Lets put the "controversy" over Taurus quality to rest once and for all!

[stevelyn]

I can't vote 'cause I don't own a Taurus, but I can comment.
The only Taurus I ever handled was back in the mid 80's when a friend bought one and we took it to the range. It was a .357 revolver (don't remember the model) that we were shooting .38 Spl commercial reloads from. The only complaint I had was that breachface had not been cleaned up and smoothed from the machining process. Occassionally these reloads which seemed a little hot, would cause the cylinder to bind preventing a follow up DA shot. The cylinder would have to twisted to break the round free of the breachface allowing the cylinder to rotate. No other problems were ever noted and seemed to more of a question of final finishing rather than mechanical design flaws.

 

[Ninj500]

I've had a Model 66 .357 for around 10 years and it's performed flawlessly. No problems. Back then it cost $189 and is worth every penny. In fact, my next handgun purchase will most likely be a Raging Bull.

 

[SCOTTx88]

I've only got one taurus, A big one,raging bull .454,I love it.Shoots great and no problems.My brothers got a Raging Bull too and he's had no problems,and he's gota PT-140 That he carries,no problems with that either.

 

[JCM298]

Taurus

My first Taurus, a Model 85, blew up and Taurus replaced it with no problem. I traded it for a Model 605. When the hammer stud broke on it, Taurus replaced it, again with no problem.

As soon as the new 605 arrived, I traded it for a S & W Model 649
which has turned out to be the most accuarate snub that I've ever owned.

There are no Taurus products in my future,
John

 

[alamo]

I have only one, a Model 850 Titanium CIA, my other revolvers are S&W. There was no gap between the forcing cone and cylinder and it often binded when I dryfired. Sent it to Taurus without even firing it and they fixed it up. The trigger pull is very light and smooth, I was surprised.

 

[firestar]

As of when I voted, about 1/3 of all owners reported "tons of problems"!!!!! That is NOT a good statistic. I had tons of problems but I find it hard to believe that one out of three people had the same trouble as I did. How can Taurus stay in business if that is true?

 

[caz223]

I think the stat isn't real, because what would you do if you bought a Taurus, and they seem unwilling, or unable to fix the problems, after repeated attempts to "stab" at it?
You would sell it.
The person who bought it would be in the same boat.
They would sell it.
Increasing the exposure of bad guns to Taurus customers.
However, that doesn't make the problems any less real, or serious.
Some people have great luck with Taurii.
I am not one of those people.

 

[sctman800]

model 415 ss .41mag

One problem, the pin at the rear of the cyl that locks it to the frame started binding. Contacted Taurus and they said send it in or we will send you the parts. They sent a new pin and spring and after putting them in it has been great. The old pin was stainless the new one is carbon steel, I am guessing they had a problem with hardness. I also own a Blackhawk in .41mag and altho I am quite happy with it also the Taurus does have the more comfortable grips and a better trigger. Jim.

 

[braindead0]

Well, I don't see an option for SS with 0 problems, so I can't honestly vote.. 'virtualy no' isn't the same as 0 problems after 5000+ rounds.

 

[RON in PA]

As I write this there have been 116 responses(your counter is wrong) and it appears that most people have steel guns 80/116. If we lump the two "little" and "few" categories together 61/80 (76.2%) don't have major problems and 19/80(23.8%) do. Is that almost 24% an acceptable amount for a modern mass produced product. What if 24% of new automobiles were lemons? Any quality assurance engineers here? Anybody know what comparable figures for S&W might be?

The Ti and Al guns look pretty bad.

 

[commygun]

Tauri I have owned or own:

431 4" blued
431 3" stainless
66 4" blued
65 4" stainless
85CH blued

All the revolvers worked flawlessly and as ACP noted the 85CH
is unexpectedly accurate for a DAO snub.

On the other hand I've owned a PT-100 and a PT-92C and
neither was an 100% reliable feeder. And I had a PT-22 that
was an unmitigated disaster.

 

[s&w 24]

as a range officer I have seen 3 taurus revolvers detonate. One was a 66 357, owner blasted the the top strap and the top of the cylinder out. Factory stated that it was ammo related. Second was a M44 same results (top strap, 1/2 the cylinder) no reason stated by taurus. Third I don't remember the particulars but I think it was a 605 that had a split forcing cone on a low round count. HAVING STATED THE ABOVE!! I shoot my dad's taurus 431 44 special without problems or fears.

 

[firestar]

I get 29% with "tons of problems", if you think that is acceptable then you my friend are a much more docile cunsumer than I.

What if you bought 100 rounds of ammo and 29 were duds? What if you bought 100 eggs and 29 were rotten?
What if you bought 100 T.V.s and 29 didn't work?
Etc. etc.

I know this isn't a scientific poll but I am shocked at how many poeple report "tons of problems". I had tons of problems and that is why I will never buy another Taurus again. If they cost half the price of whatever gun they were copying, I might consider one for a beater range gun but they cost almost as much as the real thing i.e., S&W, Beretta.

You will never hear a bad word about them in the gun rags because every other page has a full color full page Taurus ad! I felt like I was scamed by Taurus and all the gun rags that conspired to make me think that there were just as good as S&W and Beretta.

I going to say this for the benefit of any newbi to guns out there, Taurus guns are not as good as the gun rags say! Pick one up and compare it to the real gun that it is copying (S&W 586 vs. Taurus 66) and you will see I am right.

 

[DougB]

A good friend of mine has a Taurus Titanium Tracker 4" ported .357. He's had it for several years, and shot it quite a bit. I've also shot it several times. It works fine and hasn't given any problems. He's very happy with it, and I also like it.

Doug

 

[landon74]

I own two Taurus revolvers (well, one is my wife's but I bought it for her), and I'm very pleased with both of them.

The model 85 that belongs to my wife is a good little gun, the finish is nice, and the trigger is pretty good both single and double action.

The model 617CH I own is also a nice little gun, although the trigger isn't quite as smooth as on the 85.

I'd recommend a Taurus to anyone looking for good value for the money.

If i can find one of the 8 shot .357s they make I'll happily add it to my collection, and I'd like to get my hands on a non-ported .41 Mag if they make one.

 

[chaim]

I get 29% with "tons of problems", if you think that is acceptable then you my friend are a much more docile cunsumer than I

Ahh, but one problem. These are owners, not guns. Most people who buy a gun w/ tons of problems, like you, never buy another from that maker. Many of us with good guns have several good guns from Taurus (I've had two, with a third, hopefully good gun, coming). In fact, many of us have reported here (in the thread) 2 or 3 good guns, and a few individuals have had 5 or more. However, the poll would only read their vote as one vote for a reliable gun (assuming they were all in the same catagory- steel, aluminium, Ti). Likewise, someone with one gun that was crap who would never buy another Taurus also had one vote for a bad gun. Those two people, one representing 2-5 guns, one representing one gun, each have only one vote show up effectively appearing to cancel each other out.

So about 25-30% of owners have had bad guns. That isn't 25-30% bad guns, probably more like 10-15%. It is hard to get the true number without a pen, paper and a calculator going through all the replies in the thread and I simply don't have the time. However, with many (but not all) of the positives being one vote for multiple guns, and most of the negatives being a vote with one gun, it is a fair estimate (figure an average of two guns for ea. positive vote, since many had reported more than 2 guns). At that level, 10-15%, probably isn't that bad considering the number of complaints on this board about even S&W and Ruger revolvers.

 

[ChuckB]

I took my new Taurus 85UL to the range today for a shakedown cruise. I had already put lighter Wolf hammer and trigger springs in the gun (cheap and easy to do). The little guy functioned flawlessly, hit exactly where it was pointed, and had a darn nice trigger. For a light weight revolver, it was pleasant to shoot. It did a better job, in fact, and had a better trigger, than the two Smith snubbies that two other fellows were shooting. Will I still love it after several thousand rounds? I'll let you know then but, for now, I'm impressed.

Chuck

 

[firestar]

I know this poll is not scientific, it can't be. I was surprised at how many responses indicated that Taurus quality was poor. I really was surprised!

I've had up close and personal experience with only four Tuarii and 2 out of 4 seemed just fine (one SS and one Titanium), the two bad ones were both blued steel. I only onwed one of them so that is how I voted.

It seems that no matter what gun you are talking about, you can get about 10% of the people to say they are junk. It just looks like on this forum, it may be a little higher than average. I have made up my mind and I am not trying to convince anyone. It really is not hard for me to not buy a Taurus because they really don't have anything that I can't find from another manufacturer (S&W Beretta). The guns that they do have that are unique, I am not interested in (mostly because they are Taurus).

I don't know what my point is but I see your point about guns vs. gun owners and I agree. That is the trouble with word of mouth, I have heard that if someone likes a product, they tell two other people but if they don't like a product, they tell seven other people. You have to expect a negative slant. Also, I'm sure that every manufacturer has made a lemon from time to time. I doubt that all Taurus guns are crap but I don't need to waste my money finding out.

 

[braindead0]

I would have voted for no problems, if there was a place to vote for that. Absolutely no problems with either of the two Taurii we have.

So I didn't vote.

 

[Neal Bloom]

Few weeks ago my wife's 605 blew up in my hands. The frame in front of the cylinder on the left side blew out. I noticed it and then the barrel fell out. The barrel was cracked from where it screws in to almost the muzzle. Both my wife, a cousin and I saw the first round in the cylinder hit the target and the second round hit the target so there was no bullet stuck in the barrel. The cylinder was binding with three live rounds stuck in it. Luckily no one was hurt, only my wifes pride as it was the first gun she ever bought. Took me and a friend awhile to remove the live rounds. Factory rounds by the way. Called Taurus and kept getting transfered to a tape recording. Finally sent the gun to Taurus and all we got was an email acknowledging they received it. That was two weeks ago.

As someone said earlier there will be no more Taurus products in my house.

 

[WebHobbit]

And I have NEVER EVER heard such a horror story about a S&W or Ruger for that matter.

You buy a cheap clone this is the chance you take.

 

[denfoote]

I just put another 100 rounds through my 605 for a total of 400. The last 605 did not make it past 3!! Maybe I'm a fool, but yes, I went and got another one. Taurus has improved the design. For example. The pin that fell out on my other one has been eliminated in favor of an approx. .25"dia, spring loaded bar that locks the crane into the frame directly. the barrel is now stainless steel with a blue steel shroud. I am significantly impressed!!

 

[Handy]

29%, 24%, owners vs. guns? Hey, anyway you cut it there are alot of people on this forum reporting bad Tauruses.

Percentages aside, 38 people out the maybe 1000 people that cruise this revolver forum have had terrible Taurus problems. Any way you cut that, that's alot of goofed up factory products.

I don't have any DA revolvers, but this little poll alone convinced me what NOT to buy.

 

[Longbow]

I had a Taurus .357 6" as my first revolver and an M85 both are carbon steel. No problems on both. the 6" was shot extensively(close to 3K) before getting sold. I'm very happy with the quality on both. ' sold it because.....I want S&W for the "cool factor" But that was then, now...I would have kept both.

 

[makdaddy03]

The only problem that I have ever had with my Taurus 605 was the grip screw would work its self loose every now and then. This was a very easy fix. Loc-Tite.
ps
Mine is blued.