Opuscula So-so documentation; Fair customer service

 

OF LATE I HAVE been on a rampage about customer service; actually the LACK of customer service.

This is, unfortunately, an on-going travail for me.

But I came across a company with responsive, albeit not especially fast, customer service.

The company is Taurus, full name Taurus International Manufacturing, Inc.. of Miami FL.

Actually, Taurus is Forjas Taurus S.A and, save for one caliber, it makes Taurus (and other) firearms in Brasil (Brazil) . The Miami operation imports the Brasil-made firearms and, when necessary, handles repairs.

I was reading the Taurus Revolvers Instruction Manual a/k/a owner's manual; it covers all wheel guns (revolvers) made by Taurus. LOTS of pages of warnings and cautions. As a former tech writer, I appreciate that.

There is a relatively new, "souped up" ammunition for specific calibers. It's called "+P" (Plus P), the "P" being for "pressure."

Not all weapons for which +P bullets fit are designed for regular use of +P bullets.

Taurus' manual gives a list.

It looks like all current Taurus .38 caliber revolvers can accommodate +P, as well as "all firearms chambered in .38 Super Automatic, .45 ACP, and 9 mm Luger."

Missing was a line reading "All firearms chambered for .367 magnum."

I just bought a used Taurus Model 605 .357 magnum manufacatured in 2014.

Was I going to fire .38 +P bullets with it? Taurus omitted that flavor in its list and I suspect perhaps there was a reason for the omission. Perhaps date of manufacture?

I did my homework and found out that while the .38 +P is more powerful (has more pressure anyway) than a .38 Special, the +P pressure was substantually less than a .357 round.

So I wrote a snailmail letter to Taurus asking How Come the .357 was missing from the list of weapons that could fire +P ammunition. I included in my letter what I discovered regarding pressure ratings. Perhaps Taurus has a reason I failed to perceive for omitting the .357 from the list of guns that would safely fire +P rounds. Maybe the age of the gun.

Friday afternoon a Sweet Young Thing calls and tells me she's calling from Taurus and yes, the .357 magnum I bought will indeed safely fire .38 Special +P ammunition.

She tried to explain about pressure and how the .357 bullet's pressure was higher than the .38 +P and I interrupted her, telling her THAT information was in MY letter to Taurus.

For all that, Taurus gets at least a silver star on its corporate forehead for at least responding to my query, and with an answer than actually was usable.

Meanwhile, an airline's Customer Care(less) operation still is doing I'm not sure what, certainly not answering my many-times-asked question. The traveler will be back home before I get an answer from the airline.

Since I know I'm going to make another international flight, maybe I'll ask another airline how to get from Passport Control and Customs to the domestic flight gates in Philadelphia.

It's a shame that a customer service opeeration that takes care of the customers is so unusual.

Opuscula What the country needs Is a .38 as long as a .357

 

I JUST BOUGHT a Taurus Model 605B2 .357 wheel gun (revolver).

.38 (caliber) ammunition and .357 (caliber) ammunition have the same diameter; in other words, the gun I bought will fire both .38 and .357 bullets.

So far, so good.

.38s are less expensive to buy than .357s. The .38's also have less recoil (kick). Together this makes the .38 the preferred cartridge for target shooting.

But there is a problem.

THE PROBLEM IS SIZE.

The .357 is longer than the .38. The reason the .357 is longer is so that people won't try to fire the more powerful .357 bullet in a revolver that was not made to withstand the .357's pressure.

According to a Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute (SAAMI) pressure table on the Hamdloads.Com web site, the pressures of the three cartridges are:

38 Special 17,000
38 Special +P 20,000
357 Magnum 35,000

There was, once, a .38 Long Colt (.38 LC) with a case length of, according to Wikipedia of 1.031 inches/26.2 mm.

The case length of a .357 cartridge, again according to Wikipedia is 1.29 inches/33 mm.

By comparison, the case length of a .38 Special is 1.155 inches/29.3 mm. Wikipedia again is the source of the information.

The .38 LC was discontinued in 1909, apparently sans tears from the soldiers who tried to hit a target with it.

The Grey Arsenal site includes an article titled Fouled Cylinder Chambers From Using .38 In .357. The article gets into detail on the problem and what is needed to remove the residue left by the short cartridge.

The article's author comments that "Even if cleaned normally after shooting .38 Spl, you still may need to go a bit further to remove this fouling. You could use a slightly oversized brass brush (for instance, a .40 S&W brush in a .357 Cylinder) soaked in solvent and just have at it for a while. A serious while. It takes A LOT of effort to remove this fouling this way."

The bottom line: Since the .357 has been around for a l-o-n-g time - since 1934 - it would seem reasonable that someone would sell a .38 Special "Long" (as well as a "+P" version) for use in .357 magnum revolvers.

It would save a lot of elbow grease and dealing with small pieces of a gun.