Need Help on Older Taurus .38 Special

[mikeful]

I have an older Taurus .38 spl and Taurus dont have any info on it because it was produced before Taurus came to the USA. It is a 6 shot, 4" barrel. The Barrel is stamped: FORJAS TAURUS S.A., P. ALEGRE R.G.S. BRASIL 38 SPECIAL and the Frame is stamped Taurus Brasil, INT. DIST. INC. MIAMI, FL, CAL 38SPL, MADE IN BRASIL, 722276. Any help will be very much appreciated. Thanks, Michael

[MrTuffPaws]

Well, other than looking chiseled out of a block of steel, looks fine. Standard 38s only. No +P

[mikeful]

Does anyone have any idea of the approximate production year?

[BlueDragon]

You know, i have the same exact gun, only mine has a set of pearl taurus grips... i would love to know as well where these guns came from.

[mikeful]

Taurus told me that it has to be atleast 20-30 years old.... I tried to search the net but didnt have much luck!

[Rob]

I too have a Taurus .38 Spl a duplicate of that of Mikeful with the exception that his appears to have an adjustable rear site which mine does not.
Perusal of Taurus's web site is enlightening but doesn't answer the question concerning when this pistol was made.
If it may be of any help, my pistol was purchased new in box Dec1976 in Miami, FL from a gun shop there. The SN on mine is 8123xx. I don't know anything about how the assigned serial numbers might relate to manufacture date but I would think that the serial numbers would go from low to high with the lowest numbers being manufactured earlier. Thus you gun was made earlier than mine I would think. As for where these guns were made, I would think that they were manufactured at probably the original Forjas Taurus plant in Porto Alegre, Brazil as indicated by the roll marks on the gun barrel. The info on the Taurus company web site seems(at least to me) to indicate that the Porto Alegre plant was their sole plant until they bought lock, stock and barrel in 1980, the Beretta plant in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The Miami company(INT. DIST. INC) being their USA importer.
Just as a matter of interest, over the years I have shot countless numbers of rounds through my pistol never with any problem and consider this pistol, like all Taurus weapons, to be outstanding and among the best made. The vast amount of shooting in my revolver was with reloads which I put together using bullets that I cast primarily from earlier clip-on wheel weights. No doubt they were considerably warmer(but safe) rounds than the store bought variety. I also own two other Taurus weapons, one being the model PT 99, 9 mm auto and it too is as good as they come.
Just my thoughts on this matter which may or may not be in the ball park.

[nefshooter]

You can look up the sn#
http://www.taurususa.com/products/findmodel.cfm

[scpossum]

Taurus does not have any of the info on revolvers imported by INT.DIST.INC. They can tell by the serial number and import stamp what guns are what, but they can't tell you the manufacturing date or anything else. You will probably find that the serial lookup at the website will not work or give you the incorrect manufacturing date.

They were imported under the Taurus name, but not by Taurus International. At least that is what I have been told by the factory rep a few weeks back on the phone. I have a .22lr double action revolver 6 shot that I have been positively trying to identify. They also told me that they do not have access to the parts for these revolvers.

If anyone knows if the firing pin in a Taurus .22 6 shot of this era will interchange with any other gun, please let me know.

Seems like somewhere in the gun world one was made like it, but who knows...

[ChristineE]

I was amazed to se you pictures because I have the identical gun. My serial Number is 814..... so probably a little newer than yours. Please let me know if you find out where these guns came from. I have searched and not been able to find out any more than any of you all here. Mine came from my grandpa who recieved it from a man in Texas. That is about all I know!

[Baba Louie]

Taurus Model 80, think South American clonish 5 screw Pinned but not Recessed Model 10. Don't know when their mfg started. My Dad bought his back in the 70's but I couldn't tell you the price (tho since he was notoriously cheap, er, frugal, it had to cost less than a real M10 from S&W by a bunch).

Based on liking his .38, I bought my first Taurus 82 and 85 back in the mid 80's after I bought my Beretta cloned PT-99, so I'd assume the mfg on the old 5 screw design stopped sometime before that. I've still got the 3", 82 and it is one heck of an accurate, good, inexpensive wheelgun. The 85's got traded or gifted off.

Look on the inside of the frame at the crane and see if there is a stamped # "80", that should be the model # location (it is on mine anyway). The crane will have a different assembly number on it. My Dad's has fixed sights with the top strap sorta checkered ala M27, the funky machined linear grooves in the cylinder flutes, blued and it is a shooter. Still locks up tighter than a good drum. (whatever that means) This ones serial No.# is a 9262** FWIW.

Good luck on finding anything out unless you speak Portuguese and can afford to call or travel to Brazil.

[B.N.Real]

This brings up a great question.

Is mikeful's Taurus a better made gun than the Taurus's you can buy today?

By that,I mean potentially less troublesome?

I am interested because I have seen older Taurus's at great prices and the guns have a 'style' if you like ,all their own.

[Baba Louie]

Downside to buying used older (anythings) is that you don't know how hard the previous owners used it and/or cared for it. Do the Jim March revolver check up, if it looks OK, buy it whilst hoping everythings jake... cause if things turn south on you, you know that Taurus may or may not be a whole lot of fun to deal with customer service after the fact.

Having said that, I've got Dad's old 80 (shoots fine) a couple 3 wheelguns from the late 80's/early 90's (shoot fine, pre lock) and have purchased 2 of their newer hammer locking revolvers (shoot fine), their QC on all of these were excellent and should I ever NEED to use their lifetime warranty, I could. (I hope never to need do so mind you, having read all sorts of CS horror stories from dis-satisfied consumers here on the 'net).

The Taurus Forjas has grown considerably over the past few decades with more offerings than you can shake a stick at. That bodes well from one POV and perhaps not so well from another POV (too big too fast and their CS/QC not keeping up with inventory... perhaps)

But whadda I know? Is my Dad's 80 better than todays offerings? I don't think so... really. Is it a cheaper buy (better deal)? Possibly, cash out of pocket, with the above caveats.

[travellertum]

I just got the secondhand taurus 38 special but don't know what model of it. Therefore, I researched on google and many websites until i found this thread. Here is my taurus, I think it is the same as yours, isn't it??

Can anyone tell me more about this model? Because I have heard that the taurus firearms which were made before 1997 have a very poor steel grade!! Don't know if it is true or not!!

^^
Sorry for my english. It may be incorrect gramma. Hope you guys understand.

[wnycollector]

he was notoriously cheap, er, frugal,

Baba Louie you have just described my step dad when it came to guns. He had a procession of various H&R, taurus, rossi, charter and jennings pistols around the house! Other than his Jennings J-22...all of the others were pretty reliable.

Mikeful you have a Model 84 Target Grade revolver. They were made from 1971-1989. I hope that helps.

[mikeful]

Thanks for all the info!

[mattoxh]

I have a 6 shot revollver Taurus made in Brazil 38 Spcl. It is marked onthe Barrell Forjas Tarous SA and marked 80 on the frame visible when cylider is released . I assume the SA is single action but it is Double Action as well. This gun came to me in terrible shape, I broke it down completely (did not remove barrell) to clean, taking pictures beforehand. After reassembly I have a pin left over it could have had a small spring that may have jumped away don't know. I have several schematics from Taurus but they are for several models and are not detailed enough to find a home for the left over pin. Anyone have any ideas. I also buggered up one of the screws for the plate that covers the works inside and need to replace it. Also Taurus has a lifetime warranty does it apply to those made in Brazil.

[oldgunsmith]

If a spring was involved the gun should be doing something wrong that will lead you to what it is and where it goes. It isn't uncommon for parts to fall out of a Taurus that weren't supposed to come out on routine disassembly. How big is the pin? The first thing that comes to mind is an extractor locator pin in the cylinder. It's also not uncommon for something that doesn't belong there to get mixed up in the parts while it's disassembled. Hard to say without examining it.

[treg]

Nice find mikeful!

I've had my eyes open for one of the older .38's with the polled bull grip medallions for a while now.

Please post a range report!

[DaleA]

Treg-you might not get that range report from mikeful 'cause he hasn't posted here since 2009.

One of the reocurring problems of the 'zombie' threads coming back to life.

[treg]

Tx, DaleA I didn't see that. Oh well, ya never know, maybe he'll come through.

@ mattoxh the SA stands for South America.

[RsqVet]

Mattoh ---

Is that pin large / flat on the top, about the same size and the crane pivot shaft?