Taurus 605 357 Magnum Wood Grip 2in 5-Shot — Superb Snub

Description

The Taurus 605 357 Magnum Wood Grip is the dressed-up version of Taurus’s small-frame .357: five rounds, a two-inch barrel, a matte black steel frame, fixed sights, and a set of figured hardwood grips in place of the usual rubber. It is the same working revolver underneath, with a grip panel that looks like something rather than nothing.

Small .357 revolvers are a specific kind of tool. The Taurus 605 357 Magnum Wood Grip is light enough to carry all day in a pocket holster or on an ankle, simple enough that there is no manual of arms to forget, and chambered for a cartridge that will also digest .38 Special and .38 Special +P when you want to practise without punishment.

How it is built

• Five rounds of .357 Magnum or .38 Special +P in a swing-out cylinder with a thumb latch on the left side of the frame.
• A two-inch barrel with a shrouded ejector rod, on a matte black carbon steel frame — this is a steel gun, not an alloy one, and the extra ounces are what make it shootable.
• Fixed sights: a milled rear notch and an integral front ramp. Nothing to snag, nothing to knock out of zero, nothing to adjust.
• Figured hardwood grip panels with a gold Taurus medallion. They are slimmer than the rubber grips on the standard 605, which helps concealment and hurts recoil absorption — that trade is the whole point of the model.
• A transfer bar between hammer and firing pin, so the Taurus 605 357 Magnum Wood Grip only fires when the trigger is pulled through.

What a two-inch .357 really does

• Most of a .357 Magnum charge is still burning when the bullet leaves a two-inch barrel. You lose several hundred feet per second against a four-inch gun, and what you lose in velocity comes back as flash and blast.
• Indoors and at night, that flash is genuinely disorienting. This is worth knowing before you choose a Magnum load for a bedside gun.
• A good .38 Special +P load out of this barrel gives up far less than the price difference suggests, and it is much easier to shoot fast and accurately.
• The value of the .357 chambering in a gun this size is options — you can load it hot for the woods and mild for the range, and the same revolver does both.
• The Taurus 605 357 Magnum Wood Grip gives you five rounds and a slow reload. Carry a speed strip and accept that a snub revolver is a gun you shoot well rather than a gun you shoot a lot.

Specifications

• Manufacturer part number: 2-60523
• UPC: 725327943501
• Calibre: .357 Magnum / .38 Special +P
• Capacity: 5 rounds
• Barrel: 2 in, shrouded ejector rod
• Frame: small, carbon steel
• Action: double action / single action, exposed hammer
• Sights: fixed — milled rear notch, integral front ramp
• Safety: transfer bar
• Grip: figured hardwood with medallion
• Finish: matte black

Both .357 Magnum and .38 Special are standardised cartridges whose dimensions and pressure limits are published by SAAMI. The .357 case is a tenth of an inch longer than the .38, which is the only reason a .38 chambers in a .357 revolver and not the other way round. If you shoot mostly .38 through it, clean the front of the chambers properly before going back to Magnum brass — the carbon ring the shorter case leaves is what makes the longer one stick.

Related revolvers in stock: the standard rubber-gripped Taurus 605 in matte black, the optic-ready 605 TORO with a three-inch barrel, the seven-shot Taurus 66 for those who want a service-size gun, and the 692 Convertible, which swaps cylinders to 9mm.

Why the Taurus 605 357 Magnum Wood Grip earns its place

• The Taurus 605 357 Magnum Wood Grip is a steel-framed .357 small enough to carry in a coat pocket and heavy enough to shoot.
• Fixed sights that will not move, on a gun that lives in a holster.
• Hardwood grips that look like a revolver ought to look, at a working-gun price.
• Two cartridges out of one cylinder — mild for practice, serious when it matters.
• No safety, no slide, no magazine. Point it and pull the trigger.

This suits the person who wants one small revolver and wants it to be pleasant to own: a backup gun, a pocket gun for errands, a nightstand gun for someone who will never practise a malfunction drill. It is not a high-volume range gun — the narrow wood panels see to that — and anyone planning to shoot several hundred Magnum rounds a month should buy the rubber-gripped version or a bigger frame.

In stock now at MAG5 Firearms in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. Handgun sales ship to a licensed dealer in your state, where you will complete a Form 4473 and the background check before taking delivery.