I posted in Handguns a few days ago with not too many looks, so here it is where people will see it (I hope).

My Double Eagle officers was too much gun to CCW this summer. I had thought about a pocket baby gun (32/22 something) but just can't see myself doing that.

I have a chance to buy a bare bones model 85 light for a decent price. I think I can pocket it okay with a pocket liner in most of my pants. I did some (few trips around the store) walking and it didn't seem that bad on weight or on my gait.

Who has/had one?

Is it okay?

Function?

Recoil?

Does it break?  (How much?)

Not sure which "lite" model you are talking about, as they offer a couple.

I had a Taurus 85 stainless, which I liked. Currently have a 605 Hammerless (CIA) blued, and a Taurus 425 Tracker in Stainless steel.

I have been happy with them all, but...

Every one of them has been in need of tweeking. The internals on every one has been rough enough out of the box that the trigger would get stuck in the "pulled" position and refuse to reset.

Popping the side plate and polishing the internals made them all function fine and gave them nice triggers. Not a big deal to me, because I would have popped the side plate and cleaned and inspected them anyway, but it was sort of required with these.

In all fairness, 500 rounds at the range would have done the same thing. Some people would have freaked and sent them in for service work. Others would have just shot them untill they were broken in. I buffed them up a little and lubed them good.

The other thought I have is regarding the grips and the hammer. A pocket gun with a bobbed hammer or internal hammer and wood grips would be a little easier to draw, would it not?

I see Taurus offers Rosewood grips. They would be better on my 605 then the rubber grips. For $35.00 I may just order a set.

Sorry none of this actually answers your questions. Just rambling.

I've got the Taurus 85 Ultra Light in .38 SPL. I've run a few hundred rounds of factory ammo and a few dozen +P hand loaded rounds through it. Haven't had an issue with it, nice light revolver with ammo that weights more than the gun.

Recoil - OH YEAH.

This gun has the highest boom to weight ratio my collection ... though I'm looking for a .454 Casul now.

A favorite trick of mine is to load some nice heavy +P rounds and let a rookie have at it (carefully).

How is it with 110 gr +Ps? Is it something I will have a hard time with?

How about with mid to low loads in 158 LSWCs? I load a lot of those for my wife's .357 for weekly pistol fun night.

I have a model 85 ultralight in blue. I carry it in the summer and is very comfortable. I agree it has some recoil but not to bad. Normally I shoot +P all the time. FMJ and HP. LEO's ask us to carry with HP's around here. I've never had any of the trigger problems mentioned above (sticking) but agree the insides benefit from polishing.

Have one, works fine.  With 158 gr SWC +P, recoil is fine.  My wife loves it.

I'm shooting mine tomorrow for the 1st time...Email me tomorrow eve.