Building A $1,000 Open-Class Race Gun, Pin Gun, Silo Gun

We take a plain-Jane Taurus 608 and turn it into a sweet-shooting multi-game revolver.

A blued Taurus 608 revolver retails for $465 or less. For $1,000, we set up the 6 1/2-inch- barrel model to race, shoot bowling pins, and vie for Practical Pistol awards.

Handguns suited for the top echelons of United States Practical Shooting Association (USPSA), International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC), NRA Action Pistol, NRA Pistol Silhouette, and bowling pin competitions often run into the $2,000 and $3,000 range—which is out of range for most shooters. But is it possible to build a racing handgun for hundreds, even thousands, of dollars less yet make it suitable for dueling in any of those games? A recent project I undertook showed me that shooters can build up a budget revolver into a slick-shooting competition arm. Here’s how I turned an over-the-counter Taurus 608 .357 Magnum revolver into a multi-course match winner.

The Gun
In my letter to Santa, I reasoned that the extended capacity of the Taurus 608 revolver would allow me to go head-to-head with semiautos at any event I wanted to enter. The 608 has an eight-round capacity, which means it’s suited to IPSC’s new single-stack-friendly trend, meaning that few courses require more than eight shots per shooting position. Also, the Taurus will shoot light target loads at Bianchi Cup without being modified, even 38 Special. For bowling pins and steel silhouette, the 608 can handle the fiercest loads you can cook up because it’s built on the Taurus 44 Magnum frame.

A blued 608’s suggested retail price (with a 61/2-inch barrel, of which the final half inch is actually a ported expansion chamber) is $465, and it could be found for considerably less. That left about $600 in my budget for modification, so I had to decide what kind of modification a revolver needs to be competitive in a number of games. Going over the list of diverse matches I planned on attending, it became obvious that a gun set up for IPSC competition would cover the most bases. The common necessities of accuracy, shot-to-shot speed and comfort, high capacity, and quick-reload capability would stand me in good stead in all of the games I wanted to play.

The Linchpin Item
What finally sold me on the idea of using a revolver for IPSC is the availability of full-moon clips. The quickest way to reload a revolver is with this invention, which goes back to some of the earliest revolvers made. Stamped from thin spring steel, a full-moon clip holds all eight rounds by the notch just in front of the case rim. The rounds go in together and come out together. But outside of the Smith and Wesson Model 625, moon clips are strictly a custom item. Only Mike Gurule at the Old Gun Shop in Newhall, California, makes them for the Taurus 608. The catch is the cylinder must be relieved to accept the clip at the proper tolerance so it won’t interfere with rotation of the cylinder or create a dead-air space between the clip and the cylinder. Too little clearance will cause the cylinder to bind, and too much clearance can act as a shock absorber, dampening the blow of the hammer and endangering reliable ignition of the primers.

Turnaround time for the moon-clip conversion was two weeks. I sent the crane and cylinder (Gurule prefers receiving only the cylinder, but I lacked the proper tool to remove the crane assembly) and asked Gurule to perform the $75 conversion. With that job I received five free clips, and I purchased an additional 20 clips at $1.85 each.

A Comprehensive Upgrade
Next, I needed a gunsmith to perform accurizing and trigger work. To my surprise, the project was turned down by a couple of experts famous for revolver work. They said they only worked on S&Ws. But after reading his brochure and speaking with him, I decided to send my gun to Jack Weigand at Weigand Combat Handguns. Weigand warned me of possible pitfalls in the project, but his sense of focus and self confidence over the phone was reassuring. His main concerns centered on the precision of the moon-clip conversion and the quality of the internal machining as it arrived from Taurus. Turnaround time would be four to six weeks.

The work I wanted Weigand to perform included a $150 competition action job. This included an action job, rounding and polishing the trigger, installing a lighter Wolff rebound spring, lapping the cylinder to the recoil shield to stop cylinder end shake from developing, and setting the hammer drop to minimum specifications. I also asked him to install a trigger stop, which cost another $20 and would make the gun double-action only. Fine with me. I had asked for DAO initially because I was under the impression this would shorten lock time. Jack said this was a popular misconception, but Taurus revolvers feature a shorter trigger pull than most to begin with.

Fortunately, the gun didn’t need to have its barrel set back to readjust the barrel-to-cylinder gap, which saved me $65. I did spend another $20 to cut the forcing cone, $35 on thumbpiece modification to aid the speedloading process, and $29.95 on a Weigand Weaver-style scope base. Finally, I opted for the Hybra-Port compensation system for $99.95. Counting the eight factory-supplied ports up front, after Hybra-Porting the gun would have a total of 18 holes in the barrel.

The finished gun was delivered via UPS five weeks later. At this point, I had $755 in the gun sans scope. But how good did it shoot?

The Results
From muzzle to grip, here is how the gun scored in meeting my expectations. The experience of shooting any handgun, especially a revolver, begins and ends with the trigger. The trigger as it came from the factory was better than on earlier Taurus revolvers, in my view. The 608 series is the first from Taurus to feature a new trigger design that takes the guns further from their S&W J-frame coil-spring design roots and closer to the Colt trigger system. Dry firing the 608 prior to modification left me with the impression I was chopping at something with each stroke. Yet the actual feel of the trigger break was quite good for a stock gun. The stock trigger was just over 12 pounds. As it arrived from Weigand Combat, the double-action pull was between 7 and 8 pounds. This may seem heavy for a competition-only gun, but reliable ignition was a first concern. Threats to reliability were from the moon-clip assembly and the inherent short stroke of Taurus’ double action. On the plus side the hammer spur was left on despite the gun being DAO. This extra weight would add inertia and allow a quick check of headspace before firing just by pulling back the hammer far enough to disengage and spin the cylinder.

I find the trigger to be improving with time, but inescapably, the Taurus action exhibits two characteristics that make it less forgiving than a Smith & Wesson. For one, it is prone to short stroking. This means, if you do not let the trigger fully forward the cylinder may cycle but the hammer will not drop. If you are into a target array that demands the full eight rounds and short stroke on one sight picture, you will have to bring that cylinder around again to break the shot. The other problem is a slight deflection in sight picture as the shot breaks. However, after firing 5,000 rounds through the gun, I felt the trigger had broken in nicely and was breaking under 7 pounds. Also gone was the chopping feel in the trigger pull.

One area of concern was the cylinder modification to accept moon clips. Several layers of thin machined metal must alternately bond together and spread apart with precision despite the fact that all of the parts are spinning and one of them is being changed out every whole revolution. Add to this shell cases that vary in size and condition due to the wear and tear of detonation. To prevent faulty ignition, extra care must be taken to keep this part of the gun clean. Any kind of deposit at all can upset the crucial seating process of the loaded clips on top of the star.

There are five possible trouble zones. The cylinders themselves must be kept clean. A build-up of burned power or bullet lube could prevent fresh rounds from fully entering the cylinders. Conversely, the spent rounds might refuse to eject. The area beneath the ejector star is prone to residue build-up on any revolver, and additional care must be taken in cleaning the cylinder where the tips of the star seat below the mouth of each chamber. Regular brushing of the cylinder face, the underside of the star and the area surrounding the ratchet is also required. Finally, the clips themselves should be cleaned as needed in a solvent such as brake-parts cleaner.

The clips themselves are able to take a lot of abuse. Even when they looked bent during the process of stocking them, they snapped back with no apparent damage. If they actually get creased, they can be bent back, but always test their fit and function before closing the cylinder. However, there seems to be some variation in the way different cartridges lock into the moon clips. This is due to a slight difference of size in the cases or the groove at the case rim. Moon clips for tapered cases such as .45 ACP are designed to let the loaded cartridges move around. Straight-walled cases such as .38 special, .357 magnum and 10mm are supposed to seat rigidly. The loosest fitting cases were those manufactured by Starline and PMC. Fiocchi cases were the most rigid, closely followed by Winchester. The fit of Remington-Peters (R-P) cases were slightly less sure, in my opinion.

Nevertheless, I encountered reliability problems during one range session in particular—up to 7 percent misfires. During this session of 400 rounds, the gun had gotten dirty. The problem was only partially solved by switching to jacketed bullets. When the cylinder became stoked with debris (lead, unburned powder, bullet lube) the rounds would not fully enter the cylinder. Even when pushed in manually they were riding on a cushion of foreign material. Religious cleaning helped, but the gun still suffered misfires.

Handload Diagnosis
At this time, I began to study my handloaded rounds. Even though I had yet to put a scope on the gun, I was busy chronographing, working towards a minor load for Action pistol and a major load for IPSC. I noticed there was a marked difference in the spent brass. The lighter loads looked normal and let go of the moon clip with ease. The major load required real work to remove the cases from the clips, and the brass featured a bulge at the lower end. The minor load was 4.7 grains of Universal over a 160 RNL bullet from GAT. The major load was 8.5 grains of Universal over a 125 RNL bullet, also by GAT. But surely the sizing die in my Dillon 550 was resizing properly.

Or was it? I was using Hornady’s New Dimension Custom Grade Titanium Nitride dies—and no they were not! I wasn’t getting that last 3/32 inch of case depth into the die. Once I realized these dies would not resize the entire case, I went back to my old set of Lee Collette carbide dies. But I still experienced misfires from 2 to 5 percent of the time. It was sheer coincidence I was able to render the 608 100 percent reliable. The last percentage points of misfires were my fault and not the gun; I wasn’t seating the primers to the right depth. While not so high as to interfere with headspace, the primers were not sinking in as they should have. I remembered a fellow shooter used Dillon’s case lube to help counteract an attack of tennis elbow aggravated by extensive reloading. Even though I was using carbide dies, which do not require lubrication, I decided to try some anyway. The primers began seating noticeably deeper, giving the primer cavity a nice concave feel. I have not had a misfire since.

The barrel itself was slugged with a 148-grain DEWC-sized .358 and mic’d. Production barrels vary, but this one was very tight. The Hybra-Port system consists of five ports placed about midway down the barrel. This had a dramatic effect on muzzle flip with only a minimal loss of velocity. Weigand Combat advertises a 5 percent loss in velocity. I found this figure to be reliable. The barrel set-back work by Weigand helped maintain velocity by assuring a properly spaced cylinder gap. Characteristically, porting makes a gun louder, but I am bothered not one bit that my gun is just as loud as the ported .38 Supers I race against.

I also changed out the grip. Made from a hard slippery rubber, the stock grip is fashioned with a full backstrap that is heavier at the top. This design favors a larger hand, but you have to grip it in just the right place. This does not always happen when you rush. I favor a grip shape either far more obvious or far more neutral. The only replacement grip currently available for the gun is the Pachmayr Decelerator Grip, and even it does not fit perfectly. It doesn’t create any speedloading problems, but it fails to cover a hole in the upper portion of the frame. I put tape over it to keep out dirt. The rubber is very soft and does an exceptional job of absorbing any uncomfortable impulse generated by the gun.

As you can tell, this gun is probably going to see more IPSC than any other type of match, and this factor has affected many aspects of setting the gun up. Taking a poll of such shooters as IPSC Standard Division World Champion Ted Bonnet, IPSC World Open Class Champion Todd Jarrett, World Speed Shooting Champion Jerry Miculek, and a host of others, the consensus is that the strongest accurizing factor in the equation of handloading components is the bullet. With this in mind I decided to stay with one powder for the sake of control. Juggling preparation for two major matches at once, the test powder would have to be versatile enough to work well in a light target load and be expansive enough to fill the compensator. Bullseye produces plenty of power, but the 608 with moon clips is hypersensitive to powder residue. Winchester 231 burns the base of lead bullets when the pressures are too high, causing excessive leading of the barrel. Winchester Super Lite or Vhita-Vouri N350 probably would have been good choices, but I settled on Hodgdon’s Universal Clays. It is clean, powerful, and meters well.

I used the .357 Magnum case throughout. My intention was to perfect a load for Bianchi Cup, then a load for the USPSA/IPSC Area 4 Championship. I could have used .38 Special cases for Bianchi and the magnum cases for IPSC, but I wanted to avoid creating a second burn ring in the cylinders. Also, I reasoned placing the bullet that much closer to the forcing cone would increase accuracy. So, I’ve been sorting out major and minor loads with the same zero, judging the IPSC loads by grouping and taking note of point of aim.

To make the compensation system work, Jack Weigand had said, “You want to load up the hottest load you can stuff in there.” There’s one advantage of shooting .357 ammo off a frame built to withstand the rigors of 44 Mag. I started with the natural assumption that the lightest bullet will leave the most room in the case for powder. My first load to make major was the 8.5 grains of Universal with the 125 RNL bullet. The 125 RNL must move at least 1,000 fps to compete as a minor (125) round, but they would have to run much faster to make the major ratio of 175. Crossing the 175 barrier was no problem. But the 125 RNL bullet did not prove as accurate as I had hoped. Staying with a round-nosed lead bullet to speed loading, I went even lighter. Oregon Trail Bullet Company supplied me with its Laser-Cast 115-grain .357 bullets. Still, at the necessary velocity of 1,521 fps, their accuracy proved erratic. I had to move up to a GAT middle-weight 160-grain RNL bullet and 6.0 grains of Universal. This allowed me to drive it at 1,100 fps to make major, and at both major and minor, the GAT bullet was the most accurate lead bullet.

The need for accuracy and quick speedloading having been met, I moved on to jacketed bullets to address the problem of fouling. Shooting minor for Action Pistol, the most accurate loads were 6.5 grains of Universal with a Sierra 125 Jacketed Hollow Cavity bullet, and the Nosler 115-grain round over 6.4 grains of Universal. Checking with Hodgdon, they couldn’t supply me data below 12 grains for the Sierra 125. They claimed it shot dirty. I found no strong evidence of this. I did know the bullets were worthless for speedloading and required coaxing for even a casual reload. The Noslers speedloaded pretty well if you gave them just the right twist. Just behind the Sierra in accuracy, they are readily available and are cheaper than the Sierra bullets, offered in packages of 250 for an average retail price in my area of $20.95. Also, the box they come in is too nice to throw away.

The next most accurate loads were those propelling lead bullets: 4.7 grains over a 160RNL or 158 SWC. None of the jacketed bullets weighing 158 to 160 grains were particularly impressive in my tests. Going heavier, the Nosler 180-grain jacketed Silhouette bullet was soft and accurate when propelling with 5.0 grains of Universal.

Factory loads in .357 Magnum are expensive, but I found the Fiocchi 142-grain Full Metal Jacket/Truncated Cone round made major (185) and was the most accurate load bar none. Despite being too disruptive for quick follow-up shots, you have to give serious thought to using it as a match round. It burns clean and speedloads quickly. Fifty-round boxes were $13.49 at a local range.

I topped the gun with a C-More sight, and I found the original zero I fine tuned at 25 yards that same day has held for six weeks now. That zero was for a load of 7.4 grains of Universal over the Nosler 115-grain IPSC bullet that is fully jacketed with a hollow point. That zero has stayed true even though I’ve been shooting loads as diverse as 4.7 grains of Universal with a 158-grain SWC and a 115 RNL over 9.1 grains of Universal.

The Wrap-Up
The only real way to test any piece of equipment is to go out and shoot a match with it. For example, one real concern competition would answer about this gun is whether the added speedloading ability and lower price of lead bullets compared to jacketed rounds is worth the hazard of fouling or even the distraction of additional maintenance between stages? Thus far, I’ve been able to shoot the gun enough to know what I have to do to control malfunctions due to grime. It served me well at the Area 4 championships and at the Bianchi Cup.

Certainly this gun could be improved upon even further, but much of the necessary work would have to be done at the design level. Remember, there is nothing fancy here. No match barrel, no roller action, no other high-end stuff. The only changes in design that separate this Taurus 608 from its out-of-the-box cousin is a clever compensation system and the application of moonclips, the oldest known invention for speedloading a revolver.

In truth, this is an expertly tuned stock gun that in a practiced hand will compete admirably with custom guns costing three to four times as much money. It will be interesting to see how it holds up over a competition season—and if I’m as happy with my budget Taurus 608 in six months as I am now. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.

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-by Roger Eckstine