Despite the popularity of high-capacity 9mm, 1911, and Magnum handguns, the snubnose 38 Special revolver remains popular. Lightweight, simple to load and unload, reliable, and powerful enough for defense use, the short-barrel revolver has many advantages. Heritage Manufacturing has introduced a new handgun that builds on the popularity of the revolver and the nickname Roscoe for a 38 carry gun. The new gun is a nicely blued revolver with walnut grips and a traditional five-shot cylinder. This revolver is designed for those who prefer a traditional appearance, and also those who intend to put it to the use it was intended, that is, in personal defense. To test this new revolver, we matched the Roscoe against a likely rival on a price-point basis. The Taurus 85 is a classic revolver in many ways, with a blued-steel finish and walnut grips. The Heritage Roscoe is a stablemate, or cousin, manufactured in the Taurus factory, but branded Heritage. Taurus owns Heritage Manufacturing and produces a steady stream of single-action revolvers. The Roscoe is a new introduction intended to compete in the personal-defense market. But is it simply a rebranded Taurus 85? In some good ways, yes, but in other ways, not at all. The differences are intriguing.
