I have and had a handful of Taurus revolvers ( I still have one in .218 Bee that is a great shooter) over the years and I had been fortunate enough to get the good ones. Just recently I became cold feet on a Tracker titanium 45 colt revolver but something was telling me that it was not quite right. I passed that one ( I had to reinforce myself with some bad experiences that Graybeard had with his titanium 45 colt revolver).
Anyway, I have sin, again. This time, I picked up a blue 6.5" Taurus model 992, chambered in 22 LR and 22 Mag via cylinder swap. The revolver looks impressive! What really made me walk out the door with it from my favorite gun store was that the cylinders (the LR and the mag) locked out really tight. I have seen many revolvers that the cylinders swing back and forth quite a bite in the latests models from almost any manufacturer (Taurus, Ruger, S&W...). This revolver seem really good. The single action trigger pull was not bad at all. The double action was (still is) really heavy.
Range Report:
I took the revolver to the range and I took with me a box of CCI velocitors, CCI mini mag for the 22LR and one box of CCI 22 mag Maxi mag. I also put a 2x6 Simons scope using the Tracker scope mount from my 218 bee revolver.
1. I started with the 22 mag. At 25 yards, the best group I made was 5" group from the bench rest. I had some extraction problems a couple of times and I was already thinking that this is going to be my first "lemon" from the Tauri family. I tray to correct my shooting because initially I was blaming myself on the bad accuracy.
2. I switch the cylinders to test the 22LR. I started with the CCI mini mag. It was about 1" and I experience some cylinder binding that made cocking the hammer really painful.
3. I try then the CCI Velocitors and that printed just about the same as the CCI mini mags. Extracting the empties was also hit and miss. At least two times I had to assist the "plucking" out of the empty shells that were partially off the cylinder.
I came home that night thinking how do I explain what's going on with the gun. Instead, I decided to give it another chance to it to make sure it is not something I am doing wrong.
Basically, I gave the revolver a good clean up to each of the cylinder chambers from both cylinders and I went to the range again. This time I added more type of ammo for the 22LR and a couple (45 gr Dynapoint, and Win 22 Mag super X) of 22 mag choices.
1. The 22 mag win super X printed a 1" group, the Dyna points made a 1.6" group and the retest of the Maxi mag yielded a 4.5" group.
2. The .22 LR worked great with some old Federal Lightning that I had for a while and basically lost track of the rest but they were all between 1 and 2" groups.
3. The part that was nicer was the fact that the revolver felt more at ease this tyme and it performed great throughout the test. I even ventured to shoot double action and only in one occation there was a bind up at the cylinder from all the powder residue.
The results from my evaluation is the following:
1. The revolver is a nice piece and I don't regret buying it.
2. Do I get rid of my Ruger Mark II & III's because I have this gun now? Hell no. I just have another toy that perhaps serves it purpose.
3. Loading the 9 rounds on either cylinder seems ackwards. I would prefer to find a speed loader (I hope there is one out there). It beats the loading of the single six (or single ten now).
4. Perhaps the first day testing has something to do with not cleaning the Taurus packing oil out of the gun. As I do more shooting with the new revolver it seems that is breaking in nicely (maybe the oil is getting cleaned from the gun).
Finally, I believe I've got another good Taurus gun to my collection. I have to admit, I thought this time I was going to call Taurus Customer Service and spend probably the next few months going back and forth. Luckilly it was not the case. I believe it is a great gun (the one I bought for sure) and it will have a place in my gun collection.
Camba
4.
