Range Report: Taurus PT111 Millennium Pro

[Disaster]

Thought I'd give a final update. After they sent me TWO caps that were too long, I pleaded with them to please please send me the right part and they finally did.

I'm in the same boat. Hope to get the right cap on the next go around. Other than that the pistol has been flawless.

 

[BlisteringSilence]

Things like this are what make me wonder what these Taurus defenders are thinking.

And what exactly is a Taurus defender? I have a 24/7, have for a year and a half. It's got a solid 4K rounds through it, and it's had nary a problem. So, based on my experience, Taurus has a 100% reliability rating.

Every firearm manufacturer produces lemons. That's why they have warranties.

 

[XDKingslayer]

Thought I'd give a final update. After they sent me TWO caps that were too long, I pleaded with them to please please send me the right part and they finally did. Now I can put it up for sale. No more Taurus for me.

That is the biggest problem with Taurus. It's not that they make crap product it's that they have absolutely no quality control or attention to detail at all. None.

If someone there would pull their head out of their butts and supervise what goes out the door, then all these Taurus bashing threads would disappear.

Combine this lack of quality control with abysmmal customer service and it turns people off instantly and usually for good.

My PT-138 would be a great weapon and I'd be a happy Taurus owner if it wasn't for stupid things that would have been caught if someone was actually looking at these things before they go out the door. No loctite on the front sight, rear sight installed backwards, and a horrible crown cut on the barrel that is causing horrible inaccuracy. This stuff is simple to see and would take minutes to fix.

 

[wally]

I'd be a happy Taurus owner if it wasn't for stupid things that would have been caught if someone was actually looking at these things before they go out the door. No loctite on the front sight, rear sight installed backwards, and a horrible crown cut on the barrel that is causing horrible inaccuracy. This stuff is simple to see and would take minutes to fix.

Not trying to defend Taurus, although I've had nothing but good luck with them never needing their customer service, but why would you take a gun like this home with you before looking at it?

I often reject specific guns when something don't look quite right, and ask for another before closing the deal and walk away if they can't/won't provide.

--wally.

 

[Ifishsum]

I often reject specific guns when something don't look quite right, and ask for another before closing the deal and walk away if they can't/won't provide.

That's me as well. I happen to like Taurus' offerings but their QC definitely leaves something to be desired. I've purchased 4 Taurus handguns in the last 2 years and check them out carefully before I take take one home. I've rejected a few of them, and the only one I had a problem with was a Gaucho .45 that I just had to have that day. The display gun showed signs of mishandling by customers, so they brought me last one from the back room. On that one I noticed that the transfer bar was very poorly finished but I took a chance on it. Sure enough, light strikes and no boom 2/3 of the time. Did they even test fire it? The dealer sent it back for me on his dime, and Taurus had it back to me in 3 weeks so it's all good now.

I certainly understand folks' frustration. Taurus should be more careful about what they ship out to distributors. IMO most of their issues are not long term flaws, but small fixes that could be corrected at the plant with a more careful final inspection.

 

[XDKingslayer]

Not trying to defend Taurus, although I've had nothing but good luck with them never needing their customer service, but why would you take a gun like this home with you before looking at it?

Because at first glance, I simply didn't notice them.

Granted I wouldn't have known the front sight didn't have loctite on it until it fell out on it's first range trip. Which it did...

The rear sight wasn't obvious. It has an adjustable sight and the actual blade was installed backwards in the mount that is pressed into the dovetail. Considering I don't have a habit of pointing guns at my face I didn't see it when I purchased it and didn't notice it until I had the slide off and was repainting the front sight. I happened to notice the two recesses for the "dots" on the rear sight were facing the front sight and didn't have paint in them. The recesses for the "dots" are pretty shallow and just something you wouldn't see.

Same with the barrel crown. In fact, I didn't notice it until I happened to have the barrel out and sitting next to my XD barrel for comparison. I was comparing them because someone here mentioned to check the crown due to it's inaccuracy surpassing minute of pie plate at 7 yards. If you didn't have a good crown to compare it to you probably wouldn't notice it. I honestly didn't inspect the crown when I bought it because it's something you expect to be right and I took for granted. Never again mind you.

Now, I will admit that I didn't give it a Marine Corps Drill Instructor inspection when I purchased it. Mainly because it was something I was going to have my wife try and if she didn't like it, it would live it's life as my kayak/fishing gun. You can say you can't believe I would take something like that home but I'm sure 99 out of 100 of you wouldn't have noticed any of them either.

Me noticing the problems is neither here nor there. If someone at Taurus would actually pay attention to these things people wouldn't knock their guns. More people would buy them. They are great guns if you get one that is right from the start. My father has had his PT-92 for almost 20 years now and it's perfect, never had a problem. Outside of my issues my PT-138 is rock solid dependable and will eat any .380 round I put in the magazine. Other than my XD I can't think of autoloader I've owned that would feed this reliably.

The simple things are killing them. While a sight installed backwards is actually no big deal it tells me there is no care in assembly. The fact that the barrel crown is off is also no big deal, but it's someone not firing more than one round through it or doing so and simply not caring.

If I get a gun and it has something wrong and the company is willing to make it right and do it quickly on their dime, I don't even get upset. These things happen. But how many horror stories of their support do we hear? Too many. It's always the same rigamaroll too. "Two weeks." "Two weeks." Then three months later the gun comes back and half the time it's not fixed right.