The firearm company Taurus of Brazil makes high quality handguns for a relatively good price in comparison to other
makers. Their initial entry into the US market consisted of pistols patterned after pre-1980 Beretta and Smith & Wesson
revolvers (using the same tooling as those companies from my understanding).

The Taurus model 608 is a large frame 8-shot revolver in .357 magnum/.38 special. Available in 4in, 6.5 in, and 8.375 in
barrels, integral porting (4 holes on either side of the front sight), rubber grips, adjustable sights with either blue
(not sure if discontinued) or stainless steel.

I happen to have one in each finish (if it's good enough to have one of it, two is better). The blue 608 I bought not long
after they came out around 1996 for about $300. It's large frame (for their .44 mag), hefty weight (44 oz), grips and
sight made for pleasant shooting.

Accuracy varied on the load. It has been some time since I've fired it but I remember that .38 wad-cutters and .38 +P
printed very well while .357 mag loads tended to be about an inch from where I wanted them to go.

The stainless 608 I bought in 2004 (I think) and had a few changes: internal locking security system, some rougher
finishing, different trigger and when firing .357 mag it tended to bind up. I'm not sure if the locking system did that
or just the 200 rd break-in period. A gunsmith couldn't repeat my problem.


As an aside, Taurus weapons don't see a lot of ink in gun magazines and publications for some reason.
If they are mentioned, it's usually in some 'round-up' article containing several makes and models.
Smith & Wesson (S&W) also makes 8-shot revolvers from their 'performance' center and you can expect to
pay 'performance' or 'premium' prices for basically the same gun ($1200+ for S&W, around $500-600 for Taurus).






In the above photo, two 4 inch models (blue & stainless) and one speedloader are shown. The blue model is older
and has a different front sight (colored insert) while the stainless has a painted sight that has partially blown off due
to the gases from the built-in compensator.



I rate this as a backup weapon: 5 out of 5 for power, capacity and reliability plus quick reload
As a primary weapon, it falls to 3.5/5 due to limited range and capacity and my bias that no handgun should be a
primary firearm.

photos