Just before New Years I received an email alert for a sale on the Taurus 85FS revolver. I have steered clear of the Taurus revolvers because I have heard too many negatives about them and their reliability but for $200 and $7.99 shipping I decided to give it a try (Yes, I know I am not supposed to be spending money on guns right now).
To be perfectly honest, this little revolver may end up being a gift. Between some physical challenges associated with ageing and a general lack of familiarity with anything mechanical my Mom has trouble manipulating semi-automatics. Revolvers are much simpler and, for her, easier to understand. Because she is pretty small a J-Frame fits her hands very well and she likes the feel. My concern is that the recoil will be too much for her so I was thinking about a .22 LR but then I saw the 85FS.
The Taurus is an all steel .38 Special revolver that weighs in at 21 ounces. That much mass could tame the recoil enough for her to handle it more easily and .38 Special is definitely a more potent rounds than .22 LR although the .22 would give her an extra three rounds on tap. If it works for her, I’ll give it to her and if not…well I do love snub-nosed revolvers.
I will post again when I get this little guy out to the range but I thought I would share my initial thoughts.
Taurus 85FS
The 85FS came in a cardboard box and wrapped in a plastic bag. That’s probably a good thing because it was soaked with some sort of lubricant or corrosion inhibitor. To be honest it was kid of gross until I was able to give it a good cleaning but once all the goo was gone this is a pretty attractive revolver. I really like the look of the fully shrouded ejection rod. The finish is a matte black almost like a parkerized finish. While it is not for everyone I find that finish to be attractive and tend to buy black revolvers when they are available.
Like most snubbies it has a fixed front sight and integrated gutter rear sight. The front sight is particularly tough to pick up with the matte finish but this can be corrected with a bit of pain, nail polish or even a bit of Wite-Out. The grip is pretty comfortable and feels good in the hand. No idea how it will feel under recoil though and that’s what is most important.
What really surprised me was the trigger. I was expecting a horrible trigger but it seems really nice. It is smooth and feels pretty light for a stock trigger. I will be very interested to see how reliably it works. I worry that such a light trigger will lead to light primer strikes. I have seen that with some of the Apex trigger kits I have installed on my Smith & Wesson revolvers.
Although the spec sheet says the 85FS weighs in at 21 ounces my scale showed it to weigh in a little over that at 22.52 ounces. Maybe the new math they teach these days is different but back when I was in school this would round up to 22 not down to 21…
By comparison the Smith & Wesson Airweight weighs in at 14.46 ounces.
For me, the difference in weight felt good. It wasn’t too heavy and I could see this little revolver riding comfortably on a belt all day long. It might be a touch porky for pocket carry and it is a good bit lighter than the SP101 in .357 Magnum that I have which weighs in at 25.36 ounces.
As I may have mentioned, I can’t wait to take this little revolver to the range and see how it shoots. I am also looking forward to taking my mom out and seeing how she does with a revolver. My plan is to bring a .22 LR as well as a few others and let her start with the .22 and see if she can handle a .38 Special. If not, I’ll be looking for a good deal on a new rimfire revolver for her.
God bless
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