Forgive the double posting of information, but the previous thread in which I posted wasn't the proper thread for this story.
Since I started lurking here I noticed there are vastly different opinions on Taurus;Their quality, products, policies, customer service etc.
As it happened, I bought a Tracker .44 mag. with a 2"bbl at a gun show (new) recently. I also am in the process of shipping it back to Taurus for tweaking so I thought THR would be a good place to document the story, so more gun owners would have a clear Idea of the process, at least from my perspective.
I liked the "little" revolver. It shot accurately, the sights were easy to see, and when shooting .44spl or the Gold Dot magnums designed for short barrels, the kick was very manageable. I'd go as far as to say it was easier than some .357s I've had. Full pressure .44mags were BRUTAL though.
The problem was that once the revolver heated up, there was cylinder binding on the last cylinder and it was nearly impossible to extract the shells, especially after firing the big 240 gr remington mag loads. I could fire one cylinder full, but if I shot 10 or 15 rounds back to back, it was no bueno. I also noticed what appeared to be some key-holing on the target, but that wasn't definitive or consistently occurring.
"What the hell" I decided to take advantage of Taurus' "Lifetime free repair" policy.
I had forgotten to register the warranty when I bought the .44 which was dumb on my part, but I was able to do it online at Taurus' website, which I found helpful and informative. I printed out the instructions and filled out the work order right there and printed it as well.
The fun began when it was time to ship.
I called my local gun store to see if they would ship for me. They told me "yes, but you can ship it yourself as long as it's going back to the factory for repair" which it was. There was a caveat from my gun dealer. "IF...you can find a carrier who won't refuse to ship it anyway."
I did some research, including looking here at THR. I found another website that outlined some company policies here...
http://www.seark.net/~jlove/shipping.htm
I called my local FedEx KINKO's and got a teenage girl on the phone who acted like I just told her I was planning on shipping a couple pounds of crack to the White House (which I would never do. They've smoked quite enough up there in DC lately). I confused her by reading FedEx's policies from their website and she called her supervisor over.
The boss confirmed that I could ship my revolver but had to use a brown box, not a white one, that the recipient had to be a licenced firearms dealer and it had to go overnight. In addition, There could be nothing on the box indicating that it contained a firearm. (How would you know then, that the box contained a firearm, I wonder, If I had not just told you?) FedEx says you have to tell them you are shipping a firearm but the law says nothing about it.
No problem. I'll be right over.
I got to FedEx and the people I talked to were nowhere around. Instead there was a guy at the counter. Like a good boy, I told him I wanted to ship my handgun to the manufacturer for repairs. He was unsure at first, but when I reminded him of what the FedEx policy was, he was OK. In fact, he was a shooter himself and we talked about guns for a bit.
It was already unloaded in the Taurus box so he boxed it up in the appropriate (brown not white) FedEx box for me. He even informed me that the bit about overnighting the gun was BS. He said they ship guns ground all the time (of course, this may be "what really happens" vs. company policy at work here). As for their policy, I am now aware that long guns can go ground but handguns should go air. I managed to get away with breaking their policy this time and sent the revolver ground.
It went ground and cost me only $17. Not bad compared to some of the gun shipping horror stories I have heard.
My feelings on the subject are that although the companies can and will ship your firearms, they are either deliberately keeping their employees in the dark or simply training them to play dumb until confronted with law and policy. I have been told by UPS and FedEx both that "we don't ship firearms", when , in fact they do. I was told by the owner of the gun store that the USPS won't either, unless you howl for a supervisor.
At the time of this writing, the package has been received and signed for at Taurus' shop in Florida. I'll keep you all posted and my fingers crossed.
Since I started lurking here I noticed there are vastly different opinions on Taurus;Their quality, products, policies, customer service etc.
As it happened, I bought a Tracker .44 mag. with a 2"bbl at a gun show (new) recently. I also am in the process of shipping it back to Taurus for tweaking so I thought THR would be a good place to document the story, so more gun owners would have a clear Idea of the process, at least from my perspective.
I liked the "little" revolver. It shot accurately, the sights were easy to see, and when shooting .44spl or the Gold Dot magnums designed for short barrels, the kick was very manageable. I'd go as far as to say it was easier than some .357s I've had. Full pressure .44mags were BRUTAL though.
The problem was that once the revolver heated up, there was cylinder binding on the last cylinder and it was nearly impossible to extract the shells, especially after firing the big 240 gr remington mag loads. I could fire one cylinder full, but if I shot 10 or 15 rounds back to back, it was no bueno. I also noticed what appeared to be some key-holing on the target, but that wasn't definitive or consistently occurring.
"What the hell" I decided to take advantage of Taurus' "Lifetime free repair" policy.
I had forgotten to register the warranty when I bought the .44 which was dumb on my part, but I was able to do it online at Taurus' website, which I found helpful and informative. I printed out the instructions and filled out the work order right there and printed it as well.
The fun began when it was time to ship.
I called my local gun store to see if they would ship for me. They told me "yes, but you can ship it yourself as long as it's going back to the factory for repair" which it was. There was a caveat from my gun dealer. "IF...you can find a carrier who won't refuse to ship it anyway."
I did some research, including looking here at THR. I found another website that outlined some company policies here...
http://www.seark.net/~jlove/shipping.htm
I called my local FedEx KINKO's and got a teenage girl on the phone who acted like I just told her I was planning on shipping a couple pounds of crack to the White House (which I would never do. They've smoked quite enough up there in DC lately). I confused her by reading FedEx's policies from their website and she called her supervisor over.
The boss confirmed that I could ship my revolver but had to use a brown box, not a white one, that the recipient had to be a licenced firearms dealer and it had to go overnight. In addition, There could be nothing on the box indicating that it contained a firearm. (How would you know then, that the box contained a firearm, I wonder, If I had not just told you?) FedEx says you have to tell them you are shipping a firearm but the law says nothing about it.
No problem. I'll be right over.
I got to FedEx and the people I talked to were nowhere around. Instead there was a guy at the counter. Like a good boy, I told him I wanted to ship my handgun to the manufacturer for repairs. He was unsure at first, but when I reminded him of what the FedEx policy was, he was OK. In fact, he was a shooter himself and we talked about guns for a bit.
It was already unloaded in the Taurus box so he boxed it up in the appropriate (brown not white) FedEx box for me. He even informed me that the bit about overnighting the gun was BS. He said they ship guns ground all the time (of course, this may be "what really happens" vs. company policy at work here). As for their policy, I am now aware that long guns can go ground but handguns should go air. I managed to get away with breaking their policy this time and sent the revolver ground.
It went ground and cost me only $17. Not bad compared to some of the gun shipping horror stories I have heard.
My feelings on the subject are that although the companies can and will ship your firearms, they are either deliberately keeping their employees in the dark or simply training them to play dumb until confronted with law and policy. I have been told by UPS and FedEx both that "we don't ship firearms", when , in fact they do. I was told by the owner of the gun store that the USPS won't either, unless you howl for a supervisor.
At the time of this writing, the package has been received and signed for at Taurus' shop in Florida. I'll keep you all posted and my fingers crossed.
.