Taurus semi-autos, are they as bad as I've heard?

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It's much the same with any brand. Taurus produces more guns and thus, more opinions. They have a pretty rabid fan base (myself included) and we get sick of the bashing.

That said if someone has a bad experience with one, I can understand why they would never buy another. Personal experiences always color our decisions. All in all, I think you will overwhelmingly find more good reviews than bad ones for Taurus.
 
Like any other pistol, you should shoot one in person to form your own objective opinions about any pistol first hand.

I was reluctant to try the PT145 as I have not liked the Taurus DAO pistols in the past due to the heavier trigger pull. The range staff suggested that I try as the PT145's new SA/DA trigger really made the difference.

What I found shooting the pistol first hand was the realization that you cannot formulate your opinions about any pistol without having shot one in person. After I bought a PT145, many other shooters have said, "You really bought a Taurus?" However, after shooting the PT145 themselves, they were surprised how well the pistol shot and many have bought one since.
 
My TCP has about a 1000 rounds through it. It is accurate and reliable. I am tirede of people bashing them and yes, I have a P3AT and a LCP which sit in my safe because I hate the triggers.
 
bubbaturbo said:
I don't have much of an opinion about Taurus firearms but I have noticed that threads about Taurus quality come with a guarantee of at least 2 things:

1. No matter how many people give their actual experiences with Taurus pistols they own or have owned, all of the bad posts are dismissed as coming from people "who have never owned one" and conversely, all of the good posts are irrefutable proof of Taurus quality and must be the gospel truth.

2. Although mentioning a bad experience with a Taurus firearm will simultaneously be dismissed as internet fiction it will still hurt the feelings of many Taurus owners as if you had insulted their children.

Every time.
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Frankly, I could care less whether anybody likes what I own or choose to carry. Tons of Taurus haters out there. I don't cheerlead for Taurus, I just happen to own one of their guns.
I have little experience with Glocks. Shot a few. I wouldn't buy one if they had a 1\2 price sale. But I don't go around bashing them.
If somebody tells me my 709 is a POS, I don't care in the least.
When and if my 709 stops doing what I require of it, I'll stop using it.

And yes, there's a lot of Taurus bashers that have never owned one or even shot one.
 
I've owned several Taurus semi-auto's, as well as revolvers and have had Zero problems with them yet! I can't find anything to complain about with them. I like them and think they're great handguns. It's true that you get what you pay for, but with these pistols I think you get more. I'm looking at some point sometime to buy a Taurus PT1911. We'll see.
 
I have 3 taurus 24/7 all in 9mm and have never had a problem with any of them. None of the 3 have ever jammed or failed to fire. I had a 24/7 in 45ACP but sold it. It never would feed properly. I did have to send 2 of my guns to Taurus because I put one of the 9mm slides on the 45 frame and they would not come apart. I had the 2 guns back in exactly 4 weeks and it did not cost me a dime. I cannot complain about their CS.
 
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Until I picked up a Glock a PT99 was my main full size carry gun. I switched because I wanted a main carry gun that was light enough that I could carry IWB. I fed it several different flavors of ammo and never had a single jam or ftf.
 
I carry a Taurus TCP and have had no problems with it at all. It doesn't like aluminum cased Blazer ammo, it will FTE once in a while with the stuff but on a diet of either round or flat nose Winchester 380s it's never failed to operate properly. I've only fired about a bit more than 200 rounds through it but find it reliable and impressively accurate for such a short barrel. The sights are minimal but enough to keep most shots within a 50' target's black rings at 30'. Resting my forearms on the bench I can get impressively tight groups at 30', usually within 3-4". Probably be a lot tighter than that if someone good was shooting the gun. Recoil isn't bad though about 50 rounds is a good day's shooting for me. It's not as comfortable as my Ruger SR9 which I could shoot all day at the range, but not bad at all for such a small mousegun. I chose the RCP over the LCP even though I'm a Ruger fan because I wanted the slide lock and open slide on last round which the LCP lacks. The integral gun lock is an interesting but not particular useful feature of the TCP. At least no once can say you don't have a gun lock for it. The Ruger gun lock is bigger than the gun. Forgot to mention, the TCP has about the nicest trigger I've tried of any mouse gun.
 
I got a Taurus TCP for my birthday last summer. It looked pretty well made and felt good in my hand. I could have done without the fanny pack it came with, though. It was very concealable and I had high hopes for it.

I tried 3 different brands of FMJ ammo and after the first 4 or 5 mags I couldn't get one single round to eject on its own. I was pretty mad, b/c it shot well and the trigger was sweet for the first 4 or 5 mags. The rim where the extractor made contact was gouged up and tagged, but it wasn't pulling the shells out of the chamber. It would cycle everytime by hand, but not when fired. I checked everything out and nothing looked broken.

I was advised to run 500 rds through it before sending it back or "bashing" it. But I'll be honest, as high as .380 ammo is I couldn't afford to. Besides, I had to rack the slide after every shot. So, I sold it to someone who didn't believe it was as bad as I said it was.
 
I have a 709 and have not had any problems with it and if I did the LIFETIME warranty would be used.I was told by current owners to clean the gun before shooting it for the first time as it is packed with grease and it was.I own five brands of handguns and love them all equally.:)
 
Okay, I talked to a gunsmith about a recently occured problem I have had happen with my PT840 having the firing pin channel get clogged with Brass. Evidently it has an extractor that has too sharp of an edge on it, scraping brass off the casings with each round. I'm debating on finely filing the extractor which can prove very dangerous considering I don't know what I'm doing, or send it back to Taurus.

Please note that Selling it is not an option. I wouldn't sell this gun for the world.
 
My PT917c has been almost perfect for the past 4 years and its only of my fav's
since it came with a 17 and 20 round mag
 
Taurus is hit and miss. I was at the gun store when a guy brought back his newly aquired never fired TCP that he purchased for SD. It seems he couldn't get it to feed at all. The store owner verified it and even took another mag from the one on the shelf. No matter what he tried it would not feed a round into the chamber.

The store owner took it in the back and proceeded to bend and massage the lips of the mag until the gun would take a round. He was concerned enough for the cust. safety that he offered him the choice of keeping the TCP, giving the guy a refund for his full purchase price or trading it in for something else. The guy decided he couldn't trust it as a CCW and decided to trade it in for something different.

The store owner is a stand up guy that really cares for and takes care of his customers. He revealed to me a number of problems he has had with the Taurus lineup. Everything from revolvers to semi autos has experienced various diff. problems.

All one needs to do is go on any gun forum and look around. It seems that there is a posting almost every week of someone having a problem with their Taurus. Plus, I'm old enough (52) to remember when Taurus was considered one of the worst guns on the market. To each their own but this is enough for me to avoid them as a CCW.
 
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PT92 owner for many years, have put ten thousand plus rounds through it. It is a gem. Runs anything you want to feed it, puts them where you aim. Looks pretty too! Have owned a couple of Taurus revolvers and they were good guns.
 
Never owned a Taurus myself. My sister's boyfriend got a Taurus Millennium in 9mm a while back that I've shot a few times. It was accurate enough and worked. Didn't like the feel of it a whole lot, but that's subjective.

Overall if I had to get one I wouldn't mind. Still take it out a shoot a lot to ensure functionality, but you'll probably have no issues.
 
Have a PT709S with absolutely no issues. Have had it for about a year, with about 200 to 300 rounds. No issues, great gun, especially for the price..... I don't use it as a range gun, but it makes a fantastic deep cover gun, pretty decent capacity and the extra mag can slip down in your pocket easily, most days I forget its there.
 
I have to retract my vote of confidence in the Taurus TCP 738. I really liked the gun, it went through about 200 rounds without a problem. Tonight at our local indoor range I loaned it to another member to try out. On his first shot with a magazine loaded with Winchester 380 92gr. flat nosed ammo the gun blew up. The slide boke apart in the middle with the rear part hitting the shooter in the face causing some lacerations. There was no evidence of a hot load, the primer of the shell showed a normal dent, no swelling, no sign of a split or deformation in the brass case. I'll be contacting Taurus in the morning about this but don't want another or this one repaired. I no longer trust them. There's not much metal in the side of the slide near the ejector port I think this is a serious weakness. Looks like I'm going to replace it with an LCP even though I don't like the lack of a slide lock. Too bad, this really was a nice shooting gun with an excellent trigger.
 
(exavid) Looks like I'm going to replace it with an LCP even though I don't like the lack of a slide lock. Too bad, this really was a nice shooting gun with an excellent trigger.
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You might want to look into the S&W Bodygaurd. It has last round slide lock, dual strike capability and actual sights in addition to the laser. Plus S&W recently dropped the MSRP and you can buy one for around $350.00 provided you can find one in stock.
 
I talked to Taurus this morning and will be sending the pistol back to them along with the case from the round that did the job on the pistol. I went down to the local gunshop to take another look at the LCP and decided that I'll let Taurus replace this gun. The failure is probably like a lightning strike. Pretty unlikely to happen. I'll give the TCP another chance because it has a much better trigger than two TCPs I tried, I want the slide locked open on the last shot for quick magazine changes an the gun fits my hand better than the LCP. I know the physical differences are slight but the LCP grip just doesn't fit as well. Up until the little problem of blowing up, the TCP was performing great so I'll give it another chance.
 
Taurus semis are hit and miss. Well over 50% of people have good things to say about them, but there's still a high percentage of lemons. However, after what exavid said, my own response is "Hell no." How bad does a gun's metal have to be to blow up with a .380?!

Exavid, I believe they have things to improve the LCP's grip, and there's other small autos out there that might fit your bill. You might consider trying a surplus Polish P-63 or P-83, though. They're cheap, under $200 for the P-64, but excellent little guns. They're high-grade steel, and they fire the more powerful and incredibly cheaper 9x18 Makarov round. You CAN get larger wood grips for them, too.

Best of luck to you with whatever route you choose. I hope the guy doesn't sue or something.
 
Now that a day has passed I feel more confident that the destruction of the slide on my TCP was a fluke. After looking at some other pocket 380s and trying their triggers I still find the TCP the best. The gun was firing Winchester ammo faultlessly. I'll ship it off tomorrow and see what they do about it. If it looks good when it comes back I'll give it another try. Maybe I should get a goalie mask.
 
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