Taurus 709 "Slim"

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BlayGlock

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Anyone had a chance to shoot one of these yet? What did you think?

They seem to be about the size of a KT pf-9 but I haven’t seen one in my area.

P.S. Please no puerile whining about Taurus here, I’m only interested in this particular model and from people who have had experience with them. Thanks.
 
I don't think any of the new pistols Taurus announced have actually hit the shelf yet. They must be having problems with the design, or trying to get rid of inventory or something. Who knows?
 
I haven't seen one, and I suspect that none are yet on the shelves. Taurus has a habit of doing this: sometimes it announces its new guns a year or so before they are actually released.
 
Ive seen some for sale on gunbroker. They are out there just maybe not readily available?
 
I didn't even know about this gun until I saw it in a local store. I have not fired it but it was a pretty comfortable fit in the hand and seems to be a well built gun. I am most likely going to be getting one as my carry gun. It is very similar in size to the Walther PPS, just a bit bigger than the Ruger LCP but not much bigger than that.
 
I saw one at a gunstore last weekend. Held, and dry fired it. The trigger is much better than I expected and works in single action and double action.

I was impressed. Much better finish than the PF-9/ PF-11 series pistols from Keltec; however, they were asking $419 for it as well. Don't know what the going rate will end up being, but it will be hard to compete with Kel-tec considering it is about 150 more expensive. Even at $325-$350 it would have been a real Kel-Tec smasher, but at $420 it just becomes another option. Taurus is gettin into Glock territory on price with this thing which I believe will limit its market share severely.

Until I see it at a better price I think I would look for something else.
 
I've seen them in the last 2 weeks, both at Academy Sports in Austin, TX, and at the SAXET gun show, where probably 3 or 4 people had them for sale. They've been showing up on Gunbroker for the last several weeks but the prices there are tending to be inflated, the best prices I've seen yet, go figure, are at Acadamy Sports. P.S. it also looks like the Taurus Judge 3" Mags are starting to show up as well...
 
I have been waiting for this one to come out, and saw one last week for $360 at a local store. They had a 10% off sale, so I bought it for $324. Fit and finish much nicer than the Kel-Tec. The trigger feels nice. I haven't had a chance to fire it yet, though. This weekend I'll try it out.
 
Price of PT 709

I was just at Bass Pro Shop and they had one in stock for $349.99 so it should be at a pretty good price point.
 
How does this gun compare to the pf9 in size? Is pocket carry a viable option?

As a new gun, what holsters that are currently made will work with it?
 
----------PF9---------------709 slim
capacity--7+1---------------7+1
barrel-----3.1"---------------3.2"
OAL-------5.85"-------------6.2"
width-----.88" (grip/slide?)---.92" grips **
-----------------------------.97" slide
weight----14.7 oz empty-----19 oz (site doesn't state, assuming empty)

Looks to be fairly comparable to the pf9, I think it would fit nicely in the front pocket of my cargo shorts but not in my jeans. I want to get my hands on one, it sounds just about right for me

**(709 width measurements taken from colt1903's link, see post #10)
other measurements:
http://www.taurususa.com/2009catalog/?catalog_page=48
http://www.mouseguns.com/PocketAutoComparison.jpg
 
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I handled one oat the gun store and it seems like a slick little weapon. Well, built (apparently), decent sights, nice size and weight, etc....The trigger was a surprise. It has a long but very light initial take up. It feels very much like a Glock trigger with a longer initial take up, a very crisp let off, and a very short and crisp reset. I like the trigger a lot but the dealer wanted over 400 bucks for the 709. Thats out of line for that weapon. A PF-9 can be had for much less and I don't see the 709 as a direct competitor for the Kahr or the Walther PPS. If the 708 was in the LOW $300 range I might give it a serious look but not at 400+.
 
I got one today. It has a great trigger pull and everything works fairly well (ok, everything works really well). However, I must report 2 light strikes resulting in failure to fire. This after about 140 perfect rounds. I had fired 100 pmj's and then got out a hundred box of winchester white. About halfway thru, and within 15 rounds I had two light strikes. The strikes compared to those that fired looked to be small pinpoints rather than the fairly deep, somewhat dual impacted good fires. I have a photo if it would be of any use. Anyway, I had read that this gun was really dirty from the factory and I thought the internals might be crudded up. I fired a few shots of M-Pro 7 down into the chamber and firing mechanism and the barrel. I got the trusty bore snake out and gave the barrel a swipe and wiped the ramp (it was filthy). I shook the gun to try to get any of the remaining M-pro out and continued with my shooting. I shot about 80 more fault free rounds. When I got home and took the gun apart, It was
just filthy (like a new Taurus) and made it look like new. Hope to get out next weekend and see if it was dirt or some mechanical problem causing the firing problem. I can tell you that I tried to fire one of the bullets twice and it was a no go. Perhaps it was the bullets.

Anyway, this gun is comfortable to shoot, nothing rubs the trigger finger nor does the gun move around in the hand. It can be fired quickly and accurately without having to readjust your grip. I really like the design and think Taurus did a great design job on the pistol. hopefully, they didn't put a light spring or otherwise foul up the striker mechanism. It's a really nice pistol overall, and much better to shoot than my Glock 26. Appears to be dead on accurate after a bit of adjustment (after shooting full sized pistols for a month). If any of you have a suggestion about the soft striking - i'll take it. I have no qualms about sending this back to Taurus. I like the gun enough that it's worth having fixed if it's broken.
 
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Held one for a minute at the last gun show. Reminded me a bit of a SIG, the way it has a tapering grip with a big fat slide on top. Had a high bore axis, like a SIG. I thought it was a pretty big gun compared to the Kahr PM9 and Kel-tec PF9, but I could not compare them side-to-side. Wasn't very impressed myself. Don't see what this gun has to offer.
 
What the gun has to offer me is that it's great fun to shooot, and I can carry it IWB without it digging a hole in me as does my Glock 26. It also shoots better than the 26 and I like the trigger better. It also has a manual safety which I think is a great thing. Others disagree, but I have no trouble swiping the safety off on this weapon. It's instinct at this point. I even try it with my Glocks. It's easy to conceal carry and it gives me a bit of piece of mind that i'm not going to blow a hole in my leg by accident. I'm not really worried about shooting an unintended target once I have a pistol in hand.
 
You have some good points there. If it were EXTREMELY reliable, I might try one out. The Kahr PM9 and Kel-tec PF9 are both much sleeker and smaller, but the Kahr is crazy expensive and I read about a LOT of them having problems, or I would own one. The Kel-tec is much cheaper, and feels that way. I had to send my Kel-tec P32 back the day I bought it, with multiple problems, or I would own a PF9. The Glock is fat, but I've never had a problem with the glock digging into anything. It has no sharp edges. Can you compare the trigger pull to any other familiar guns? How many rounds have you put through it? How does it recoil compared to your G26? Just curious.
 
I've put 250 or 300 rounds through mine. I had 2 light strikes resulting in non firing. I reloaded one of the bullets and it didn't fire the second time. I'm beginning to think it was the cartridges which were bad.

The trigger pull is really good. There is a somewhat long slack length on the trigger, but it's basically "empty" pull. No resistance. The actual portion which releases the striker is quick and painless. It's better than my Glock 26. The gun recoils about the same but the grip, in my opinion, is better. I really like the pistol. Oh, on the trigger, it resets without having to go through the full pull every time. I think it's really quite a good trigger.

So out of approx 250 rounds I had 2 either light strikes or far inset primers in a box of Winchester white box. The gun performed flawlessly in terms of injecting and ejecting cartridges. It's really fun to shoot. It's quite the nice pistol. I'll run some more thru it this weekend and let you know if I have anymore light strikes. I'm thinking I won't but who knows?
 
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