Taurus 650 357 Magnum 2in Stainless 5-Shot — Superb Snub

Description

The Taurus 650 357 Magnum is a five-shot stainless snub with the hammer fully enclosed inside the frame. There is no spur to catch on a pocket lining, a coat hem or a car seat belt, which is the entire reason this configuration exists and has existed for a century.

What you give up is single action. The Taurus 650 357 Magnum is double-action-only: every shot is one long, deliberate press from the same starting point. There is no way to thumb the hammer back for a careful shot, and for a gun meant to be drawn fast at conversational distance, most people consider that a fair trade.

What the enclosed hammer changes

• Nothing protrudes. The revolver comes out of a coat pocket or a handbag cleanly, every time, which is not true of a spurred hammer.
• You can fire it from inside a pocket if you have to, because there is no hammer to snag on the fabric as it falls.
• Dirt, lint and pocket debris stay out of the action.
• Every trigger press on the Taurus 650 357 Magnum is identical, so there is one thing to learn rather than two.
• The trade is a heavier, longer trigger than a single-action press, and no way to shoot the gun deliberately at distance.

The stainless part matters here

• A pocket gun lives against a body, and bodies are humid and salty. Stainless steel is the right material for a revolver that will spend years in a pocket or a nightstand drawer being neglected.
• On the Taurus 650 357 Magnum the barrel, cylinder and frame are all stainless, not a stainless cylinder in a blued frame.
• A brushed matte finish rather than a polish, so it does not flash in low light.
• The black rubber grip covers the backstrap and fills the hand, which a two-inch .357 needs badly.

Specifications

• Manufacturer part number: 2-650129
• UPC: 725327942993
• Calibre: .357 Magnum / .38 Special +P
• Capacity: 5 rounds
• Barrel: 2 in, stainless steel
• Frame: small, stainless steel
• Cylinder: stainless steel
• Action: double action only, fully enclosed hammer
• Sights: fixed
• Safety: transfer bar
• Grip: black rubber

Both cartridges this revolver accepts are standardised, with dimensions and pressure ceilings published by SAAMI. Be realistic about them in a two-inch barrel: full-power .357 Magnum loses a great deal of its velocity in a tube this short and gives most of it back as flash and blast, which indoors at night is genuinely disorienting. A good .38 Special +P load costs you far less performance than the price difference implies, and is much easier to shoot fast. The value of the .357 chambering here is that you have the option, not that you must use it.

If a hammer spur matters to you, MAG5 stocks the conventional Taurus 605 in matte black and the 605 with hardwood grips, both five-shot .357 snubs with an exposed hammer. For a longer sight radius there is the optic-ready 605 TORO and the seven-shot Taurus 66.

Why the Taurus 650 357 Magnum earns its place

• The Taurus 650 357 Magnum gives a snag-free draw, which is the single most useful feature a pocket revolver can have.
• Stainless throughout, for a gun that will be carried far more than it is cleaned.
• One consistent trigger press to learn, with nothing to switch off or forget.
• Chambered for .357 but perfectly happy on .38 Special for practice.
• Five rounds, no magazine, no slide, no manual of arms.

This is a backup gun, a pocket gun and a glovebox gun — the revolver somebody carries when carrying anything larger means not carrying at all. It suits a shooter who will practise with .38 Special and keep a defensive load in it, and it suits anyone who values a clean draw over a refined trigger. The Taurus 650 357 Magnum is not a range gun and not a first choice for someone learning to shoot; the double-action-only trigger is a skill that takes work.

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.