Straight talk on Taurus

[azmark]

This is kind of an extension of another thread, and I hope it hasn't been done to death lately. I'm reading in several forums about people having problems with Taurus, either the products, the company, or both. Until recently, I had a Taurus revolver. I can't remember the model number but it's the one that shoots .45 colt and .410. At first it was a little rough, but only for a couple cylinder's worth of ammo. After that it shot just fine with .410, .45 cowboy loads, and Cor-bon HPs. That's my total experience with Taurus, and I would say it was positive.

Am I just hearing from people who got a lemon, or is there a real problem with Taurus? I don't want to discount Taurus as an option. Can I hear from people who have first-hand experiences with their products?

[DonR101395]

I also heard that color t.v. wouldn't last long
I don't own one right now. My wife used a Model 82 as a duty gun for about a year. I'd buy one, as a matter of fact I'm thinking of getting a 650 stainless right now. She never had any issues with hers and we shot it quite a bit. Averaging 200 rounds a weekend for a year sometimes more, but rarely less. I'm not a fan of their autos, but it's just a preference thing.

[DMZX]

My son bought a Model 17 (a Model 94 in 17HMR) a year or so ago. I found the quality and fit to be very good. So far it has been a very accurate and reliable revolver.

So this year I bought a 3" Model 605. Good blued finish and very tight. I wanted a CCW in .38 spl/.357 mag. I have put around 1,500 rounds (.38+P 60%, .357 Mag 40%) through it and found it to be very accurate and reliable.

So with my small sample size, the thing I found common with Taurus revolvers is accuracy and reliability. That fulfills my expectations of a moderately priced handgun.

[hj28rules]

My Taurus Model 664B (.357/.38) is a good revolver. It is tight, accurate and reliable. I've had it long enough to shoot about 800 .38's and about 150 .357's through it. Never once had a problem. Much cheaper than it's S&W rival. We hear alot of Taurus bashing on the various forums. Given the size of the Taurus handgun population there are probably more satisfied customers than dissatisfied customers who tend to vent frustrations more often.
My fiance's PT111 9mm is also a fine little handgun.

LM...Ft. Worth, Tx.
PO1 USN: 1964-1972 Viet Nam Vet
SFC US ARMY (NG): 1982-1996 Desert Storm Vet KKMC (ret.)

[VirgilCaine]

I have a Taurus M85 in .38spl. Never had a problem.

[Qwiks draw]

Own 3 older Taurus revolvers, one newer one, and 2 pistols.

Models 65(in nickel), 66,and a 85CH. Newer revolver, but about 4 years old is a 5 in. blued 94 in.22lrf.

In pistols there are the PT111Mil/pro and PT22.

Dureability has been the byword for the revolvers. Manufactured in the mid 1980s they are all going strong.Lock up is positive, no end shake, no cylinder play,and tolerances are all still tight. This with thousands of .357 magnum or.38 Special through each.

Staff and members at the Taurusarmed.net forum report the same as far as dureability and still going strong are concerned.

Model 94 has over 4 thousand rounds of .22lrf through it. Somewhat stiff trigger pull is DA and a much lighter pull in SA.

500 to 1000 reps dryfiring with snapcaps brought the DA pull down to just below 12lb. There are plenty of other brand revolvers who have factory triggers with just this kind of DA trigger pull.

Keep all the old Gun Test's and other periodicals that have specs on most of the revolvers out there over the last couple of decades.

In pistols the PT111 Mil/pro know has over 8 thousand rounds through it. replaced recoil springs and nothing else. Has to be done somewhere along the line for any pistol. Things wear out or should just be repalced to keep the gun going. Still going strong and and combat accurate.

PT22 has over 6000 rounds through it and springs were replaced in it. Again because of the number of rounds through it. Eats anything CCI and Remington without a hitch. Stay away from the hyper-velocity rounds with this pistol.

That's the sum of experience with these guns.

[ATW525]

I have a 650 snub in .357 magnum. I've never shot anything except magnums in it and it has eaten them up without a single issue. Overall I'm very happy with it.

[predecessor]

I think Taurus is at the head of it's class - well built firearms that are reliable and affordable.

On the semi-autos, there's a lot of Beretta design in the mechanics. It's a little like the difference between a Honda and an Acura. The difference is primarily in the brand and price. When I drive to work, I take the Honda, because I don't want to scratch up the Acura. Same with my carry gun. I use a Taurus PT-938 and it's completely reliable and is my best shooting .380 ACP (I also have a Colt Government and Beretta 84F).

I'm looking forward to picking up a Millenium Pro in .380 and a 24/7 in 9mm!

[Garand Illusion]

Another satisfied Taurus revolver owner here. 605 snubby -- works great with either .357 or .38. Good fit and finish on it, almost as good as a S&W.

Only problem was with the screw stripping out that held on the stock rubber grip. I replaced it with a wooden grip anyway to make the gun a little smaller. And since I carry this weapon, the wood is slicker and doesn't pull at clothing as much.

[Tanzer]

I've loved everything about my 24/7 in 9mm except one thing; DAO trigger pull is about a quarter mile.

[Manedwolf]

All good here.

Judge, fun, excellent fit and finish.

PT92, will shoot forever.

PT745, one of the best-designed, most reliable pocket .45s EVER.

[jephthai]

I just bought my 627, 6.5" Tracker, and I love it. I haven't had it out too many times, but nary a problem so far. All the rumors scared me (cylinder gap of 0.010", every one goes back to the factory right away, etc.). But I've got a gap of 0.004, no reason to send it back, works great, and it's the one I *wanted*.

For me, I looked at a bunch of options, but when I held the 627, it cinched it for me. I just like it, and if I get a non-lemon, I'm happy (and it seems that I did).

What convinced me to precariously give it a shot was a realization about how the forums around the web seem to work:

If you post "Should I get the Taurus <splat> or the S&W <splat>", you'll get a hundred people saying, "Taurus sucks, get the S&W, it's only 80% more money..."

If you post "What do you think of the Taurus <splat>", you'll get a hundred people saying, "I've had one for 5 years with no problems," or "people say they suck, but I've been impressed/pleased/etc."

Seems the bigots only come out when you're comparing *against* the Chosen Brand(TM).

-Jephthai-

[pesta2]

I had four:

2 had had problems with the cylinder rotation one when back to the factory the other getting ready to send.

1 The front sight fell off them first time shooting it.

3 our for 4 that means no more for me.

[Magnum Wheel Man]

1st & oldest is a stainless 8 shot 22 mag revolver... nice little gun, wish there was a speed loader for it, but we depend on it, as my wifes bedroom gun...

2nd I'm less impressed with, & thats a stainless 8 " barrel Raging Squirrel ... err ah Hornet that is...

the gun seems fine, but does have a few issues that are more likely related to the Hornet in a revolver, than the gun it's self...

[dairycreek]

Am I just hearing from people who got a lemon, or is there a real problem with Taurus? I don't want to discount Taurus as an option. Can I hear from people who have first-hand experiences with their products

Since you ask for first-hand experience with Taurus I will relate my personal experience with Taurus that has taken place over the last 20 or so years. First, all of my experience has been with revolvers; all of which have been stainless steel in 38/357; all have been new in box purchases. I only shot commercially purchased ammo in these revolvers, never reloads.

Having said that, three of the revolvers I purchased worked flawlessly from the get go. Never a problem or malfunction at all. On the other hand the other three had major problems from the very beginning which required that they sent back to the factory for repair. Such things as the cylinder freezing, trigger wouldn't work, etc. Stuff you would just not expect from a newly purchased handgun.

Sending them back to the factory for repair was, in all three cases, very much the same experience. Took a long time and when I phoned to see what was going on nobody knew what was going on. I got excuses such as, "we haven't received it yet" (after four weeks), "we just got started on it" (after six weeks), "there's nothing wrong with it (all along the way), "it is in the mail as we speak" (never happened), and so on. On the average the three defective revos took about six months (each) to get finally repaired. One had to be sent back twice for the same repair and each time it was sent back I got pretty much the same old, same old.

To be perfectly honest and accurate each of the three revos did finally get repaired. It just took a long time and was really frustrating. The last Taurus I purchased was eight years ago. It was a stainless Tracker in 38/357 and was a fine performer with no problems.

I do not plan to buy any more Taurus products. It is my opinion that both their quality control and customer service are innefective and life is just too short to put up with that kind of hassle.FWIW

[bcrash15]

From what I've gathered, Taurus seems to make pretty good guns, but historically they tend to have a higher lemon-ratio than some other manufacturers. They also might have some more tooling marks than one might be accustomed to.

Just as a for comparison, I estimated some stats on a rating scale I made up based on my experience (not very scientific huh ):
(guns good from factory)/(guns needing warranty repair)/(complete lemons)
Taurus: 70/26/4
S&W: 85/14/1

So there are roughly twice as many issues with Taurus guns as S&W, but a majority of the guns are still fine. I'm not sure the problem is related to their manufacturing process, or rather their quality control, as in them letting guns slip out that S&W might catch.

I have a Model 65 .357 and I'm very pleased overall. It has one weird issue, which I think is the forcing cone not being planed totally flat, and the cylinder gap is .004 on one side and .007 on the other. But that doesn't bother me enough to warranty it or anything. On my last trip to the range, it was shooting about 1.5" to the left at 25 feet (Model 65 has fixed sights), multiple shooters verified this. But I can't remember if it did that before (I've only shot it on 3 different occasions), so it might have been the ammo.

However, I have heard of some particular issues with Taurus's .44mag revolvers. Such as them working loose very quickly (less than 1000 rounds), especially when shooting magnum loads. I don't know how widespread this is, but I have heard it from more than enough people for me to consider it abnormally frequent.

[IM_Lugger]

My .44mag R. Bull has been problem free (with way over 1000 magnums rounds thu it).

[rantingredneck]

My only firsthand ownership experience was the brief ownership of an 817 ultralight which ended in a trade this past Sat. I only shot a couple of boxes of ammo through it but it functioned well and fit and finish were very good.

I've shot a PT92 before and didn't much care for the way it felt in my hand but it functioned well and looked very nice.

That's my only firsthand experience with them.

[jakeswensonmt]

Taurus seems to make pretty good guns, but historically they tend to have a higher lemon-ratio than some other manufacturers.

My thoughts exactly, and I've been extensively flamed before for posting that opinion. I guess they guys who got the good guns really really don't want to hear that there are some Tauruses out there that don't measure up.

After all the hype about the 24/7pro I got one. There are some things about this gun that I think are great, esp the amazing ergonomics and 100% reliability, but the gun is a good deal less accurate than I expect from a decent pistol (which isn't even that much really). However, I have been unable to bring myself to sell it, I think it has much potential and could be accurized in the future. A lot of 24/7's have been sold, hoping that maybe down the road aftermarket barrels will become available and that one might improve this gun. If so, the 24/7pro would move from the "ok" to the "great" list.

[Kreyzhorse]

From what I've gathered, Taurus seems to make pretty good guns, but historically they tend to have a higher lemon-ratio than some other manufacturers.

I couldn't agree with the above quote any stronger. I bought a Taurus due to a lot of positive feedback and good reports. Honestly, I had never thought much of the brand but gave it a try. My first, and it will be my last, Taurus was a new Model 85 that seized up after the first 200 shots or so. I no longer own that gun and would not trust it with my life. While I'm sure Taurus makes some fine guns, I also think they make some crap guns. I got a crap gun. While any one can make a crappy gun, I think with Taurus your chances of getting a crappy one are much higher than with Smith, Colt or Ruger.

To me, I'd rather spend the extra money and get a gun that I trust and I know the maker will stand behind if there is a problem with.

With guns, you pay the same price regardless of what you buy. You can either pay it all up front or pay it in shipping costs trying to get the damn thing to work right. Either way you pay.

[Taurus_9mm]

I've owned several Taurus firearms over the years and never have had a problem with any of them. My PT92 has between 5K - 6K rounds through it and I've never experienced a failure to feed or to eject. I've only ever had one failure to fire and that was due to a dud round of blazer brass and no fault of the pistols. Aside from that one dud, it's been flawless.

No issues with my other Taurus firearms either. The autos feed, fire and eject reliably and the revolvers - revolve.

Best Wishes

www.taurusarmed.net

[Avenger11]

My first Taurus purchase was the PT1911. Well made with alot of extra features for the money. The finish is very thin and will not wear well. The plastic grips are junk and will be the first thing you will want to replace. However the gun functioned flawlessly.Accuracy is above average for a gun in this price range.
My second purchase was a Judge, 45lc and 410. Quite innovative, but the accuracy in 45 is poor. Great snake gun in 410 though.
Overall, I think Taurus is trying hard to compete with S&W, and Ruger, etc, but they just are not there yet.

[Thunderhawk88]

I have a Taurus M85 (all steel) that has performed perfectly for me. It makes a great pocket-gun.

[gandog56]

My 20 year old Taurus Model 66 .357 magnum kicks butt. After 19 years it finally had something go wrong. I had to replace a $2.50 spring. Now hoping for another 19 years of trouble free shooting. I just got a Raging Bull, and so far I'm impressed with it. I never really hear much bad things about their revolvers, it's more horror stories I hear about their semi's. That's OK, I'm a dyed in the wool 1911 man in that respect. I also have the Browning designed Hi-Power in 9mm. Browning was Da Man!

[orionengnr]

Don't see too many of those .356 Magnums...