I bought a Taurus PT709 "Slim".....

[cmfireman]

Picked up a new in box PT709 "Slim" from the local gunshop today. A nice polymer frame single stack 9mm with stainless steel slide.

Felt good in my hands, came with a plastic case, 2 magazines, a bore brush, and two keys to "lock" the gun with. Got out the door for a reasonable price, and thought I had found my perfect CCW piece.

I was a little skeptical about buying a Taurus because of the "love it/hate it" attitude on here, and even more skeptical about buying a gun that has just hit the shelves, but I jumped anyways.

I got it home and did the prerequisite cleaning, removing all the gunk the manufacturer put on it for preservation. I used some Hoppes and Rem-Oil, and had it looking great inside and out.

To the range....

I had 200 rounds of 115gr. WWB to break her in with. Loaded the first magazine and fired off 2 shots with the smooth SA trigger, and on the 3rd shot, it failed to return to battery. Looked like the ejector failed to completely remove the previous round and the round in the magazine butted up against it.

I locked back the slide, dropped the magazine, and pushed the slide release to allow me to manually eject the spent casing. I tried the slingshot method and the slide release method for chambering the first round multiple times, and then I moved on to the other magazine to see if that was the problem.

So, about 100 rounds of two different lot #'s of WWB, I would estimate that 20-25 jammed. I also tried some Win. 115gr HP's, and jammed on the first one.

I guess it's off to Taurus customer service to see if they're really as bad as I've heard.

 

[W L Johnson]

Just fired off about 200 rounds with mine this past Sunday without a single failure. It was a mix of WWB, CCI Blazer and Remmy Golden Sabers. Some people have reported issues with WWB so you may want to try something else to check. I would never sent off a gun to repair without changing the brand of ammo first with the kind if issues you had.

Check this thread, one of the posters had problems with WWB on his 709 as well.
http://thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=462066

 

[cmfireman]

I will try something besides WWB in it, but after another takedown and inspection, it appears I may have a decent burr on the extractor.

I know a bit about handguns, but as my P89 has never jammed, I don't know much about extractors. Can anyone tell me if this looks right?



Also, would you recommend taking it to a gunsmith to get the extractor deburred or just sending it to Taurus?

Here is a pic of the jam:


And the magazine upon removal:

 

[W L Johnson]

I can't compare that to mine at this moment, I'm sitting in a coffee shop right now and they might get upset if I start fooling around with my 709.

 

[cmfireman]

Ha. I'm sure someone will be around to help me out. I have a box of Rem. FMJ's I'll try out in a while.

Does the gun seem extremely dirty after just firing 70-75 rounds or is it just me?

 

[Cougfan2]

Does the gun seem extremely dirty after just firing 70-75 rounds or is it just me?

In my experience, WWB ammo is fairly dirty. Nothing a little Hoppes won't cure.

 

[W L Johnson]

Wish I could find a combo coffee shop and gun shop. I could drink coffee, cruise the internet, and clean my guns, all at the same time. Hmmmm maybe I should start one.

 

[cmfireman]

Yea, I think I'll go ahead and clean it again before any more testing. If anyone can get a pic of their 709 extractor for comparison, I would really appreciate it.

Thanks for all the help so far!

 

[1KPerDay]

That extractor looks wonky to me... weird broken/jagged looking edge on the near corner??

 

[robphillips]

I went into a gun shop the other day that also had a plant nursey with it. Sure kept the wife happy.

 

[BHPshooter]

Haven't played with a 700-series Taurus yet, but that extractor has a serious problem.

I suppose you can make them fix it, or you can try to file it down by yourself, but that extractor just isn't right.

Wes

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

The extractor looks chipped and misshapen to me, and the most common cause of your double-feed malfunctions is a bad extractor. Too bad. I looked at one of these in a gun show and it looked nice.

 

[BHPshooter]

Too bad. I looked at one of these in a gun show and it looked nice.

Don't give up just yet. ALL manufacturers have lemons slip through the cracks. Just inspect the individual examples you're looking at. That's just about all you can do.

Wes

 

[W L Johnson]

Ok.. just got home and I just looked at mine, it pretty much looks the same, except for being a little cleaner. I haven't had a failure yet.

 

[22LRFan]

This situation reminds me of the Kel-Tec Pf-9 I had. I was able to have K-T send me a new extractor instead of me sending in my pistol. Maybe Taurus could do the same for you. I hope everything works out for you because no one wants their semi-automatic to turn into a single-shot.

Also, I don't know what the anatomy of a 709 is...but maybe it is a loose extractor screw or weak extractor spring.

 

[m2steven]

My 709 is light striking ammo so I called Taurus about 8:00am this morning. They had a Fed Ex truck at my door at 10:20am. The person was friendly and very helpful.

My pistol loads and extracts all ammo perfectly. The photo of the 709 guts reveals (to my mind) poorly finished parts. I could not find such parts on mine, but i'm fairly sure there are some in there somewhere. I believe my pistol will come back from Taurus repaired and will work well. Other than the light strikes - it works great and frankly can't see myself parting with it.

I've read one other story about 709 light striking cartridges. Mine mostly happens with WWB, but yesterday it did it with a different brand. However, it fired 48 of 50 perfectly. I can fire it as fast as I can pull the trigger and it works flawlessly (other than whatever mechanism makes it light strike).

The other person with the light strikes got an immediate Fed Ex truck as well, prepaid as was mine. He said Taurus said it could be 5 weeks turnaround.

From what I've read on various forums, generally a gun returned from Taurus service performs well. I'll bet they have real quality control problems and most of their gunsmiths' time is spent polishing and deburring
parts.

I mean, I have a new CZ83 and it had the audacity to give me 2 stovepipes in 200 rounds. However, I was shooting really cheap stuff (Monarch steel case or something). I purchased 3 types of Monarch. The Steel seemed the most prone to problems.

As a humorous sidenote - i got out my 28 year old unfired Raven 25 to see what it would do. What it did in the first 12 rounds was present me with EVERY known pistol malfunction known to mankind: stovepipes, double feeds, feeding and ejecting problems, failures to fire; you name it, i saw it.
Plus - 2 perfect shots with no gun damage. It made my Taurus 709 look like Michaelangelo's Pieta.

 

[DasFriek]

It always sux to see someone take a leap of faith to try a weapon they normaly wouldnt consider and things not go perfect.Im a Taurus owner twice over and not had any issues,yet.And i hope it stays that way.It great to see Taurus paying for shipping both ways,that is the worst part of sending any gun in for service.(paying overnight shipping charges)
Im pretty close to pulling the trigger on a 709 also as i want a pocket sized 9mm with a manual saftey,and that isnt easy to find actually.
Ive also been lucky to find absolutly no flaws,burrs or machining marks inside either of mine (PT1911 and PT745) ,and im pretty thourogh but definetly no smith either.

Good luck man,ill be watching the results so pls update us when its returned!

 

[sarduy]

Some people have reported issues with WWB so you may want to try something else to check.

i have a gun that just won't work with WWB but eat everything alse like candy.

 

[W L Johnson]

So far every thing I have seems to works fine with WWB, but oddly my CZ RAMI ejects CCI blazer and only CCI blazer right at my eyes.

 

[hoghead]

What holster are u guys using: My 709 has been perfct so far

 

[ugaarguy]

Very good pics (macros are difficult). Sadly the extractor looks chipped, and looks to have a hairline crack to me. Send it off, and let us know how they did once you get it back.

 

[cmfireman]

It will be Monday until I can ship it, but I'll update on the repairs when I get it back.

As far as holsters, I wandered around all day yesterday with it in a size M Tagua gunleather IWB holster at about 4:00 and didn't hardly know it was there.

 

[loop]

Your extractor is about to come apart.

Deal with it as you will. Do not carry it for SD.

 

[Indianashooter]

I bought a pt 709 last week. Got to take it shooting yesterday and fired 150 rounds of Remington UMC. No misfires or malfunctions of any kind. The trigger pull is certainly something i'm not used to, but I could still shoot it very accurately. I'm definately happy with the gun so far, and it's virtually invisible in my IWB holster.

 

[Yo Mama]

Was that just from WWB? Did you clean before shooting?