Raging Thirty: who knows the deal?!

S

Sevens

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The Taurus .30 Carbine chambered double action revolver. Big long barrel, gaudy vent rib, nice brushed stainless finish.

I run searches on these here on TFL, on Gunbroker, and simply on Google.

They definitely exist, and a couple people have even reported that they own them.

What's the story on the production of these?
When were they introduced?
When did Taurus cease production?
Any idea why they ended them?
Even a casual educated guess as to how many made it to the market?

Sure, it's a modern Taurus, and I think you'd need to inspect one hands-on before you could get on board with one, but man, I've never even seen one.

Yeah, I'm thinking I'd buy one of these. It's probably a nightmarish headache to extract/eject brass from the cylinder, but I'm a masochist. I like goofy stuff, especially when "loud" and "fireball" are character traits.

Who has experience with 'em?
Anyone ever see these oddballs for sale?
 
Anyone ever see these oddballs for sale?
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I was under the impression they never made it to market, but I could very well be wrong.

.30 pistols aren't unheard of. There's the old AMT AutoMag, and Ruger still makes their Blackhawk for the cartridge every now and then.

That said, factory loads are nothing impressive from a pistol-length barrel. Reloaders can do some neat stuff with it, though.
 
Haha, yes, I know how the round runs. I have the 7.5" barrel Blackhawk. Ballistics absolutely are impressive, when all you truly ask from it is:
--cool gun
--goofy, oddball round
--huge fireball
--big concussion
--flat shooting
--low recoil
--on-target accuracy
--big wide grin

So I'm not really dwelling on whether or not I want to own a .30 Carbine chambered handgun -- I already do.

I just want to know if anyone knows much about the Raging Thirty. A couple people actually own these, but it almost sounds like you can count all the owners on one hand.
 
as the owner of a Raging Hornet... I always wanted one... even looked long & hard when they were 1st announced, my intention was to use for a custom gun, but I also have an Automag 3 & had a Blackhawk ( changed it over to 45 Autorim )... yep I like goofy guns as well, but could never find one, even ( also ) have it as a regular search on Gun Broker...

a true white elephant... I've never seen one either
 
raging bull came out originally designed for 500 sw magnum. then it was chambered in 44 magnum and 454 casull.

in the 2000 and 2001 catalogs you will see a caliber list that includes 22 hornet 218 bee 30 carbine and 500 sw and 44 mag and 454 casull. sometime between 2001 and 2002 these calibers dissapeared.

ive seen reviews adn they were LOVED. Who wouldnt love 30 carbine in a 12 inch barrel/
 
Given that I have the Blackhawk (7.5") barrel, I can't say I'd be drawn to the Raging Thirty because of it's crazy-long 10-inch barrel. And though the 10-inch barrel WOULD up the performance of the round, I would find it unwieldy and a bit silly looking. (gotta admit that I do like a little "crazy" tho)

What has me so interested is that it's double action. That I could shoot it double action (which I -MUCH- prefer over single action) and with a double-action shaped grip & frame (which I prefer) and perhaps more so, that I could swing out the cylinder to kick out the empties, rather than the typical single action motion that has me moving the cylinder a smidge, pushing the ejector, rinse/wash/repeat.

I stumble across one of these for rational dough, I'm bringing it home.
 
the 30 would balance much better than the 218 or 22 Hornet, but still be muzzle heavy... I got so I didn't like shooting my Hornet, as with the 10" barrel, tiny bore, & full underlug, it was very muzzle heavy, & the reason I grafted the 6" Dan Wesson barrel shroud to the gun... it's a much more appealing piece with less muzzle heft... everything is still stock on the base gun, so I could screw the 10" pipe back on, if I wanted...

probably a good thing I didn't find a 30, as I wanted one for a custom project, & they are so rare ( if they've even been produced... I've never seen an actual gun, or a picture taken by someone that owned one )
 
Guns in that caliber might get a new lease on life if a large stash of the ammo would suddenly surface from wherever it must be hiding.
Considering how much of it must have been made for the military carbine, there must be plenty of it somewhere.
 
Some may not realize but Ruger chambered the Blackhawk for .30 Carbine and marketed it before they -EVER- made and sold a .45 Colt chambered Blackhawk.

Quite simply, it was because the .30 Carbine milsurp ammo was widely available and cheap. That was in the late 1960's, I think, so while there must still be some .30 Carbine ammo stored somewhere, I really doubt someone is going to unearth a giant gold mine of the stuff today. I would think much or most of it has been shot up or pulled down or otherwise exhausted or consumed.
 
F.M. thanks for the links... only pics I'd seen previously were related to Taurus ( like demo pics ) still would be interested to know how many they made, & even though my tastes have changed, I'd love to run across one...

I wonder how the extractor worked... & if it had issues, may have been why they were quickly discontinued... now that I think about it, didn't they use moon clips ??? I think I saw moon clips for sale somewhere for the Raging 30...

I know they made a lot more of the Hornets, but they are still pretty rare... still have never seen a .218 Bee in person yet either...

I think their most popular ( or at least highly produced ) must surely be the 454 Casull ???
 
I have seen the Raging Hornet out in the world, even spotted one used. I got kinda giddy walking up to it, thinking or hoping it would be the Raging Unicorn, err, Thirty.

As for moon clips, I don't think so...
But one thing that most .30 Carb handgunners usually agree on is the the round is a...bit of a PITA to deal with in cylinders. In the Blackhawk, the tapered case simply gives a lot of grief, especially if you try to run the loads on the warmer side. (I'm -NOT- talking about "HOT" loads and crazy stuff, I'm talking about solid, near-yet-under max loads) I don't have a hard time imagining that that Taurus couldn't make it work extremely well and with constant EASY ejection, and perhaps that is why they shut down the idea.
 
its been some time but i believe they dropped everythign but the 454 and the 44 mag raging bulls because they werent selling enough, and they wanted to divert production capacity to the cowboy handgun and rifle line.
 
I know they made a lot more of the Hornets, but they are still pretty rare... still have never seen a .218 Bee in person yet either...
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I want to say it was about 1995.... (could be off a few years)
I walked into a local Police Supply / Guns & Ammo / Firearms Training establishment with my father, and they had their new shipment of the Super Duper Raging Taurii on display.

We fondled the Raging Bull, Raging Hornet, and Raging Bee for a while, before moving along. The "little" .22s were stupidly muzzle heavy - like hanging a rifle off the end of the revolver.
I've seen several Raging Hornets since then, but never another Raging Bee.

If it will help you feel closer to your unicorn, I'll let you touch a hand that has held a Raging Bee. ;)
 
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