Taurus Hidden Gems

[Redcoat3340]

I picked up a Taurus Pt 917cs and love it. I mean I really like it a lot. (I have a PT99 which I also have feelings for.)

The 99 I'd heard about. The 917 was new to me and I had to research it. I got it for $290 from CDI....I thought it was a good deal.

So now I'm wondering if there are any other "hidden gems" that I should be looking for? Discontinued but great pistols? Pistols not usually sold in US? Revolvers folk overlook? I shoot and reload mostly mm and .38 special and also .32's.

Any suggestions?

(Not interested in starting a Taurus pro/con debate. I've had two Taurus revolvers and both worked great; my two Taurus pistols have operated flawlessly as well. I think there is decent value for money in the brand....and I'd like to find more.)

 

[Scarpia]

Congrats on the new gun and greetings from Maple Valley.

My hidden gem was also a Taurus, the PT58 in 380 Auto. My '58 was ding free, a great shooter and a nice addition to my "PT" collection, in fact, I'll look into the PT917.

 

[C0untZer0]

The Taurus 905 - 9mm revolver gets good reviews from owners.

Another gun that seems to get good reviews from owners is the TCP.

 

[dogmush]

Back 8 or so years ago I had a PT 911. Slim 9mm with a Beretta derived trigger and a closed slide. It was a great little gun, skinny, compact, ambi safety/decocker that works the correct direction. I ended up selling it to a friend that needed a pistol for HD cheap. It's only real drawback was that it was obviously a CC gun, but there was no real holster support and mags were hard to find. Taurus was, I guess ahead of their time in the '90's.

I sometimes think what with the resurgance of single stack 9's that they should dust off those machines at put the 900 series back in production. They were nice little guns.

Here's a pic:




ETA: I misremembered, it wasn't a single stack, but it was pretty slim.

 

[LiveLife]

PT145 with SA/DA trigger (different from DAO trigger model) and TCP 738.

I was not a fan of Taurus pistols and did not like their DAO trigger.

When wife complained about G30 grip being bulky and wanted a compact 45 with a grip size she can be happy with (like M&P45 with small grip insert), range staff suggested we consider PT145 with SA/DA trigger.

I had some reservations about PT145 due to my past range experience with Taurus pistols but when I handled the PT145, I was surprised. It had the smallest double-stack 45 grip I have handled and SA trigger was light and smooth (Taurus calls it "multi-strike" as all shots are SA unless the round doesn't fire and you can shoot again in DA).

Range test displayed very acceptable accuracy at SD distances (5-7 yards) and we got a stainless model.

The PT145 has generous chamber and polished ramp with relaxed tolerances that will reliably feed/chamber my 200 gr SWC reload rejects that won't fully chamber in my Sig 1911 and will keep firing even when dirty when Sig 1911 slows down after several hundred rounds. Pictures below show polished ramp/case support and slide to frame fit after 5000 rounds. Only thing I had to do to PT145 was drift the rear sight to the right (see picture below) and now POI is same as POA. This thread covers my experience with PT145 in detail - http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?p=7834849#post7834849

Now after 10,000+ rounds, slide to frame fit is still tight (tighter than Sig 1911 with 10K+ rounds - yes, true) and will punch a quarter size hole at 7 yards with even smoother/lighter SA trigger (Sig 1911 will punch a quarter size hole at 15 yards but PT145 is a compact pistol. ). The small size (barrel length shorter than Glock 27 and grip length comparable to G23) will share the same Fobus holster with XD. Even for this Glock fan, PT145 replaced G30 as a viable carry pistol. My wife particularly likes the PT145 with MBC 200 gr SWC loaded with 4.0 gr Red Dot/Promo which produces milder recoil yet accurate shots that also shoots well in M&P45.

I think another gem is TCP 738. When my wife wanted a pocket pistol to go with her Glock 27, we ended up with stainless TCP 738. It has the smoothest DAO trigger I have shot and is very pocketable yet produces accurate 1" shot groups at 7 yards - http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=748320

This link showcases TCP 738 with 10,000+ round rental gun reliability without breakage when other 380 pistols required service - http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2013/05/jeremy-s/gun-review-taurus-738-tcp/

 

[Old Dog]

My three Taurus:
- 1991 Taurus PT-92AFS-D (first de-cocker edition, polished slide flats, discreet engraved roll-marks). All these years later, as (or more) accurate than my 3 Beretta 92FS/M9 pistols.
- 1992 Taurus Model 85CH in stainless (early "concealed hammer" DA-only snubby - accurate, dead-nuts reliable, as good as my two S&W Model 60s).
- Early edition Taurus PT-945 Millenium Pro (DA only, springy, egregiously long trigger, but 100% reliable and surprisingly accurate).

Three I let go, not due to reliability issues, but were simply dupes of others in collection: PT-145 Mil Pro, Model 94 4" .22 LR revolver, PT-908 single stack 9mm.

 

[commygun]

Taurus revolvers from the mid-'90's were very nice. Most had excellent fit and finish. I've owned an 85CH, an 82, a 65, a 66, and two 431's. All were fine handguns. I really, really wish I still had the 3" 431.

 

[bannockburn]

Another fan of the PT92. Great gun at a decent price, very reliable, and with a better safety/decocker than that found on the comparable Beretta Model 92.

 

[WestKentucky]

BASICALLY anything metal framed. Model 66 revolvers, model 44 revolvers (especially model 44), any of their open top beretta type guns except possibly the 22lr (3 for 3 jam-o-matics from my experience, hopefully not the norm). Read up about the time period in which Taurus was trying to ditch the reputation for making junk. That is when the best guns came from their factories because the focus was on putting out extremely well built guns, supposedly hand tuned much like a lot of guns in Colts snake series or S&W performance center guns (before PC got neutered)

 

[Eb1]

Not a Taurus, but my mid-90s Rossi M720 Bobbed hammer model in .44 SPC is a nice shooter.

 

[palmetto99]

20 years ago I trade away a PT92. That was a mistake. Good pistol.

 

[CNobbe]

I had a little Taurus 85 w/ shiny stainless finish and wood grips I never should have sold. Was a nice little gun and I think better quality than their newer revolvers.

 

[PowerG]

I have a PT 92, no decocker, it has been abused unmercifully and it keeps right on ticking. Wouldn't mind picking up one of the same vintage that was in better shape.

 

[daboyleroy]

His n Hers

We love ours for CC. Hers is PT709 Slim. Mine is PT911 Millennium G2.

 

[Ohen Cepel]

They have some OK stuff but I would want to shoot a box through any of them before I bought them.

Too many buddies bought them and found them to be jammomatics and even the revolvers jammed up due to cylinder gap.

That said, I would love to have one of the .45LC Ti's they made years ago or one of the long barreled Judges. Ti's are gone and hard to find the long Judges but I may have to break down and order one of those. Fun gun for me though, sadly, I wouldn't bet much on Taurus.

 

[weregunner]

$1 Tauri in pistol and revolver guise.

The oldest are 35 +years of age and the newest is a PLY-22.

 

[Redstate]

Taurus Model 82

My hidden Taurus gem is a used police trade in Model 82 4" blued .38 spl

Came with two OWB police holsters, two speedloaders and holder.

Best part is the smooth DA and point and shoot accuracy.

 

[glove]

"We love ours for CC. Hers is PT709 Slim. Mine is PT911 Millennium G2."


That looks more like a PT111.Millennium G2

 

[Tallball]

My late 1980's model 66 was one of the best revolvers I've owned, but it was stolen, along with its "sister" model 85. I am starting to think that my good luck with Taurus has a lot to do with them mostly being older ones. One of my few newer ones has been the only one to give me trouble.

 

[TanklessPro]

I really like my 24/7 OSS models in 9mm,40 and .45. They all shoot great.

 

[Confederate]

Why people buy Berettas nowadays is beyond me. In the 80s, the Taurus Berettas were equally as reliable as the Berettas, but get them on a range and look at the finishes on the respective guns and you could see why the Berettas cost the extra $$$. BUT NOW it's another story. The stainless Berettas are now an ugly two-tone black/silver matte and the accuracy difference is inconsequential. The competition also has become stiffer as more decent pistols enter the market. The stainless Taurus pistols are gorgeous, have far better safeties (cocknlock & hammer drop), are far more affordable and in my opinion more desirable than the Berettas. But on that last point, we have to admit that this particular pistol design has lost much of its charm over the past decade. And when it was first adopted by the military, well meaning ex-military types bemoaned the switch from the .45 to 9mm, a switch that proved well advised.




.

 

[Cee Zee]

Taurus PT-145 Millennium Pro is my hidden gem. I was very hesitant about buying a Taurus but a LGS owner convinced me I should give on a try. He gave me a 30 day trial period because he knew I wouldn't be bringing it back anyway. I had been looking for a Glock but could not find one that fit my had. The Taurus fit like a glove and was half the price of the Glocks I had been thinking about. Plus it held 10+1 in a pistol I could hide in my hand, it has a lifetime warranty and it came with an extra mag. And I liked the second try feature which is you pull once in SA mode then if the round doesn't fire you can strike it again with a double action pull. It can be quicker than clearing the round.

I bought it and couldn't believe how well it shot. It is very accurate and very comfortable to shoot. And it has never failed to operate even once. I did have to stike a bullet twice to get it to fire but that was a fault of the bullet. I've fired lots of other rounds with no problem. It doesn't have light strikes.

The thing is only the 3rd gen. model is as good as mine. The first 2 generations had issues. And some of the other models that were similar but sightly different are said to have some issues. Some SA only models for example are rumored to have issues.

But if you get the right model of the PT-145 it can be a fantastic pistol. It's a double stack but it's thinner than some single stack pistols for example. I still haven't figured out how they managed that.

 

[Redcoat3340]

Not a Taurus, but what I consider a hidden gem:

Dropped by my LGS to look after a gun I bought there, that was sticking on one of the cylinders, and to see what they would offer me for an "extra" FEG Hi Power clone that was gathering dust in the safe.

While taking my weekly inventory of the stuff in the 9mm cabinet I saw a Stoeger Cougar/8000 at $330. It's a well reviewed gun, fit my hand just right, was in barely-used condition with aftermarket grips and it was Inox, not blued.

Now I know this is really the former Beretta 8000/Cougar, just manufactured in Turkey on the original Beretta tooling. (Stoeger is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Beretta. When Beretta switched to making the PX4, they simply moved the machinery to Turkey, rebranded the design, lowered the price and marketed it here as Stoeger.)

I also know that $330 was a good price, if not a very good deal, as it's running between $350 and $400+ on Gunbroker. After a bit of horse trading I walked out with it at around $300....which made me a happy guy.

Here's a pic.

 

[weregunner]

This is in the pistol board so here things go with Taurus pistols.
3-PT92 compacts.
2-PT58s
1-709
2-732s
2-PT132 Pros
2-PT111 Mil Pros
2-PT-22s
1-PLY-22

They're all gems as far as I am concerned. The CCW carry rotation isn't that hard to consider.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

I think both of mine are.

I have a 709 Slim for CC and the wife keeps a 4" Model 82 on her nightstand. Both are great.
I chose the 709 over the Ruger LC9 after comparing them side by side. I would do it again in a heartbeat.