Taurus 856 problems??

[FergusonTO35]

There's a whole 3 pages of how to fix this problem on this sight. Just google Taurus 856 cylinder hand problem or such and you
should be able to find it. I'm going to "fix" mine today if I have time.

I will take a look at it. That being said, the only revolver problem I ever had was where burrs or something had built up in the little frame hole where the cylinder nub pushes back the bolt. The bolt was staying forward and blocking the hammer. A good cleaning and a bit of chamfering the hole solved it. My previous 856 never malfunctioned in any way and I put a fair number of rounds through it.

[leadhead]

I will take a look at it. That being said, the only revolver problem I ever had was where burrs or something had built up in the little frame hole where the cylinder nub pushes back the bolt. The bolt was staying forward and blocking the hammer. A good cleaning and a bit of chamfering the hole solved it. My previous 856 never malfunctioned in any way and I put a fair number of rounds through it.

I see that you have a G3c. I have one and a Gx4. The Gx4 is my EDC gun, and I shoot .358 dia cast in it too.
What made you decide to get it throated? What bullet are you using in it?

[FergusonTO35]

My G3c had a very tight throat, none of my boolits would chamber without difficulty. Jacketed chambered just fine and shot really well so it is not something Taurus would cover. Sent it off to Doug and now it eats everything. My boolits are Accurate Molds 359-130-RF sized .358 seated to 1.070.

Fired the 856 some more today and it shoots great. I tried to make it turn backwards as described. There is a point where you can pull the trigger back a bit, let it go, and the cylinder can go backwards, however the cylinder stop still catches it and it won't go farther back than it was. I'll check it periodically but unless it gets noticeably worse I'm not going to worry about it.

[leadhead]

My G3c had a very tight throat, none of my boolits would chamber without difficulty. Jacketed chambered just fine and shot really well so it is not something Taurus would cover. Sent it off to Doug and now it eats everything. My boolits are Accurate Molds 359-130-RF sized .358 seated to 1.070.

Fired the 856 some more today and it shoots great. I tried to make it turn backwards as described. There is a point where you can pull the trigger back a bit, let it go, and the cylinder can go backwards, however the cylinder stop still catches it and it won't go farther back than it was. I'll check it periodically but unless it gets noticeably worse I'm not going to worry about it.

Good to know yours is working. I just ordered a hand for mine from E-bay, so I hope it works better than the one that's in it.

[FergusonTO35]

Really hope it works for you. I wonder if the 856 uses identical lock work parts to the 85? Seems like this would be feasible if they just opened the frame a little for the fatter cylinder and used a six notch ratchet. If my 856 is typical of the breed today, I can see an aluminum frame version in my future also.

[leadhead]

Really hope it works for you. I wonder if the 856 uses identical lock work parts to the 85? Seems like this would be feasible if they just opened the frame a little for the fatter cylinder and used a six notch ratchet. If my 856 is typical of the breed today, I can see an aluminum frame version in my future also.

Yes, I believe the 85 and 856 use the same internal parts. From the pics I've looked at, they look the same.

[charlie b]

Glad you are figuring it out. Had two Taurus, 805 and 85. Both were kinda impulse buys when I looked at them in the gun shop (late 80's). The DA was so smooth I just could not believe they were so cheap.

Wife's 85 was a great little gun. It was her first carry gun and it worked well. Not shot a lot, but, it suited her.

The 805 was mine and I put a lot of rounds through it. It was rated for 125gn .357 loads and I fired a lot of them. I had two malfunctions. There was a screw that connected the cylinder latch to the pin that held the cylinder. After about 200 rounds of full house .357 loads the screw would back out. I'd have to remove the side plate to open the cylinder. The second time it happened I used red loctite on it. Never backed out after that

Both were let go for various reasons, none related to how well they worked.

[FergusonTO35]

Interestingly I found two very low miles 85's at a pawn shop recently with only the faintest turn line on the cylinder. The finish indicated they were not used as carry guns. Both of them had a lot of play in the cylinder with the hammer cocked, enough to where I would not feel comfortable firing them. The styling cues would date them as 2000's production, a time when there were alot of complaints about Taurus.

[FergusonTO35]

Still shooting my 856 with no malfunctions. I did end up trimming the trigger spring some more as I found it was binding and pulling me off target in both single and double action. Disassembled the action while I was at it and was impressed at how smooth the parts fit is in this gun. I figured I would find at least a few spots that needed to be smoothed out but there are none. I also switched to the older style rubber OEM grips. The newer ones didn't have enough backstrap for my big old claws. Planning to get one of the Ultralite models at some point.

[frkelly74]

My 856 has been reliable, it is a fairly heavy gun, compared with my Charter Arms Chamelion and my Rossi 66 . Both of those are 5 shooters while the Taurus holds 6. Heavier is not necessarily a bad thing given that it will dampen recoil better. But concealment could be an issue.The grip is short and tapered , good for smaller hands perhaps. The double action trigger takes some getting used to, Single action is good though from my unsophisticated point of view.

[FergusonTO35]

I'm planning to practice with mine an awful lot the next few months. For some reason, it takes me forever to get used to a new revolver even if it's very similar to one I already have. I find mine likes the Lee 358-125-RF and shoots it to almost the same POI as the usual 150 and 158 slugs, unlike the other .38's I have.

[leadhead]

Ferguson, Nice to see you back again on the 856 Taurus.
I've been shooting the hell out of mine with the cast and
haven't had any problems at all with it. I did replace the
rubber grips with a set of those Pachmayr Renegade ones.
There checkered and fit my large hands a whole lot better.
Denny

[Four-Sixty]

I should provide an update on mine. I did find the spring/plunger assembly that fits within the crane had a kink in the spring. It took a couple months to get the part, but after installing the new part it seems to have remedied my problem. So, if you remove the crane be very careful putting it back together.

[R-71]

I really like the looks of the 856 as well as the 3” barrel, but I simply don’t trust a Taurus. I’ve owned 3 all of them broke in some way within a short time and few rounds.

1. The beretta lookalike, the magazine catch fall out of the gun in the first 200 round’s of ammo and I had to send it back for repair which took months.

2. A pocket 38, it turned into a rattling out of time mess and also took forever to repair.

3. One of those little tip up barrel 22s, the firing pin broke after about 300 rounds.

If I had the choice I’d pick a 4” model 10.