Another Taurus quality thread.

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I agree with the OP, both my 66s, a 3" and a 4", are more accurate than my Security six or my M19 or my M10. They're not new guns, been shooting 'em for a while and bought 'em used. The 3" makes a danged decent carry in a Hume JIT slide, but I've got a new 20 ounce 605 Poly on order, 30 percent off MSRP. I prefer to check out the guns I buy, but decided I needed to use this 30 percent off certificate. The Poly is 15 ounces lighter than my 3" 66, should be a joy to carry, though I might have to back off the loads. But, 140 grain hot .357s weren't to bad in my SP101, 7 ounces heavier with a Hogue grip.

I've owned a M85 stainess ultralite since 1996, many rounds through it since then. I carry +P 158s in it. It's very accurate, too. I've never had a problem with it. It came with absolutely the best out of the box DA trigger I've ever felt on a revolver. Sweet gun. It's in my pocket as I type, a constant carry that becomes a BUG when I put my 3" 66 on to go to the big city.

Anyone else's bashing of the brand/products doesn't relate my experience. This really is all I can say.

I think a lot of the bad press is internet "jump on the band wagon" posts. For example is the constant gripes about Remington Golden Bullet 22 rimfire ammo. I'll take all of it I can get. It has outperformed the universally loved Federal bulk by a wide margin for me.
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I heard THAT! Kinda off subject, but I'd always avoided Remington .22, never thought a lot about 'em. Now, the ammo crunch and I've tried some stuff I never did before. I used to just pick up a box of Federal at Walmart, back when you could do such things. A box of Remington golden bullets, 500 rounds, came up on Wikiarms for 25 bucks and FREE SHIPPING. Well beggars can't be choosers, ordered it. That stuff is just as accurate in my Ruger SR22 and functions 100 percent. I recently was able to obtain 2 boxes of Federal bulk pack. Occasional light loads fail to pick up the next round off the top of the magazine and I've had a couple of duds that didn't seem to have a bit of priming charge in the rims. :rolleyes:

Off subject, sorry, but I read this and had to relate.
 
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I wasn't going to beat this dead horse again but apparently it ain't dead yet. My own experience with Taurus is all bad. Over the years I came into possession of three Tauri. Two revolvers and one semi. All three broke. All three went back for warrantee work and all three broke again. Now they've been destroyed.
Each of these gems were given to me. I'm glad I wound up with them before they got someone killed trying to use them.
I'll never for the life of me understand buying third rate guns when there are so many good manufacturers out there. I either own or have owned just about every brand of American gun I can think of. Some Europeans too, and I never have had to send them in for warrantee work. Never.
And I have never, ever heard of a police department, tactical unit, military, or any other group whose members lives depend on their guns using Taurus. Never. That should tell you all you need to know right there.
I always use the skydiving analogy: if you were going skydiving and all the pros bought brand "A" for a thousand dollars, because they are the industry standard, are renown for their reliability and are trusted by virtually every skydiving team in the world, would you buy brand "B" that none of the pros use and has a reputation for failure just to save a hundred bucks? I won't.
 
LT. Diver said:
I'll never for the life of me understand buying third rate guns when there are so many good manufacturers out there. I either own or have owned just about every brand of American gun I can think of. Some Europeans too, and I never have had to send them in for warrantee work. Never.
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Apparently you didn’t read the thread. There’s plenty of folks (myself included) who have never had to send in their Taurus’. Branding an entire manufacturer’s product line because of some product’s deficiencies is silly.

And on that note, the arrogance (and ignorance) displayed by your post is just about the worst case of “internet tough guy” crossed with “internet expert” it’s been my misfortune to read on a good while. To wit:

LT. Diver said:
And I have never, ever heard of a police department, tactical unit, military, or any other group whose members lives depend on their guns using Taurus. Never. That should tell you all you need to know right there.
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You should get out more. Broaden your horizons. Follow the Link to enlightenment.

LT. Diver said:
I always use the skydiving analogy: if you were going skydiving and all the pros bought brand "A" for a thousand dollars, because they are the industry standard, are renown for their reliability and are trusted by virtually every skydiving team in the world, would you buy brand "B" that none of the pros use and has a reputation for failure just to save a hundred bucks? I won't.
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And I always use the “toolbox” analogy. There are many tools in a toolbox, for many different purposes, and skill levels. A Craftsman may not be the absolute highest quality tool ever made; but for what most homeowners and handymen need tools for, it doesn’t need to be.

A Taurus would not be my first pick for a combat sidearm. But, based on my experience with the PT-92 and -99, and my Raging Bull, I would be well served by the ones in my gun safe, if the need ever arose, even if I reached first for my Walther P99AS, PPQ, or Springfield .45.

But I never bought Taurus with the idea of using them for home/self-defense; they were bought for an inexpensive, reliable range gun, and they have fulfilled that “toolbox” function admirably, reliably, and accurately enough that I would trust my life to the ones in my possession.
 
LT.Diver said:
I wasn't going to beat this dead horse again but apparently it ain't dead yet. My own experience with Taurus is all bad. Over the years I came into possession of three Tauri. Two revolvers and one semi. All three broke. All three went back for warrantee work and all three broke again. Now they've been destroyed.
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You should have demanded Taurus fix them right or replace them and pick up the shipping. Were you compensated in some way for having them destroyed?

LT.Diver said:
I always use the skydiving analogy: if you were going skydiving and all the pros bought brand "A" for a thousand dollars, because they are the industry standard, are renown for their reliability and are trusted by virtually every skydiving team in the world, would you buy brand "B" that none of the pros use and has a reputation for failure just to save a hundred bucks? I won't.
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I read of some contractors in Iraq being given sub-par ARs.
 
ExTank said:
Apparently you didn’t read the thread. There’s plenty of folks (myself included) who have never had to send in their Taurus’. Branding an entire manufacturer’s product line because of some product’s deficiencies is silly.
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That's true but Taurus does have a higher than average percentage of problems with their stuff.


ExTank said:
And on that note, the arrogance (and ignorance) displayed by your post is just about the worst case of “internet tough guy” crossed with “internet expert” it’s been my misfortune to read on a good while.
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He spoke from experience.


ExTank said:
To wit:

You should get out more. Broaden your horizons. Follow the Link to enlightenment.
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That happens to be Taurus' best model. Chrysler had I think a straight-6 type engine that was a home run during their bad times, IIRC.



ExTank said:
But I never bought Taurus with the idea of using them for home/self-defense; they were bought for an inexpensive, reliable range gun, and they have fulfilled that “toolbox” function admirably, reliably, and accurately enough that I would trust my life to the ones in my possession.
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Excellent point.
 
First Taurus for me is Really Bad

I bought my first Taurus about a month ago, and the POS broke on the 18th round fired!

New 740 slim, and on the last round in the third clip the extractor blew clear off the gun. This was the first day I owned it. I sent it back to Taurus that day, and I am still waiting to hear from them.

At this point I am NOT happy I bought a Taurus!

And on a somewhat related note, do not trust the reviews you may read on Bud's Gun Shop site. They freely edit out anything and everything that you might say that is not absolutely glowing about them.
 
My first experience with Taurus started in 1985 with a nickel model 66 that cost less than $150 NIB (or about 1/3 what a S&W would have cost at the time). My experience mirrored the OP's... Great revolver with no issues. Used that revolver a lot (including one self defense episode) and have been sold on Taurus ever since. That first Taurus was sold in 2006, but I have owned more than 20 different models over the years since including everything from a PT22 to a Raging Bull in 44 magnum and even a Taurus Thunderbolt pump action rifle in 45 colt. Never so much as a hiccup from any of them during that time. Still have a 851 38 special, 73 in 32 Long, PT145 which sits in my desk at work, 415 in 41 mag, 431 in 44 special, and a 327 magnum snubby. Some were bought new, some used, but all have been reliable. Now I have handled some used Taurus guns that appeared to have issues and I passed them over, but the same could be said for any brand. Long story short, I've been pleased with Taurus over the last 3 decades, and another at the right price is always welcome.
 
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Mauser69 said:
...And on a somewhat related note, do not trust the reviews you may read on Bud's Gun Shop site. They freely edit out anything and everything that you might say that is not absolutely glowing about them.
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Agreed. Nearly every review seems to gush about their speedy shipping, but they've always taken half-of-forever to box and ship anything I've ever ordered from them. I've read the same from others on various forums, but don't recall ever reading it in any of their reviews.
And to stay on topic, I sold the only Taurus I ever had before ever firing it ( a polymer .40 something-or-other I traded into). But given the volume of horror stories, I never could justify buying one, given the relatively small savings over a Smith or Ruger.
 
MIL-DOT said:
Agreed. Nearly every review seems to gush about their speedy shipping, but they've always taken half-of-forever to box and ship anything I've ever ordered from them. I've read the same from others on various forums, but don't recall ever reading it in any of their reviews.
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Off Topic: There have been formal complaints about them. I prefer not to do business with them.
 
A couple PT92s, a 917C and a PT1911 blued.

They're all nice. They all shoot well. They did not cost a ton of money. I enjoy them all. None of them in my current inventory ever had to go back to Taurus for anything.

I had a few of their revolvers in the past I had issues with, a stainless 66 that the sight broke on and a stainless 617 (is that right?...) that they couldn't fix the timing on.

They allowed me to swap that second one out for a brand new PT92 stainless. So that made me cheer up pretty damn quick.

Oh, forgot. I had a stainless PT1911 9mm that had great fit/finish. I never had a chance to shoot it before it was stolen. It was pretty though. I put a nice set of RAASCOs on there (about a week before it was stolen) for the thief to enjoy.

Taurus is 100% good to go in my book.
 
I have never owned a Taurus because I am to scared. I have been tempted but never gave in. That said I don't think I will ever buy a colt again. Both colts I have had problems, one was a new gun but old stock from a discontinued model (anaconda 44 if you can believe that). They wanted to charge me to service it. One was a brand new gun that had multiple issues (Gold cup trophy). Sent it back, after multiple calls to see what the status was and getting the run around, and various excuses it showed up 6 months after being sent in at my door step with no explanation but in great shape. Didn't let me know it was coming or anything. I figured I would elaborate on the colt quality control and service by comparison, being that Colt is so highly respected and so proud of themselves as we can obviously see by there pricing.
I have had issues with Rugers, Smiths, Springfield (never sent the Springfield in), but I have to say the best and quickest/easiest to deal with by a long shot has been Ruger. I have no delusions that any company makes a perfect gun every time, but Ruger takes care of you when they dont.
 
Every Taurus REVOLVER that I've shot has worked pretty darn good, but a few have had very slight timing issues but nothing that effected overall function. I've never picked up any Taurus semi-auto that I liked, I've held most of them, only fired 2 models. The 2 semi models that I've shot, shot okay, and didn't have any malfunctions. But after a bad experience with their customer service I'll never buy another Taurus. A few years ago I bought a 605SS DAO. It was what my wife picked out but she found the trigger pull to be way too heavy. So I installed a Wolf spring kit. Well in the process a tiny little spring flew out, not Taurus' fault, and it wasn't a type of spring that came in the Wolf kit. I wasnt negligent or incompetent, stuff just happens sometimes. I called them several times over a week long period, waited on hold for 1/2 hour each time before hanging up. One day I finally stayed on the line for about 45 minutes and spoke to a woman. I explained the situation in 100% honest detail and offered to pay for the spring. I was told that the installation of that spring could be a safety concern and that they wouldn't sell me a spring and they don't even sell those springs to Taurus dealers. I'd have to send it in, wait 4-6 weeks (they must have been busy as hell), and the woman on the line couldn't even tell me whether or not it'd be covered under warranty. If not under warranty they were going to charge me AT LEAST $30 plus return shipping. So I would have been looking at $50 or more, waiting 4-6 weeks, for some tech/'smith to replace a $3 spring in 5 minutes. NO THANKS!! A lifetime warranty can be great, but sometimes I'd rather not have a warranty at all if they'd at least sell me simple parts.
 
I have a PT 99 that I absolutely love, and it has been completely thoroughly reliable.

I have a 380 Taurus, that is just about as reliable as any other 380 can be.

I can't speak for any of their other models. But then I am a glutton for punishment. After I figured out how to fix the extractor on one Keltec model, I purposefully bought another one that was known to have extractor problems. Because it was cheap. Five dollars worth of parts, a few minutes and some Loc tight, and I had a second spring installed and it is wonderful.

There are people who can make slightly picky guns work, and there are people who can't. For the second group, I urge them to buy Ruger's or Smith & Wesson. My father-in-law has a Ruger concealable 9 mm, and it is wonderful. To each his own.
 
Here is my personal experience with Taurus:
A year ago I was looking for a small CC "pocket" pistol and after some research I decided to buy a TCP 738. The features that pushed the scale down were: 1. Lifetime warranty. 2. The slide locks back after the last round. 3. Smooth trigger (reportedly).

So I did buy a brand new one with 2 factory magazines in June 2013. Took it to range and it was perfect for the 1st 50 rounds or so. Very accurate for its size - can’t complain about that. After 50 rds though all of a sudden the magazine started sliding out after every 2 or 3 rds. I thought it was my fault – it is a tiny pistol so I could have touched the release button inadvertently. I started watching my hand making sure I don’t do that and ended up shooting only with my middle finger around the grip. No luck. Then somebody told me I should be loading the magazine with the release button pushed down to allow a proper lock. So I did but no luck again. I even took a friend of mine to the range and asked him to load and shoot the gun. He did, magazines kept sliding down. Oh, I forgot to mention that it had been happening to both mags that I had. Took a flashlight and carefully expected the magazine well and both magazines. I couldn’t find anything wrong …. OK I have to admit I’m not a gunsmith but I’m still a mechanical engineer with a few years of field service experience plus I have done quite some repair and re-finishing work on my handguns and rifles.
So I finally I called Taurus in November. After I waited ~ 45min on hold a lady picked up the phone. She was very polite, asked me some questions and suggested I send them the mags for INSPECTION (will see later why I’m writing in capital letters). I tried to convince her that most probably the problem wasn’t in them since they were both getting unlocked …..I can accept 1 of them being defective but both together in the same box? Very unlikely. Anyway I shipped both mags to Taurus in mid-November. Waited patiently to hear something but since I got nothing until mid-December I followed up. Another 40 min on hold!!! Another lady answered. She was also very polite. She gave me all details, service order number, etc. When I asked her how did the inspection go and when I am supposed to get my mags back she said (I’m quoting): “We don’t INSPECT mags here, we ship them directly to Brazil for replacement. Unfortunately we are out of them at this time. We expect the next delivery sometime after New Year”. I almost lost it but then thought – OK, Holiday season is close and I am going on vacation so let’s wait. So I did. In mid-January I called again. This time only 30 min oh hold! A gentleman picked up the phone. He said they were still out of mags and the expected backorder time was 4 weeks!!! I asked him if I could send them the gun for inspection without mags suggesting they could use a magazine from their repair shop. His answer was they couldn’t test the gun since they didn’t have ANY mags in their shop!!! I admit I went ballistic and after 10 min of “emotional” discussion we finally settled on sending the gun back to Taurus. My reason was if the gun was there they could test it as soon as the mags arrive so I would some time. They emailed me a shipping label and I sent it over. 3 weeks later I received an unexpected Fedex delivery. I opened up the box and guess what – my pistol was in it with some paperwork saying “fixed and tested, 24 rds fired OK, etc”. There was only 1 mag in the box though, so I scratched my head, picked up the phone and called. Another nice lady answered. I asked her about the missing magazine and she told me that these are 2 different orders - mags go on “Service order” while the pistol is on “Repair order”???????? and because they WERE STILL OUT OF MAGS I didn’t get mine. Expected backorder time - 4 to 6 weeks …. Honestly I didn’t know what to do – to cry or to laugh. When I asked her where the mag I received with the “repaired” gun came from (remember they had been completely out of those since November) she went speechless for a long time. Anyway I took the gun to the range and fired some rounds. It did well for the first 30-40 and then ……the magazine started sliding out again. So I have to call Taurus and I’m getting sick just from thinking about that.

Some folks may have positive experience with Taurus but mine “Lifetime warranty” is turning out to a “Lifetime nightmare”. There is something absolutely wrong with their customer service …..it is either they turn down people “in a polite manner” on purpose or their customer service associates have no idea of what are they doing. Finally – I haven’t seen my 2nd magazine as of today almost 5 mts later!
 
Warranty... Customer service... What's that?

3 revolvers in .38, 2 in .357 - many, many hundreds of rounds through them and I have yet to test warranties or customer service.

No personal repairs.

No loose or re-tightened components.

No failing accuracy.

Inexpensive buy-in.

I love 'em.
 
Peniko,

You are barking up the wrong tree. Send your complaint directly to Mr. Mark Kresser, CEO. I complained to him in writing about the junk Model 941 I brought about a year ago and they replaced the gun with another new one within a week.

I'm at work so I don't have his address but I can send it to you tomorrow if you need it.

p.s. I posted three different threads about the problems I had with the gun, Mr. Kresser's response and the final result. My problem took a long time to resolve itself to my satisfaction as ammunition was not available for 9-10 months. Once ammo finally has become available I was able to shoot it and am very happy with it.
 
I own 2 Taurus revolvers, a 94 and a 66 both stainless. The 66 had to go back due to canted sights and a broken extractor. Taurus fixed it up and I've not had a problem with it but I rarely shoot it.

The 94 I don't shoot much either, but I do carry it in the "trunk" of my 4-wheeler all the time. It goes bang every time and I feel I can trust it for the purposes I intended for it.

I know this is the revolver forum, but I also have a PT-145 and it is flawless in function. It eats everything I've stuffed in it and has NEVER failed. I used it as a truck gun for years and never gave it a second thought if I ever needed it.
 
Guess talking about the 4 inch Smith & Wesson Model 629 that the barrel turned in the frame while I was shooting it or the Ruger .45 Colt Bisley Vaquero that shot 18½ inches to the left of the POA from a machine rest at 25 yards would prove that they build crap, too, right? I'm not saying that Taurus is perfect, but every gun maker has, has had, or will have quality control issues.

I've had 3 Taurus revolvers and no issues with any of them. The first was an old 4 inch blued Model 66 that had the right recoil shield as part of the sideplate. I sold it to my reenlistment NCO at V Corps before I left Germany the last time. The second was a Model 85SS2UL that I swapped out because I just had to have something else. (What that was I have no idea, but I regretted it.) The third is another Model 85SS2UL that is currently on loan to my older daughter. (I doubt that I will get it back unless I provide a replacement.) To be fair, my brother has a problem with the PT-111 Millenium he bought - the white dot fell out of the front sight. (Some White Out® and clear finger polish solved that particular problem.)

ECS
 
I have a model 85 ultra light that I purchased for C.C. I was lucky because the store owner had just gotten a shipment of them in. I asked if I could handle and dry fire every single one of them. He said yes, and it took a while but I was able to pick the one with the smoothest, lightest, double action trigger pull of the bunch. When I took it to the range for the first time and still to this day, is a joy to shoot (considering how light and short a barrel it has). I think with Taurus, you either get a great gun or a bad one. There isn't much in between with them.
 
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