I don't currently own a revolver, outside of 1 45acp 1911 I only have 9mm pistols.  I used to own a Taurus Model 82 but sold it because I wanted a 4" full lug SW 686 in 357mag.  I never bought the 686...  anyway, there is someone local to me selling a Taurus model 66, 4" gun with ramped front sight for $350.  Are they relatively trouble free, or is it a crap shoot?

I generally stay away from Taurus guns, but looking at pricing it is considerably cheaper than a S&W.  Is the S&W worth the premium?

Update:
I bought a Pre-Lock SW 686 on Gunjoker.  I was the only bidder, so I do wonder if I overpaid, auction ended at $600.
https://www.gunbroker.com/Item/1044421282

Is it an older Model 66, or the newer Model 66? (Is it a 6-shot or 7-shot?)

The older Taurus revolvers, from the 80's and early 90's, are great guns.

Garbage imo. I'll never own another. I bought 2 on a deal from a distributer(I had an FFL) and gave one to my son. One went to Florida once for warranty and the other went twice(front sight blew off, cylinder fell out of one while shooting as well as frame cracking issues). I had a hard time with getting a hold of anyone that could speak good enough English to get updates. It was a terrible experience but, I will say that I eventually got them back so that I could sell them as fast as I possibly could. Never again.

7 shot.

Thanks.  Sounds like the S&W may be worth the extra

My BIL loved his Tarus revolver.  It was his walking around gun.  He used it at the range regularly with no problems.

I have picked up three of the recent made ones, so far so good.

Attached File


I shoot this one about every weekend

Fooled me once.

Mid nineties, 7 shot titanium .357 snubby.

Shot four feet high and left at 15 yards.

At least it did before the cylinder locked up.

Good luck.

Never had any issues with my 608.

regular revolver line has quality issues.  The Raging bull series is good to go.  I have one in 454 and never a problem.

Yes, S&W is worth the extra cost.

My Taurus 38spl. I purchased in the 90's while not a target gun has always goes bang.

Not as refined as S&W but zero issues with several current production models

Probably has the heaviest trigger in the world.

Owned three or four over the years.  Not my first choice but I’ve never had any problems.  None have ever gone for repair.

I just picked up a used 66 6 inch that I think was made in 2013 for $350.00. It shoots well and I like it. I do like my 586 better but for a third of the cost I would definitely buy another one.

I own no Taurus revolvers and I own a LOT of S&W's, get the M66.

Yeah, that's a newer Model 66. I have a hard time trusting anything built by Taurus after the early 90's.

The older ones are great looking. My brother had two. I bought a 441  44 Sp and its an unbelievably great gun and as good as a Smith although I wouldnt overload it too often as this is common knowledge

Every friend that has owned one has sold it due to reliability issues.

Fit and finish so so.
Trigger heavy yes.
Goes bang everytime.

To my way of thinking a double action revolver is all about the trigger . You might find the odd Taurus with a decent trigger but odds are against it. if the trigger only rates "not too bad" it is going to be not so good.

Aftermarket grips are going to be a PITA to source at best.

Price point is somewhat low (for good reason?) but resale value is grim.

Friend of mine ran a small local gun store about ten years back and he spent a fair amount of time shipping guns back to Taurus for repair and about half the time they needed more than one try to get anything fixed .


Some folks roll the dice and are happy but I do not recommend.

Friends don't let friends buy Taurus

Their executive grade guns have excellent triggers.  

Their other guns need to be taken apart and working mechanisms totally cleaned and lubed.  Doing that seems to really help the DA trigger pull.

I had a 65 back in the late 90s, was an excellent revolver. The only one I have now is a Judge as a snake gun. The finish is very cheap, Parkerized I think, but the trigger is excellent, DA is very easy to use. For what we use it for, it works just fine.

get the 686

I liked the Tracker 44mag I had, although it never saw a high round count it always did what was asked of it I'd have another one.

Yep. Had one for a long time.

Old WW2 vet and gunsmith I knew called them South American Smith and Pissan.

The older ones/models were great. I bought a new one from a dealer online and when I received it, it was made all wrong. The frame was cut/formed wrong in that the top strap/grooved sight was off to the left quite a bit from the barrel and you could not use it for aimed shots. How do they make something that bad? I will say I am impressed with their PT92 and their G2C pistols, as the ones I had, you could not kill them.

This has been my experience with 4 or 5 that I have owned.

Never had issues with them as a (very) light duty revolver.  They can be had incredibly cheap to the point of practically being disposable.

Had an older .38 years ago and it was fine, as was a .22lr Tracker I had about 10 years ago.

I've read about the hit or miss quality control on here and other places.  Guess I got lucky.

I learned what the much touted Lifetime Warranty was worth 30 years ago.
My Model 66 ejector rod would not snap in to the spring loaded retainer in front of it. Took a separate push on the rod to latch it after the cylinder was closed and latched in.
The Taurus factory repair station gunsmith said the gun was past it's lifetime and refused to repair it under warranty. It had about 300 rounds thru it.
I sold the piece of junk and never spent another dime on Taurus.

Passed its lifetime, lol.  What a shitty thing to say to a customer about a lifetime warranty.

I guess their definition of the "Lifetime of the weapon" meant until it broke, then, Lifetime over.

I guess so.

Older Taurus revolvers are a mixed bag. Some were great guns and some were not. Taurus obviously had marginal quality control and, while S&W parts are easily sourced, Taurus parts aren't. If a Taurus checks out, there is not much that would keep me from buying one.

They are easy to work on and are traditionally made guns with Brazil known as a top steel manufacturing country.

Thanks all for the replies.  I'm passing on the Taurus

I never owned one but have shot couple back in the 90’s that were my friends.  Fit and finish was okay but not as good as S&W but they all worked okay.  Accuracy was not as good nor was the action as smooth.  The biggest issue was the double action trigger was very heavy.

THIS  … plus considered it value-added if you can find a S&W M66 that’s pre-Hillary Hole.

This. A lot of countries used them as cop guns.

I have owned two Taurus 357 revolvers and got rid of both of them, cylinders were not locking up.

Never got rid of any of my model S&W model 66s.

I've owned several Taurus revolvers over the years.  One could say I have been fooled a couple of times.

1- 668 (maybe?), this was in 1994, so I don't remember the model number for sure.  It was a 4" .357 with adjustable sights and a ported barrel.  It was terrible.  It looked nice, but it was impossible to zero, never hit the same place twice.  I was new to handguns at the time, it was my second handgun (the first was another early 90's classic poor/new guy choice, a Ruger P91DC).  So, being new, I thought it could just be me.  I had several other experienced handgun shooters shoot it and they couldn't get it to hit the same place twice either.  It was 30 years ago, so I don't recall now what I did with it, but I got rid of it somehow.

2- 85CH in stainless.  This gun was fine, nice trigger, reliable, hit point of aim.  I had it for a while, then sold it to a coworker who wanted an inexpensive gun for home/self-defense.  I took him to the range, he shot it, he liked it, he bought it.  I hope he is still out there somewhere shooting and enjoying it.  

3- 431 (maybe, fixed sight, 5 shot blued .44 Special).  I bought this one used at a pawn shop in 2008 or 2009.  It worked fine and I enjoyed it, but I ended up trading it for something else eventually, I don't remember what.  I should have kept that one.

4- 327 blued in .327 Federal.  This one was awful, wouldn't get through a whole cylinder without locking up, light striking, or having some other problem.  It was so bad the shop I bought it from took it back for a full credit and I got something else (I don't remember what now).  This was sometime between 2009 and 2012, whenever the 327 first appeared in the Taurus lineup.  I should have learned my lesson there.

5- 327 Defender TORO 3" .327 Federal.  I just got this gun last month.  I bought it because I wanted to try a revolver with an optic and the "buzz" about Taurus has been that they have gotten their act together in the last few years.  It was pretty inexpensive, so I figured I would give them another chance more than a decade later.  I shouldn't have bothered.  The gun seemed fine when I picked it up at the dealer with a little dry firing before doing the 4473.  However, when I got it home after a little more dry firing the gun suddenly went out of time.  Every 4-6 trigger pulls a chamber would fail to line up with the hammer so badly that the pin would strike between chambers.  I never even got to shoot it before I had to send it back.  It is back at Taurus now.  I figure I am probably stuck with it, it won't have any resale value being both a Taurus and a .327 Mag.  Maybe they will be able to fix it.  Even if they can, the trigger was pretty lackluster even compared to a current S&W J-frame and the finish is garbage.  Assuming it returns fixed, maybe I can find someone who will give me $250 or a case of 9mm ammo for it.  I will not be fooled by Taurus again, for anything, no matter what the internet says.

I really like the .327 and I really wanted to like the Taurus.  Lipsey's has a gun listed on their website, a 3" LCRx in .327, that will fill the role of the 327 Defender nicely (except for being optics ready) assuming it is eventually released.  Right now the link exists but there isn't a picture, indicating it isn't ready for market yet.

-My Cylinder locked up during dry fire of all things.
-Cylinder Notches peened pretty quick. Soft metal?
-End Shake and Lock Up was terrible.
-Customer Service was useless.

I agree.

Generally if you buy Taurus, the money you save could have went toward better quality control and CS.

Buying a Ruger or S&W is worth the extra cost for the warranty alone.

I had a blued 4" 66 in the late '80s that was very nice. Traded it for some long forgotten something.

Not really. Go read the "new 686 plus issues" thread. I'm just about done buying S&Ws.

I had one snubby that first broke the hammer spur while shooting. It was fixed under warranty then the trigger broke.

Then I had a blued k frame sized one that failed to fire once during a suicide attempt (thank God)

I won't touch them anymore

Update in OP

Overpaid? Shit, you got a great deal. The 686 is one of the finest duty revolvers ever built.

Thanks.  With no other bidders I wondered if I was missing something that everyone else noticed.

Let me put it this way. If I'd seen that auction, I'd have likely bid against you.