I've had two 94 models. The first was a long time ago, back in the 1980s, and I let my then-wife keep it when we divorced in 1996. I remember it being a decent shooter, but I didn't really "evaluate" my guns back then as much as I might now.
Still, I always kind of missed it, not owning any other .22 revolvers. In 2014, I bought a new 94ss4 (satin-stainless, four-inch barrel.) This new gun shoots surprisingly well and right to where I put it; I didn't have to make any sight adjustments at all. I find it handsome, too, though I would have preferred the polished-finish to the satin one.
The trigger pull is "typical-rimfire", stout and heavy. Single-action is much more crisp, but I would have liked another millimeter or so on the hammer to get better purchase for thumb-cocking.
I like the gun a lot, and it will be my go-to trail/fishing .22 again when I get back outside as the weather cools somewhat.
All that said, my particular gun has one major manufacturing flaw, and I believe it's that the chamber diameters are too large. Fired cases are extremely hard to extract, and unfired rounds seem much looser in the chambers than I think is normal (though I only have single-action revolvers by Heritage Arms and Ruger for comparison.) I'm pretty sure that the chambers are allowing the cases to "swell into place" when they're fired, effectively sticking them in.
It was more than a year after I bought the gun that I discovered this, as I'd never gotten around to shooting it before then. I've not sent it back to Taurus (or delivered it; I live two hours from them, but I don't even know if that's an option) simply because I enjoy having the gun here with me. I rap the ejector with a firm tool to loosen the cases for the time being.
I think I've read that the M94 has been discontinued, leaving the Tracker in the product line. I'd not heard of the 96. It seems to be a bit bigger, more of a "target" model, while the 94 could be considered more of a "plinker" or "trail" one.
The Tracker I found to be too heavy for a .22 when I was shopping, though it was less money than the stainless M94.
