Starting to have a change of heart for Taurus…

[pesta2]

and it is not for the better. I have always thought they were a good gun for the price. I have 4 Taurus revolvers. It is what I could afford. I am the type of person when I get a new handgun I would like to have it is a different caliber than what I already have unless it is for a specific purpose.

I have:
4” .44 Mag
2” .357
Tracker .41 Mag 4”
2” 44 speical

The .44 and .357 were brand new. .41 .44 were special used.

I bought the .41 Mag used. After I did, I noticed one cylinder was really sticky and on that cylinder the trigger had to be pulled a lot harder to drop the hammer. Well it was sent back to the factory and repaired really quickly and came back working fine.

When I bought my .44 mag, the first time I took it to the range the front sight and pin fell off during recoil after 10 rounds (not liying) and lost in the gravel. It took 8 months to get a front sight and pin from Taurus. It took around 6 letters and 4 calls with each one more frustrated on my part They finally came and the sight was not even drilled out for the pin.

Now recently I took my .44 Special to the range. I bought it used a few years ago. It has a bobbed hammer. I like the concept of a short barrel .44. I went to the shooting range and had a problem. I was shooting standard off the shelf .44 specials and not reloads. I shot 5 rounds then another 5 rounds and everything was fine. I loading again and stared firing but on the 3rd round my cylinder locked up. When I pulled the trigger the hammer came up about ¼” then would not travel to the rear. I emptied and reload and the same thing occurred again maybe the 2nd or 3rd round fired. I tried it a third time and the same thing happened. It seemed worse while firing then it does while dry firing. If I pull the trigger quickly it does not do it as frequently but it I take my time and squeeze the trigger, it affects it more and locks completely up. One cylinder completely locks up and another cylinder fired but need a trigger pull three times greater than normal to fire. So to the factory it has to go now, shipping paid for by me.

My .357 I have had no problems at all.

I am thinking of selling my .44 mag. I have a Ruger Super Blackhawk (my favorite handgun, 4-5/8 barrel) and love Ruger Revolvers. Plus I had a problem with a Ruger .22 Psitol before and factory service was wonderful, the went above and beyond what they need to do. My uncle gave me his Mini-14 and was missing some part, a call the Ruger and the parts came free in a few days. These where not broken parts but lost by my uncle. The Taurus, their fault and I still had to pay for shipping and the parts. It shoots great but since I have the Ruger in .44 mag I don’t shoot the Taurus anymore only has 50 rounds through it. I eventual want to get a Ruger Alaskan in .44 mag. to have a double action .44 mag.

Even though the .357 has been great I would like to eventually sell it and get a 2” Ruger to replace it.

I am keeping the .44 Special once I get it fixed, I just want a 2” barrel .44 special and the options are limited.

I am keeping the .41 mag because I like the concept of a light .41 mag. I took it hiking and worked out great. A powerful cartridge in small package so it is my hiking in black bear country gun.

So out for 4 Taurus Revolvers 3 have had problems!

Never like that with my Ruger Revolvers.

[JR47]

If you like the Rugers better, then they are the weapons for you.

Buying used can be buying trouble, with any brand. Was it out of time? Or was it just a sticky cylinder charge-hole? I've had several S&W revolvers that had a tight chamber or two, but a thorough cleaning seemed to cure it. A lot of people buy a .357 Mag., for example, and then shoot nothing but .38 Special through it. It can result in sticking charge holes if they're at all on the minimum spec side.

JB Bore Paste will clean them up, polishing the holes as it does.

[darko]

Hmmmm....I'm sorry to hear that. I was actually just looking at the 608 and 617 and seriously considering them as being an addition to my family of pistols The bummer about some of these warranties is that they make you pay to ship it back to them, which really sucks considering you may have only paid $300-$400 for the gun in the first place and shipping it would pull an additional $30-$40 bucks out of your pocket. I recently had to send my Springfield XD back to Springfield but was lucky enough to get the dealer to make Springfield pay for the shipping. Anyway......yikes, I'm wondering if perhaps those two pistols (608-617) may not be such a great idea.

[pesta2]

Was it out of time? Or was it just a sticky cylinder charge-hole?

I guess it is out of timing issues. The cases are not sticking in the chamber. When you dry fire it the cylinder doesn’t want to rotate and the hammer doesn’t want to move unless you pull really hard on the trigger. This has happened on the .41 and now the .44 spl.

[2rugers]

We do own 4 Taurus revolvers and while they are good guns they are not in the same league with the 8 Rugers we also own.

[Rimrod]

I have 4 older Taurus revolvers and like them a lot. (76, 86, 96 and 689). I have a newer, pre lock, 445 and the difference in quality is amazing, I will never buy another newer one. They have gone down the toilet along with S&W.

[Tom C.]

I don't own any Taurus guns and I don't plan to buy any. I don't think they are made well enough. When I get a Ruger or S&W and I don't like the way something was done, I can fix it. The Taurus, IMO, is made with inconsistent hardening, among other faults, that can't be easily fixed.

[john in jax]

I've had great luck and enjoyed owning and shooting the 2 or 3 Taurus semi-autos I've had. But I hate Taurus revolvers and will not own another one. Every single Taurus revolver I've owned (.44mags and .357 mags) has developed serious problems or issues well before 1,000 rounds.

[RocketFoot]

I was so impressed with my .44 Raging Bull, that I purchased a PT1911 and I am equally impressed. Both guns are solid and function properly. With that said, I also understand that if I buy a Chevy Cobalt, it's not going to perform as well as a Corvette! If it did, it would be the same price!

[JR47]

Tom C, what would lead you to the "inconsistent hardening" statement? Just curious.

By the way, I'm a recent transplant from the City of Laurel, PG Co. Used to shoot a lot at Maryland Small Arms, even before they relocated to Old Marlboro Pike. Always made the Shows at the Equestrian Center, as well.

[JB696]

Maybe I can cheer you up a little bit. I just bought a new Ruger Super Blackhawk. All five of the grip frame screws are buggered up. Where the hammer fits into the back of the frame in the "fired" position, the hammer hit the edge of the frame on one side and made two big dents in the edge (of the frame). This happened during assembly or during the factory test firing. To correct the problem, they ground off one side of the hammer about a sixteenth of an inch so it wouldn't hit. On the left side where the grip frame meets the frame, above the trigger, the edge of the frame got bunged up, leaving a nasty gap about an inch long. Whoever assembled the rear sight had a screwdriver a little bit too wide. It scraped off the black finish all around the windage and elevation screws. Where the ejector housing should fit tightly against the barrel, somebody accidentally ground off one edge at the front, leaving a nasty gap about a half inch long. Side-play in the cylinder at lockup is .002. But the endshake (front to rear) is .009. The barrel will have to be screwed in one more turn to take care of that. Which is good, because then maybe the front sight can be lined up, instead of cocked to the left. There is a flat spot on the side of the barrel where somebody accidentally hit it with a grinder. I think this can be blended in where it doesn't show too much. So how does it shoot? Low and to the right. So what will it take to fix this gun? About $200.
- five new grip frame screws
- new hammer
- new ejector housing
- new rear sight assembly
- mill bottom of frame off .030
- refit grip frame
- set back barrel

So instead of buying it, why not just send it back to the distributor and get another one? Been there, several times. The next one is usually worse. Timing problems, rough barrel bore, nicks and gouges that can't be polished out, notchy triggers, etc. etc. Send it back to Ruger? You've got to be kidding. I wouldn't let those monkees change the oil on my car. So why didn't I just wait until I could find a nice older model? One made back when Ruger gave a damn about quality. Stupidity......sheer stupidity.

[JR47]

Uhhhhhh........why did you accept purchase of it? Even a pre-paid weapon can be returned to the factory by most stores with such a finding? It should have never left the shop.

Why not send it back to Ruger? Along with a letter, and photos, to Steve Sanetti, the President of Ruger. Such a letter helped a man with a P97 get a new weapon on the Amback Forums. What do you have to lose?

[joab]

When I bought my .44 mag, the first time I took it to the range the front sight and pin fell off during recoil after 10 rounds (not liying) and lost in the gravel. It took 8 months to get a front sight and pin from Taurus. It took around 6 letters and 4 calls with each one more frustrated on my part They finally came and the sight was not even drilled out for the pin.

The exact same thing happened to me
Except it was a Ruger and it was within the first five rounds, and itwas the whole sight base assembly

[Ozzieman]

I like 44 sp and picked up a used one that came in to the store.
Same problem. Instead of returning it I gave it to a very good gun smith and the forcing cone was not cut straight in line with the cylinder and was actually too tight to the cylinder. For $35 he cleaned up the end of the forcing cone and the gun has functioned flawlessly since. Over all it’s a nice gun but that kind of a problem does concern me. Its one of the more important fit requirements in a wheel gun and if they can’t get that right what else don’t they do well.

[JB696]

What have I got to lose by sending it back to Ruger? I did that once with another gun. Never again. If I send it back, I'll have to fix the "repair" and probably some new problems as well. Not to mention the inevitable new nicks, scrapes and vise jaw marks. I'd rather have my "new" gun rebuilt by a skilled gunsmith. Remember. when you send it back to Ruger, unless you are very lucky, it will be worked on by the same people who buggered it up in the first place. No thanks. It was my mistake for buying the gun. I'll have it professionally rebuilt at my expense. And NEVER buy another new Ruger.

[JR47]

Ok, your choice, but why did you accept it in the first place?

[JB696]

I guess you didn't read my original post.

[JR47]

I guess that I did. Nowhere in there do you give anyone any sound reason for the purchase. You act as though you've had trouble with Ruger before (the monkey comment), yet you went ahead and bought an obviously flawed revolver, from a company you hated.

I can honestly say that I've never seen a new revolver, from any company, that arrived in that condition. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that nobody else here has seen such a piece of work.

I'd like to see a picture of that. Had you said that it was bought used, I'd believe that some shade-tree gunsmith had been working on it.

[2rugers]

We have 8 Ruger handguns,
1 Redhawk
2 gp100's
3 sp101's
and 2 mkll's.
4 of these were bought new sight unseen and none of them have had any problems whatsoever.

Also Ruger customer service is second to none.

I bought a used RSI 308 off Gunbroker just recently that was missing some front sight parts.
I called to order them after getting the part #'s and the very courteous lady said there would be no charge.
Parts arrived here 2 days after the call and I was not even charged shipping.

This kind of service and value in a firearms or any Co. is why we own far more Rugers than anything else.

[JB696]

I've changed my mind about rebuilding my "new" gun. I replaced the five buggered up grip frame screws with new ones from Brownell's. They also sent me a new Ruger rear sight assembly to replace the buggered up one. Unfortunately, the black finish was all scraped off around the adjustment screws, same as the original one. Apparently the monkees at the Ruger factory just can't find the right screwdriver tip to use. I blended and polished out the dents in the frame from the hammer strike so it doesn't show, and ground down the side of the hammer so that the shape matches the side ground off by Ruger. Re-fitting the barrel and grip frame will have to be for somebody else. As I'm kind of tired of this gun already and it has only fired 100 rounds. Next week it is going on consignment at the gun store. With the custom grips I hope to get $300 out of it.

So what happened? Leaving the store with that gun was an incredibly stupid mistake. If I had spent ten minutes looking the gun over it wouldn't have happened. But it was just a few minutes until closing time and there was paperwork to fill out. I'm only guessing here. But I'll bet Davidson's has been trying to unload this gun for a long time. But nobody would take it. The green plastic bag that the gun came in was all wrinkled and beat up. That should have been my first tip-off. This gun has probably been sent to gun shops and returned to Davidson's a dozen times. Until finally some moron went out the door with it. It won't happen again.

[2rugers]

You seem to have a special knack for finding the only poor Rugers out there.

I just finished reading some of your previous posts and in the one titled:
NEW REDHAWK, WHAT THE?? you bought yourself a dud Redhawk too.

HMMM, sounds a little fishy to me.

So now you have managed to find and BUY two new bad Rugers???

I would suggest you take the doctors advice you wrote about and get those bi-focals asap.

You might also look into changing dealers because yours obviously knows you don't see well and is pawning off firearms to you that have fallen off someones hood coming home from the firing range.

Although they have been run over repeatedly by Mack-trucks those Rugers must still work and shoot straight because you haven't complained otherwise.....yet.

[2rugers]

Also, post a pic of it here first, I might be interested in it at $300.00.

[JB696]

I got my new glasses last week. Now I can see things closer than three feet away. I can see my front and rear sights again. And I feel better about the last two piece of crap Rugers that I bought. Why? Wednesday I went in to the big city to buy primers and stopped in at a shop where I used to buy a lot of guns. They had four new Rugers on display under the glass. I got to look each one over. The 6 inch GP100 looked pretty good except where the trigger assembly meets the frame there was a notch taken out of the edge of the frame right above the trigger. No way to polish that one out. The four inch GP100 looked cosmetically alright. But the hammer was shifted all the way to the left and was riding heavily on the side of the frame slot. The hammer already had severe scoring all along the side from grating on some rough casting on the frame. The cylinder at lockup had a lot of side to side slop. I'd guess .004 to .006. That one will probably be a lead shaver. The cylinder on the little SP101 was sloppy too. But on a snubby it probably won't matter. The Redhawk was interesting. One side of the hammer at the top half inch was ground off just like on my "Super" Blackhawk. At least they could have ground off the other side to match. It looked like the front sight was cocked about 3 degrees to the left, too. But that's why you have adjustable sights, right? When the cylinder was pushed forward it actually contacted the forcing cone. When pushed back it left plenty of clearance. I'd guess about .010. I probably could have shoved a credit card in there, but by now there were a couple of people looking over my shoulder and I didn't want to sour the deal in case somebody else was interested in the gun. So I guess my new SBH and the Redhawk I bought last year are not unusual at all. I've talked to three gun shop owners who agree. One of them showed me three pieces of crap he has been trying to unload for six months now. If he sends them back to Davidson's as defective, they don't send them back to Ruger. They just send it out to some other gun shop when they order one. Then they send him another piece of crap that somebody else returned. That explains my new Redhawk last year. Underneath the stuff in the case was a price tag from another store that they forgot to remove before they sent it out to the shop where I ordered it. No telling how many trips that gun took looking for someone stupid or BLIND enough to buy it. Well, I've got my new glasses now, and it won't happen again.

[1232waterbug]

Based on what I've read about Taurus, experiance has shown me that a Taurus by any other name is a Ruger.

[2rugers]

Poppycock.

And I am still interested in it at your stated price of $300.00 by the way.

You haven't had a change of heart about selling have you?

If you still have the Redhawk and want to sell it for $300.00 I would be interested in it too.

Heck post all those messed up Rugers you have collecting dust under your truck seat with the used condoms, I will buy the lot at those prices.