No experiance with the 38 but I do have a Taurus Ti revolver. A 455 in .45 ACP. The crane is stiff and when I first got it there was sand in the action causing the trigger to be gritty and not always wanting to reset. After detail stripping and cleaning it's improved greatly and functions correctly. Still not as nice as my S&W but the single action is better than my Ruger Super Redhawk but it's double action is quite stiff. I picked up a spring kit for it which helped quite a bit but I need to test it for light strikes.
Comparing the internals between the Taurus, Ruger and my S&W I'd say the Taurus should be less sensative to fouling than the S&W action. It's a slightly more robust, but very similar, design. For durability and difficulty to seize my Ruger SRH takes the cake. The design is great and the execution durable.
I'd check out and test any gun before carrying it but I wouldn't have any problem with a Taurus as a defensive sidearm once I had satisfied myself.
