Don't hate it just because it's beautiful: The new Taurus 856 Executive Grade is far more than a hand-polished satin finish and exquisite Altamont walnut grips. This newest iteration of the famous Taurus 856 revolver was gifted some serious functional upgrades right along with its facelift. Taurus' goal was to take a classic of concealed carry to the next level of comfort and safety ... they just so happen to have created a real beauty in the process.
Shorter-barreled revolvers like the Taurus 856 Executive Grade make excellent everyday carry (EDC) guns, especially when they've been optimized for the task. The polished satin finish allows for a smoother draw through leather and clothing, and the spurless hammer is contoured flush with the frame to prevent snags during the holstering or unholstering process. Even those premium grips provide improved function; checkered panels and an intelligently contoured profile ensure positive retention and control under stressful situations.
Speaking of stressful situations, Taurus has radiused the cylinder chamber edge, meaning that when you're loading the gun, the case mouths of your ammunition won't "trip" on the cylinder edge as you insert them. That's definitely a welcome feature when manually reloading or when using a speed loader under duress. Here you'll note another notable break from "ccw snubby" tradition: the trigger. Each revolver's trigger is hand-tuned to deliver a smoother trigger pull than most double-action-only (DAO) revolvers can offer, and a sear break that is crisp and predictable. This lets you maintain better control of the sight picture through the trigger pull, and gives you a cleaner break for greater accuracy.
Unlike many CCW revolvers, the 856 Executive Grade has a 3" barrel. Taurus engineers chose to do this because it gives you a longer sight radius and improved velocity when compared to 2-inch-barrel revolvers. That, in turn, means more accurate and harder-hitting terminal performance in a personal defense handgun. Chambered in the defense-ready .38 Spl.+P caliber, the 856 Executive Grade can also digest softer-shooting target loads. Taurus elected to use all-stainless-steel construction for the frame, barrel and cylinder, so the firearm's 25-oz. weight absorbs much of the recoil for which concealable revolvers are known.
The MSRP is $689, and the gun ships with a Pelican hard-sided case. For more information on the Taurus 856 Executive Grade, visit TaurusUSA.com.
