Tallball
Member
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2014
- Messages
- 7,804
I've never had a small 45acp handgun and decided to treat myself to one.
Yes, I know, 1911. I already have small ones in 380 and 9mm. But one in 45acp would be cool, and the Springfield and Kahr looked pretty good...
Then I accidentally won a GB auction from a police department's seized property division. I didn't think that $201 would win a real auction. I was wrong.
I won a Taurus PT145, the 45acp version of the Millennium series. Yeah, the dreaded Taurus. Aaarrrgh!
I've owned and shot the Millenniums before, just never in 45. They're the same size as a Glock 26. The trigger is usually kind of mushy. It's the precursor of the slightly more refined G2c... and I'm guessing the current G3 as well. (I've never seen one of those in person.)
This one was made in 2007. It's the slightly fancier "pro" version, and someone even paid extra for the stainless slide. Then they abused it.
Someone somehow managed to let the stainless steel slide get very rusty. That must have taken some dedication. Then that person, or perhaps another person named Bubba, decided to seriously buff the rust off. Bubba buffed that slide until it was buffer than buff. He buffed it so much that the grip serrations are significantly smoother! That is some serious buffing. He didn't manage to buff out quite all of the pitting, however. Perhaps he ran out of beer.
Bubba or whomever ended up with the pistol was unfamiliar with the concept of cleaning guns. The grip area actually had mud in the serrations. The inside was filthy, of course. I gave it a good cleaning and lube. Then I took it to the range with me this morning.
You might think that a pistol this small and light would have some serious recoil in 45acp. That thought did not bother me one little bit. I'm recovering from a broken hand and it's waaaay too early for me to be shooting stuff like that! My friend had already texted that he wouldn't mind test firing a pistol for me. He didn't ask what kind it was.
It was my first opportunity to display my new firearm in public. My friend was suitably impressed. "Another Taurus? Really? Holy poop. Someone must have left this thing buried in the ground. You paid money for this thing? Really? (Notices large hole at the naughty end.) Holy poop! This little thing is a 45? How are you gonna shoot that thing with... holy poop. You're kidding, right?" And so on.
But we live in Texas, and even the women and kids were looking at him like he was some kind of sissy pants until he manned up and reached for the box of ammo. He might've thought everyone was watching him, but everyone wasn't watching him. One old lady was asleep. Everyone else was watching him. The range was silent. Not a single bullet zinged through the air.
My young strong friend loaded up the magazine and started feeling confident. The women and kids smiled. The men nodded their heads and tipped their hats. The mag was easy to load. It slid into the pistol smoothly. He reached down to rack the slide. He gripped it and started to... nothing happened. He gripped it again and struggled valiantly. I thought he would break his own wrist. The slide moved a little bit, slowly, then his hand slipped off. The crowd murmured. Some little toddler laughed. Finally, out of desperation, my friend grabbed the slide in a way that I have never seen before. I don't think I could recreate it. I'm not sure how to properly describe it. Maybe it looked like someone trying very hard to open a childproof medicine cap, but they didn't know how.
Finally, after getting a muscle spasm on one side of his face, he managed to use his special yoga techniques to finish racking the slide. Ka-chunk! Everyone breathed in to begin the booing and jeering... then simultaneously realized that he had just succeeded in loading a firearm, and he was having such a bad day that half of his face was twitching. He got a polite round of applause, then stepped up to shoot at the seven yard target.
He kind of cringed as he pulled the trigger. The pistol went bang. A hole appeared on the side of the paper target. My friend realized that his hand didn't hurt, and hadn't even really moved around that much. He's young and strong and a pretty good shot, so he managed to put the next nine rounds into a nice little group at a steady pace. The crowd applauded him, then they went back to doing Texas things: hooting, hollering, shootin' hog laigs, showing tattoos, and so forth.
My friend was kind enough to put a couple more magazines through the pistol without any problems. No malfunctions, recoil wasn't bad, shot "almost as accurate as my Glock 43".
I think the PT145 will be okay. Its trigger is surprisingly decent. The insides looked good after I cleaned them. The rails look fine, not much wear. The barrel is good. Maybe I'll replace the springs. I don't plan to start carrying it, but if it goes through a couple of hundred rounds of random scrounged ammo with no problems, I could use it as an OWB pistol. I don't really care if it's ugly. Lots of my firearms are ugly. I just like them to go bang and make a hole pretty much where I point them. My hands are unusually large/strong and I can already rack the slide if I reverse my left hand. It will be fairly easy for me once my right hand heals.
LoL! I'm a poor photographer who just uses his phone, but any picture of this pistol will look out of focus, because all of the markings are a little bit worn down. Apparently I was the only bidder to not notice that!
Thanks to board member Sovblocgunfan, for sending me the nice Don Hume holster. It fits perfectly and I really appreciate it.
Yes, I know, 1911. I already have small ones in 380 and 9mm. But one in 45acp would be cool, and the Springfield and Kahr looked pretty good...
Then I accidentally won a GB auction from a police department's seized property division. I didn't think that $201 would win a real auction. I was wrong.
I won a Taurus PT145, the 45acp version of the Millennium series. Yeah, the dreaded Taurus. Aaarrrgh!
I've owned and shot the Millenniums before, just never in 45. They're the same size as a Glock 26. The trigger is usually kind of mushy. It's the precursor of the slightly more refined G2c... and I'm guessing the current G3 as well. (I've never seen one of those in person.)
This one was made in 2007. It's the slightly fancier "pro" version, and someone even paid extra for the stainless slide. Then they abused it.
Someone somehow managed to let the stainless steel slide get very rusty. That must have taken some dedication. Then that person, or perhaps another person named Bubba, decided to seriously buff the rust off. Bubba buffed that slide until it was buffer than buff. He buffed it so much that the grip serrations are significantly smoother! That is some serious buffing. He didn't manage to buff out quite all of the pitting, however. Perhaps he ran out of beer.
Bubba or whomever ended up with the pistol was unfamiliar with the concept of cleaning guns. The grip area actually had mud in the serrations. The inside was filthy, of course. I gave it a good cleaning and lube. Then I took it to the range with me this morning.
You might think that a pistol this small and light would have some serious recoil in 45acp. That thought did not bother me one little bit. I'm recovering from a broken hand and it's waaaay too early for me to be shooting stuff like that! My friend had already texted that he wouldn't mind test firing a pistol for me. He didn't ask what kind it was.
It was my first opportunity to display my new firearm in public. My friend was suitably impressed. "Another Taurus? Really? Holy poop. Someone must have left this thing buried in the ground. You paid money for this thing? Really? (Notices large hole at the naughty end.) Holy poop! This little thing is a 45? How are you gonna shoot that thing with... holy poop. You're kidding, right?" And so on.
But we live in Texas, and even the women and kids were looking at him like he was some kind of sissy pants until he manned up and reached for the box of ammo. He might've thought everyone was watching him, but everyone wasn't watching him. One old lady was asleep. Everyone else was watching him. The range was silent. Not a single bullet zinged through the air.
My young strong friend loaded up the magazine and started feeling confident. The women and kids smiled. The men nodded their heads and tipped their hats. The mag was easy to load. It slid into the pistol smoothly. He reached down to rack the slide. He gripped it and started to... nothing happened. He gripped it again and struggled valiantly. I thought he would break his own wrist. The slide moved a little bit, slowly, then his hand slipped off. The crowd murmured. Some little toddler laughed. Finally, out of desperation, my friend grabbed the slide in a way that I have never seen before. I don't think I could recreate it. I'm not sure how to properly describe it. Maybe it looked like someone trying very hard to open a childproof medicine cap, but they didn't know how.
Finally, after getting a muscle spasm on one side of his face, he managed to use his special yoga techniques to finish racking the slide. Ka-chunk! Everyone breathed in to begin the booing and jeering... then simultaneously realized that he had just succeeded in loading a firearm, and he was having such a bad day that half of his face was twitching. He got a polite round of applause, then stepped up to shoot at the seven yard target.
He kind of cringed as he pulled the trigger. The pistol went bang. A hole appeared on the side of the paper target. My friend realized that his hand didn't hurt, and hadn't even really moved around that much. He's young and strong and a pretty good shot, so he managed to put the next nine rounds into a nice little group at a steady pace. The crowd applauded him, then they went back to doing Texas things: hooting, hollering, shootin' hog laigs, showing tattoos, and so forth.
My friend was kind enough to put a couple more magazines through the pistol without any problems. No malfunctions, recoil wasn't bad, shot "almost as accurate as my Glock 43".
I think the PT145 will be okay. Its trigger is surprisingly decent. The insides looked good after I cleaned them. The rails look fine, not much wear. The barrel is good. Maybe I'll replace the springs. I don't plan to start carrying it, but if it goes through a couple of hundred rounds of random scrounged ammo with no problems, I could use it as an OWB pistol. I don't really care if it's ugly. Lots of my firearms are ugly. I just like them to go bang and make a hole pretty much where I point them. My hands are unusually large/strong and I can already rack the slide if I reverse my left hand. It will be fairly easy for me once my right hand heals.
LoL! I'm a poor photographer who just uses his phone, but any picture of this pistol will look out of focus, because all of the markings are a little bit worn down. Apparently I was the only bidder to not notice that!
Thanks to board member Sovblocgunfan, for sending me the nice Don Hume holster. It fits perfectly and I really appreciate it.
Last edited:
