Did Taurus ever make this?

[Euclidean]

Pure curiousity fuels this question because I saw something kind of like a pink elephant the other day: you know what you saw, but you sure don't understand it.

I was in my local merchant of death scavenging for the next bargain when I found a very clean and neat Taurus model 85, stainless. I'm not really in the market for another snub but I asked to see it anyway because something struck me as odd about the piece.

Lo and behold, the 2" barrel on this .38 special was ported. I checked Taurus website out of curiousity and this was the closest thing to that gun I could find:

http://www.taurususa.com/products/product-details.cfm?model=85SS&category=Revolver

Unless I just missed something on their website, I am terribly curious about whether or not this a factory job or someone had it done by a gunsmith. The latter I can comprehend happening even though it makes no sense to me to put porting on a .38, especially a belly/get off of me gun like this one, but coming from the factory like that? That blows my mind. What demand is there for a ported snubnose?

It was definitely a stainless gun, if that matters, traditional hammer, and the trigger was consistent with other Taurus revolvers I have handled. To be fair I'm a Ruger/Smith and Wesson/Colt guy when it comes to revolvers though, nothing against Taurus I just like other products better up to this point.

As I said, it's a pink elephant. I know what I saw it just doesn't make any sense to me. And no, I'm not in the market for it, especially for the $300 they wanted.

 

[Collier]

Taurus did (and might still) make a model 85PD which is a 2" ported Titanium .38 with a shaved hammer - all factory. I believe they called it the Police Model - Hence the PD. It was around the price point you mentioned. Here is a picture of what I am talking about:

 

[Euclidean]

Hmmm curiouser and curiouser. This was definitely a steel gun though, with an exposed hammer.

 

[Chuck Perry]

There was a time when Taurus ported everything possible, so it probably is factory.

 

[GLM]

I own a Taurus Model 606 .357 with a 2" barrel. It was factory ported by Taurus. My understanding is that for some time they ported all handguns, no matter the caliber or barrel length. I used this gun to qualify for my concealed carry permit. The ports did help with muzzle flip, but the noise and blast is significant. My father was in the next lane when I qualified and later told me that I was “busting his head” with every shot.

 

[Euclidean]

Wow, what an odd thing to make. I guess it was inevitable someone made a ported snubby.

 

[MCgunner]

I'd pass on a ported .38 snub. I've got this one and no ports, just 15 ounces and +Ps, while stout, aren't that bad. Seems like ports would just kill some velocity and have very minimal use in recoil reduction with the .38.

http://www.taurususa.com/products/product-details.cfm?model=85SSUL&category=Revolver

 

[Black Snowman]

Seems like ports would just kill some velocity and have very minimal use in recoil reduction with the .38

I'll have to agree there. The ports cut the effective barrel length even further bleeding off velocity, and gas to bullet weight ratio on a 38 is pretty minimal. Add to that we're talking about a few holes and not a true comp design like on their long barreled revolvers and you have a whole lot of minuses stacked up to get a slightly reduced recoil.