Range report & review Taurus PT1911

[busdriver72]

Having heard about them, and having read good reviews, I was looking forward to getting one. My time came recently at a gunshow in Odessa while I was visiting relatives. The wife had gone shopping with her sister, brother in law was at work, so I had some free time.
There was only one table in thr place that had it, and he only had 2 or 3. I got it for $500 which I didn't think was too bad for a gunshow.
As for 1911s, it's a nice looking gun.

The only negatives at the start was the cheap case it came in (barely big enough to hold the gun) and the cheap plastic grips. But those two things are easily and quickly remedied.
On to the range.
A church friend of mine has a large rock pit he has converted into a shooting range. It's awesome. The target I used one from a pack my wife gave me for Christmas, being the round type that glows brightly where ever a round hits it. I stuck it on a backstop (the only one I could find) and loaded up.

I stepped back about 20 yards or so and shot.
As you can see, my first few rounds hit below the taget. I realized that the dot-on-dot (figure 8) type sights take getting used to. By the second magazine I was keeping them on the paper. By the third mag I was able to keep most of the rounds in the rings with an occasional round hitting the edge of the paper.
I fired a total of 50 rounds. That's not a real extensive test, bit it's all I had time for. The gun fired and functioned flawlesly with UMC 230gr bal ammo.
Ejection of brass was good and consistent.

The brass showed no abnormal or unwanted denting or creasing.
On my gun, however, I did notice that the take-up on the trigger felt a bit rough or 'grungy.' However, with the magazine out, it didn't do it. Looking at the mag it could be seen where the trigger bow was rubbing on it.
Doing my first ever complete detail strip of a 1911 frame, I readjusted the width of the trigger bow, and also did some smoothing and polishing on it.
The trigger is now much smoother.
I've got some Wilson Combat Diamondwood grips coming in to replace the black plastic cheapies.
My experience with the PT1911 was, considering everything, a very nice one.
It was a lot of fun to shoot.

 

[JShirley]

Thanks for the report. I've wondered how good these are.

The gun fired and functioned flawlesly with UMC 230gr bal ammo

This is actually saying a lot! I was at a range once, where all three 1911s (Springfield Armory, Colt, and Kimber, IIRC) at two tables malfunctioned with UMC, but worked fine with ammo from Winchester and GA Arms...

John

 

[strat81]

I wonder if Taurus intentionally put cheap grips on it. It seems like one of the most common ways people customize their 1911s is with different grips. It's easy and adds a nice personal touch. Why spend the extra $$$ when you're just going to change them anyway? Good review, glad the Bull is working for you.

 

[busdriver72]

I was at a range once, where all three 1911s (Springfield Armory, Colt, and Kimber, IIRC) at two tables malfunctioned with UMC

Hmmmm, was it 230gr hardball ammo? Any properly functioning 1911 ought to be able to fire that stuff. May have been a bad lot. Remington UMC has always worked for me. I've only had one 1911 mess up using it, and it was the gun, not the ammo.

I wonder if Taurus intentionally put cheap grips on it. It seems like one of the most common ways people customize their 1911s is with different grips. It's easy and adds a nice personal touch. Why spend the extra $$$ when you're just going to change them anyway?

Possibly, though Springfield 1911s come with fairly nice grips, and my S&W1911 came with rubber panel grips, which I like.

 

[Archer1945]

Not too surprised you had some problems with the sights. I was reading on the Heinie website that although the sights are his design they are custom built by Taurus and are regulated for a center-of-mass hold and not a six-o'clock hold as regular Heinies are. Which when you think about it makes a bit more sense in a combat handgun, after all do you aim a laser dot below the intended point of impact or right where you want the bullets to hit. Although It probably doesn't make a whole lot of difference in an actual gunfight where the sights are regulated personally I would like to know if I am looking at the torso of my intended target I want my bullets to impact as close to dead-center as possible so as to end the fight as quickly as possible. JMHO.

 

[longhorngunman]

My PT1911 bullet impact is barely above the front sight at 15yards. Of course with the Straight 8 sights there is a good variance in lining up the sights unlike a typical three dot setup. Still I like the sights for actual defensive use, my eyes pick up on the front sight very quick which is critical for that scenario. My PT1911 has been a reliable and accurate gun, just awesome for the money I paid, off the rest accuracy would probably improve with regular sights. $500 ain't bad I paid a little less but that was several months ago. These things are getting a good reputation and the price is rising accordingly. Going price is now up to $530-$550 in my area.

 

[busdriver72]

Here it is after some trigger-tweaking and replacing the cheap plastic grips with some nice Wilson Combat Diamondwood grips.