Opuscula Taurus 692 RevisitedAfter some use

 

I HAVE A TAURUS MODEL 692 revolver.

The gun is made in Brasil^cq for the Miami-based company.

The Model 692 replaced a Taurus 605 .38 Special/.357 Magnum revolver.

What’s good

The 692 is an interesting multiple-ammunition seven-shooter.

There is a caveat here. Taurus properly recommends loading only six cartridges and leaving the hammer/firing pin on an empty chamber. If the gun falls and the internal safety fails — as has been known to happen — the firing pin will fall on the empty chamber. This explains why in “real” horse operas, the shooter has to reload after only five shots.

The 692 fires .38 Special (including “+P”) and .357 Magnum in its standard mode.

Swapping out the cylinder — a very easy and relatively quick procedure — turns it into a 9mm (including “+P”) revolver.

The only problem with using the less expensive but equally potent 9mm ammunition is that the 9mm cartridges must be fitted into what Taurus calls “stellar” clips, a/k/a “moon” or “star” clips (right). This can be done manually, with a little patience, or with a special tool, some of which will damage the budget.

Likewise, removing spent casings from clips can be done manually — a pair of needle nose piles to grab and turn the casing works fine — or with a special tool. A top of the line loader/unloader can cost about US$100.

My 692 came with five “stellar” clips; I added another five.

Two benefits of the clips are (1) they can be pre-loaded and emptied away from the range, saving costly range time, and (2) loading/unloading using the clips is much faster than loading individual cartridges. When I head to the $15-an-hour range, I have 49 rounds (7*7) in clips ready to load and fire.

The extra clips allow me to load another 21 (7*3) rounds of a different 9mm load.

Recoil and accuracy

Although the 692 has a 3-inch ported barrel, 9mm FMJ ammunition still gave a noticeable recoil.

The 692’s soft grip made the recoil tolerable. Firing .357 Magnums, which hurt when fired from the 2-inch barrel 605, also were tolerable.

This was my introduction to 9mm. I have fired .38s from the 605 and from an over-and-under Derringer with no noticeable recoil.

My target acquisition WAS better; I attribute that partially to the longer barrel.

The 692 has an adjustable (up/down, left/right) rear sight that, now adjusted, should improve my accuracy.

My son the LEO has Springfield Armory .40 and .45 semi-autos with less recoil than the 692 firing 9mm or .357 Magnum. Gun design might have something to do with felt recoil.

What’s not so good

Nearly 100% of my range shooting is single action (SA); I manually pull back the hammer then squeeze the trigger.

A good thing since the trigger pull on double action (DA) is so hard that the barrel moves off target. (Double action means the gun — not the shooter — performs the double action of cocking and dropping the hammer when the trigger is pulled.)

How many pounds pull? To be determined. Can a lighter spring be installed? Certainly, by a trained gunsmith.

The old 605’s trigger pull was fine for both single and double action.

The bluing — actually black matte — is only “pretty good."

After about 100 rounds, the finish has come off part of the trigger and beneath the cylinder. (Image below)

The 605 also had finish problems, but I bought it used. The 692 was new, fresh out of the box.

 

 

Is it Liberty or is it Taurus

I don’t know about other revolvers or semi-automatics, but with Taurus wheel guns, Liberty .357 Magnums get stuck in the chambers.

I fired five rounds of Liberty .357s from the 605 and had to wait at least 10 minutes before I was able to eject the cases.

I fired seven rounds of Liberty .357s from a cold 692. The shells ejected properly.

Then I changed cylinders and fired 49 rounds of 9mm.

The .38/.357 cylinder was installed and I fired perhaps 14 rounds of FMJ .357s.

With three rounds left, I filled out the cylinder with four Liberty .357s.

The fired FMJ rounds ejected cleanly. The Liberty casings were tightly stuck in their chambers.

After more than a half-hour I was able, with the aid of a Phillips head screwdriver and a make-shift hammer, to drive the Liberty cases from the cylinder.

I don’t know if the material Taurus uses to make its wheel guns or the material Liberty uses for its cartridges is at fault, but for at least two different Taurus revolvers, Liberty is not suitable.

I have complained to both Liberty, another Florida firm, and Taurus. No response from either company.

Pity; the Liberty 50 grain .357s have almost zero recoil and the bullets have excellent expansion.

Clean-up

One major advantage of a wheel gun is ease and speed of clean-up.

Unlike a semi-automatic that has to be field stripped, the revolver remains fully assembled. A rod, brush, some swabs, and a liberal application of Ballistol Cleaner/Lubricant/Protection oil is all that’s needed.

While semi-autos normally have the advantage of more cartridges in the weapon — 10 or more rounds in the gun’s magazine — magazines are known to fail.

The wheel gun, on the other hand, holds less ammunition, but with speed loaders or clips, the disadvantage is reduced.

The final advantage I appreciate is the fact that the revolver doesn’t eject hot cases into the air where who knows where, or who, they will strike. I can, and do, easily collect my brass for reloaders.

There IS much to be said for semi-autos, but for this scrivener, revolvers are better.

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