Taurus PT1911 broken Thumb Safety

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Tony k

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The thumb safety on my PT1911 broke near the rear pin on the left side. I called Taurus and it's going back to them to get it fixed. Of course, it wasn't until I paid the outragous fedex fee that they told me the turn around time would be 4 to 6 weeks.

I'm beginning to think taking it to the local gunsmith might have been a better choice. I might have paid more in total, but I could at least get a non MIM safety that is much less likely to break.

At first glance, the safety seems like a "drop in" kind of part, but after reading some other threads, it sounds like you have to do some work to the safety/sear interface that I don't know how to do. I ruled that option out.

Shipping it back to Taurus cost me $50, and the parts and labor should all be covered under warranty.

The ambi thumbsafeties I liked on Midway started at $35. So I'm guessing that going the local gunsmith route would have run about $100 total for parts and labor.

I'm committed at this point, but I'm curious others would handle it?
 
The cheapest route would have been to have an FFL ship it Priority Mail. The Taurus would fit in a small flat rate box for under $10 insured, plus whatever the FFL charges for the service.
 
This puts Taurus in the EAA class of customer service assuming they actually fix it fast. It'll cost them like $10 for a UPS or FedEx return shipping label E-mailed to you, and be a lot less hassle for you.

A warranty that costs you out of pocket to use is not worth anything IMHO.
 
I had the same issue with my PT1911, but Taurus paid shipping both ways. Then again, I bought my gun fairly soon after they came out and the safety failing was a known issue. It came back fully repaired and it's been perfect since.
 
This is the first gun I've ever returned for warranty work. Lesson Learned!

I'll report back as things progress. If more problems start cropping up, and they expect me to pay shipping every time, this taurus is retiring to the back of the safe. But dang it, I love the way it shoots! I run 50 to 100 rounds through it every friday afternoon. I can already feel the withdrawl symptoms...;)
 
Heh, had the same thing happen to me twice. Parts flying all over the dang place.

The second time it happened, I swapped it out to an aftermarket right-hand only safety and replaced the plunger & springs. Finally got it working right - then sold it.
 
Sorry SpanishJames, no pics. Besides, it's not that photo-worthy.
If you google "MIM handgun part" I bet the first image to pop up would be a 1911 part that broke for no apparent reason. That would be an accurate depiction of my broken thumb safety :D Edit: It's actually the 25th image that shows up

Heh, had the same thing happen to me twice. Parts flying all over the dang place.

The second time it happened, I swapped it out to an aftermarket right-hand only safety and replaced the plunger & springs. Finally got it working right - then sold it.
Click to expand...

Somehow parts didn't fly all over the place, thank goodness. Didn't even lose the plunger pin thingys. Did they charge you for shipping both times? How much did it cost for the aftermarket work?

Fishbed77, I have to agree. At this point Taurus would have to do something pretty amazing to keep me as a customer. This may be my first and only Taurus.
 
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No. I did not send it back to Taurus to have it fixed, even though it was under warranty. It would not have been worth the trouble and shipping cost. I went to a 'smith I knew at the time and he installed a right hand safety he had. He put in springs too. Cost me a whopping $25! When I sold it, I actually got real close to what I had paid for it. Like $20 difference.
 
Just after the gun came out, a buddy brought me one, wanting me to install a different hammer and trigger. Turned out the hammer, sear and safety wouldn’t interchange individually with normal aftermarket parts. You had to do them all. It wasn’t a matter of fitting the parts; they were so far off the usual spec that fitting was much more trouble than it would have been worth.

He sold the gun and bought a SA 1911.

I’ve been told that this little problem has been corrected. I haven’t had another one in the shop, so I don’t know.
 
The Taurus PT1911 is not a true 1911. It has a slightly different firing design. That's why 22LR conversion kits won't work on 'em.

To be fair to Taurus, I haven't heard many negative things said about the PT1911 of recent years. From what I understand, it was the earlier models that had issues.
 
Onward Allusion said:
The Taurus PT1911 is not a true 1911. It has a slightly different firing design. That's why 22LR conversion kits won't work on 'em.

To be fair to Taurus, I haven't heard many negative things said about the PT1911 of recent years. From what I understand, it was the earlier models that had issues.
Click to expand...
do you mean because it is a series 80 type 1911 pattern pistol or because it's not a Colt made according to the diagram of the pistol the Army picked in 1911???...it's about as much a 1911 as any other modern day 1911 pattern pistol is...

Bill
 
Taurus has what they call an Internal Self-Engaging Firing Pin Safety. I'm not technical enough with 1911's to explain in detail. All I know is that they don't work with 22LR conversion kits.
 
Taurus will pay the shipping both ways if its less than a year since you bought the gun new.
 
Taurus has what they call an Internal Self-Engaging Firing Pin Safety. I'm not technical enough with 1911's to explain in detail. All I know is that they don't work with 22LR conversion kits.
Click to expand...

My Friends Kimber 22 conversion works fine with my PT1911. For full disclosure, I do have an aftermarket hammer. All the internals are factory, just the hammer was replaced. I tried the conversion kit with the factory hammer but it was too tall and hit the base of the rear target sight on the conversion slide. This is my experience anyway. I got the gun in 06 shortly after they started producing them.
 
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This is not my gun but the break looked about like this one
 

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The Taurus PT1911 is not a true 1911. It has a slightly different firing design. That's why 22LR conversion kits won't work on 'em.
Click to expand...

Is your point that an aftermarket thumbsafety might not work because of a slightly different firing design? I've never compared the firing design on the PT1911 to other 1911s, but I've replaced the main spring, the recoil spring, and the firing pin spring with Kimber rebuild kits TWICE since I got the gun in 2007. They work great, so I'm guessing that it's close enough to a "true" 1911.

What constitutes a true 1911 would probably make for an interesting discussion. However, the intent of this thread is to share my experiences with this firearm, Taurus customer service, and hopefully get some opinions or advise about how I could have handled the situation differently. Thanks to everyone for great comments.
 
I replaced the thumb safety on my PT1911ALR with a normal left side only safety, Wilson IIRC. Only mod needed was fitting- the "axle" was a thousandth or so too large in diameter, fixed by spinning it in some fine emery cloth for a bit to hone it down.
I had read reports of breakage and really didn't care for the ambi safety, partly out of irrational fears of it being swept off in holster carry and I never used the right side anyway....
 
I've never had the misfortune to have to send a gun in under warranty. That's not to say that I haven't had problems. The only problems I've had were small enough that I did the repairs myself. Partly because I didn't want the same part installed again.
Most applicable to this situation I have a RIA compact 1911 that the safety failed on after less than a year. It did not break, it simply would not act as a safety. I did not like the original safety at all and ordered a Wilson to replace it myself. Took very little fitting. In the end I was even happier. I got the opportunity to learn a little, buy a new tool, and improve my firearm. If it was something more difficult or that I didn't have tools for I may send it in, but I enjoy working on my guns when I can.
 
Repaired gun arrived friday

Gun came back on friday, february 21st. Paperwork with it says they replaced the thumbsafety and also that it had a broken safety spring that they replaced. Paperwork also says they fired 16 rounds of federal FMJ without issue.

So I think I shipped it on February 5th. I got a notification that it was delayed in getting to Taurus due to weather conditions. On February 14th, I got an e-mail from Taurus saying they had received the gun.

I can't fault Taurus for the weather. They quoted me 4-6 weeks for turnaround, but it was actually one week from the time they got it to the time it was back in my hands. I can't complain about that.

My only real complaint is the $50 shipping cost. The gun is seven years old, so it is well beyond the free shipping period specified in the warranty.

Overall, I'm satisfied. If it breaks again, I'm going with a non-mim part.
 
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