Full Review: New Taurus Deputy Single-Action Revolver

'Git along little dogie!'

May 29, 2025 By Patrick Sweeney

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America has a love affair with the single-action revolver. As the sidearm of cowboys, lawmen, bandits and pioneers, any thoughts of the frontier invariably include the single-action revolver. I did a whole lot of learning about shooting with a single-action revolver. To some, the laborious loading and unloading process forces you to slow down, think about what you’re doing, and focus on good shooting. You can’t just blast off 15+ rounds in a few seconds, you have to apply yourself. Taurus has joined roundup with their new Deputy revolver.

Deputy Revolver

The offerings for right now are basic and obvious. You get your choice of any finish as long as it is blued. Blued or blue and color cased-hardened were popular choices back when the single action was the premier sidearm of choice. You can have one of two barrel lengths; 4¾-inch or 51⁄2-inch. The original length, in 1873, was 7½ inches, but it only took a year for the 51⁄2-inch version to be offered, curiously first in England, then a year later in the US. The 43⁄4-inch came out in 1879, so there’s a long history of single-action revolvers in various barrel lengths. That Taurus is offering them in the two shorter ones is, I think, a good thing. To a lot of shooters, the shorter one, the “gunfighter” length, as some refer to it, just looks right, and boy is it handy and balanced in the hand. If you want something with a bit more weight out front or a longer sight radius, or a small boost in velocity, then the 5½-inch barrel is going to be just the ticket.

Right side view of pistol — The Taurus Deputy looks like a standard blued single-action revolver. Which it is, but better. (Photo Provided by Author)

And caliber? For now, .45 Colt and .357 Magnum. Again, those are obvious, correct, and useful options for caliber. The .45 Colt can also use the shorter .45 Schofield if you wish, which is the choice of some cowboy action shooters. The advantage there is they load really light loads, and the shorter case means less dead air space, and more consistent velocities, even if they are wimpy velocities. And the .357Magnum, as pretty much anyone who knows more than two things about firearms knows, can also use the .38 Special.

However, how is the Taurus Deputy different? Is it? In layout, no. It is a single-action revolver that ticks all the boxes for the cowboy revolver set. The front sight is a blade, the rear is a notch in the upper rear corner of the frame. The trigger, and action, is single-action only. So, you have to thumb-cock the hammer on each and every shot. The cylinder holds six rounds, and the cylinder is no larger than that of the traditional single action, so you are not going to be able to use T Rex-level reloads in .45 Colt in it, it won’t stand up to it. Nor would you, firing such loads (at least until you broke your Taurus, and don’t blame them if you do) out of a revolver that weighs just 38 to 41 ounces. (Chambering and barrel length will shift that weight a few ounces.)

The Details

Left side view of Revolver — On the left side you can see the frame screws, indicating it is a classic design. However, it has updates. (Photo Provided by Author)

So, what’s different? For one, the action in the Deputy utilizes a transfer bar. When you cock the Deputy, you can see the bar, a flat tab, rising up from its hinge point on the trigger. When you press the trigger, that action keeps the transfer bar raised, and the hammer hits the bar, which hits the firing pin (mounted in the frame) and sets off the primer. The hammer by itself does not have the reach to contact the firing pin without the transfer bar, and so you can, unlike the traditional single action, carry the Deputy with all six chambers loaded.

This is worth some explanation. The traditional single action, the Colt SAA, had a firing pin mounted on the hammer. When you unadvisedly eased the hammer down onto a loaded chamber, the firing pin was resting directly on a primer. That being the primer of the cartridge in line with the barrel. If anything struck the hammer hard enough, it would set off the primer, and fire the cartridge. I suspect there were a few cowboys back in the 19th century who walked with a limp (if they survived the experience, that is) because they forgot, or never learned that. I learned a long time ago the “one, skip, four, cock and lower” loading routine that you needed with the single action. Which, the first few times I loaded up the Deputy for chrono work, I did without thinking about it. With the Deputy, you can load all six and be safe from that method of accidental discharge. This was something taught as a lesson in John Wayne’s last movie, The Shootist.

There’s another detail in which the Deputy is different. When I started working on the Deputy for photography, I noticed the center pin. This is the axle on which the cylinder rotates, and it is held in place by means of a spring-loaded cross pin, Press the frame-mounted spring-loaded pin in, and you can then draw the center pin forward. Except, it does not leave the frame. When I first saw the extra-long center pin, I thought, “Oh, a secondary safety, like some other single actions use.” Those have two notches in the center pin. If you press the locking pin in on those designs, and then press the center pin back towards the cylinder, you can lock it in place to block the hammer. It is a way of keeping the firing pin off of a primer. However, with those you can’t engage that safety and still use the single action. You have to press the locking pin and draw the center pin forward, in order to make those single actions fireable.

Cylinder removed from frame — To disassemble the Deputy, once you have unloaded and pulled the center pin forward, you just lift the cylinder out of the frame.(Photo Provided by Author)

A moment after thinking it was a passive safety, I thought “Waitaminit,” it has transfer bar, it doesn’t need a passive safety.” I tried pushing the center pin in, and it would not move. I then went to take it out, and I found out why: the center pin is too long to exit the frame. It stops at the ejector tab, and stays in the frame, even after you remove the cylinder. At that moment, I resisted the urge to stand up, face the direction of Taurus, and give them a snappy salute. Everyone who has ever handled a single action has at one time or another dropped the loose center pin. And thanked their lucky stars that they had dropped it indoors, where it could easily be found. Doing that outside, or worse, in the deep woods or wilds, risks losing it and having an unusable revolver until it could be replaced. Not the case with the Deputy, and a well-deserved well done to Taurus on this detail.

Loading is easy. Cock the hammer back two clicks, until the cylinder will rotate freely. Swing the loading gate open. If you are going to load six, then load six, close the gate, cock and ease the hammer forward to rest. (Even after decades of transfer bar design single action, that last step always makes me a bit leery. I watch what I do very carefully.) If you only want five rounds, then you load one round, rotate the cylinder past the next chamber and leave it empty, and then load the next four. Fully cock the hammer and ease it down, and it will be resting on an empty chamber. To fire, cock the hammer, aim, press the trigger, and repeat as necessary. To remove the empties, cock the hammer two clicks, open the loading gate, and once each chamber is lined up, use the ejector rod to push them out. I found in testing that the cowboy loads were often so low-pressure, with the muzzle pointed straight up, the empties would just fall out as I rotate the cylinder around.

Loading and unloading cylinder of Taurus with gate open — To load or unload, and to remove the cylinder, you need to hinge the loading gate open. (Photo Provided by Author)

The grips are plastic, with sharp checkering molded into them along with an attractive border. The Deputy is assembled in the exact manner as the Colt, so if you want to take it apart for basic cleaning, that’s easy. You unload and leave the loading gate open. Press the spring-loaded cross pin in the frame to the side (It only goes one way) and then pull the center pin towards the muzzle. Now you can push the cylinder out of the frame to the right, through the gap left by the opened loading gate. That’s it.

Now, if you want to do a detailed strip and clean, be prepared. You’ll need three or four different-sized screwdrivers to get a correct blade size for the various screw slots. You will, once you have removed the cylinder, need to unscrew no less than ten screws, unless you intend to remove the ejector rod assembly, which is the eleventh screw. If you use the wrong (poorly-fitting) screwdriver, you risk mangling the screw slot or scratching the frame or trigger guard or backstrap. You could spend a lifetime shooting the Deputy and never need to do that, so don’t get too worried about it.

Range Report

Target showing accuracy of Taurus revolver — The accuracy of a single action is more a matter of you and the sights than anything else. However, if it had target sights it wouldn’t be a cowboy gun, now would it? All of these are “minute of bad guy” and better, by the way. (Photo Provided by Author)

As far as accuracy goes, the Deputy, like all single actions, can be inherently accurate (and this one seems to be), but getting that accuracy out of them can be work. The trigger pull on the Deputy was quite good, and single actions often are, but, the front sight is rounded, shiny, and does not have a large and sharply-defined top edge. The rear notch isn’t large, and the sights are not adjustable. Finally, once you add in the falling hammer, which is more akin to a slamming door than a striker being released, you have to work to get the best accuracy. You can get entirely useable accuracy, especially if you are not looking for Bullseye competition shooting, but fun, plinking, learning the skills of shooting accuracy.

Accuracy with Hornady Ammo — With ammo it likes (and they are all different in their tastes) your single action, like this Deputy, can be very accurate indeed. (Photo Provided by Author)

In the .357 Magnum version, feeding it .38 Special ammunition will cut down on costs and avoid learning a flinch, and if you take up reloading, you can shave those costs even more. I tested one in .45 Colt just because, and reloading this caliber can also save you some coin, or, as the rest of us find, get a lot more shooting for the amount we were going to spend anyway. Speaking of spending, the Deputy has a list price of $607, which means your local gun shop will likely have it in the counter for under six hundred dollars. That’s entirely competitive with the various Italian imports, and a lot less than the domestic single actions.

What next for the Taurus Deputy? I can’t help but suggest extra cylinders. A cylinder in .45ACP for the .45 Colt would be nice, and a 9mm cylinder for the .357 could be a lot of fun. Especially for someone who wants to get themselves some single action shooting fun, and is set up to load buckets of ammo, but are only loading 9mm or .45 ACP. Plastic grips are nice, but some shooters will want wood, so that option could be popular, and a longer barrel, of course. There are always some single-action shooters who insist that the only correct barrel length is 71⁄2 inches. That would be the easiest next step for the Deputy. Finally, those who want a hard-use single action would be interested in one in stainless steel, but I think I’ve suggested enough line extensions for Taurus for the next few years. Until then, the Deputy is a solid, reliable, accurate fun handgun to shoot, and if you are looking to get yourself some single action fun, this is the place.