Taurus .357 revolver identification

[grumman581]

I have a Taurus .357 revolver that I inherited from my father (who inherited it from my grandfather) quite a few years ago, but I cannot find a model number on it to identify it. It doen't look like any of the ones that I can find on Taurus' website.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_uIFPb2HleBU/R2cwNJASCfI/AAAAAAAACUk/KkcVE75ur8c/s800/taurus-357.jpg

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_uIFPb2HleBU/R2cwNJASCfI/AAAAAAAACUk/KkcVE75ur8c/taurus-357.jpg

Hopefully, this image will show up without requiring everyone to have a Google Picassa ID...

So, my questions about it are:

1. What is the model number
2. How does the strength of it compare with the old model Ruger Blackhawks?

If I swing the cylinder out, I see what looks like a 609 stamped on the frame.

[markshere2]

Open the cylinder gate.
Maybe the model # is inside ?

That's how it in on my 605

[grumman581]

There appears to be a 609 stamped there. Looking it up on the web only comes back with a semi-auto with that number... It might be a "608" stamped there and my old eyes just can't make it out, but all the 608s that I see on the web are 8-shot revolvers.

The stamping might be a 669, 689, or any combination of three numbers that have curves on the top or bottom... Damn, getting old sucks... :)

[Papa smurf]

Looks like a 669 and also looks loaded!
Good Shooting ----------------------- Papa Smurf

[grumman581]

Looks like a 669 and also looks loaded!

Did the 669s come with the vent rib barrel or were the 689s the ones with the vent ribs?

Looking at the Brazil site, it seems that they still make it and the 689s are the ones with the vent rib. Not that I can understand Portuguese or Spanish or whatever it is they speak / write down there...

http://www.taurusarmas.com.br/arma-revolver-pistola-carabina-espingarda-metralhadora

All the ones in the pictures there have the rubber grips and I will be replacing the ugly wooden grips on this one as soon as I get a chance. I'm not a big fan of the flat bottom grips anyway.

Yeah, it's loaded... Guns aren't all that useful if they are not loaded. All the guns in my gun safe are loaded.

[Archer]

My model 66 looks just like it, except for being SS, mine is on the frame, just in front of the cylinder when it's open.
When you change grips, if you want to get rid of the wood ones, let me know. They look like they would fit mine.

[plus1hdcp]

I have a 669 and mine does not have the vented barrel - not sure if yours might be a 689. Either way, it is a good gun to take to the range.

[grumman581]

My model 66 looks just like it, except for being SS, mine is on the frame, just in front of the cylinder when it's open.

I see the numbers, but the combination of my old eyes and the stamping of the numbers is such that all I can really tell is that the 3 numbers all have curves at the top and the bottom and maybe something across the middle. Thus each of the 3 digits could be a "3", "6", "8", "9", or "0". I was hoping that there was some style change that would definitively indicate to someone exactly what model it might have been. After a bit of looking around on the web, I'm leaning towards it being a model 689.



When you change grips, if you want to get rid of the wood ones, let me know. They look like they would fit mine.

I'll be keeping them since it was one of my grandfather's and father's guns. I might not like the grips, but they were the grips that were on them the entire time that it was owned by them, so I pretty much have to keep them.

What's wrong with your grips?

[NickSS]

as for your question on strength I would place it at S%W levels not Ruger level for strength. It will handle just about any standard magnum load but I would not get into super mag loads like some folks put in rugers.

[Archer]

grumman,

Nothing wrong with my grips, just like the wood better.
I didn't think, if they were my Grandfathers, I would keep them to.
From what I can find, I think your right that it is probably a 689.

[grumman581]

Nothing wrong with my grips, just like the wood better.
I didn't think, if they were my Grandfathers, I would keep them to.
From what I can find, I think your right that it is probably a 689.

There are nice quality wood grips out there, but I don't think that the ones that came on the 689 would qualify as such. Maybe if you stripped the polyurethane or whatever coating off of them along with the stain and then restained them in a darker color. The wood on the grips of the Redhawk that I own were a lot nicer looking, but I still replaced them with rubber. I'm just not a fan of the look / feel of the flat bottom grips, I guess...

[454PB]

I have a model 66 Taurus, and it looks like your gun has the same frame size, about equal to a S&W K frame. I treat it as equal in strength to the S&W, using 90% midrange loads and very occasionally full house loads.

[torker]

The model that's pictured is a #669. Here's a pic of mine.

[torker]

Correction to above model number.. 689 for sure... stamped on inner frame under swing out.