Description
The Taurus 856 Defender Night Sight is the three-inch, six-shot 856 with a tritium front sight and a Hogue finger-grooved grip. The barrel and cylinder are matte black stainless, the frame is matte black aluminium, and the whole thing is rated for .38 Special +P.
The three-inch barrel is the part people underrate. It is only an inch longer than a snub, but it adds real velocity, a longer ejector rod that actually clears the cases, and enough sight radius to shoot properly at distance.
Part number 2-85631NS, UPC 725327933878. Nine in stock, distributor out.
What the Taurus 856 Defender Night Sight gives you
- Six shots of .38 Special, rated for +P
- 3-inch matte black stainless barrel and cylinder
- Matte black aluminium frame, so it carries far lighter than an all-steel revolver
- Tritium front night sight – the NS in the part number
- Hogue finger-grooved rubber grip
- Exposed hammer, so single action is available
- Transfer bar safety
Three inches instead of two, and what that changes
- A .38 Special +P load out of the Taurus 856 Defender Night Sight gains somewhere around 75 to 100 feet per second going from a 2-inch to a 3-inch barrel. That is the margin that makes some hollow points open reliably instead of sometimes
- The ejector rod is longer, so a full-length stroke pushes the empties clear of the cylinder. On a 2-inch snub it often does not, and you end up picking cases out under the star
- Sight radius grows by half again, which shows up immediately at fifteen and twenty-five yards
- It still fits an inside-waistband holster. It prints slightly more at the muzzle end and slightly less at the grip than you would expect
- The alloy frame means it is light to carry and sharper to shoot than a steel 856. That is the trade, and it is the right one for a gun you wear all day
Taurus 856 Defender Night Sight specifications
- Manufacturer part number: 2-85631NS
- UPC: 725327933878
- Calibre: .38 Special, rated +P
- Capacity: 6 rounds
- Barrel: 3 inches, matte black stainless steel
- Cylinder: matte black stainless steel
- Frame: matte black aluminium alloy
- Sights: tritium front night sight, fixed rear notch
- Grip: Hogue finger grooved rubber
- Action: double action / single action, transfer bar safety
Honest note on tritium
The Taurus 856 Defender Night Sight uses tritium, which glows because it is decaying, and it has a half life of a little over twelve years. A night sight is bright when it is new, noticeably dimmer at ten years and genuinely faint at twenty. It is a wear item with a clock on it, not a permanent feature – worth knowing when you are comparing this against a plain-sighted 856 and wondering whether the difference is worth the money. If you carry at night it is, and you replace it in a decade.
The rear is a plain fixed notch in the topstrap, which is standard on this frame. One glowing dot up front is what you want in the dark anyway – three dots in low light give you three things to line up when you have time for one.
Ammunition
.38 Special and .38 Special +P are both standardised by SAAMI, and this revolver is rated for both. Practise with standard-pressure wadcutters or ball, carry +P if you have confirmed it groups where the sights point.
Other 856 variants we carry
In steel rather than alloy there is the stainless 2-inch 856 and the black stainless version. If you want the hammer out of the way for pocket carry, the concealed hammer 856 is the one, and the Ultra Lite is lighter still. The same night sight and 3-inch barrel in .357 Magnum is the 605 Night Sight, if you want the option of magnum loads.
Why the Taurus 856 Defender Night Sight earns its place
- Six rounds from the Taurus 856 Defender Night Sight instead of five, in a frame no bigger than most five-shot snubs
- A barrel long enough to make +P hollow points work as advertised
- A tritium front sight fitted at the factory, which costs more than this to add afterwards
- Alloy frame, so it is genuinely comfortable to carry all day
- An ejector rod that clears the cases, which anyone who has reloaded a snub under pressure will appreciate
The honest counterpoint: a light revolver firing +P is not fun. The alloy frame that makes the Taurus 856 Defender Night Sight pleasant on the belt makes it sharp in the hand, and a box of fifty +P rounds in one session is work. Practise with standard-pressure ammunition and shoot a cylinder or two of your carry load to confirm point of impact.
The other thing worth saying plainly is that six rounds is six rounds. Speed strips or a speedloader belong in the same pocket as the gun, and reloading a revolver is a skill you have to actually practise.
With those understood, this is one of the most sensible carry revolvers Taurus builds. MAG5 Firearms ships to your FFL.
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