Expedition Bolt Action Rifle
The release of a new bolt action rifle design is a first for Taurus, who primarily focuses on making and selling handguns. Their new Expedition rifle is built around a Remington 700 pattern short action with a tri-lug bolt; cartridges are fed into the breech via an AICS pattern detachable box magazine. The Taurus Expedition’s stock was designed and is manufactured in house. Notably, part of the foreend is scalloped making it easier to snug up the rifle when shooting with a rifle saddle or bag. Likewise, the buttstock’s geometry has a concave section to make it easier to rest rear bags or your support shooting hand. The bottom of the fore-end has three different methods for bipod attachment: M-LOK slots, a Spartan Precision QD slot, and the traditional sling swivel stud (which also obviously serves as a means to rig up a traditional rifle sling). With general purpose in mind, the Taurus Expedition action is connected to a light contour cold hammer forged barrel. It’s currently only chambered for the .308 Winchester, which in spite of its age, has been a great general purpose .30-caliber cartridge since 1952.
327 Defender TORO
Last year at SHOT 2023, Taurus got everyone’s attention with the release of their optics-ready Taurus 856 TORO version, chambered in the traditional .38 Special cartridge. For SHOT 2024 this year, they’re running with the same idea, but in .32-caliber instead of only .38-caliber. The new 327 Defender Toro is built on the same 856/605 compact frame but is chambered for Federal’s .327 Magnum cartridge which can also handle the old-school .32 H&R Mag and .32 Long (and technically the even older .32 S&W). The 327 Defender TORO comes standard with a bobbed hammer for carry, a 3″ barrel and a footprint that’s compatible with the Shield RMSc pattern–the most popular of all the “micro” red dot footprints. .32-caliber are making a resurgence with some segments of serious defensive revolver shooters due to the cartridge’s penetration efficiency and shooting comfort in the context of smaller framed revolvers.
605 Executive Grade
The Taurus 605 shares the same compact frame size with the Taurus 856/905/327 etc, but with the distinction of being chambered for the .357 Magnum cartridge. Unlike the standard 6-shot 856, all 605 revolvers have a 5-shot capacity that leaves extra material in between the charge holes in order to account for the more powerful magnum cartridge. For 2024, Taurus is now “promoting” this small framed .357 workhorse into their Executive Grade product line along with the 856 (2022) and the Judge (2023). Executive Grade guns are factory tuned, a distinct steel Satin finish and a different set of walnut stocks that set them apart from the standard catalog items. The new Taurus 605 Executive Grade revolver also comes with a very tastefully done brass front sight and a deeper than standard rear topstrap notch. I dry-fired one at the Taurus booth this morning and the sight picture and double action trigger pull are great.
Deputy Single Action
Taurus revolvers have been available on the American market for decades now, but this year they decided to launch their own classically styled single action revolver. And instead of selling it under one of their sister brands like Heritage or Rossi (who both tend to have more Western styled guns), the decision was to launch this as a Taurus proper, with some pride on their flagship gun company. Deputy single action revolvers are available in the traditional .45 Colt chambering or the more modern .357 Magnum chambering that will obviously also handle .38 Special cartridges. The Deputy is engineered with a hammer block so that it can be safely carried and loaded with each charge hole full.
