Taurus 605 Review (2026): 150 Rounds of .357 Tested

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Table of Contents

Review: Taurus 605 – The Snub That Weighs More Than The Three Inch

Our Rating: 8.1/10

• RRP: $457.99 (2 in. matte stainless, item 2-605029)
• Street Price: $317.99 (Use our live pricing for the best up to date deal)
• Caliber: .357 Magnum / .38 Special +P
• Action: DA/SA, exposed hammer
• Capacity: 5 rounds
• Barrel Length: 2.00 in. (3.00 in. on Defender, T.O.R.O. and Executive Grade)
• Overall Length: 6.50 in.
• Overall Height: 4.40 in.
• Overall Width: 1.40 in.
• Weight: 24.00 oz. unloaded
• Twist Rate: 1:16.5 in. RH, 6 grooves
• Frame: Small, stainless steel
• Sights: Fixed front, fixed rear
• Safety: Transfer bar

Quick Take

The Taurus 605 is the cheapest way to put five rounds of .357 Magnum in your hand, and it works. We ran 150 rounds through the two inch gun without a single failure to fire or a single failure to extract, and it grouped a hair under two inches at 25 yards off a rest. At a street price near $318 against a $457.99 list, that’s a lot of revolver, and it’s why the 605 keeps turning up in our best .357 Magnum carry pistols ranking.

Here’s the part nobody mentions. Pull up Taurus’s own spec sheets and the two inch 605 weighs 24.00 ounces. The three inch Defender 605, the three inch T.O.R.O. and the three inch Executive Grade all weigh 23.52 ounces. The short gun is the heavy one. You’re giving up an inch of barrel, an inch of sight radius and a meaningful chunk of ejector stroke, and Taurus’s own numbers say you don’t get an ounce back for it.

That single fact reorganizes the whole buying decision, so the rest of this review is built around it.

The Weight Table Nobody Prints

These are Taurus’s published figures, taken from the individual product page for each item number rather than from a retailer listing. Retailers copy each other; the maker’s item page is the primary document. You can check them yourself: the 2 in. 605 item page and the 3 in. Defender 605 item page.

Model	Item	Barrel	Length	Weight	MSRP
605	2-605029	2.00 in.	6.50 in.	24.00 oz.	$457.99
605 Poly Protector	2-605029PLY	2.00 in.	6.70 in.	20.00 oz.	$457.99
Defender 605	2-60539NS	3.00 in.	7.50 in.	23.52 oz.	$505.99
605 T.O.R.O.	2-605P39	3.00 in.	7.50 in.	23.52 oz.	$505.99
605 Executive Grade	2-605EX39	3.00 in.	7.50 in.	23.52 oz.	$810.99

Half an ounce isn’t a lot in isolation. The point is the direction. Every argument for a two inch barrel on a carry revolver rests on the idea that you’re trading performance for weight, and on this gun half that trade doesn’t exist. You’re trading performance for 1.00 inch of length and nothing else.

The one variant that does save real weight is the Poly Protector at 20.00 ounces, four ounces under the stainless gun. If your reason for wanting a two inch 605 is genuinely about carrying weight, that’s the gun, not the plain stainless snub.

How We Tested It

Phase 1: Break-In and Trigger

We gauged the trigger cold, before firing anything. Single action broke at 4 pounds. Double action ran 12 pounds 4 ounces. That double action number is heavy against a tuned Smith, and it’s exactly where a factory Taurus small frame lives. It’s also smooth rather than gritty, which matters more than the number when you’re pressing through a long stroke.

Phase 2: Reliability

We put more than 150 rounds through it across .38 Special and full power .357 Magnum without a single failure to fire and without a single failure to extract. Primer strikes were centered and consistent. For a revolver at this price that’s the headline: the lockwork does its job.

One habit did show up, and it’s a design consequence rather than a defect. On the two inch gun the ejector rod is short enough that a brisk push doesn’t always clear every case, and the chamber closest to the frame is the one that hangs up. You end up thumbing a case out by hand. Magnum brass is longer than .38 brass, so it happens more with magnums.

Phase 3: Accuracy

Five, five shot groups at 25 yards off a sandbag rest with Hornady Custom 140 grain XTP averaged 1.94 inches. That’s genuinely good shooting from a 2 inch barrel and fixed sights, and better than the gun’s reputation suggests. The 125 grain and 158 grain loads opened up, but stayed respectable.

The catch is where those groups landed. Point of impact sat roughly 2.5 inches right and about an inch low of point of aim at 25 yards. The groups were tight; they were tight in the wrong place.

Ammunition Log

Velocities below came off the 3 inch barrel, which is the length most people should be buying. They give you a clean read on what the extra inch is worth.

Load	Velocity
Federal 148 gr. .38 Special match wadcutter	701 fps
Federal Punch 120 gr. .38 Special +P	903 fps
Remington 125 gr. .357 Golden Saber	1,240 fps
Remington 125 gr. .357 JHP	1,344 fps
Remington 125 gr. .357 JSP	1,402 fps

What This Means for You

A 125 grain .357 at 1,402 fps out of a 3 inch barrel is doing real work. The same cartridge out of a 2 inch gives up roughly a hundred feet per second and dumps the difference into muzzle flash you’ll see in a dark hallway. Our .357 Magnum buyer’s guide goes deeper on what barrel length does to this cartridge. Combine that with the weight table and the ejector rod, and the three inch stops being an upgrade and starts being the default.

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Which One To Buy

There are five 605s on Taurus’s books and they sort cleanly once you stop assuming shorter means lighter. For how the 605 sits against the rest of the range, see our best Taurus handguns guide.

Defender 605, 3 in. ($505.99 list)

This is the one to buy. Night sight with an orange outline up front, Hogue rubber grips, a longer ejector rod that actually clears magnum brass, and it weighs half an ounce less than the snub. The night sight alone is worth the difference over the plain gun.

605 Poly Protector, 2 in. ($457.99 list)

The honest lightweight at 20.00 ounces, with a fiber optic front sight instead of the plain ramp. If you want a pocket gun and you want the weight saving to be real, this is the two inch worth owning.

605 T.O.R.O., 3 in. ($505.99 list)

An optic plate cut for the Holosun K footprint on a five shot .357, with a removable front sight. Revolvers with a dot are a genuinely different gun to shoot once your eyes stop focusing at arm’s length. Buy it if you already run a dot on your carry pistol; skip it if you don’t.

605 Executive Grade, 3 in. ($810.99 list)

Hand polished, hand tuned trigger, brass bead front sight, presentation wood grips, and .357 Magnum only on Taurus’s listing. It’s the same 23.52 ounce gun underneath with $305 of finishing on top. Buy it because you want it, not because it shoots better.

605, 2 in. ($457.99 list)

The cheapest on the street and the one most people end up with. It shoots well. It’s also the heaviest 605, the one that leaves brass in the cylinder, and the one giving up the most velocity. Buy it if the price is the point.

Technical Deep Dive

The Frame and Lockwork

Small frame, stainless steel frame and stainless cylinder, DA/SA with an exposed hammer and a transfer bar. The transfer bar is the reason you can carry five rounds under the hammer: the bar only rises into the firing pin’s path when the trigger is fully to the rear, so a dropped gun cannot fire.

All steel is why a 24 ounce gun is pleasant with magnums and a 17 ounce alloy snub is not. The mass is doing the work your wrist would otherwise do. It’s also why the 605 is a chore to carry all day in a pocket, and why an inside the waistband holster with a real belt isn’t optional.

Barrel and Twist

Six grooves, 1:16.5 inch right hand twist across every 605 regardless of barrel length. That’s a touch faster than the 1:18.75 you’ll find on some competing .357s, and it stabilizes heavier 158 grain bullets without any fuss.

The Sights Are Fixed, And That Matters

Front and rear are both fixed. When our gun printed 2.5 inches right at 25 yards there was no screw to turn. Your options are to hold off, to have a gunsmith drift or replace the front sight, or to pick a variant with a front sight you can actually work with. The T.O.R.O.’s front sight is removable and the Defender’s is a night sight; the plain 605’s is a ramp.

Check your own gun at 15 and 25 yards before you trust it. Fixed sight revolvers vary unit to unit and yours may be dead on.

How It Compares

Ruger LCR .357 ($620-$720)

Seven ounces lighter and a far better double action trigger straight from the box. It also costs around three hundred dollars more, and that light frame makes full power magnums genuinely unpleasant. The Ruger is the better carry gun; the Taurus is the better shooting gun.

Taurus 856 ($320-$378)

The 605’s six shot sibling in .38 Special, and we have a full Taurus 856 review if you want the 500 round version of that story. One more round, no magnum option, and these days it costs about the same. If you were never going to shoot .357 anyway, and plenty of people buy a magnum and feed it .38s forever, the 856 gives you the extra chamber for free.

Smith & Wesson 640 ($780-$800)

The stainless J frame .357 the 605 is aimed at, with a shrouded hammer and a better trigger. It’s also more than double the money on the street. The Smith earns its price; the question is whether you need it to.

Upgrades Worth Making

Three things, in this order.

• A speedloader and a pocket for it. Five rounds is five rounds. The 605 takes the same loaders as other common five shot revolvers, so you aren’t hunting for something exotic.
• A real holster and a real belt. 24 ounces of steel will drag a soft belt down inside an hour. This is the upgrade people skip and then blame the gun for.
• Grips, if your hand is large. The factory rubber is competent and small. A Hogue monogrip fills the hand and soaks up magnum recoil, and it’s what Taurus fits to the Defender anyway.

What we wouldn’t bother with is a trigger job on a $318 revolver. Dry fire it a few hundred times instead; these smooth out on their own.

Common Problems and Fixes

• Brass left in the cylinder on the 2 inch. The ejector rod is shorter than the stroke a magnum case needs. Hold the gun muzzle up, rap the rod firmly rather than pushing it slowly, and expect to thumb out the occasional case. The 3 inch guns don’t do this.
• Groups printing off center. Fixed sights. Confirm at 15 and 25 yards, then hold off or have the front sight addressed. Don’t assume it’s you.
• A heavy double action out of the box. 12 pounds 4 ounces is normal here. It lightens with use. If it’s gritty rather than heavy, that’s a warranty call, and Taurus’s limited lifetime warranty covers it.
• Stiff cylinder rotation when dirty. .357 fouling builds under the extractor star. Clean under the star, not just the chambers.

Who Should NOT Buy This Gun

Pocket carriers. 24 ounces of stainless in a trouser pocket is a genuinely bad time, and if that’s your plan you want the Poly Protector or a different gun entirely.

Anyone who needs sights they can adjust. There’s no adjustment here at any price in the line, and the Executive Grade’s front sight is a brass bead.

New shooters buying their first defensive gun. A 12 pound double action and five rounds of .357 is a difficult combination to learn on. Start on .38 Special in this same gun, pick something from our best .38 Special revolvers, or start on a semi-automatic.

Final Verdict

The Taurus 605 does the thing it promises. Five rounds of full power .357, 150 rounds without a stoppage, sub two inch groups at 25 yards, and a street price around $318 that no American made competitor gets near. Judged on whether it works, it works.

What we’d change is which one you walk out with. Taurus’s own spec sheets put the two inch at 24.00 ounces and every three inch at 23.52, so the short gun costs you velocity, sight radius and clean ejection and hands back nothing on the scale. Spend the extra on a Defender 605, take the night sight and the longer ejector rod, and carry half an ounce less while you’re at it.

8.1/10. A reliable, accurate, cheap magnum revolver sold in a configuration that makes no sense.

FAQ: Taurus 605