Taurus 650 357 Magnum 3 in. Matte Black 5-Shot Concealed Hammer Revolver – Superb Pocket Carry

Description

The Taurus 650 is a five-shot .357 Magnum with the hammer sealed inside the frame. There is nothing on top of this revolver to catch on a coat lining, a pocket seam or a car seat belt, which is the entire reason the design exists. This Taurus 650 is the 3-inch matte black version, all steel, chambered for .357 Magnum and .38 Special +P.

The extra inch over the usual snub matters more than it sounds like it should. You get a longer ejector rod that actually clears fired .357 cases in one stroke, a slightly longer sight radius, and enough barrel to stop wasting quite so much powder as muzzle flash.

What the Taurus 650 is built to do

• Fully enclosed hammer, so the Taurus 650 draws cleanly from a coat pocket or a deep concealment holster with nothing to snag
• Double action only. There is no way to thumb-cock it, and that is deliberate on a gun meant to be fired under stress
• 3-inch barrel with a full-length ejector stroke, which clears .357 brass properly instead of leaving cases half out
• Five rounds of .357 Magnum, or .38 Special and .38 Special +P when you want something milder
• Matte black alloy steel barrel, cylinder and frame, a finish that does not shine through a light shirt
• Transfer bar safety, so the firing pin cannot reach a primer unless the trigger is fully back
• Black rubber grip that covers the backstrap and takes the sting out of the heavier loads

The honest case for and against the Taurus 650

• For: it is genuinely snag-free, and a hammerless revolver can be fired from inside a coat pocket if it comes to that
• Against: no single-action option means slow deliberate shots at distance are harder than with an exposed-hammer gun
• For: five shots of .357 out of a three-inch barrel is real power in a gun this size
• Against: full-power .357 in a light steel revolver is unpleasant, loud and slow to recover from between shots
• The practical answer most people land on is .38 Special +P for carry and .357 for the range, and the Taurus 650 handles both without complaint
• Fixed sights. They are regulated at the factory and there is nothing to adjust, which is either a feature or a limitation depending on your view

Specifications

• Manufacturer part number: 2-650131
• Caliber: .357 Magnum, also fires .38 Special and .38 Special +P
• Capacity: 5 rounds
• Barrel: 3 in., matte black alloy steel
• Frame: small frame, matte black alloy steel
• Grip: black rubber
• Action: double action only, fully concealed hammer
• Safety: transfer bar
• Sights: fixed
• UPC: 725327636496

Both chamberings here are long-established standardised cartridges, with pressure and dimensional specifications published by SAAMI. That is why a .38 Special round drops into a .357 chamber and fires safely, while the reverse is deliberately impossible: the .357 case is a little longer for exactly that reason.

One practical note that costs people accuracy. A double-action-only trigger is a long press, and the way to shoot it well is to keep the pressure building smoothly rather than staging it and then snatching the last bit. Dry fire the Taurus 650 against a wall for ten minutes a week and the difference at seven yards is dramatic. It is not a hard gun to shoot; it is a gun that rewards practice more than most.

Why this revolver earns its place

• Nothing on the outside to catch, which is the one thing a pocket gun must get right
• Five rounds that will fire wet, dirty, lint-filled or after a year in a nightstand drawer
• The 3-inch barrel of the Taurus 650 fixes the short ejector rod that makes 2-inch revolvers awkward to reload
• Steel construction soaks up recoil that an aluminium-framed gun would hand straight to your palm
• Takes .38 Special for cheap practice and .357 Magnum when you want it, out of the same cylinder
• Simple enough that there is essentially nothing to go wrong with it

Pocket carriers, coat-pocket carriers, people who want a backup gun and anyone who has decided that a revolver’s utter indifference to being neglected is worth five rounds instead of thirteen. The Taurus 650 is a specialist, and inside its speciality it is very hard to beat.

If you want the same gun in stainless, the 3-inch stainless 650 is the direct match. For the shorter, flatter version, look at the 2-inch matte black 650 or the 2-inch stainless.

If you would rather have an exposed hammer and the single-action option, the Taurus 605 in .357 Magnum is the same size class with a conventional hammer. And if weight is the deciding factor, the 856 Ultra Lite hammerless in .38 Special is several ounces lighter at the cost of a harsher recoil impulse.

Every Taurus 650 ships with the factory case, the manual and a lock. Transfers go through your FFL and we handle our side of the paperwork the same day.