Also, Wasn't Taurus begun in Brazil by some disgruntled S&W engineers?
IIRC, S&W had a factory down there and it got nationalized by the Brazilian gov't. That's why for almost a decade the quality was so poor. They got a rep as a POS handgun. At the same time Brazil also nationalized a Beretta factory which is why there is such a similarity there. After awhile I think a group of Brazilian investors took over and the HQ moved here to Miami, FL and the quality gradually came up and the stock grew in the number of models....
The NRA ammo of the year is specially designed for .38 special snub-nose revolvers. It's Speer gold dot hollow point. I plan to try it in my ruger .357 as soon as I can find some. The article didn't say whether or not it could be used in semi auto's. Anything that can improve the accuracy of a snubby is great.