Taurus 856 Defender

[lassiter]

Any experiences or thoughts on the 856 Defender? I've owned a few Taurus revolvers and I don't remember any bad experences.                                            But it has been many many winters ago.


Anybody bought one lately?


Thanks, Larry 

[lassiter]

LOL The silence is deafening Are they that bad?

[jeffh]

May 12, 2023 13:59:08 GMT -5 lassiter said:

.....Are they that bad?

Not at all.  I'm not a Taurus fan, but the 605 (5-shot 357 on the same frame as the 856) I bought recently was pretty nicely done and I feel they really stepped up a few notches with that gun.  It was well put together, nicely finished and had great features with no excess, useless cool crap, like a lock and a bunch of extra holes in the barrel.  I personally think Taurus is doing a pretty good job right now.  The 605 was accurate and the chamber-throat/barrel/gap dimensions were all good.  I'd say they are an excellent value today.

I've spoken of this gun in past tense because I sold it as soon as I heard that Taurus (Braztech) would be offering a three-inch, SIX shot ROSSI (RP63) on the same frame.  The Rossi version of the same gun maintains more of the Smith & Wesson features internally, which make the triggers so much better.  The triggers on the Taurus were horrible.  I think Taurus really nailed it with their most recent offerings in revolvers, but they still just really suck at triggers.

The smaller revolvers have smaller hammers/lower mass, shorter throw, use up momentum overcoming the inertia of a transfer bar and frame-mounted firing pin, so the hammer and trigger-return springs come from the suspension of a sixties-era 3/4 ton pickup truck.  That one sin ruins the rest of it for me.  Why have an otherwise REALLY nice little revolver and hobble it with a terrible trigger?  I am not just being picky or being a trigger-snob" either.  Total waste of all the other effort Taurus made, because they have SA and DA triggers you really can't do much with.

The Rossi has yet to materialize.  They advertised the crap out of it with news releases and a corny, action-hero video (gag), but I have only seen a couple for sale and at over an inflated MSRP.

No problem for me.  I'll just keep carrying/using my Charter Arms Mag Pug.  It may not be finished as nicely finished as the Taurus or Rossi, but it's got much better triggers and is well designed.  I'd still buy the Rossi (at a Rossi price) if they ever get some imported, but it's not killing me to not have it.

[lassiter]

That's really good information to have. Thanks, jeffh!

[ezekiel38]

Go over to Pistol-Forum to the revolver section and you'll find a 60 page blog on the 856, overall Taurus got this one right. Galloway Precision makes a spring kit for them.

[lassiter]

Thanks, I'll check it out!