It's hard to get more simple yet classy than a 5-shot snub nose revolver. They've been around for pretty much a century now, for a long time they've been the most common and reliable carry choices in the world, some will claim they are outdated, but they are still certainly in fashion and still get the job done.

Taurus has been around for a long time making affordable revolvers that work, while this might not hold true to some of their auto-loader pistols or carbines, the revolvers still kept a fairly good reputation, specially with the older and more common models, there has been issues with the weird over-the-top large bore revolvers such as .454 models or 8-shot large framed revolvers, but as long as you stick to the basics Taurus revolvers have a good reputation, get the job done and offer pretty decent aftermarket as far as revolver does, since most of the models share a lot in common with Smith & Wesson models, namely the Model 85 shares a lot with S&W J-Frame models, specially the Model 36, being also a J-Frame, 5-shot, .38 Special revolver.

This was the first gun I've bought as soon as I was old enough to legally own a firearm in my home country, I bought it used, and I'm it's third owner, the serial number dates to made in 1994, old enough to still be the older Taurus models that had real bluing finish but not so old that it's not +P rated, according to documents from the factory itself, any Taurus revolver with an alphanumeric serial number is +P rated, however it's not recommended to shoot non-SAAMI +P+ loads on the snub nose models.

Interesting enough, the previous owner that sold me is a range colleague of mine, which I've sold HKS 36A Speed Loaders I've bought during a trip to the USA since he requested me to, and eventually I've bought the same gun and re-acquired both speed-loaders I've bought in a pretty large and fun gun shop in Delaware, to attest it's closeness to the S&W models, it uses the same speed-loader models for the S&W Model 36 and since I've put aftermarket Pachmayr grips made for J-Frames, which were previously in a S&W Model 34 that belonged to a relative of mine, any holsters that can fit most 5-shot .38 Special snub noses should fit it aswell.

Certainly snub noses are guns that are a bit harder to master, these days you can argue that revolvers are harder to shoot since most new shooters start with striker-fired pistols with one single light trigger pull, while I personally prefer double/single action auto-loaders and of course revolvers, learning to shoot with a revolver almost exclusively in double action will do wonders for your marksmanship with handguns in my opinion, I've heard lots of police officers and instructors claiming "It's impossible to hit anything above 5 meters with a snub!", maybe in your first rounds, after having it for about 4 years (as of the time I'm writing this), while I haven't shot it a lot compared to my other guns, I'd say maybe I shot 300-400 rounds with it, I can consistently hit the plates around the size of a human torso on my range at 25-30 meters, all in double action with the fixed sights, and some decent groupings at 7-10 meters, of course it's not a revolver made for target shooting and more of a close up range defensive firearm, most people would claim the pretty simple fixed sights were made just for point-and-shoot, but you can definitely make precise shots up to 10 meters specially in single-action, actually .38 Special J-Frames are currently issued by the Japan National Police (in the form of the S&W360J Sakura revolvers) and their doctrine is to shoot always in single-action when possible, their qualification requires keeping fifty rounds within the black circle of a 25 meter pistol target at 25 meters, certainly doable with a 2 inch barrel and the regular .38 Special 158gn loads. (Source on this and the neat story about their adoption and Japanese Gun Culture/Laws here).

Groupings, torso at 7 meters, head at 10 meters using 158gn handloads in Double Action:

Since I bought this gun used it had some wear, some of the bluing had come off near the bore and there is a dent at the back near the hammer, possibly due to the gun falling on the floor, I've been told the first owner of this revolver was a São Paulo Civil Police officer, so it probably saw some field use being carried in plains clothing, I have no idea how many rounds it could've shot before I bought it, but the trigger feels excellent for such a gun, probably broke-in for sure, using a Lyman Digital Gauge I've measured the trigger to 9 lbs at Double Action, and 2 lbs at Single Action, the single action pull is very close to my Imbel M911A1 which has seen over 4000rnds, specially with this revolver my technique is to shoot most exclusively Double Action sitting my index finger bend on the trigger.

Before and After applying Birchwood Casey Permablue to re-do parts of the bluing finish:

As for reloading, I've used HKS speed loaders but they at least in my expensive sometimes can be a bit tricky, Bianchi Speed Strips are my favorite to use and don't take space in my pockets, I've also tested a few 3D printed speedloaders such as the 3FTech J Frame Speed Loader V2 with good results.
I've also painted the fixed sights, first I've attempted it with red nail polish, with pretty bad results, then later I've used Corion Glow Luminescent Paint, first applying the brand primer, waiting for it to dry, then applying a coat of green paint, with pretty solid results.

There isn't much else to input, such a simple firearm, it just works and is reliable, I've never had cylinder timing issues, the only problem I can pretty much say is that I've had issues with handloads using harder primers when shooting double action, it could be that the hammer spring is a bit worn on such an older gun with a high round count, namely Orbea Hermanos Small Pistol primers, and only when shooting double action, switching to single action all rounds went off, since those primers are known for being a bit harder (and I've used them even for .223 rounds firing off an AR-15 with no issues) and the age of this revolver, I'd say it's likely that the DA gave some light primer strikes on them, but I've never had this issue with other primers on handloads or factory ammo.

Pros

1. Simple as it gets
2. .38 Special is plentiful, easy to find, controllable and sufficient to stop threats
3. Holster availability, good aftermarket parts with speedloaders, grips
4. Compact enough for most people to be able to carry and conceal it well
5. Low maintenance required for not-so-avid gun owners
6. Good backup firearm

Cons

1. Double Action trigger can be hard to master for beginners
2. Reloading takes time and practice, low capacity, while enough for most urban problems you might face, depends a lot on the scenario, are you a regular person that might need to fend off a petty thief or a judge that has made enemies?
3. Fixed sights can be hard to learn, most times they are zeroed at the factory for a specific load and range too

Luminous sights on maximum brightness on low-light environments:

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