Yes, a Taurus.

After wasting a day waiting for my not so instant check process to go through at the shop, I picked up my Taurus not-so-much a View revolver and took it to the last place you'd really want to shoot such a thing at; a 25yrd bullseye range.


In case you haven't heard of it, the Taurus View was a goofy concept introduced late 2013 by the then-new CEO of Taurus as a vehicle to launch a revamped image of quality and innovation, coupled with better customer service. In the first half of their short production, they used a see-thru lLexan sideplate, to showcase the higher degree of polish and fitted internals, along with a weird sort of gimmicky "check out how this thing works" quality. Along the way, they discovered lexan kinda sucks for such a job, and the call was answered to just use a regular friggin sideplate.
Pretty sure he's already been canned, but the gun was rather cool, IMO.

The revolver is a .38sp, based on a fairly trustworthy model 85 design (in turn largely copied from a J frame). They shortened the bbl to 1.41", bobbed and tweaked the grip frame so it follows the contours of a right handed strong side carry profile, with the grip profile 'bending' slightly leftward when looking at the gun from the rear. The ejector rod is almost not there at all, just a tiny stub, and the gun utilizes aluminum for the frame material, titanium for the bbl shroud and cylinder and a stainless steel liner for the bore. It weights 9.5oz.

It's either ***** or really really interesting, depending on perspective. I like it. I like most snubby revolvers.
It's pretty damn small too, not much bigger than an NAA mini in length and height, pretty similar weight as well.
Here it is with the NAA, J frame, D frame Colt, Ruger LCR, K frame mod 10 and L frame mod 242.

Next to a Bond Derringer, it seems to make a crapload more sense for carry.


At the range, I brought along Blazer Brass 125gr std pressure Flat pointed FMJ, and Hornady Critical Defense 110gr +p.
The gun was rated for +p when introduced, I understand it is no longer recommended due to concerns about recoil and bullet pull. All indications are the gun itself is good for it, but not so much the ammo or shooter. I chose to try it with the lightweight 110gr ammo. All the feedback I had seen indicated the gun likes to shoot high, and given reports of bullet pull using heavier bullets or almost anything lead, I'll be sticking with lightweights.

Using the Blazer Brass ammo, I started out using a 6 'O clock hold on the bull, anticipating shots would impact well above POI....they did, but a five shot group materialized about 1-5" over and about 3" left on the paper. Not bad, about a 5.5" group. I detected no issues with bullet pull with the Blazer ammo, and all slugs made neat round holes in the paper with little indication of yaw. I had wondered if that would be an issue from such a short barrel
The remaining 20 shots were sort of scattered about as I tried to steer my hits into the middle with varying degrees of success. :supergrin: most made the black....

I was especially curious to see if the +p Hornady CD stuff would jump their crimps after a trip around the cylinder-you might be able to see here, just very slightly did the FTX slug crimp creep about .007....but stayed crimped in its cannelure after four firings. It moved, but only a tiny bit. Shooting one handed or with a relaxed grip might yield more creep, I dunno.

Accuracy and POI was about the same for the 110gr Critical D +p, recoil was slightly more harsh. Many reports of horrific recoil....personally, it's sharp,but not nearly so bad in my hands; yes, a box of fifty is about good for me using the range stuff, but compared to say full power .357mag in the LCR or defense loaded .45acps in the 325SC- it's not that bad. Despite the sliver-like grip, it actually works quite well and the slightly more angled grip frame helps lower the bore axis of the snubby in your hand, and position the web about as choked-up as possible without interfering with hammer throw. It works.
The tiny ejector rod still did its job reasonably well, but you'll never be able to punch empties even like a J frame with it's already too short ejector rod. It will take the HKS 36 speed loader just fine, in fact better than an LCR with their chubby rubbers.
Trigger felt decently average, good bolt engagement to tip you off to trigger break. Action is solid all around with strong lockup and no play front or rear of the cylinder, it's a well built revolver.
Will it hold up to thousands of rounds as well as other small snubbies? I dunno, but there's little indication at this point it shouldn't. It's not a gun you'll be using as a range burner and even if you had the resources to feed it thousands of rounds, it will wear you out quick enough to likely dissuade such endeavors.
I have some ammo of both types left over for the chrono next week, also have some buffalo bore/Barnes 110gr on order. I'm eager to see how they do in velocities.
So far, I'm impressed with this revolver. It rocks.