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Found another Taurus Gem - model 80 4" SS revolver review

4K views 9 replies 9 participants last post by  silverstring 
#1 ·
Whilst visiting one of my friendly local gun stores I came upon two shiny ( yes I still am a crow ) revolvers. One was a Smith 10-6 in polished SS and this Taurus model 80 in polished SS. I checked the lockup and overall condition and began the price discussion.
Gun Firearm Revolver Trigger Starting pistol

Negotiated the price down to $269 and took this beauty home. The Taurus model 80 is very similar to S&W model 10 and was made in 3" and 4" barrel length. The TaurusUSA website did match on the serial , but no longer provides a manufacturing date.
Firearm Gun Revolver Trigger Gun accessory

It looks to have been shot very little ( I will explain why shortly ). The grips are in perfect condition, and only a few small scratches adorn the frame. The initial trigger pull was a gritty 14lb DA and 7lb SA. This wheel gun weighs 32.6 oz's unloaded.
Gun Firearm Revolver Trigger Starting pistol

I did my normal tear down, clean, polish and lube and took it out to test. Now the fairy tale comes to an end. I noticed the cylinder was beginning to drag after the 4th round and it locked up tight on the 5th round. So back to my shop we went. I discovered the cylinder face was dragging on the forcing cone. When I initially looked the revolver over I thought the forcing cone gap was very tight, well it was too tight. I could barely get a .001 feeler gauge to go in. Ok no big deal - began carefully and slowly filing the face of the forcing cone. I went through 4 iterations of file, clean and test before I began to get frustrated. It was getting better but at .005 clearance it was still hanging up, at least it would make it through 2 cylinders before hanging up. It became obvious that as the cylinder and barrel heated up and expanded it was enough to drag when the trigger was in lockup.
Firearm Gun Revolver Trigger Starting pistol

So it became clear why this revolver looked new. The previous owner couldn't make it through more then a few rounds. I imagine it got put up and ignored. A complete tear down of the cylinder did not show any issues, also the cylinder stayed true parallel and perpendicular to the top strap when loaded and pushed forward during lockup. But.....When I used a ruler to look at the cylinder and forcing cone angles, I found the problem. The forcing cone was concave and while I was increasing the gap, the top and bottom of the cone were still too proud. So a little judicious filing on those two surfaces brought the forcing cone into the correct aspect. Then followed up with a light polish job on the cone surface and finally it runs like a champ. The forcing cone gap is now .006.
Shooting sport Shooting Recreation Illustration

Now that it is running well, I decided to install 11lb hammer and trigger springs. Which brought the trigger down to 9lbs DA and 3lbs SA. It is very smooth and easy to stage in DA. The target was set at 25 yards and I used a slow deliberate DA pull when firing. Not too bad for an old fart with an old revolver.
 
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#2 ·
Wow, now that's some fancy work right there! Good job on getting that fine looking wheel gun up and running! I have been a machinist for 25 years and machine a lot of delicate parts, but I would not trust myself to do a complete tear down of one of my wheel guns like that.
 
#3 ·
Well first off that is a beautiful revolver. Congratulations! Secondly you got one heck of a deal on it. Of course considering the problems you had you paid the right price. Good work in diagnosing and solving the problem. It takes a lot of patience!!!
 
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#4 ·
That is one awesome pistola! You did good. But I'm wondering why the LGS didn't know about or disclose the problem? Maybe it's because they didn't dry fire through a full cylinder rotation.

Congrats on the complete tear down! If it would've been me, I'd start out by saying: "It has got the same innards as a toaster"!
 
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