighter, it wouldn’t be capable of what I want it to do. It carries like a big mouse gun, but shoots like a field artillery piece. I think I’ll name it “the Noisy Cricket” after Will Smith’s famous pocket piece in Men in Black. I cannot recommend this gun enough.

Cheers, Alduro

[pt100]

Dude , i know what you mean! , i love mine, it carries NICE! it is just so convienient and lethal, I now give no credence to all the Taurus stories, Corbon is coming out with a middle pressure .357 DPX round that should work out NICELY I carry mine everywhere and wouldnt trade it for the world.

[denfoote]

Except for the concealed hammer, you have just described my 605!!