Taurus Judge Disappointing

[MuleRyder]

I inherited a Taurus Judge 3" chamber model from my father's estate. This is my first experience with a Taurus revolver. What a poorly manufactured piece of junk this thing is. The machining is awful, the cylinder bores look like they are threaded, tool marks and sharp edges everywhere. The action and trigger are ridiculously bad. It has been shot very little, maybe 20 times. The thing that bothers me the most, however, is that after I fired it 10 times and cleaned it, now it won't open or close good. It seems to hang up somehow closing it and won't index smoothly and the same thing opening it. I have to use a little force to free the cylinder from the frame. I didn't notice this when I brought it in to clean it, only after I was done. It seems like a "fit" issue that has me puzzled.

 

[bikemutt]

Could be gunk buildup under the ejector star. Also see if the ejector tip needs some lube.

Rather than junk per se, I find Taurus to be guns made to a price point. Some buyers either cannot or will not pay more than $X for a gun, if that won't get them a Smith or a Ruger, a Taurus will have to do. As with most things in life, you get what you pay for.

 

[MuleRyder]

Could be gunk buildup under the ejector star. Also see if the ejector tip needs some lube.

First things I checked, I have to look into it further.

 

[JohnBT]

"the cylinder bores look like they are threaded"

I've never heard that one before. That's bad.

 

[Lawdawg45]

+1 on "junk"!

LD

 

[PabloJ]

It is quintessential hobo gun very much in vogue with straw hat, corn cob pipe and bare feet.

 

[gpr]

maybe the bores are like that...to stablize the buck shot........gary

 

[Yo Mama]

Instead of bitching about it just send it back to Taurus. As it was your Dad's gun, he obviously kept it for a reason.

 

[DMZ]

Sometimes I think that Taurus does not change it's tooling bits when they get a bit dull.

They start out sharp and those parts (and the guns made from them) are good. But as they dull out so does the quality of the cut.

 

[theicemanmpls]

Make sure it is on your insurance policy. Have a boating accident. With the insurance proceeds buy a Smith & Wesson. *


*this is not advice to commit insurance fraud. Just stating my humble, and educated opinion of Taurus products.

 

[Onward Allusion]

I won't say that they're absolute junk, but the Taurus revolvers of the few years are pretty rough. I have a number of them going back about 15 years in manufacturing and the revolvers have progressively gotten rougher with sharp edges, thinner finishes, & gritter triggers. The semis I won't even talk about.

Just so that y'all know I'm not a Taurus basher, I have OWNED or still own 85, PT92, 80, 66, 82, PT1911, 85, 327 (in chronological order) with a few duplicates and they peaked in quality with the 66 and has been down hill since. The PT92 is probably their best gun in their entire product line. These days I don't buy Taurus any more - not even the revolvers.

I stick to S&W nowadays...

 

[billdeserthills]

I have seen The Judge lock-up when firing hotter loads & when that happens the gun will no longer be useful for much of anything until it is bashed open with a piece of wood while holding the latch open. I just don't feel that it is a very safe gun, but many folks seem to like them. As said earlier I wouldn't hesitate to call Taurus & arrange to return it for them to check it out & be sure it is working as it should. After that it should be easy to advertise as just checked out by the factory and sold, if you still don't care for it.

 

[MuleRyder]

^^^Agreed^^^

 

[snakeman]

My dad likes his and so do I. It's a good one. Sorry you got a bad one. I could also say that ruger rifles are junk to me. But a lot of people have good luck with them. Personally I've never seen a ruger rifle shoot worth a flip. that said some of you probably have. I'm not arguing your point you got a junk gun but I would just go trade that sucker in and get something you want. I don't know why eveyone bashes Taurus so much I've never seen one fail yet.

 

[Jaxondog]

Snakeman, you need to borrow someone's Ruger M77 6.5 creedmoor. It might just change your mind. As for the Taurus i have had good luck with mine and it stay's on the golf cart outside so that when i go in the wood's i alway's have something for the Canebrake and Timber Rattler's. Did not buy it to keep inside and other than a little rust on the end of the barrel,lol it's has not failed. [ yet]

 

[marb4]

I had a Judge a couple of years ago but ended up selling it because after the novelty wore off it just didn't seem very practial to me. My particular Judge was the 3 inch stainless and I must say I was impressed with its construction. It had a very smooth trigger and action and the machining looked very good. I may have gotten one made with "new tooling" but all I can say is mine was a very well put together revolver.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

I said it before and I'll say it again, the Judge is a bad idea, poorly executed.

 

[JaxJim]

I own a 2.5" chamber early model. It functions fine with no problems. The trigger is a bit stiff and gritty. These are the good points.

Other than being the source of a lot of fun at the hunt camp with hand-tossed clays, I don't really see the purpose. It's kind of bulky and heavy to use as a concealed weapon and in my opinion there are a lot of better options for a hiking/woods companion.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

The sad thing is, if it were just a straight .45 Colt, I'd have two of them.

 

[MuleRyder]

Update: Upon further inspection, it seems the ratchet is contacting the frame. The machining of the ratchet area is very rough with some burrs on it. I stoned it down a little and removed the burrs and it is a little better, but still contacts the frame. The lockwork seems quite light duty for this size revolver. I'm getting rid of this as soon as I can.

 

[orionengnr]

So far, I know four people who have bought one each. None of them know much about handguns (each owns one other handgun). I think this is Taurus' target audience.

Three of the four has never fired their Judge (the one who did put a cylinder through it). Two bought them when they first came out...what was that, three years ago now? One is approaching a year now, and the last one just bought his.

 

[Jeff H]

It seems to hang up somehow closing it and won't index smoothly and the same thing opening it. I have to use a little force to free the cylinder from the frame.

I know older Taurus guns and S&W ones used to have the ejector handle (pushrod?) threaded into the cylinder and the handle could get unscrewed causing the gun to bind up. I have an old model 82 or 83 that this happens to from time to time. One of these days I'll locktite the threads so it doesn't happen anymore.

 

[skidder]

I won't say that they're absolute junk, but the Taurus revolvers of the few years are pretty rough. I have a number of them going back about 15 years in manufacturing and the revolvers have progressively gotten rougher with sharp edges, thinner finishes, & gritter triggers. The semis I won't even talk about.

Just so that y'all know I'm not a Taurus basher, I have OWNED or still own 85, PT92, 80, 66, 82, PT1911, 85, 327 (in chronological order) with a few duplicates and they peaked in quality with the 66 and has been down hill since. The PT92 is probably their best gun in their entire product line. These days I don't buy Taurus any more - not even the revolvers.

Right on the money. My old Tracker was far better than the new one I got last year. Fit, Finish, Quality, and Performance. I agree with Onward Allusion