Mossyrock
Member
I recently purchased a model 455 .45 ACP stainless snubby that is proving to be kind of interesting. First off, it has a 2" UN-ported barrel. I can't recall seeing a non-ported .45 ACP Taurus snubby before. Out of the box, the action was pretty rough and heavy. Being someone who can't leave well enough alone, I tore it down and polished those areas that looked like they would benefit, lubed it well and dry fired it about 500 times (using snap caps). While the action is still kind of heavy, it smoothed up a great deal. I also contoured the edges of the trigger and polished the face to a mirror finish which made the trigger much more comfortable to deal with.
My first trip to the range was a mixed bag of results. First off, the clips that come with the Taurus are absolute crap. I swear that they are made with recycled gum wrappers or something. They are VERY flexible and will bend out of shape if you look at them wrong. There is an alternative, however.... www.moonclips.com TK Customs offers 5-round .45 ACP full-moon slips made for the Taurus that are VERY well made. The web site says the cylinder must be modified to use the clips. NOT TRUE. I contacted TK Customs to verify and they told me the website is incorrect; they work just fine right out of the package.
Anyway, back on track....Like I said, my first trip to the range was a mixed bag of results. With several brands of ammo, case heads were dragging on the recoil shield, making DA shooting very difficult. This was a problem with or without clips. (Yes, you can shoot .45 ACP in this revolver without clips; it headspaces off of the case mouth. Just don't expect the cases to easily extract.) On the other hand, accuracy was very good for a snubby, going into 2" or so at 25 feet. It even shot to point of aim (more on this later).
When I got home, I got out the wet/dry paper and polished the recoil shield to a mirror finish, starting out with 800 grit and moving to 1500 grit. The dragging problem seems to be solved. I also noticed the forcing cone of the barrel wasn't cut square and it was dragging on the cylinder face a bit, so I cleaned that up.
Before my second range outing, I swapped the factory Ribber grips for some rubber Hogues. I like the Hogues, but the Ribbers handle recoil better. Six of one, a half dozen of the other. I will keep the Hogues on for now, but I am thinking about carving a set of grips out of a piece of walnut that is currently sitting on my bench. My plan for the end-result is something akin to Spegel boot grips. We'll see if I can pull this off.... I also installed a Wolff spring kit, hoping to improve the trigger pull a bit.
My second trip to the range was a bit different than the first. The case-head dragging problem being solved greatly improved the DA pull and made the range session much more enjoyable. The Wolff spring kit, while improving the feel of the trigger, resulted in a 25% misfire rate. Aside from the misfire rate, things were going pretty well until I noticed that my groups were drifting right..... Yup...the barrel was unscrewing itself from the frame under recoil torque! So much for THAT range session!
When I got home, I got out the frame wrench, unscrewed the barrel, degreased it, applied some red Lok-Tite and reinstalled it. I suspect this will solve the problem. I also replaced the Wolff spring with the factory mainspring. So, why am I going to all of this trouble with what may be a problem child? Well, don't tell the S&Ws in my safe, but I LIKE this little beast! Think about it...it fills a unique niche. It is compact, powerful, accurate, fast to reload and reasonably comfortable to shoot. I don't know that it will ever replace my Lightweight OACP as my primary carry gun, but, after I get all of the bugs worked out, I will carry it occasionally. You have to admit...there is just SOMETHING about a little, dinky revolver with a BIG hole!
My first trip to the range was a mixed bag of results. First off, the clips that come with the Taurus are absolute crap. I swear that they are made with recycled gum wrappers or something. They are VERY flexible and will bend out of shape if you look at them wrong. There is an alternative, however.... www.moonclips.com TK Customs offers 5-round .45 ACP full-moon slips made for the Taurus that are VERY well made. The web site says the cylinder must be modified to use the clips. NOT TRUE. I contacted TK Customs to verify and they told me the website is incorrect; they work just fine right out of the package.
Anyway, back on track....Like I said, my first trip to the range was a mixed bag of results. With several brands of ammo, case heads were dragging on the recoil shield, making DA shooting very difficult. This was a problem with or without clips. (Yes, you can shoot .45 ACP in this revolver without clips; it headspaces off of the case mouth. Just don't expect the cases to easily extract.) On the other hand, accuracy was very good for a snubby, going into 2" or so at 25 feet. It even shot to point of aim (more on this later).
When I got home, I got out the wet/dry paper and polished the recoil shield to a mirror finish, starting out with 800 grit and moving to 1500 grit. The dragging problem seems to be solved. I also noticed the forcing cone of the barrel wasn't cut square and it was dragging on the cylinder face a bit, so I cleaned that up.
Before my second range outing, I swapped the factory Ribber grips for some rubber Hogues. I like the Hogues, but the Ribbers handle recoil better. Six of one, a half dozen of the other. I will keep the Hogues on for now, but I am thinking about carving a set of grips out of a piece of walnut that is currently sitting on my bench. My plan for the end-result is something akin to Spegel boot grips. We'll see if I can pull this off.... I also installed a Wolff spring kit, hoping to improve the trigger pull a bit.
My second trip to the range was a bit different than the first. The case-head dragging problem being solved greatly improved the DA pull and made the range session much more enjoyable. The Wolff spring kit, while improving the feel of the trigger, resulted in a 25% misfire rate. Aside from the misfire rate, things were going pretty well until I noticed that my groups were drifting right..... Yup...the barrel was unscrewing itself from the frame under recoil torque! So much for THAT range session!
When I got home, I got out the frame wrench, unscrewed the barrel, degreased it, applied some red Lok-Tite and reinstalled it. I suspect this will solve the problem. I also replaced the Wolff spring with the factory mainspring. So, why am I going to all of this trouble with what may be a problem child? Well, don't tell the S&Ws in my safe, but I LIKE this little beast! Think about it...it fills a unique niche. It is compact, powerful, accurate, fast to reload and reasonably comfortable to shoot. I don't know that it will ever replace my Lightweight OACP as my primary carry gun, but, after I get all of the bugs worked out, I will carry it occasionally. You have to admit...there is just SOMETHING about a little, dinky revolver with a BIG hole!
Be sure to degrease the parts before application.