Taurus 669 4"

firefighterjohn · Jun 7, 2022

I'm a S&W revolver person first, but I saw this very clean Taurus 669 4" .357 at my LGS and gave it a look. Case hardened trigger and hammer. It locked up well on all cylinders, no hammer push off, crane spun level, bore and cylinder bores were very clean. It didn't have ANY cylinder turn lines or sign of any holster wear. The blueing was very good with no pits. Wood stocks were excellent with the Taurus medallion. There were no scratches on it anywhere. Sure, the action isn't as good as my 66 or 686 but it was still nice.

So, I did some research on the 669 while I was looking at it and decided to put it back on layaway. I figured if nothing else it could be a great 'barn' gun or truck gun to keep out of sight and at the ready. No pictures since it isn't mine yet.

I did some searching here but couldn't find any posts past 2017. I did some searching on GunBroker and their price was in line with current pricing but this one was in FAR better shape than any I saw for sale or sold on GunBroker.

Hope I made a good decision...they only got it in over the weekend too so it hadn't been in the case long.

Anybody owned a 669 for awhile? Thoughts? I know...thoughts after the fact...but it would probably be gone if I would have waited.

Laketime · Jun 7, 2022

All guns are good, just some are better. Nothing wrong with your decision.

kaaskop49 · Jun 9, 2022

If there is a Taurus forum, perhaps you might have a greater response there. Prior Taurus threads here have shown that quality of their revolvers depends on the individual gun, ridiculous as that sounds. In our NYC pro shop, in an area where purchase authorizations were hard to obtain, we didn't carry Taurus products: there was no demand.

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

firefighterjohn · Jun 9, 2022

kaaskop49 said:
If there is a Taurus forum, perhaps you might have a greater response there. Prior Taurus threads here have shown that quality of their revolvers depends on the individual gun, ridiculous as that sounds. In our NYC pro shop, in an area where purchase authorizations were hard to obtain, we didn't carry Taurus products: there was no demand.

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

Thanks Kaaskop49. Ya, I've never really been a huge Taurus fan but my older model 85 has been a great little pistol. Plus, I really like the new TX22 I picked up last year, it's a great pistol for introducing new shooters.

I've looked at several Taurus forums and there hasn't been much new info but what I did read was really "hit-n-miss" on the chance of getting a good one or a lemon...just like you said.

Guess I'll see which one I'll get?

Sevens · Jun 9, 2022

I have some limited experience with this model.

Take yourself back to late 1988. I was nearly 16 and had only been shooting actual firearms for about 4 months. I had been reading gun magazines heavily, mostly Guns & Ammo and the handgun editor at the time was Jan Libourel and back then, he was a big fan of the Taurus products. It was obvious that I was on a tight budget but the first handgun I was to buy with my own money was going to be a .357 Magnum revolver and I had settled on the Model 669 because of the full barrel underlug and the attractive price.

It was late May 1989 when I had my funds together. First real job (20hrs a week at $5.15 per hour!) and leftover, saved up paper route money. We were blessed to have a friend of the family who was a kitchen table FFL and whatever I was going to get was going to come from him at a wholesale price with no markup from what it cost him.

Haha I think it may have been THE day I was to order from him… I considered that this was gonna be my first handgun purchase but for the rest of my life. I want to say the 669 was going to be around $275-$285? But I could get the 6-inch S&W Model 686-3 for $315 all in.

And so that’s what I did. Of course I still have my 686! Back on topic… my step Dad had never owned a handgun and thought perhaps it was a good idea. He asked my opinion. And I thought that since it was going to be more to have and own than to regularly shoot, my original choice might be the right one for him. And so it was.

The only thing I would/should have done differently is to set him up with a 4-inch rather than the 6-inch that I did, but no matter. He ended up with the 669 and of course we both shot it and I handled the cleaning and such. That revolver ate a couple hundred rounds back in 1989 and went out occasionally over the years and then a number of years ago my brother received it from his estate.

He brought it out and a bunch of us in the family shot it. It is a well made and enjoyable revolver. We never pounded a high round count through it, but it’s never missed a beat. Still a good looking handgun and still ready for action.

It’s been my experience with half a dozen different Taurus handguns that they truly are hit & miss. If you have a good one, it’s really a damn good one. Aside from spending a good bit of time handling and hopefully shooting any example, I can’t see it’s easy to know what you’ll have.

But experience has shown me repeatedly that there are MANY good Taurus handguns out there, and if you have a good one, it’s a good one for low money.

Just the same, experience has shown me that I cannot ever recommend that someone, especially new to handguns, is ever likely best served by going out to a gun store and buying a new Taurus. That can be a completely miserable experience and folks brand new to guns (and on a budget) can be really jaded by a horrendous early experience. Taurus has the potential to give someone a horrendous experience for sure.

This one you are looking at? See if you can try and date it by SN. My limited experience of late-80’s and early-90’s Taurus is pretty good.

DesertFox · Jun 9, 2022

Paid $135 for one prolly around '88-89. Lightly used by a cult member who sold to LGS after one of their "To the bunker!" escapades didn't pan out (i.e. no armageddon). No box but hey, for $135 I can make an exception.

Accurate, reliable and reasonably tight after many years. Doesn't get much love recently, resides in a soft spot in the vault.

The 386NG acquired more recently tends to get the call when 357 Mag is the caliber de jour.

firefighterjohn · Jun 10, 2022

Sevens said:
I have some limited experience with this model.

Take yourself back to late 1988. I was nearly 16 and had only been shooting actual firearms for about 4 months. I had been reading gun magazines heavily, mostly Guns & Ammo and the handgun editor at the time was Jan Libourel and back then, he was a big fan of the Taurus products. It was obvious that I was on a tight budget but the first handgun I was to buy with my own money was going to be a .357 Magnum revolver and I had settled on the Model 669 because of the full barrel underlug and the attractive price.

It was late May 1989 when I had my funds together. First real job (20hrs a week at $5.15 per hour!) and leftover, saved up paper route money. We were blessed to have a friend of the family who was a kitchen table FFL and whatever I was going to get was going to come from him at a wholesale price with no markup from what it cost him.

Haha I think it may have been THE day I was to order from him… I considered that this was gonna be my first handgun purchase but for the rest of my life. I want to say the 669 was going to be around $275-$285? But I could get the 6-inch S&W Model 686-3 for $315 all in.

And so that’s what I did. Of course I still have my 686! Back on topic… my step Dad had never owned a handgun and thought perhaps it was a good idea. He asked my opinion. And I thought that since it was going to be more to have and own than to regularly shoot, my original choice might be the right one for him. And so it was.

The only thing I would/should have done differently is to set him up with a 4-inch rather than the 6-inch that I did, but no matter. He ended up with the 669 and of course we both shot it and I handled the cleaning and such. That revolver ate a couple hundred rounds back in 1989 and went out occasionally over the years and then a number of years ago my brother received it from his estate.

He brought it out and a bunch of us in the family shot it. It is a well made and enjoyable revolver. We never pounded a high round count through it, but it’s never missed a beat. Still a good looking handgun and still ready for action.

It’s been my experience with half a dozen different Taurus handguns that they truly are hit & miss. If you have a good one, it’s really a damn good one. Aside from spending a good bit of time handling and hopefully shooting any example, I can’t see it’s easy to know what you’ll have.

But experience has shown me repeatedly that there are MANY good Taurus handguns out there, and if you have a good one, it’s a good one for low money.

Just the same, experience has shown me that I cannot ever recommend that someone, especially new to handguns, is ever likely best served by going out to a gun store and buying a new Taurus. That can be a completely miserable experience and folks brand new to guns (and on a budget) can be really jaded by a horrendous early experience. Taurus has the potential to give someone a horrendous experience for sure.

This one you are looking at? See if you can try and date it by SN. My limited experience of late-80’s and early-90’s Taurus is pretty good.

Wow Sevens, thank you very much for sharing your story, experience and insights. I can definitely see why you opted for the S&W over the Taurus long ago. I can remember those days long ago...can't recall how we made it thru on those type of wages, but back then standard of living was a lot more reasonable.

I tried finding Taurus SN lookup on their web site but couldn't find anywhere on the page to enter the serial number. Oh well, hope mine will be a lucky one that is as reliable as the one you Dad has.

Thanks again for the great post!

firefighterjohn · Jun 10, 2022

DesertFox said:
Paid $135 for one prolly around '88-89. Lightly used by a cult member who sold to LGS after one of their "To the bunker!" escapades didn't pan out (i.e. no armageddon). No box but hey, for $135 I can make an exception.

Accurate, reliable and reasonably tight after many years. Doesn't get much love recently, resides in a soft spot in the vault.

The 386NG acquired more recently tends to get the call when 357 Mag is the caliber de jour.

Thanks DesertFox. Boy, $135...those were the days. Why didn't we buy more at those prices? Well, we couldn't afford to even back then...just like Sevens posted.

CajunBass · Jun 10, 2022

I've owned several Taurus revolvers over the years. Never a 669, but a couple of Model 66's, a 65, (Think Model 19 and 13) and a Model 80 (Model 10) jump to mind. They all three did anything I asked them to do, and looked great doing it. Now that I think of it, I did have a Model 82 also, sort of a heavy barrel Model 10. That one I did shoot quite a bit with my Lee Loader wadcutters. It just chugged along. Oh...I had a 431 in 44 Special too. That one I kick my butt for selling off.

I bought most of those guns used, so I really looked them over. They all looked like new, but I checked them over just like I'd have done a Smith and Wesson or a Colt. That may be why I never had a bad one.

firefighterjohn · Jun 10, 2022

CajunBass said:
I bought most of those guns used, so I really looked them over. They all looked like new, but I checked them over just like I'd have done a Smith and Wesson or a Colt. That may be why I never had a bad one.

You're exactly right CajunBass and I should have thought about the way I looked over this 669; just like I've looked over the used S&W revolvers I bought. Some I've looked at had problems that I knew I didn't want to deal with and the ones I bought passed my inspection tests.

Thanks for the common sense response and the reassurance. Hmmm, whatdaya know? Maybe I do KNOW what a good one should look and function like.

Thanks again.

Taurus 669 4"

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