I purchased a new 650 late last year. I've shot it infrequently over the last 4 or 5 months. The last time I took it to the range I noticed that occasionally the cylinder seemed to be dragging. I examined the gun which seems to have an extremely tight barrel/cylinder gap. I noticed some lead buildup and gave it a good cleaning. Today was the first time I have shot it since. Halfway through a cheap box of 38 Blazers (all lead) the cylinder seemed to start dragging again. There were a couple of instances when the trigger did not want to pull all the way to the rear and fire. Also on a couple of occasions the cylinder seemed to rotate in a very jerky motion (for lack of a better word), as if it were dragging and then letting go. It was not a smooth rotation. I'm guessing that all of this is probably a result of the tight barrel/cylinder gap. The gap is so tight that I can only see bright light through it at certain angles. Is this a good assumption, or could it be something more serious? Thanks for any feedback.
Problem with the 650 CIA
- Thread starter Doug S
- Start date
KEN CHAVEZ
New member
This is the very same reason I stopped using lead bullets about 15 years ago, and only use jacketed ammo in all my guns.
Handgun utility
Speaking for myself only, I won't keep a handgun around that won't handle lead- home cast. A person don't have to reach very far back to when primers were scarce, and I'm not quite willing to let the prevailing political climate dictate whether or not I have bullets.
Regarding your cylinder-drag problem, I have herd several folks bemoaning glitchy actions, etc. on their Tauruses. I've shot a few N frame Smith .357's with tight B-C gaps over the years that behaved similarly, but it was easy enough to isolate by simply cleaning the gun, and switching to jacketed bullets for awhile. In your shoes I'd isolate the problem, and if it's in the action I shuck that iron or get a refund from the boys from Brazil. Revolvers are great when they're reliable, and are trot-line sinkers when they are not.
Hope you get it ironed out-
Speaking for myself only, I won't keep a handgun around that won't handle lead- home cast. A person don't have to reach very far back to when primers were scarce, and I'm not quite willing to let the prevailing political climate dictate whether or not I have bullets.
Regarding your cylinder-drag problem, I have herd several folks bemoaning glitchy actions, etc. on their Tauruses. I've shot a few N frame Smith .357's with tight B-C gaps over the years that behaved similarly, but it was easy enough to isolate by simply cleaning the gun, and switching to jacketed bullets for awhile. In your shoes I'd isolate the problem, and if it's in the action I shuck that iron or get a refund from the boys from Brazil. Revolvers are great when they're reliable, and are trot-line sinkers when they are not.
Hope you get it ironed out-
It does look as if the 650 is in need of repairs. A tight cylinder would be nice, but I think there's more going on with this gun. I will be dropping it off at the dealers tomorrow for him to send back. I just hope it doesn't take the usual Taurus repair time. I used to be a big fan of Taurus, but the numbers seem to be turning against me. 5 Taurus handguns, 3 of which have had to go back to the manufacturer (1 twice). I may have to rethink my previous high opinion of Taurus.
Taurus QC problems..
My brother Jim, no 'babe in the woods' to heavy handguns himself, recently went through TWO M-44s in a matter of 45 days, because neither one would stay 'in battery' if fired with anything more potent than warm .44 Specials. I posted this info over on a big name wheelgun board some months ago and the response I got from the resident gunwriter was "All he needed was a new cylinder bolt spring". I replied no, all he needed was for a brand new gun, purchased at full retail, to work like it was supposed to on the first try.
These kinds of posts always draw a bit of derision from those who have have a good Taurus revolver and are amply satisfied with it; if you are among these lucky souls and are reading this, hang onto your Taurus and accept my congratulations. I think they are an innovative company with a lot of fantastic ideas, but in my opinion they seem to have forgotten the rationale behind the very market they are trying to get. DEFENSE guns have to WORK. Fine accuracy and good looks are splendid, but they are a distant second and third place in real-world snubnosed revolvers. I hope Taurus gets their act together; I'd buy one of their wheelguns in a second, if they were as good as their autos. I just can't afford to play the roulette wheel in hopes of getting a good one.
My brother Jim, no 'babe in the woods' to heavy handguns himself, recently went through TWO M-44s in a matter of 45 days, because neither one would stay 'in battery' if fired with anything more potent than warm .44 Specials. I posted this info over on a big name wheelgun board some months ago and the response I got from the resident gunwriter was "All he needed was a new cylinder bolt spring". I replied no, all he needed was for a brand new gun, purchased at full retail, to work like it was supposed to on the first try.
These kinds of posts always draw a bit of derision from those who have have a good Taurus revolver and are amply satisfied with it; if you are among these lucky souls and are reading this, hang onto your Taurus and accept my congratulations. I think they are an innovative company with a lot of fantastic ideas, but in my opinion they seem to have forgotten the rationale behind the very market they are trying to get. DEFENSE guns have to WORK. Fine accuracy and good looks are splendid, but they are a distant second and third place in real-world snubnosed revolvers. I hope Taurus gets their act together; I'd buy one of their wheelguns in a second, if they were as good as their autos. I just can't afford to play the roulette wheel in hopes of getting a good one.
Back in the 1980s I had a bad experience with a NIB Taurus snubby revolver. Right out of the dealers showcase it was defective and the cylinder wouldn't turn. I'm very comfortable around J frame Smith's, being that I'm a LEO Armorer. I told my friend the dealer, that I would look at his defective Taurus if he wanted me to, he said go ahead I've got to send it back anyway. When I removed the side plate, I was amazed at the Mickey Mouse lockwork that the gun had, I put the side plate back on and told him send this thing back to your distributor.
Well fast foward to about a month ago. One of my favorite places to buy guns is at Pawn Shops, due to the good deals that can sometimes be found in a Pawn Shop that you have fostered a good relationship with. Because hock shops like most other small business people, appreciate repeat customers. Well anyhow this shop had NIB Taurus Ultralite stainless Model 85 and I could buy it for $200.00 out the door, which I knew was a good price. But in the back of my mind was my experience with that Taurus back in the 80s. So being the smart Cop that I am, I came home and cranked up my trusty computer and I posed a question on all of my favorite gun boards on the web, including TFL. What I wanted to know was, "has Taurus changed their lock work on their new generation of revolvers to one which is like the J frame Smiths???" The answer that I finally received was no it's still the same as it used to be. I also received much information of a negative nature about Taurus revolvers, from dissatisfied current and former owners. Well armed with that information my final stop was my favorite gun shop, where I talked to ther owner who has been a friend of mine for well over twenty years. He told me about problems that he has had with the Taurus product, and that he has had to send many of them back to Taurus for warranty work. That cinched it for me and I decided that my next new backup gun was going to be the hardchromed Keltec P11 9mm that my buddy had in his show case. I bought it for $250.00 out the door and when I send it back to Keltec for a set of factory night sights, I will have my new backup gun. The Taurus was a very appealing looking handgun and if it weren't for my previous bad experience with one and the negative things that this generation of owners had to say about their products, I would own one today. But in retrospect, the P-11 makes much more sense for my applications since I now have a gun that has an ammo capacity of over twice what the little revolver offered, of a more potent 9mm +P+ round. I can say that the information that I received here and else where on the web, helped me make a considered and timely decision on whether or not to buy a particular gun and it came in very handy for me and I'll use this resource again in the future...
7th
Well fast foward to about a month ago. One of my favorite places to buy guns is at Pawn Shops, due to the good deals that can sometimes be found in a Pawn Shop that you have fostered a good relationship with. Because hock shops like most other small business people, appreciate repeat customers. Well anyhow this shop had NIB Taurus Ultralite stainless Model 85 and I could buy it for $200.00 out the door, which I knew was a good price. But in the back of my mind was my experience with that Taurus back in the 80s. So being the smart Cop that I am, I came home and cranked up my trusty computer and I posed a question on all of my favorite gun boards on the web, including TFL. What I wanted to know was, "has Taurus changed their lock work on their new generation of revolvers to one which is like the J frame Smiths???" The answer that I finally received was no it's still the same as it used to be. I also received much information of a negative nature about Taurus revolvers, from dissatisfied current and former owners. Well armed with that information my final stop was my favorite gun shop, where I talked to ther owner who has been a friend of mine for well over twenty years. He told me about problems that he has had with the Taurus product, and that he has had to send many of them back to Taurus for warranty work. That cinched it for me and I decided that my next new backup gun was going to be the hardchromed Keltec P11 9mm that my buddy had in his show case. I bought it for $250.00 out the door and when I send it back to Keltec for a set of factory night sights, I will have my new backup gun. The Taurus was a very appealing looking handgun and if it weren't for my previous bad experience with one and the negative things that this generation of owners had to say about their products, I would own one today. But in retrospect, the P-11 makes much more sense for my applications since I now have a gun that has an ammo capacity of over twice what the little revolver offered, of a more potent 9mm +P+ round. I can say that the information that I received here and else where on the web, helped me make a considered and timely decision on whether or not to buy a particular gun and it came in very handy for me and I'll use this resource again in the future...
7th
J.R. Bob Dobbs
New member
I'll only add that my 650 has been flawless. I've had very good (but not perfect) luck with Taurus guns. It's too bad that a significant number of Tauri seem to have problems that should have been caught by QC. Make 'em fix it!
The 650 was sent back today by the dealer. The dealer dry fired it a number of times and everything was working fine. I figure it must have something to do with changes tolerances once the gun heats up. I like the 650 and if it returns fixed I'll keep it, but I won't mess around with repeat trips back to the factory.