I love my Taurus Model 85. It's small, lightweight, not terribly noticeable on my hip, and it was a gift from my wife (I've always wanted a snub nosed .38 special, so she surprised me with it as a late birthday present). It lets me open carry on my walks and hikes with my kids, without them getting distracted by "Daddy's bang bang". It's done a good job of scaring off our potential threats too. We live in a, relatively, crime free area in North Idaho, so our usual problems are the occasional stray dog. I've only had to fire one round into the ground to scare off a charging, pissed off looking, stray, but it worked just right. Funnily enough, I thought I was going to have to do it again last week. The dog got ten feet from my 8 year old and I (our 2 year old was napping at home with mom) before dropping down in the middle of the street, rolling over, and whining for us to pet him. Not going to lie, I puckered up and had my hand on my gun pretty quick. I was pretty alert for the rest of that walk.