Taurus 686 help

V

v350

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Hi everyone. New to the forum and have a question. I am venturing to my first centre fire hand gun. I have got a Taurus 686 .357 on it's way. (a decent enough starter gun so I have heard, plus it was the right price for me!) I shoot regularly at my shooting club, but only have a couple of .22 pistols at the moment.

Is this a .357 magnum? I've also hear that people use .38 special rounds. What do I need to look for when I buy my first lot of ammunition for this revolver and what works best.

Thanks for any help.

Sorry, it is a Taurus 689
 
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yeah, I was looking at a few different things before I posted. I edited my original post saying it was a Taurus 689.
 
Taurus isn't showing a 689, in their current catalog, or discontinued guns. you might want to make sure what you bought before buying ammo.
 
Taurus does make some .357 medium frame revolvers that are model numbered either 65 or 66. They also make some snubs model numbered in 60.

Your guess is just as good as mine. Any model starting with a 6 appears to be a .357 but with Taurus, you never really know.
 
Taurus did make a Model 689. I have one...>

As far as I know it has been out of production for some years. Swing the cylinder out and the model number should be stamped inside the area where the crane fits. Pic of my 4 inch model 689 below.

Yes, this is a .357mag revolver, and can also shoot .38 spl rounds. If you use .38spl rounds, which have cases that are slightly shorter than the .357mag cases, you may encounter fouling at the front of the chambers that can then cause the longer .357mag cases to stick and be hard to extract. This is an issue encountered with many .357mag revolvers. I find that a throrough cleaning of the chambers after shooting .38spls keeps this at bay.

My Model 689 has performed well.

​
 
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Ah yes the vented rib stage. late 80"s early 90's when they started that, not sure when they stopped making that model.
 
Yes it's a .357 magnum (I had a blued model when they first came out) so that means it can also fire .38 spl. As to what ammo works best you will have to do some experimenting. All guns are individuals and can be choosey about what it likes. So before you go out and buy a large quantity of ammo do some testing first.
 
Something to consider with the Model 689...>

...is that it is a medium frame size equivalent to the Smith & Wesson K-frame revolvers, (and will accept K-frame speedloaders). The K-frames are basically .38spl frames beefed-up to handle the .357mag rounds, but from what I have read they were never intended to handle a steady diet of full-power .357mag loads. S&W developed the larger L-frame guns for that. However, I expect that unless you shoot a heck of a lot of hot .357mag rounds this would likely not be much of an issue, just something to be aware of.

On the matter of suitable ammo, I really don't know. It's not something I have tested with a wide variety of loads. The revolver should handle any normal factory loads. I have used both Remington/UMC 125gr JKTD SP & Winchester 125gr Super-X JHP .357mag. These produce quite sharpish recoil and flash in the 4 inch gun. The rest of my shooting has been with various .357mag & .38spl reloads. I prefer shooting .38spls.

​
 
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Sometimes it helps to go to the source. Here's some links of 669/689 revolvers and the ammo section as well.
http://www.taurusarmed.net/forums/index.php?topic=5747.0
http://www.taurusarmed.net/forums/index.php?topic=1471.0
http://www.taurusarmed.net/forums/index.php?topic=6520.0
http://www.taurusarmed.net/forums/index.php?topic=775.0
http://www.taurusarmed.net/forums/index.php?topic=5344.0
http://www.taurusarmed.net/forums/index.php?topic=945.0
http://www.taurusarmed.net/forums/index.php?topic=1098.0
http://www.taurusarmed.net/forums/index.php?topic=2822.msg20831#msg20831

http://www.taurusarmed.net/forums/index.php?topic=2805.0
http://www.taurusarmed.net/forums/index.php?topic=791.0
http://www.taurusarmed.net/forums/index.php?topic=2132.0
http://www.taurusarmed.net/forums/index.php?topic=2661.0
http://www.taurusarmed.net/forums/index.php?topic=2349.msg17014#msg17014

http://www.taurusarmed.net/forums/index.php?topic=3192.0
http://www.taurusarmed.net/forums/index.php?topic=3592.0
http://www.taurusarmed.net/forums/index.php?topic=5572.0
http://www.taurusarmed.net/forums/index.php?topic=5376.0

http://www.taurusarmed.net/forums/index.php?topic=6016.0
http://www.taurusarmed.net/forums/index.php?topic=4379.0
There's more where that came from, but SHEEESH!
Break out the snacks and beverages. This could take a while.

Several staff and quite a few members at www.taurusarmed.com have 669/689 family.

Over in Brazil the 669/689 family is still being made and sold to the civilians.
http://www.taurusarmas.com.br/

Look in the revolver section
 
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Just the facts, there big fella, just the facts.

If it walks like a duck, covered in feathers, quacks like one, eats like one, and flies like one.......it's a duck or a fact. Or both.

Or ,duck, it's an incoming fact!
 
Thanks, Qwiks draw. Interesting to read...>

...the comment from the poster who has put over 10,000 hot .357mag rounds and 2,000 .38spls through a Taurus Model 669 with no ill effects.
 
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Taurus 689

Had the occasion to swap a Taurus.38 stainless for a 4 " 689. Long time fan of the S&W 686, this critter resembled an L frame, and I made the trade. Test firing proved it worthy with any loads from .38 wadcutters to magnum loads. Good sights, crisp and even trigger. Had the occasion to strip it down last night, and a few parts flew around the basement. Took a while to find that last piece that fits on the cylinder rod - Without that, the cylinder stop doesn't work fer beans. Anywho, you can't go wrong with one of these.
Ken
 
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