Taurus PT 145 Pro... BAD APPLE!

[Badger Arms]

Been eagerly awaiting my PT-145's based on my mistaken belief that they'd ironed out all the problems. Yes, I did say mistaken. Mistaken because one of the two pistols I ordered was broken. How? The trigger bar that retracts the striker will not depress as it's intended to when the slide moves forward. This has eaten groves in the slide on the back side of the feeding surface. It also catches as you retract the slide preventing me from locking open the gun without pulling the trigger while I retract the slide. ARRRRgggggg.

The second flaw in the gun is the magazine which takes considerable force to withdraw from the mag well. The other gun's magazine went in and ejected just fine as did the spare magazine I had ordered at the same time. This seems to suggest that the magazine itself is considerably oversized. I'll call Taurus on Monday morning and see what they suggest. What I want and will ask for is a new slide, trigger bar, and magazine. We'll see what they say. Any suggestions from those who have dealt with Taurus before?

 

[denfoote]

God knows I, for one, have not warned you all!!

Fool me once, shame on me.
Fool me twice, shame on you!!

Lt. Commander Montgomery Scott
Chief Engineer
USS Enterprise NCC-1701

 

[Lennyjoe]

Send it back to Taurus and have them fix it.

Sucks to be without it but they will do right by you...

 

[Badger Arms]

Yes, yes... You told me so. It's just a gun that I would LOVE to be right DIRECTLY out of the factory. You'd think they would actually quality check them. The second gun was just fine.

I’ll give some general pre-range notes on the guns. The workmanship seems good. Externally, they are well finished. Internally, there are lots of areas that have tool marks and are left with burrs and sharp edges on them. The hole where the Lawyer-lock goes has sharp burrs projecting. Otherwise it seems stout. There is a gigantic gap on the bottom of the ejection port. It seems they either made the barrel too small or the port too big but you can see down into the locking recess. Seems like a great place for lint, dirt, sand, and other debris to gather. I'd imagine you could stuff two quarters in the gap!

Other things I noticed on the ‘good’ gun were relatively minor. The plastic frame contacts the slide under the front end thereof. There is another huge gap behind the trigger. There is a third gap area on the left side of the slide where the slide stop and takedown cutouts are. Combined, they seem to leave an open-air feeling to the internals of the gun. Another gap is apparent in the rear of the slide.

The ‘feel’ of the gun is great. All controls are positive but not stiff. Takedown is a snap. Sights are clear and well defined. There is a loaded chamber indicator and the extractor seems substantial enough. Trigger pull is the smoothest I’ve felt on a DAO and seems around 8 pounds with a clean break. It’s a true DA only design that reminds me of the Republic Arms and now Cobra Patriot 45 pistol. The slide release is unobtrusive and quite positive. The magazine jumps free of the gun with or without a magazine.

As for the styling, I wonder why the rear sight and front sight are not flush with the ends of the slide. Strange, and only a little off, but it throws off the lines of the gun. That little area in front of the trigger guard just SCREAMS for a universal rail to mount a mini-light. Thank God there are no finger-grooves on the front-strap.

 

[WonderNine]

A Taurus auto that has striker problems (aside from the other usual problems)....say it ain't so!

A Taurus revolver that has timing problems??? Say it ain't so....

Taurus is STILL right up there with Lorcin IMO.....

 

[Baron Holbach4]

I have read of the many doubts and complaints expressed by potential buyers and disappointed owners of Taurus revolvers and autos. It amazes me that on the surface Taurus makes attractive handguns but cannot surmount its own quality control problems. The QC problems have been ongoing for many years and consumers have been very patient with Taurus' inconsistent response whether it be to the design flaws or customer service. I truly hope that Taurus overcomes its persistent setbacks and ushers in an era of consistent quality, such that its firearms can be ranked with Glock, Sig, HK, Colt, Kimber, CZ, etc. Ironically, its best pistol is the PT92, a virtual clone of another high quality manufacturer -- Beretta's 92FS.

 

[Arub]

I hope you have better luck getting your pistol fixed than I did getting a timing problem resolved on a revolver. Sent it back three times:banghead: , they never did get it right.

Taurus/Rossi/Braztech makes some fine looking handguns and have many great ideas as far as design goes, but their quality seems spotty and customer service/warrantee department sucks, at least based on my experience.

My revolver accumulation now only contains Rugers and Smiths. Functioning has been great and, based on years of experience with them, customer service is world class.

 

[Rhinodogg]

I have a PT-92 and a PT-101, both are great guns. Finish is all but perfect on both and they're great shooters. But, like Baron Holbach4 said, they're clone's of an already proven pistol. I had and sold a PT-111. It wasn't a bad little DAO, but the trigger was pretty bad IMO. I would probably buy another millenium series pistol, but only in the Pro version.

 

[Okiecruffler]

I got nothing against Taurus revolvers, have one on my hip as I type, The wife has one with her somewhere in the city, and there's a Rossi in the hidy hole of my recliner in the living room. Thousands of rounds thru these 3 revolvers with zero problems. But I can't say I've heard many good things about their autos. I'm another person who would love for their 45 to be a respectable gun, but it doesn't look like it's happened yet.

 

[wally]

Ordered, vs. stocking dealer?

When you buy from stock you can choose not to take home anything with obvious defects. When you order you're stuck with what the distributor ships.

I'd certainly not take home the gun shown in these photso from a dealer or gunshow based on the exterior views!

The trend in manufacturing is ISO9000 where quality is "assured" by paperwork and production techniques designed for semi-skilled monkeys who'll work cheap and are treated as interchangable parts. Nothing is really tested or inspected anymore because it costs too much and requires skill to sort the bad from the good. The customer gets a lower price and gets to do the final QA/QC themselves.

My buddy ran a "mom and pop" computer store and at first defective out of the box was remarkabley rare (15-20 years ago) now with places like Fry's dominating the business 3-5% DOA seems to be the norm and "acceptable".

Three shots into a test target doesn't prove a gun is made right. But if they shot it enough to be sure before shipping we'd be bitching about getting used guns

I don't see any shortage of reports of bad guns from Kahr, Kimber, Springfield, S&W, AMT, Colt etc. along with Taurus. Funny thing is I've gotten good guns from all but my first Colt needed work to be reliable. Perhaps I've just been "lucky" but I pick what I buy not take what is delivered.

--wally.

 

[New_comer]

That's another two years of waiting on top of what I've set, so that makes it five years before I'd even consider a polymer Taurus...

Why do I get this feeling I may never even get one...

 

[George Hill]

Lots of people like the Taurus Revolvers... and the Taurus metal framed automatics.
Taurus is just having a hard time learning how to make guns in plastic. Frankly, I think they should stop. Make the PT145 with a Ti alloy frame and concentrate on making it strong.

 

[243_shooter]

I'm very happy with my PT111 pro, just did a mini range report on it here; http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=62500

I to found the amount of the guns internals visible from the outside to be a bit strange, especially under the ejection port, that just plain looks bad.

After reading this I guess I should just be happy that I got one that seems to run out of the box!

Leo

 

[Badger Arms]

Ordered, vs. stocking dealer?

When you buy from stock you can choose not to take home anything with obvious defects. When you order you're stuck with what the distributor ships.

Well, I am one of those stocking dealers. I had planned on selling one, shooting the other and if I didn't like it, selling that one for a discount. If I did like it, I'd buy a dozen more and then be able to give my own personal opinion and state honestly that it's a gun I own and shoot. I stock many guns that I've done this with. Can't tell you how many KT P11's I've sold by just pulling the one out of my pocket and showing them I trusted it with my life.

All that being said, the gaps in the frame are cosmetic. This gun feels solid... moreso than any other Taurus auto I've ever handled except the PT92 series. I'd buy the gun from a dealer looking just like it does.

 

[fastbolt]

Well, I'm certainly not in the position to "criticize" you for buying a Taurus .45 ... I once bought a couple of Charter Arms .44 Bulldogs! :banghead:

Of course, I can fall back on the young & "inexperienced" excuse at that time, if need be ...

 

[greg531mi]

Well, what do you expect when they pay their machinist $65/month!!! Yes, a month!!! My company, Bosch, outsourced my job to Brazil, and they pay that little!!! Brazil is like Mexico, they live in shacks with no sewers or running water! It is a third world country, with terrible trade restrictions. They want exports but tax imports to the max.
I have a friend that bought a taurus revolver, and one cylinder was so tight, he couldn't get a cartridge in it!!!
You get what you pay for, it is not a S&W......

 

[wally]

I was talking more about the poor fit of the slide shown in the back view and the poor barrel fit in the slide from the front.

I've a Taurus PT92 and PT111 and they are great guns, neither has given me a lick of trouble. I've also a PT945 which is fine except it won't feed my favorite 200gr lead SWC practice load so I don't shoot it much. I'd recommend the PT111 to anyone who wants a small gun that didn't want to spend more on a Kahr (which I think is better but nearly 2X more expensive).

I might get a PT145, but its possible the PT111 is great and the scaling to 45 didn't come out quite right. I hit much better with my PT111 than I do my Glock 17 -- that's a trigger that just doesn't work for me. I find the PT111 trigger seems about the same as my S&W revolvers shooting DA. YMMV.

--wally.

 

[dairycreek]

My experience with Taurus!!

Over the last twenty-or-so years I have had the occasion to purchase six Taurus revolvers (never owned an auto) all in 357/38 spl. All were purchased NIB. I have never shot reloads in my revolvers and used only good grades of ammunition. In short, they were new when I bought them and I did not abuse them. I had serious difficulty with three of the revolvers and three were okay. It is true Taurus has a life time warranty program and they will stand behind that. However, none of the revolvers were correctly repaired the fist time I sent them in and it took a long, long time (weeks and weeks in each case) to have the work done right. As I said, the other three worked fine out of the box and continued to do so until I sold or traded them.

The moral of the story? There is none. I just will no longer buy a Taurus product. FWIW. Good shooting

 

[Brigrat]

I carry a PT111 daily, and love it. 100% reliable, 1000+ rounds, not a problem!!! I would recomend the PT111 to anyone. I don't know about the 145 though.

 

[azrael]

Ok here goes my take on this...

I am not "hating" on Taurus so please dont think that I am...

Here is my story..

My ex-fiance' bought me a Taurus PT145 for an engagement present.

Got it home and played with it some... problem...the mag. wouldnt eject!!! (and I only got ONE MAG!!!!) Figured that it would iron itself out with some SERIOUS shooting..

Took it to my buddies and between us we put about 400 rounds through it in a single afternoon...Mostly wolf 230 grn...Wolf works fine but kicks like a mule in a light compact .45...lol

First 100 rounds had 3 ftf and 1 fte...after that has been 100%

Still wouldnt eject the mag...this perplexed me to no end..

Sent it back to Taurus..enclosed a letter telling them what was wrong..

Got it back a month later and GUESS WHAT?? THEY HADNT FIXED IT!!!!

They did send me a free mag. (those things cost $30.00 bucks!!!)

SO I decided to figure out the problem myself...Looked inside the mag. well and it looked like to me that the mag. was "rubbing" on some plastic...Broke out the machinist files and had at it...Filed a little and tried the mag...Repeated this process SEVERAL times until the mag. dropped free..

I tried a couple PT145's at the local gunshop and they all had the same problem...Mine was an early production run so I figured that Taurus had this problem fixed...guess not..

After I got that little problem sorted out I havent had one gripe against this pistol and I carry it alot in a "Abyss" IWB's or a beltslide...

No I wouldnt buy another one...I however would get one of those PT111's in 9mm if I had to do it again...One of my steady customers has one and I gave him a discount on some leather work in exchange for allowing me to take it to the range to shoot it...LOVED IT!!! I have thought of trading my .45 for one but havent yet..

I have owned 3 Taurus pistols and this one is the only one that I have had ANY trouble with...I think Taurus needs to look at there quality issues in regards to this design.

anyway's thats my take on my PT145

 

[Badger Arms]

Azrael, do you make a pocket holster for the PT145 Pro?

 

[azrael]

Not yet...I offer one for the pt145...I havent looked at the difference between the frames...if someone has both let me know if there is any difference in width etc. I would appreciate it.

 

[Ala Dan]

Another very sad Taurus story. Exactly what I've
been preaching to the THR congregation for over a
year. Therefore, I will NEVER own Tauri product's!

? Hopefully, they will find just cause to honor your
Limited LifeTime Warranty.

Best Wishes,
Ala Dan, N.R.A. Life Member

 

[HD]

almost a 70% return-repair rate for our local taurus dealer, doesn't matter what it is , rifle,revolver, pistol...
only one that 'seems' to work is the PT/beretta series...
otherwise (insert 400 puking smilies here) raven has better QC - reliability...

 

[caz223]

I bought one taurus, grand total.
I wanted to like this gun, I really did.
There's some stuff wrong with it, like it sucks.
Not enough time right now to tell the story.
Every time I look at another taurus, I think about mine, put it back down, and politely say "No thanks."