When Smith & Wesson and Taurus were both owned by Bangor Punta

Buzz Yooper · Mar 1, 2023

Please let me know if this is not allowed...

Bangor Punta was the parent company for Both S&W and Taurus for a time between 1962 and 1972... During that time, Taurus revolvers took a definite look of the 5 Screw S&W's This is a pair of Taurus from that time period... a Taurus model 66 in .357 and a model 96 in .22 LR.

Nomadmax · Mar 1, 2023

1965 to 1984 are the BP years

Buzz Yooper · Mar 1, 2023

Nomadmax said:
1965 to 1984 are the BP years

You are correct That was the timeframe for Bangor Punta owning S&W... They only owned Taurus from,(I have seen different dates on this) I believe 1970 to 1977... That is when a group of Taurus executives purchased it back from them...

During that timeframe, there was a serious influence of S&W design on Taurus... Hence the two pistols that I posted above...

In 1982, Forjas Taurus formed Taurus Holdings, Inc. in Miami, Florida, and established its international manufacturing operations with its subsidiary.... That is the approximate time that these two pistols were imported.. All of the 5-Screw Taurus revolvers that I have had the opportunity to examine have been first rate quality,,, But it seems to me that after they abandoned that format and made some Cost reduction changes, that Taurus quality started to get a little iffy... I have seen some of the later models that are first rate and some that have come out of the box with timing and lockup issues...

mauser9 · Mar 1, 2023

Yeah and produced some nice "metal guns" back then!

Echo40 · Mar 1, 2023

I dunno, you may be running the risk of feeling special here, and I know from personal experience that such is a serious offense which can be met with serious disciplinary action.

But seriously, I think you're fine because technically it still was a separate company, but then again, I thought the same when I was so bold as to post a thread about the SW3B M9 Bayonet which was actually made by Schrade, and many based on a design by Phrobis/Buck so...

Either way, Taurus Revolvers continue to be heavily based on Smith & Wesson designs to this very day, so even if you are feeling special, you can't really be faulted for it because it's still relevant after the fact.

On a side note, even long after Smith & Wesson and Taurus ceased to be sibling companies, S&W drew inspiration for one particular Taurus design...

Tex1001 · Mar 2, 2023

I remember Spesco...

CajunBass · Mar 3, 2023

I've owned several Taurus revolvers from that time period over the years. Never saw anything at all wrong with them, and a couple of them would have rivaled anything Smith and Wesson put out at the same time. Generally speaking the finish on the Taurus weren't as nice, but those two, a Model 65, and a 431 were really nice.

chief38 · Mar 3, 2023

While Taurus has definitely improved their guns, they are still something I'd not buy. My best friend just bought a Taurus Spectrum (against my pleading with him not too) and it is incapable of shooting a full magazine of any kind of ammo without jamming.

He was drawn to the Taurus Spectrum because of it's "melted look" but after having so many reliability issues with it, he then purchased a Ruger LCP Max which is a whole different ball game - for the better! I guess he will send the Taurus home to get fixed.

When Smith & Wesson and Taurus were both owned by Bangor Punta

Buzz Yooper

Well-known member

Attachments

Nomadmax

Well-known member

Buzz Yooper

Well-known member

mauser9

Well-known member

Echo40

Well-known member

Tex1001

Well-known member

CajunBass

Well-known member

chief38

Well-known member

Similar threads

Latest posts