Taurus 85?

[SpookyPistolero]

There's a sale going on at a nearby store and I was considering picking up one of these as a pocket gun. My CCW is a G19, this would be an alternative for certain situations.

A family member owned one of these years back, and it was a reliable little bugger. Accurate enough for its purpose IIRC.

But an 'n' of 1 is not a terribly good sample size.

Anyone else have one of these and use it regularly? Is there a fair consensus on these regarding reliability?

[Please save the 'crap from Brazil' generalizations.]

[ra2bach]

friends don't let friends, shoot Taurus...

:p

[mpd046]

I carry an ultra lite as a backup gun. I wanted a revolver for a backup gun and I didn't have much of a budget for it. It fits in the cargo pocket of my 5.11 duty pants. I've carried it for about 3 or 4 years now. It's got less than 200 rounds of .38 through it. I also use it as a "bad guy" gun when I run Simunition classes. It's got 300 - 400 rounds of .38 sims through it. It seems to be holding up well. I haven't noticed any problems.

The sights are almost non existant. It's got a heavy trigger, and anything over 25 yards is tough with this snub nose. It's not my favorite gun, I'm not sure I even enjoy shooting it. But it serves a specific purpose for my needs.

Matt

[ST911]

Taurus is very hit and miss. I've seen some good, and some bad. They are better than others, but they aren't a S&W, Colt, or Ruger.

If you buy one, recommend you dry fire it a lot. After the parts wear in a bit, check total function. Most will benefit from a little trigger work and/or a spring kit.

[gunnut284]

I have an 85UL that works fine. On the other hand I recently researched snubbies for a friend and found that the Taurus models were generally only a bit less than a similar model S&W. For less than $100 difference I would get the Smith.

[ghettomedic]

I personally think Taurus REVOLVERS, not semi-autos, are GTG. MY first carry gun was a Model 85, never gave me any problems.

That being said, a S&W 442/642 makes a MUCH better carry piece for a ~25% price increase.