Taurus 709 "Slim"

[DasFriek]

I took a peek at one today while im shopping for a "pocket 9" with a manual saftey wich isnt going well.From what i can tell its the smallest 9mm with a manual saftey i can find besides the SCCY offering.
It does seem smaller than my PT745 in all aspects,but since i was wearing mine at the time i wasnt gonna pull it out to compare.
The way the Trigger is described it sounds close to how mine is also,wich is good it just needs getting used too.
It does look alot better than the Keltec,and the lower end Kahr's.
But having the manual saftey is what is making me look at it hard while deciding on a small 9mm.

 

[m2steven]

Thanks BlayGlock. I'll shoot it Friday or Saturday and let you know if it fails. Should it be a problem, i'm getting it fixed. The gun really is a nice shooting smaller pistol. It just feels nice in the hand.

 

[hoghead]

Just bought one today no chance to shoot it yet thanks for all the info keep it coming I really like the gun so far

 

[W L Johnson]

Just got mine from the FFL after ordering it off Buds for $335. Haven't had a chance to shoot it yet but after giving it it's first cleaning I would say it seems to be well built and feels good in the hand. Dis-assembly is a PITA as the gun seems to be very tightly built. Pulling down on the release levers while pulling back on the slide hurts the tips of my fingers on the release levers. It's tight!

 

[hoghead]

Mine seems pretty easy tearing it gown tears down just like a glock and looks like a glock alot on the inside and out thanks

 

[m2steven]

Just FYI i paid 339.00 for mine which I thought was very fair. I looked at Kel-tecs - i thought they were very nice for the price. I may have to have one someday soon. They are really small. Anyway, i'll be shooting my Slim in less than 12 hours. I'll report back.

 

[cluttonfred]

See my review at www.averagejoeshandgunreviews.blogspot.com

Very nicely written review, colt1903, thanks very much for sharing. I was curious, but skittish, after the mixed reviews I have heard about Taurus pistols in the past. Now I am tempted to get one. Cheers, Matthew

 

[m2steven]

Well - I put 100+ rounds through my Slim today. It definitely has a problem with Winchester white box (or I got a few boxes of Winchester which are badly manufactured). I shot 50 rounds of Federal Champion through the Slim with no problems. The first magazine of white box produced a light strike. After a few more light strikes (with no second chance fires from any of them), I loaded them into my PT92. All of them fired but one, which failed to fire until the third strike. They all seemed sonically 'muffled' and limp to my ear and hand recoil-wise. I finished the white box in my 92 and had no FTStrikes. Some of the cartridges seemed 'muffled and weak'. I believe my 92AFS to be a superior pistol and expected no problems and had none.

The apparent change in sound/recoil of some of the white box did not happen with the Federal Cartridges. I shot 150 of those with zero problems in neither gun.

However, my policy is that if my pistol won't reliably fire winchester white box, it goes back to the factor. I hope they can fix the problem as the gun is a literal blast to shoot and is just a perfect size.

 

[hoghead]

Shot 100 rounds today first time no problems remington umc and gold dot hollow points 1 magazine wont hold slide back on last round other than its awesome i love it

 

[Phydeaux642]

I handled one at a shop today and I was pretty impressed. I think it looks better built than the PF9 and is a lot less expensive than any of the Kahrs. I priced one at $349 and may have to try one at that price. It feels real nice in the hand.

 

[m2steven]

Hoghead: Congrats. I have perfect luck with the only other ammo i've tried except the Winchester white box. I almost think it's the ammo. Some of it almost didn't want to fire in my Glock and PT92 (they both eat anything). I'm going to send mine back to see if there is a limp spring or something in mine. I love the gun. It's weird to fire 100+ perfect rounds and switch ammo and get problems. Happened last week too. But WWB should be a go in almost any pistol.

 

[wally]

was pretty impressed. I think it looks better built than the PF9 and is a lot less expensive than any of the Kahrs. I priced one at $349 and may have to try one at that price

I gave $380 for my Kahr CW9 a few years ago, I don't think they have gone up all that much.

--wally.

 

[m2steven]

The Kahr's are up to around 450.00 or so now from most places. They are nice looking guns. They have 4 or 5 versions of what appears to be basically the same gun. They make an all metal version, plastic, and combinations of the two. The all metal version is averaging about 550. A salesman went over the differences with me. There are slight differences in size among all the varieties but they all appear well made.

 

[atblis]

I compared one side by side with a PF9. They are very close in size.

 

[W L Johnson]

Well... just got back from the range today after running about 200 rounds through the little 709. The ammo was a mix of Winchester white box, CCI Blazer Alum case and a few Remington Golden sabers 124 +P Hollow points. I am happy to say that I didn't have a single problem at all. No FTF's, FTE;s, or misfires. Best 5 shot group was about 1.5 inches at 21 feet free standing (with the Win white box), but most were closer to 2 to 3 inches, about the same as my CZ Rami did as well.

Points to note

1) Trigger: It's long and smooth all the way and breaks well. Going from the Rami to the 709 and back was a bit of shock because of the long pull on the 709 compared to the Rami, but I like a long pull on a CCW for safety reasons.

2) Recoil and grip: You feel it, the lack of weight shows here but the grip design allows you to maintain control the whole time. The grip is longer than the Rami which only allows me to get two fingers on it below the trigger guard while with the 709 I can get my little finger on it as well. But the Rami's weight reduces felt recoil a bit more.The 709 is light years ahead of the Kel-tel here which beats up my hand and after a mag or two I'm ready to call it a day.

3) Accuracy: Well, 1.5 inches at 21 feet with WWB with a 3 inch barrel probably is good enough for self defense. It surprised me here, doing as well as it did.

4) Sights: No problems here, good clear 3 dot sights which as a plus are adjustable.

5) Reliability: 100% so far with Winchester white box, CCI Blazer and Remmy Golden Sabers. I need to try Corbon next but my supply is getting low and I can't find any.

 

[m2steven]

W.L: Congrats on your pistol and it's consistency. I can't wait until I get mine tweaked and back. It's one of the most fun guns to shoot I've had in a long time. Ergonomically - it's superb.

 

[W L Johnson]

Sounds like you may have had a bad batch of WWB. Or give it a good cleaning and see what happens, Taurus puts enough grease for four guns in there when they ship them.

 

[m2steven]

Photos of light strikes/bad cartridges from 709

Here are two of the failed WWB from my new 709 Slim. One was hit twice. The successful strikes looked much deeper. The hits here are centered pretty well. I'm taking the SLIM out to the range one more time (just because I'm going). I gave the striker mechanism a bath and a little oiling with a bunch of dry fires. I have to think the problem is simple such as a bad spring or trash in the striker chamber etc. The striker seems to be a bit louder now than it was prior to me letting it swim in degunker and then putting a real light coat of Hoppes' oil on the striker and spring. I put a snap cap in and dry fired the thing a few hundred times.

I think the pistol is of sound design and if it's got problems tomorrow - I'm getting it fixed. Those who've got one will attest to what a fine piece of work this pistol is. I've seen quite a few reports of good 709's, but I got an email from another 709 owner who is having the same problem apparently with a bit more variety of ammo.

I have found some threads wherein people have had trouble with WWB and their primers. I'm so used to getting really good pistols this bothers me. I'm kind of mechanically incompetent, but i'm about ready to take the firing mechanism apart and look for myself

 

[W L Johnson]

They look like good deep strikes to me. It's the CCI Blazers that I had problems with primers with in the past but two boxes (of 50) this time and no FTF's.

Silly me, I didn't pick up one piece of brass off the floor to see how the pin was striking. :banghead: I almost always remember to do so.

Good luck.

 

[W L Johnson]

On another note... does anyone know why the striker area inside the slide is red? You can't see it when the gun is assembled.
And why does the rear of the slide look like a little door?

 

[m2steven]

I will collect a good strike tomorrow. They are much deeper than the ones in the photo.

 

[mdk]

slim review

I bought the slim based on great reviews. Here is what I have found, good and bad:

Good:
1) The accuracy is unbelievable. I was shooting at 12 yards with very tight groupings AFTER adjusting the sights because the gun was shooting low and to the right.

2) The single-action double action is a nice feature and I didn't mind the long trigger pull because the reset is very short for subsequent shots.

3) The gun conceals great. I have a glock 23 which was too thick and bought this gun for the single-stack feature.

4) I had no FTx for the 100 or so rounds of ammo until I switched to Winchester... see below.

Bad:
1) As noted in about every other forum on the 709, the taurus will NOT shoot winchester white box ammo, which happens to be the most affordable AND only thing that walmart stocks. I shot about a 100 rounds flawlessly using the remington and speer gold dot ammo hollow point. As soon as I switched to Winchester, it would fire but then fail to extract about 1-2 times per magazine. You cannot tap, rack, and roll. You have to pull the slide back to the slide stop, drop the magazine and then rack until it falls out.

My plan is to put about another 100 rounds of remington and hornady, then try my luck on the winchester in case of a "break-in period", which I am not optimistic. If it still fails on the winchester then I will send it to Taurus to repair because I really want this as my primary CC weapon. It will for now be but I must verify my preliminary testing to ensure that my cc ammo is reliable.

 

[VBVAGUY]

Please keep us updated. I am also interested in the PT709 and have purchased a few boxes of the WWB from Walmart.

 

[AJChenMPH]

Haven't fired WWB, but mine has about 175 rounds through it, a mix of Fed AE ball, Magtech Lawman ball, PMC JHP and Speer GD -- only one failure to cycle which I attributed to not seating the mag fully while loaded 7+1. Tried to replicate the error and wasn't able to, so I don't think it was the gun or the ammo.

I just got a bunch of PMC Bronze ball, will try to shoot a box or two through it next week...

 

[swmp9jrm]

I have put about a thousand rounds of more than a dozen types of FMJ and JHP, including WWB, through my 709. I've had no issues what-so-ever since about 250 rounds. Early on, I had two no-fires on 115 gr Critical Defense, but both rounds went bang on the second strike. I'm very pleased with my 709. I've had zero extraction problems from day one.