How much abuse can a Taurus take?

[Arch]

I remember reading an artical somewhere (it may have been "Gun Tests") where they were trying to see if I revolver could be competitive in the IPSC limited division, for a resonable price.

They started off with a Taurus 608 and basically claimed that they wore it out in no time, claiming that the yoke was a weak design. BTW Taurus apparently replaced their revolver.

Does anyone think that there is any merit to this?

Cheers.

 

[Matthew748]

Yes I do think there is some merit to it. I bought a Taurus Raging Bull in .44 Magnum a little less than a year ago and I had to ship it back to Taurus for repair after putting about 200 rounds through it. They were pretty standard loads too; nothing experimental, nothing fancy, and not max type hunting loads from outfits like Garrett or Buffalo Bore either. The repair slip mentioned that the hammer had been replaced and the yoke had been re-aligned.

I have not shot it a whole lot since. Taurus had it for about 6 weeks and I bought a Ruger Redhawk in the mean time. I will say that it (the Raging Bull) is a very comfortable gun to shoot and amazingly accurate. I am not the greatest shot in the world, but my father and I were not able to hit pop cans with it out to 50 yards. Not every time mind you, but often enough.

Maybe I got a lemon, I don’t know. I will think long and hard before considering getting another Taurus revolver though.

 

[HSMITH]

There is merit to it. The Taurus is a decent revolver for the money, and a darn good nightstand gun. They don't hold up to the pounding of competitive DA firing.

Find a Smith 19 or 66 used. You can get minor power factor out of a 38 safely, so a M15 would also be a good candidate. The K-frame is actually one of the most durable considering the type of shooting you are talking about. It will outlast several N-frame guns and well past where an L needs a trip to the doctor.

A revolver will never be competitive in Limited division, not when my bottom feeder has 20 rounds in each magazine, a 2 pound trigger, and mag changes in about half the time it takes a good revolver hand to reload (unless we are talking about Jerry M, he is in a class by himself). Limited 10 or Production would be a better shot, only giving up two rounds per reload would certainly help.

Really, the only place a revolver is going to be on even ground is in revolver division.

 

[Arch]

Thanks for the replys guys. Seems like the classic you only get what you pay for, so get the best you can afford situations.

I probably should have explained where I was comming from on this one too. I do not have a huge interest in IPSC right now, as I am an ISSF (UIT) shooter.

I was just thinking of playing around in ISPC revolver division (as it's fun). I have a customized model 15, but don't really want to beat that one around to much (plus it equiped with a very heavy barrel weight). So I was thinking a cheap taurus might be ideal for a beat around gun....but if they can't take the abuse I won't bother. I will probably just save for something quite nice like a Tanfoglio, which is what I want more. haha, guess I was just trying to create an excuse to aquiring another gun (its cheap, and I 'kinda' need it).

Also I keep forgetting, you guys had your high cap mag ban lifted, just after we had one imposed. Unfortunatly our 10 round limit will never ever be lifted, which means our IPSC shooters can only ever have 10 round mags (we had to hand in any high caps we alrady had). Furthermore, any caliber over .38 in diameter is now "restricted", so unless you shoot sillohette, you can't really register them. So thats killed IPSC for us.

Thanks again guys.

 

[Moonclip]

A Taurus is never going to be as strong as a Colt King Cobra or Ruger GP100 or a S&W N frame but how much do you plan on shooting? I doubt many 357mag revolvers see more than 1000-2000 magnum rounds in their lifetime.

And Taurus does have that nice warranty and all.

 

[ktd]

I like Taurus stuff (mostly their older stuff though), and while I have broke plenty of Smiths too, I think the Taurus is mostly good for non-competitive amounts of ammo. That coupled with the fact that Smiths are much easier to get parts for, and competition parts too makes it a no-brainer. I have seen several Taurus revolvers setup for competition, and they tend to wear out much sooner than Smiths. Mostly small parts, but it is a nuisance. Their auto's seem to run a bit better in the long run. Casual shooting, Taurus is just fine for most.