Member consensus on Taurus

Never owned one and don't see that I ever will. Shooting is my favorite sport so I tend to spend more for a quality firearm. ymmv

My own personal experience with them is that they are the definition of bad customer service. Six months to fix a brand new gun that broke the first time I shot it. And it came back it still had issues that they did not fix. They do make a lot of guns but their quality control does not exist.

DeepSouth said:

Your not going to get a consensus. Which may indicate the “hit or miss” theory is correct....

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Probably right, but that could be said of most gun makers that have been in business for many decades. Quality control can vary greatly over time... get worse and then better again with new management. When I think of Taurus I think of the old models that really gave you a lot for your money back in the day. I haven't bought a Taurus of any kind lately.

The cliché "Friends don't let friends buy Taurus" exists for a reason.

I have a little 38 snubby that sits next to a "real" J-frame. If blindfolded you and handed you each you could not tell the difference.....at all.

I have shot the one I have quite a few times, never an issue.

I also have a Bersa 380 that sits next to a "real" PPK. If I handed you both blindfolded you could not tell the difference.....at all.
It has been shot many times and is the wifes carry gun, gets at least a box a month run in it. as well as one mag of the "defense" ammo......never an issue.

So many people have a huge snobbery to what I would call guns in this class, copies of the "real deal", and they are good solid little guns with no new vices.

I would buy the Taurus over the S&W for one reason, I don't want that stupid lock on the side of the gun.

This is my only experience with one . My friend had a new .22 magnum revolver with a 5” barrel , with not many rounds through it . It broke , wouldn’t fire . He sent it back for repair . They notified him that they could not repair it . That model was discontinued . They offered to send him a new model , but it only came with a 3” barrel . He took the trade even though he preferred the longer barrel . He said that he is going to sell it and get something else . I told him that he should have asked if they could have put the 5” barrel on the one that they were sending him . He said that he didn’t trust the brand now , so he would rather sell it and hope that he got his money back .

I have had owned Taurus handguns since the early 90s. I like them. They have had their up’s and down, like any other gun manufacturer. But I wouldn’t hesitate to carry one now. Their revolvers are very good. And their new G3 and GX4 lines are going to force prices of other manufacturers down! They are not just for occasional shooters. My old department and a few others got together and put a G3 through a 2500 round in one day gun and run test and had two stoppages. Both were due to ammo, which failed to fire after several restrikes by the pistol and even by two Glocks. So no fault of the pistol. This was in 2018, and the ammo was mostly old expired duty and practice ammo with some AL and steel cased stuff thrown in. We were tried of shooting it up in or duty pistols, Glocks, and wanted to see how long this would last. Someone just bought it cheap and had six magazines with it. It needed a new recoil spring afterwards, but other than that, it was a shooter! We did clean it after that first 500 rounds, second 500 rounds, and then 900-1000rounds after that. Cleaned it with Pro Shot and greased the slides with cheap Wally World Tech 2000 red grease. Like I said, it opens up our eyes. The department’s armor was there and broken it down and gave it his thumbs up. The man is a master gunsmith with 1911s and was ISP’s District 5 armorer before his death, so his recommendation was the icing on the cake for me.

I have broken down the G3 and GX4 and would trust it as a carry weapon. Every simple and proven design. They have done their homework and it shows. Mec Gar magazines, Glock cut for the sights, and very affordable price. Plus spring and RSAs are available at an affordable price from Taurus. They are just knocking it out if the park!

Now, are their 1911s poo poo…..yes. Is their finish poo poo, yes. But then I’m not a collector I’m a shooter. I don’t care if my carry pistol is beat up. And I don’t change out my OEM parts form every “upgraded” aftermarket version out there in gold plate. I will swap out for a flat face trigger sometimes, just because.

I’m more of a revolver guy now. But looking hard at their GX4 as my edc if I can find a holster I like and can fit my Phlster Enigma. And that’s another con for Taurus, not a lot of quality aftermarket parts or support. Some smaller holster makers are stepping up. But triggers are in short supply. I do know of Lakeland LLC, but I wouldn’t call their stuff duty rated. So will hold off until Apex or Overwatch comes out with one.

I have owned 3 different models and never had any problems with any of them. I still have my PT-145 Pro that occupies a blind cubby in my truck....just in case. I have put over 4,000 rounds through it and it is accurate and never once failed to operate. I will admit in the old days Taurus built some pretty crappy guns trying to copy everyone else. Today they are a viable competitor in the gun manufacturing market, especially with their newly designed guns.
I also have my .41mag revolver that I carry from time to time because it is a snubby. It has had some very hot loads through it and I am at about 3,500 handloads and factory rounds. Never a problem.

I've owned at least a dozen Taurii. One was a factory lemon that went back twice and I still wasn't satisfied with it. The other 10 or so have been fine.

The finish isn't always great. I'm not a fan of some of their semiautomatics. The triggers can be downright awful. But mine go bang every time. If you happen to get one with a good trigger, you will understand why some people like them.

Like another poster said, their knockoffs have been good for me:

Beretta knockoffs such as the 92, tip-up 22's, and I have heard good things about their version of the Model 84 (they called it a PT58).

The S&W knockoffs such as the 82 (Model 10), 85 (j-frame), and 66 (self explanatory).

My G2C was great, other than the weird long trigger pull. It seemed like a Glock 26 knockoff to me. (I had them both. They even fit the same holsters.)

I believe that the new Model 856 is based off of the old Model 85. That's a proven design. They've been selling literally shiploads of those since the 1980's. I have owned five. Their triggers varied from good to bad, but they all went bang every time.

I owned a 3" Model 856 briefly. For some reason the balance and trigger did not work for me at all. My friend at the LGS let me trade it in unfired, so that's what I did. I wasn't impressed with the trigger, but it seemed like an okay revolver and doubtless would have gone bang like all the others.

My latest used Model 85, a "gunsmith special". It was missing a $4 firing pin spring. I put a slightly lighter mainspring in it while I had it apart. Way better trigger than my S&W 642.

I have never owned a Taurus. Always been a S&W guy. The joke around the USPSA and IDPA matches by the guys putting thousand of rounds a summer through their revolver is, "For the price Taurus revolvers are great, you just need three of them. The one you're shooting, the spare in your range bag, and a third one back at Taurus being repaired. Rotate frequently."

But more honestly having never owned one my exposure is limited. My father has one of the aluminum framed Judges that has seen several hundred rounds without an issue. My brother has a Taurus 44 (44Mag Revolver) and has probably 2-3 thousand rounds through it, again no issues. I have shoot both and like them but when you hold my brother Taurus 44 next to my nearly identical S&W M29 (both 6.5-inch full underlug barrels) the difference starts to show. The fit and finish of the S&W is noticeable better. The S&W just feels more solidly put together. The differences really show when you start shooting double action the S&W is just smoother. I think in this case you get what you pay for them.

i have two taurus 85 38sp five-shot f-frame snubbies. one is an older model that i got gently used in 1984. the other is a recently made, also gently used piece, from 3-4 years ago. both around $200 each. i replaced the wood and skinny rubber oem grips with thicker pachmayrs. both pieces shoot well. the older one matches or betters my s&w j frames in quality and feel, and was my only firearm for 29 years for geographic reasons beyond my control.

based on my experience and reading, the closer a taurus model is to its licensed parent the better.

@brutus51

Taurus has been around and making guns for decades. A long time ago they had a lot of problems, and that's why they earned a bad reputation. Most here either never owned a Taurus or owned one a decade or longer ago and are regurgitating old information as if it still applies today. I already glanced at this thread and can see several members who say they'll never buy or own one or they owned one years ago that are bashing Taurus when they admittedly have little to no experience firsthand with Tauruses current line up of firearms. Take what they say with a grain of salt.

I own several handguns worth up to $1800, I own Glocks, several M&Ps, Sigs, Walthers, 2 HKs, XD's and Hellcats, Beretta APXes an Px4s, CZs, Rugers, and Kimber and Colt revolvers. With that said since 2012 when Taurus came out with their PT111 G2 handgun, I've purchased 8 Taurus handguns. They all have been flawless and have functioned just fine. I even carried a Taurus Model 85 for years at work for self defense. That is now my truck gun. Taurus of today is not the problematic Taurus of the past that everyone hated.

Ruger, Sig, S&W, Walther, etc have all had recent safety or "voluntary upgrades" problems in the past few years. S&W quality control is crap and I see much, much, much more gun owners across forums and platforms complaining about S&W failures on a regular basis. The only firearms I had to contact customer service on was a S&W, Ruger, and Walther. We all know all the issues and the entire debacle Sig had with their P320 and P365. With that said and all during that same time frame in the past recent years, I have not see or witnessed Taurus having similar type of issues. The only issues Taurus has had was teething issues early on with their TX22. Their is is a clear as day double standard and unfair bias against Taurus, but if you read and look up the thousands of first hand reviews on YouTube (videos and comments) as well as on other forums, the response is overwhelming positive.

Tallball said:

I believe that the new Model 856 is based off of the old Model 85. That's a proven design. They've been selling literally shiploads of those since the 1980's. I have owned five. Their triggers varied from good to bad, but they all went bang every time

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Yes the 856 is based off the older 85.The difference between the 85 and 856 is in the cylinder and barrel, mostly the cylinder though. The 856 is a 6 shot while the 85 is a 5 shot. Grips will interchange between all Taurus models of this size. Taurus uses the same frames for all of their small revolvers. This includes the older 85, 94 22lr, and 941 22WMR, new 856, 942 22lr or 22WMR, and 327 models.

I did have to adjust my kydex holsters that I bought for my 85 to fit the 856 due to a slightly bigger cylinder.

Tallball said:

I've owned at least a dozen Taurii. One was a factory lemon that went back twice and I still wasn't satisfied with it. The other 10 or so have been fine.

The finish isn't always great. I'm not a fan of some of their semiautomatics. The triggers can be downright awful. But mine go bang every time. If you happen to get one with a good trigger, you will understand why some people like them.

Like another poster said, their knockoffs have been good for me:

Beretta knockoffs such as the 92, tip-up 22's, and I have heard good things about their version of the Model 84 (they called it a PT58).

The S&W knockoffs such as the 82 (Model 10), 85 (j-frame), and 66 (self explanatory).

My G2C was great, other than the weird long trigger pull. It seemed like a Glock 26 knockoff to me. (I had them both. They even fit the same holsters.)

I believe that the new Model 856 is based off of the old Model 85. That's a proven design. They've been selling literally shiploads of those since the 1980's. I have owned five. Their triggers varied from good to bad, but they all went bang every time.

I owned a 3" Model 856 briefly. For some reason the balance and trigger did not work for me at all. My friend at the LGS let me trade it in unfired, so that's what I did. I wasn't impressed with the trigger, but it seemed like an okay revolver and doubtless would have gone bang like all the others.

My latest used Model 85, a "gunsmith special". It was missing a $4 firing pin spring. I put a slightly lighter mainspring in it while I had it apart. Way better trigger than my S&W 642.

Taurus Model 85 38 special DAO

• Tallball
• Feb 12, 2022

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12Bravo20 said:

Yes the 856 is based off the older 85.The difference between the 85 and 856 is in the cylinder and barrel, mostly the cylinder though. The 856 is a 6 shot while the 85 is a 5 shot. Grips will interchange between all Taurus models of this size. Taurus uses the same frames for all of their small revolvers. This includes the older 85, 94 22lr, and 941 22WMR, new 856, 942 22lr or 22WMR, and 327 models.

I did have to adjust my kydex holsters that I bought for my 85 to fit the 856 due to a slightly bigger cylinder.

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I have a S&W, Ruger, Colt, Kimber, and Taurus revolvers. My Taurus revolvers have all been purchased within the past 8 years. The triggers on my Taurus revolvers are just as good or better than some of my Rugers and Smiths. Several companies offer aftermarket spare parts and springs so those that are trigger snobs can improve the trigger. The trigger can be improved in the same manner that S&W triggers can be improved.

Taurus-
Bought 2- G3C 9mm. 1 broke after 150 fired rounds. Luck of the draw or poor design?

Is poor design, newer G4 has different magazine release setup.

Return to factory, would be a real challenge. Would scrap gun before returning.


https://www.taurusarmed.net/forums/taurus-product-problems.33/

Styx said:

The trigger can be improved in the same manner that S&W triggers can be improved.

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Absolutely correct there. And with any double action revolver, no matter the brand, the double action trigger pull is normally pretty heavy. It gets heavier once you get into rimfire versions.

I shot a Taurus once.

They aren't for me. I'll gladly pay extra for a S&W.

Hi...
I have owned exactly two Taurus revolvers.
One is a stainless DA five shot .44Spl that has been shot extensively over the last fifteen - twenty years or so with zero issues and it is an accurate firearm.
The other was a blued six shot .357Magnum revolver that was wildly inaccurate even at 7 yards. I got frustrated with it after trying to get it to shoot after about 100 rounds or so and traded it for something else. I had bought it used and have no idea how much it was shot buy that person. He offered it to me at an extremely low price because he was in financial difficulty, so I bought it to help him out.

I have passed on numerous Taurus handguns in the intervening years and probably won't buy another unless I stumble across another one of their stainless .44Spl revolvers someday, but I am not actively searching for one.

I worked part time at an indoor range/retail gun shop, high volume of shooters, especially during winter months.
Taurus had by far the most failures.
I remember once trying to help a customer out with warranty work on a Taurus (I can't remember what model, revolver of some kind)
Called Taurus HQ, was on hold a while, put the call on speaker, had the pleasant on hold music playing in the showroom for a couple hours.
Promptly at 5pm eastern time the call was disconnected.
Quitting time!!! Heading home after a hard day's work. Taurus had a well deserved bad rep.
This was maybe 7 years ago, so it's possible it's gotten better, maybe someone answers the phones now.

Hal said:

I shot a Taurus once.

They aren't for me. I'll gladly pay extra for a S&W.

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I will pay extra for a K6s, SP101, or SW60. But it’s hard to beat for $300 when the others are more than twice the price. I do think the 856 is more shootable than the SW Airweights, which are the closest to the 856 in price at 1.5 times the price. I carry my 856 daily in my barn bibs when doing the kennels as I don’t want my K6s to get dirty LOL.

357 Terms said:

I worked part time at an indoor range/retail gun shop, high volume of shooters, especially during winter months.
Taurus had by far the most failures.
I remember once trying to help a customer out with warranty work on a Taurus (I can't remember what model, revolver of some kind)
Called Taurus HQ, was on hold a while, put the call on speaker, had the pleasant on hold music playing in the showroom for a couple hours.
Promptly at 5pm eastern time the call was disconnected.
Quitting time!!! Heading home after a hard day's work. Taurus had a well deserved bad rep.
This was maybe 7 years ago, so it's possible it's gotten better, maybe someone answers the phones now.

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Sounds like my experience with Sig Sauer this year and Colt five years ago.

My bit of anecdotal evidence - My carry 9mm is a G3c, truck gun is my other G3c. I bought these after shooting my son's G2c. Between him and I we have thousands of uneventful rounds through these. I like them.

I have had 3 Taurus revolvers. A 357 years ago and more recently a Tracker 357 and Raging Bull 44 magnum. They all worked great. I actually preferred shooting the Raging Bull over my Ruger Super Redhawk be cause of the porting. Recoil was less. Maybe not my first choice but very good for the price. I have sold them and kept my old Security Six. I don't shoot any magnums anymore.

brutus51 said:

Just saw the cover of guns & ammo with a new Taurus revolver.

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You saw that because Taurus has a marketing budget and paid good money for that.

Earlier this year I noted that Mossberg spent similarly, and got themselves on at least 3 different print magazine covers with their current double stack micro pistol.

Marketing. Just be aware of it.

Never shot one or known anyone who has owned one.
Always heard it was a brand to steer clear of because of quality problems and bad customer service.
Just curious.

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For me, they're an option. I bought a G2C 3 or 4 years ago, and a 856 Defender last year. And a used .44 Tracker in there some time.

Inspect the one you are going to buy carefully.

Parts are a problem. Taurus really doesn't want end users taking off a revolver sideplate, and won't sell parts that require that.