My Experience With Taurus

I decided to give Taurus revolvers another try in June of this year (2020) bought a new 856. Seemed like a well made firearm for the price. Got it home and found this in the barrel rifling (I freely admit it’s my fault as I should have spotted this at the gun store, but I neglected to check the rifling).

BeornLS said:

I decided to give Taurus revolvers another try in June of this year (2020) bought a new 856. Seemed like a well made firearm for the price. Got it home and found this in the barrel rifling (I freely admit it’s my fault as I should have spotted this at the gun store, but I neglected to check the rifling).

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Send it back to Taurus. I'm sure they will replace it.

BeornLS said:

I decided to give Taurus revolvers another try in June of this year (2020) bought a new 856. Seemed like a well made firearm for the price. Got it home and found this in the barrel rifling (I freely admit it’s my fault as I should have spotted this at the gun store, but I neglected to check the rifling).

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What effect would the damaged rifling have on accuracy?

My first gun was a Taurus 85. Still have it. shoots excellent. Since then I have acquired a Taurus 44 tracker, a Taurus 82, a Taurus 905, and a Taurus 65. I also have a Taurus G3. No issues out of any of them. I do have Ruger and S&W revolvers, and yes, those are sexier, but the Taurus revolvers I have get the job done. They are accurate and hold up well. The only one I have not in the large caliber is the 44 Tracker. I've only put 44 special rounds through it, but it is super accurate. I have heard that Taurus in the past has provided bad customer service, but in terms of QC for their new offerings, all of the one's I've purchased have worked excellent.

CH

But does it have a trigger lock?

Paul7 said:

But does it have a trigger lock?

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I know my 85 does but honestly, I've NEVER used it. How does that affect the function? The OP talked about reliability? If so I've never experienced any reliability issues with a trigger lock. Its there if the owner chooses to use it.

CH

Crazy Horse said:

I know my 85 does but honestly, I've NEVER used it. How does that affect the function? The OP talked about reliability? If so I've never experienced any reliability issues with a trigger lock. Its there if the owner chooses to use it.

CH

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It affects function if it unintentionally locks up on it's own, like this one:

http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-re...562864-s-w-lock-failure-finally-happened.html

The owner had to unlock it with a key. I would never carry a S&W lock gun for this reason.

Paul7 said:

It affects function if it unintentionally locks up on it's own, like this one:

http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-re...562864-s-w-lock-failure-finally-happened.html

The owner had to unlock it with a key. I would never carry a S&W lock gun for this reason.

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I've never had an issue with any of my Taurus revolvers. I have a S&W 629 and have never experience a lockup issue as detailed in the URL you provided (but, I have never even tested the mechanism on my 629). However, In response to your specific question, for me. No I've never had the issue on any of my revolvers that have the internal lock. My Ruger revolvers don't have internal locks so it does not apply to that manufacturer.

Looking on the THR website, Taurus owners on THR have not reported any the issues with their Taurus revolvers that were detailed in the URL you listed above concerning Smith and Wesson.

The URL that discusses internal lock issues affecting S&W but not Taurus revolvers is below:

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/taurus-internal-lock.752179/

There were other sites that discussed the issue you mentioned above, but as far as the issue occurring on a Taurus revolver, I could not find any such instance (but that was only looking ~10 minutes).

CH

Crazy Horse said:

I've never had an issue with any of my Taurus revolvers. I have a S&W 629 and have never experience a lockup issue as detailed in the URL you provided (but, I have never even tested the mechanism on my 629). However, In response to your specific question, for me. No I've never had the issue on any of my revolvers that have the internal lock. My Ruger revolvers don't have internal locks so it does not apply to that manufacturer.

Looking on the THR website, Taurus owners on THR have not reported any the issues with their Taurus revolvers that were detailed in the URL you listed above concerning Smith and Wesson.

The URL that discusses internal lock issues affecting S&W but not Taurus revolvers is below:

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/taurus-internal-lock.752179/

There were other sites that discussed the issue you mentioned above, but as far as the issue occurring on a Taurus revolver, I could not find any such instance (but that was only looking ~10 minutes).

CH

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Does Taurus even have those silly locks? The S&W ones are unlikely to go bad, but the could, so why bother?

My first Taurus experience was shootings a friend’s PT92 9mm. Nice function and functional to fire, but POI was way off.

I kind of really fell into like with a mid 90s 85, but I never bought it. It was before I had ever bought a pistol of my own.

70s middle-frame size .38 a friends father had was a little bit rough, but functioned fine.

PT22 a friend bought was a janky little jam-a-matic. Fun-ish when it worked, but rarely made it through a magazine, and never through a box w/o getting tied up. Beretta 21a i got my mom is much more functional.

Another friend got a stainless PT92 as part of a trade. It actually hit where the sights looked, and was again a nice enough gun for shooting. My Beretta 92A1 is better, but how much? Tough to say.

Dad got a Taurus 85 and carried it a ton. Had a nice trigger. Dry fired it daily, too - until the firing pin spring broke. Once it was repaired (they sent him the parts) he stopped dry firing without a snap cap.

Buddy serving in the Navy got stationed overseas and needed to leave his .357 somewhere. He still owned a house in town, so I said I’d stick it in my safe till he came back. It was a 605. When he came back, he got stationed in New York, so I bought it from him for like $150. It was functional, hit to point of aim. The markings were mostly really rough. Amateur night. The trigger stacked - kinda bad. I shot it one day with my S&W 642, and it totally outclassed the Taurus. I did pay 2x more for the 642, but I’d owned it for quite a while and I was used to it, too. I thought about keeping the Taurus, but ended up letting it go for a bit more than I paid for it. A couple of years later, I bought a S&W 60-9. It’s very similar in size to the Taurus, though it is nicer in every respect. The trigger doesn’t stack, the fit and finish and exterior markings are perfect, the sights are even a little bit better. One strange thing is that while the serial and model number in the yoke are cleaner than the Taurus, both guns serial and model number were engraved with a dot tool, which seems strange to me. The 60-9 did cost a *bit* more than the Taurus. Bottom line is, if I needed a revolver and couldn’t afford the S&W I would prefer, a Taurus would serve. I would need to check it over first, but I expect it would work.

sixgunner455 said:

My first Taurus experience was shootings a friend’s PT92 9mm. Nice function and functional to fire, but POI was way off.

I kind of really fell into like with a mid 90s 85, but I never bought it. It was before I had ever bought a pistol of my own.

70s middle-frame size .38 a friends father had was a little bit rough, but functioned fine.

PT22 a friend bought was a janky little jam-a-matic. Fun-ish when it worked, but rarely made it through a magazine, and never through a box w/o getting tied up. Beretta 21a i got my mom is much more functional.

Another friend got a stainless PT92 as part of a trade. It actually hit where the sights looked, and was again a nice enough gun for shooting. My Beretta 92A1 is better, but how much? Tough to say.

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I've heard the Taurus PT92 is pretty good, haven't handled one but can say a Beretta 92A1 I had never was reliable.

Paul7 said:

I've heard the Taurus PT92 is pretty good, haven't handled one but can say a Beretta 92A1 I had never was reliable.

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Interesting. I have nearly 3k rounds through mine, and with the exception of a couple of Russian steel case misfires after I put a lighter hammer spring in it, it has been the definition of reliability.

Yeah that Russian steel cased ammo. It sucks. Due to shortages, I came across some steel cased ammo.... purchased two boxes in .40. Big mistake. Every single round would not allow the slide to return fully. I'm glad I only purchased two boxes. Never again. Unfortunately, early on in the shortage I came across 200 steel cased Monarch bullets. Good price and since all ammo was sold out, I bit the bullet. Will have to use it up at some point. Maybe I'll use them at one of those ranges that doesn't allow you to pick up your brass. ;-)

CH

I know some foilks remove the lock on the Smiths, there also is a plug for the hole offered someplace.

I should mention that I've talked to Taurus customer service reps and they told me that they strongly recommend against steel case ammo in all of their semi-autos. I have no idea if this is overly cautious big-margin-of-error type policy or a genuine concern for issues that may develop, but that's what they told me.

I bought yet another Taurus a few months ago, an 856... my favorite Tauri yet.

sixgunner455 said:

Interesting. I have nearly 3k rounds through mine, and with the exception of a couple of Russian steel case misfires after I put a lighter hammer spring in it, it has been the definition of reliability.

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The Beretta 92 is the definition of reliability, but my PT99AF was as well. I hate to say this, as I rather enjoy trash talking Taurus, but other than the Taurus having the safety in the correct spot, I probably couldn't tell the difference between the two. Sadly, the price on the Taurus 92 went up to the point that I couldn't justify buying one over the Beretta. I've heard the newest iterations of the PT92 aren't as good as the earlier ones.

Jim NE said:

I should mention that I've talked to Taurus customer service reps and they told me that they strongly recommend against steel case ammo in all of their semi-autos. I have no idea if this is overly cautious big-margin-of-error type policy or a genuine concern for issues that may develop, but that's what they told me.

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I think most manufacturers put disclaimers out. I tend to hone in on the recommendation to only use manufacturer ammo. Mainly because I reload. I have yet to have an issue with reloaded ammo. On the contrary, because one tailors the load, firearms (for me) function better.

On steel cased ammo though, I have to agree. It's not a safety issue but a performance and reliability one. If the gun won't cycle properly because of steel cased ammo such as in my experience above, I don't need a firearm manufacturer to tell me not to do it.

CH

My gripe with Taurus is a complete inability to reach out to customer service for a colleague whose Taurus revo lost a side plate screw. I've been trying to be in touch for over a year; nada.
It's really frustrating; I'm thinking of buying a Rossi carbine from the sister company, but may rethink it if it is this hard to be in touch with CS.
Moon

sixgunner455 said:

PT22 a friend bought was a janky little jam-a-matic. Fun-ish when it worked, but rarely made it through a magazine, and never through a box w/o getting tied up. Beretta 21a i got my mom is much more functional.

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I have the older Aluminum frame model and I have had issues with it with a few brands of ammo, but then I tried this Federal bulk stuff and it runs like a champ. That and CCI Stinger run best in the PT22.

So, I'm not saying it's a great semi auto .22 pistol, I think when it works, it's fine for what it is, but at $120 the Phoenix .22's are a MUCH better gun, even tho they're only supposed to shoot standard velocity. Problem with those is they are heavy, the PT22 is light as a feather.

BeornLS said:

I decided to give Taurus revolvers another try in June of this year (2020) bought a new 856. Seemed like a well made firearm for the price. Got it home and found this in the barrel rifling (I freely admit it’s my fault as I should have spotted this at the gun store, but I neglected to check the rifling).

View attachment 955716

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Take it back to where you bought it. If they are a decent GS, they will make it right.

halfmoonclip said:

My gripe with Taurus is a complete inability to reach out to customer service for a colleague whose Taurus revo lost a side plate screw. I've been trying to be in touch for over a year; nada.
It's really frustrating; I'm thinking of buying a Rossi carbine from the sister company, but may rethink it if it is this hard to be in touch with CS.
Moon

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I have called Taurus CS a few times. I was able to contact them by telephone with no problem at all. In each instance they took care of me with no questions asked. Most recently I called them about a Heritage Rough Rider that had some rough chambers. I told them I had just purchased 3 of them so. They sent me 3 new cylinders. Got them in about 5 days.
I have no complaints about their CS.

My first-ever firearm was a Taurus 66, bought in 1986. (God, I'm old.) Owned a few since then, including a couple used security-guard revolvers that are ugly as sin, but shoot fine.

Guns from that era are pretty good, I've found. Beautiful bluing, nice and solid, accurate and reliable.

That being said, the newer ones haven't impressed me. But I haven't shot one. It's quite possible they shoot better than they look. They sell a lot of them; can't all be bad.