Not incredibly familiar with revolvers. Was wondering how either the Rossi or the Taurus stacked up against the bigger name companies (smith and wesson, colt, etc.....)?

Specificly in .357. Am wanting to get the wife something compact, but also comfortable to hold, that would fit in a purse or such.

They look like a good value. But DO NOT want to skimp if quality or reliability is an issue.

I know the revolver is a fairly simple design, but still.

Opinions?

I have a Rossi .44 special and have had a couple of Tauri.

The Rossi has rather odd clockworks with some springs that are rather delicate in places where Taurus, Colt, and S&W do not use a spring.

Taurus is about as cheap as I would go for defense. A model 85 would be nice. I would not go with one of the lightweight ubermetal models. They carry nice, but she won't like shooting one.

My wife carries a Colt SV VI (I think?). It has a three finger grip as opposed to a two fingered grip on the M85. She never did like the Taurus because she felt that two fingers did not give her enough control.

Taurus is much better than the Rossi. You can probably save some $$$ by just staying with the .38 Spl. chamberings as the recoil in these little guns with magnums is severe enough that even hard-core shooters don't want much of it. A 38+P LHP will get the job done if she does her part, and the velocity loss for most magnum loads is pretty substantial as is blast. Even though I have an S&W Sc .357 I would recommend then to very few people.

I would have no hesitation about using a Taurus instead of the S&W...but the Rossi, well, no way if there was anything better I could get my hands on...even though they HAVE improved their products some in the past few years.

I have a Taurus 605.  snubbie 357 magnum.

I have put big hunting loads in it and it did not complain.  very nice trigger and pretty darn accurate for a snubbie.

I would recommend it to anyone.

I've had several Rossis over the years without any problems, BUT I shot non-+Ps out of the .38s & mild/medium loads out of the .357s.  Even though the Rossis have served me well for what they are, if I were choosing between the two for a new, compact .357 (as you stated above) I would probably choose the Taurus.  My best friend (local PD) chose a .357 Taurus snubbie (loaded with hot .38s) as his wife's purse gun & they like it fine.

That being said, my Mom & sister have Rossi .38s in their cars & nightstands, & I feel comfortable with that.  (FWIW, neither of them are "gun people" - they only practice when I make them (they are competent, but not much more) & neither will carry on their person, despite years of my insisting that they do so.  Thank God my wife is an avid shooter.)

Having had both .357 and .38 spl. Rossis I'd go with the taurus.  After about 100 rounds of hot .357s the cyl. gap widened, lots of blowback and my wife still won't shoot any of my other wheel guns.  No problems with the .38s but the .357s didn't handle hot loads at all.  My $.02.

Quoted: Having had both .357 and .38 spl. Rossis I'd go with the taurus.  After about 100 rounds of hot .357s the cyl. gap widened, lots of blowback and my wife still won't shoot any of my other wheel guns.  No problems with the .38s but the .357s didn't handle hot loads at all.  My $.02.

Sort of what I suspected & why I always used the milder loads.  My buddy has shot anything & everything out of his wife's Taurus - I haven't seen any problems with blowback, etc.  (although personally I still don't like hot magnum loads in a "snubbie" - ouch!).

Hot loads in a .357 snubby are a little harsh.  Had the same problem, although after a few more rounds with a Rossi M971 with a 6" barrel.  Needless to say I wasn't impressed and have currently traded all of them off but 1 .38.

I owned two Model 66 Taurus .357's and they had several different problems. Both were sent back to the OEM and they took care of the problems. They do stand behind their guns.   BUT....
IMHO, spend the extra and buy Smith and Wesson. You will get far better quality and a lifetime of satisfaction. Granted the initial cost is more, but you will not be sorry. I now own a S&W Model 19 Nickel and it is a great revolver. I will not buy anything but S&W for the rest of my life......

I have a Taurus model 66.  It was my first hand gun.  I have had several problems with this gun.  One of the most annoying is that the ejector rod always loosens up while shooting and causes the cylinder to not open.  I have tried cleaning it really good and using thread locker, but that doesn't work either.  I have the same model built by Smith and Wesson, and there is a big difference in quality.  No problems ever with the S&W.

I've shot Tarus revolvers and am not impressed at all.  Both belonged to friends.  One was a factory "custom" snubbie .357 with barrel ports.  It would not finish a range session without breaking.  After two trips back to the factory for repairs, my friend traded it in for a S&W.

The second belonged to my co-worker.  It was his back-up and off-duty piece... a blued 5-shot .38 snubbie.  It also made two trips back to Tarus for repair before he traded it for a Walther PPK.

In both instances, the cylinder froze up after firing a few boxes of factory ammunition.  They both impressed me as being JUNK.  

I have no experience with their full-sized revolvers but one of the members of my shooting club brought his brand new "Raging Bull" to the range one day and the barrel blew off after the first 20 rounds. Hmmmm....
 

One of the first guns I bought was a Rossi 971 .357.  I never had any problems out of it, though it never saw that much use.  I finally sold it to a friend who fell in love with it and he seems to still be pleased with it.

Today, however, I wouldn't consider either a Rossi or a Taurus.  Used S&W .357s are plentiful and cheap.  They are dependable, accurate, and are easier to get repaired and to resell.  The same goes for used Rugers.  There is a GP100 at my local gun shop that has a price tag of $229 and it has been in the case for 9 months.

FWIW, I've had 2 Taurus 85's in .38 SPL, one with hammer, one hammerless, and both performed without any problems.  I didn't shoot thousands of rounds of +P out of them, so I'm not sure what the long-term effects would have been, but for a good .38, I'd have no problem recommending them.  Rossi, I have no experience with.  

When I decided to get a .357 though, I went and got a Ruger reconditioned GP101 from the CIA.