Taurus TCP - magazine review

So I am a new Taurus TCP owner. I have not been to the range yet.

My primary carry is XD9. This goes with me 90% of the time. My 442 goes with me on most other occasions that my XD9 is not convenient. I bought the TCP for those rare occasions that the above 2 are not prudent.

I have had the gun for about a week now. I have disassembled it, cleaned it, and applied CLP to the rails. This seems to have eased up the slide but it is still uncomfortable and unnatural to cycle such a small/narrow slide, especially with grooves only present at the rear of the slide.

Without shooting the gun yet... I anticipate cycling issues at the end of the magazine based on my experience loading the magazine and cycling the action. The magazine spring (not sure what the proper term for this is) seems very light. With the magazine loaded with 6 rounds and cycling the slide, the TCP seems to feed and extract the first 4 rounds without issue, but rounds 5 and 6 have difficulty feeding.

My novice experience tells me that the weak magazine spring fails to give enough feeding force during rounds 5 and 6 for reliable cycling.

Does anyone know how to replace this magazine spring... or even better... know of an aftermarket magazine replacement

Hand cycling tells you mostly nothing about magazine reliability.

Before you waste money that may not need to be wasted, shoot your gun.

Denis

what DPris said. you can't tell until you actually fire the thing.

in a related thing, it's very difficult, by hand, to pop rounds out of the mags to the cz-82. it looks like there's something wrong with the mag and it would never work properly. well, it works just fine in the gun. go figure.

Mine worked great with both magazines the first time I shot it. I was happy to see the light spring because they are easy to load.

The magazine is designed to work with that gun, there is a reason they chose that spring tension. It doesn't cost Taurus anymore for a spring that is pre-set to a higher tension, but it does cost them more if their magazines fail to operate.

Also keep in mind a few variables that may require this spring to be lighter than your XD9:
>6 rounds versus 15 means the follower has far less distance to travel, and can therefor have a lighter spring because you don't need the tension to be pushing the last round at the top of a tall mag.
>Single stack versus a heavy double stack. The top round in a single stack magazine is receiving direct vertical axial force by the round beneath it. On a double stack magazine, the top round is receiving an off-axis vertical force through an angular component of the force from the round beneath it.
>The short .380 round has less horizontal distance to travel into battery than a 9mm with the same amount of vertical travel.

so, let me get this straight.. you are cycling a gun by hand... have not shot it yet, and are automatically assuming that it is going to have problems because at your speed of cycling the slide it seems to hang up a bit? SHOOT the gun before deciding it is broken.

This is somewhat like someone putting their car up on stands in neutral, spinning the tires, and then determining that something is wrong with the transmission...

shoot your gun and enjoy your gun.

Ok ok... I will shoot it before I judge. I was just concerned because I have no difficulty feeding and extracting all 16 rounds in my xd by cycling the action and I thought this may be a sign of troubles.

Thanks for learning me. :p

Ain't even fired it and already bashing Taurus.....:rolleyes: I've considered a TCP, like the stainless, like the slide lock on the last round. But, alas, I don't really need such a gun. I'd pick it over the P3AT and LCP on its features. I own all three brands, so it's not a prejudice thing with me.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

I have the LCP and today I found the TCP at the store. I dry fired a few times and it seems to have a much smoother trigger than my LCP.

yup.. the tcp has a much better trigger and a FAR superior trigger reset than both the kel tec and the ruger which require you to return the trigger all the way forward before another shot is possible..

Sounds a bit odd to me too. I'd make a forcast of what's to come, but am going to wait and see.

If one has a good general knowledge of shooting and handguns, inspects the gun carefully before buying, there seems little to worry about.

Here's the scoop from here and other places of those who have the Taurus TCP. Right from the actual users and owners.
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=498840
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=499595
http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=395332

Hand cycling ammo over and over can cause bullet setback in the cartridge and is a very dangerous thing to have if it happened. Might be wise to check the ammo closely and to get rid of any ammo that that was done with.

Oh,yes. Field stripping the gun and cleaning the gun before taking it to the range is a good idea.

Gun companies proof fire guns normally prior to shipping. Add to that Taurus likes to add lots and lots of preservative grease for shipping and storage purposes. That all needs to be cleaned out prior to firing.

I forget myself that's for guns coming in from overseas for preservative, but some has to be added for stateside shipment and storage.

Make sure the firing pin channel is clean.
One last thing.

The smaller the gun the more finicky they are about ammo and proper shooting techniques.
http://www.taurusarmed.net/forums/index.php?topic=6716.0

Especially on a little gun that has small surfaces to grasp, there is no way you can duplicate the speed and force of actually firing the gun by cycling the slide by hand.

Mine cycles great, and I love the trigger, long (which is necessary on a pocket gun) but smooth.

......

I bought one (Taurus TCP Pink in Color) for my wife and just shot it today. nothing wrong at all. the gun works awesome. I also bought a Ruger LCP for me and almost like the taurus a little more.

I am very happy with the Taurus TCP.