new Taurus Model 65

[bruce drake]

I posted about a month ago on a thread started by RichHodg66 that if I had an opportunity to buy another Taurus pistol I would in a heartbeat. Well, I went to the Post Exchange today and they had a new Taurus Model 65 in 357 Magnum in the display counter.

4" barrel, fixed sights and a blue frame. The pistol is almost identical dimensionally to my old S&W 686. The grips are the standard Taurus rubber grips which are a little narrow for my hands but next month I'll probably swap out the OEM grips for some Hogues to get it to fit the way I know I like.

Despite the thin Taurus grips, the pistol points nicely and I'm hoping to get to the range this weekend to shoot the pistol with some 358311 boolits I've had sitting for too long on the shelf.

Bruce

[richhodg66]

The 358311 is a good one, shoots well in every .38 I ever tried it in. I'm liking the two Taurus revolvers I have now so far. Good luck with that one.

[bruce drake]

Thanks Rich,

I'm looking forward to a range trip later today and hopefully a few pictures of the results to post as well.

Bruce

[richhodg66]

Are you using the range on Fort Leavenworth or where? I did all the stuff to be able to use it, but then ultimately preferred to just drive to one of the Missouri ranges to shoot and avoid the Army hassle.

[bruce drake]

Range Nazis at Leavenworth soured it for me. I'll be driving to Pigeon Hill later today (thanks for the map to the place when you were here) to do my test fires.

Bruce

[richhodg66]

Pigeon Hills is great of you can use it during non peak times. I tried to avoid weekends, but I did meet some very nice and knowlegeable folks there from time to time.

[bruce drake]

Bubba and his Cousin Joe and their fifty cousins were all out there today. I left within two hours. Pistol works just fine. shooting 4" low at 25yds with 148gr Wadcutters as well as the 160gr 358311s. I'll tweak the load to meet the sights over time. The stock grips will be changed. They are too narrow in the backstrap for my comfort when shooting 357 Mag level loads.

One plus was that I was able to scrounge up a bunch of 30-30 brass for JeffinNZ and his new to him 30-30 bolt rifle.

Bruce

[richhodg66]

There are quite a few who come out there solely to scrounge brass. I picked up a lot from there the times I went. I'll never leave a spent .30-30 or .30-06 case behind, I have a lot, but you just never know whenit may become hard to get.

[bruce drake]

So with Imsomnia striking again, I made up three more test load batches for future trips to the range. I'm mainly staying with 38 Spl loads as I'm not feeling the need to hotrod the pistol any for range use. Eventually I'll develop a 357 Magnum load for deer hunting but just not in the immediate future.

Lyman 358315 200gr gas-checked and sized at .358 (yeah, I know the mold is for a rifle but it looks just right when its loaded up in 38 Spl brass) with 3.5gr of Unique. This should replicate the Brits old 38/200 loading in speed at around 750fps.

Lyman 358311 160gr RN sized at .358 also - loaded with 4.1gr of Unique for 850fps
LEE SWC 160gr gas-checked and sized at .358 - also loaded with 4.1gr of Unique for 850fps

The speeds are all forecasted speeds from the manual. The next trip to the range I hope to have enough elbow room to put out the Chronograph to test the loads.

Bruce