Taurus 65 Black 357 Magnum 4in 6-Shot — Superb Duty Revolver

Description

The Taurus 65 Black 357 Magnum is a six-shot medium-frame revolver with a four-inch barrel, fixed sights and a matte black oxide finish over steel. It is the plainest gun in the Taurus revolver line and, for a particular kind of owner, the best one.

Fixed sights are the whole argument. There is no adjustment screw to drift, nothing standing proud of the top strap to catch on a holster, and nothing that can be knocked out of zero in the back of a truck. The Taurus 65 Black 357 Magnum is the pattern that served in police holsters for decades, and it survived there because it kept working when nobody was looking after it.

How it is built

• The Taurus 65 Black 357 Magnum holds six rounds in a swing-out cylinder.
• A four-inch alloy steel barrel with a full-length shroud protecting the ejector rod.
• Fixed sights: a groove milled down the top strap and an integral front ramp. Nothing to adjust and nothing to break.
• Matte black oxide over barrel, cylinder and frame, with a black finger-grooved rubber grip.
• A transfer bar between hammer and firing pin, so the Taurus 65 Black 357 Magnum fires only when the trigger is pulled all the way through.

Where the 65 fits against the 66

• The 66 holds seven rounds and has an adjustable rear sight; the Taurus 65 Black 357 Magnum holds six and has fixed sights, and costs less.
• If the gun is going to be zeroed for a specific hunting load, buy the 66. If it is going to live in a truck, a safe or a duty holster and be shot with whatever is on the shelf, the 65 is the better tool.
• A four-inch barrel burns most of a .357 charge. The same round out of a snub throws a large share of it away as flash and blast.
• It shoots .38 Special and .38 Special +P all day, which makes practice cheap — scrub the chamber mouths before returning to Magnum brass.
• Black oxide is a finish, not stainless. Wipe it and oil it after a damp day or a sweaty holster.

Specifications

• Manufacturer part number: 2-650041
• UPC: 725327200031
• Calibre: .357 Magnum / .38 Special +P
• Capacity: 6 rounds
• Barrel: 4 in, alloy steel, shrouded ejector rod
• Frame: medium, alloy steel
• Finish: matte black oxide
• Sights: fixed
• Action: double action / single action, exposed hammer
• Safety: transfer bar
• Grip: black finger-grooved rubber

.357 Magnum and .38 Special are standardised by SAAMI, and the Magnum case is a tenth of an inch longer — which is why a .38 chambers in this revolver and a .357 will not fit a .38-only gun. With fixed sights, it is worth shooting two or three loads at twenty-five yards and settling on the one that prints closest to the sights rather than trying to make the sights fit the load.

The same revolver in stainless is stocked as the Taurus Model 65. For seven rounds and adjustable sights on the same frame, look at the Taurus 66 or the 66 in stainless; for carry, the five-shot 605.

Why the Taurus 65 Black 357 Magnum earns its place

• The Taurus 65 Black 357 Magnum has fixed sights that cannot be knocked out of zero, on a gun that will be knocked about.
• Steel construction that will take a lifetime of full-power loads.
• Two cartridges out of one cylinder, which keeps practice affordable.
• Simple mechanics — under stress there is nothing to forget except the trigger.
• The cheapest way into a proper four-inch .357 in the line.

This is a house gun, a truck gun, a farm gun and a good first centre-fire revolver — you can feed it mild .38 wadcutters while you learn the double-action trigger and then step up. It suits anyone who values durability and simplicity over features, and anyone who has learned that adjustable sights are one more thing to go wrong. The Taurus 65 Black 357 Magnum is not a target revolver and not a concealed-carry gun; it is a working one.

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.