Plan2Live
Member
I’ve been helping a friend look for a conceal carry pocket pistol. Pocket pistol is the operative word here due to concealability issues in our southern heat and humidity ie; no sweaters, jackets or vests along with his normal attire of shirt and tie sans jacket. He settled on a Taurus TCP 738 in .380. He chose the Taurus over the Ruger LCP because of the last round slide lock back feature. Plus, the Taurus came with an extra mag the Ruger did not.
All of my limited shooting knowledge has been picked up along the way with no formal training. I think there are many others that fit my experience level so I thought I would give my thoughts, as a somewhat novice, on the Taurus TCP.
We just got back from the range. The gun is small, light and easy to conceal either with or without the Blackhawk #3 pocket holster. Other than having more square edges than the LCP, they looked and felt nearly identical. The Taurus magazines were easier to load than my Ruger 10-22 mags. The mags inserted easily into the mag well and seated every time. Even with a full load of ammo the gun still felt light and comfortable in the pocket.
The trigger pull was smooth but long. Very long, maybe overly long. I had to battle wrist twist and nose dip by the time I got the trigger far enough back to fire. Once fired, the recoil was very manageable but something in the trigger guard nipped the top of my fingertip right by the edge of the fingernail every time. After 10 or 20 rounds it became very uncomfortable. After firing, the reset (I think is the term you guys use) was equally long. It did not inspire me to try a double tap.
The Taurus has low profile fixed sites. We were at an outdoor range with lots of ambient light. The sights worked fine in this environment.
My first set was fired from 5 yards with a two handed grip. The groups were surprisingly tight but were a good 4 inches low and 1 to 2 inches to the right. My friend took a turn and his strike point verses aim point was similar. By tight, I mean 5 rounds, fired slowly and deliberately grouped inside of a 2 to 2.5 inch circle. At 10 yards my groups opened up to about 7 or 8 inches. Inside center mass but not pretty or awe inspiring.
We fired a total of 100 rounds of Remington UMC 95 grain FMJ. All chambered rounds fired, all ejected cleanly. After about 50 rounds I experienced the first of several fail to feed episodes. Visual inspection showed no dents or scratches on the bullet case or nose but did confirm a lot of powder residue in the base of the chamber and on the feed ramp. You could not remove the magazine by yourself when it jammed like this. I had to hold the slide open with my two hands, but had to have my friend grab the magazine and pull it free from the mag well as it wouldn't drop on it's own when the mag release was pushed. After about the third such event I tried gripping the slide and applying extra forward pressure and seated the round and cleared the jam more easily. My friend is going to thoroughly clean the gun and use a polishing tip powered by a Dremel along with some semi-chrome polish and see if he can smooth out the ramp and mouth of the barrel.
As a novice without a lot of range time with pocket pistols I would say the Taurus meets the requirements of a conceal carry pocket pistol. However, unless I am shooting something chambered in a very large caliber, I don’t expect pain to be an acceptable component of practice shooting.
I’m shopping for a pocket pistol too and I think I am going to pass on this one. More because of the finger pinch than the feed issues.
All of my limited shooting knowledge has been picked up along the way with no formal training. I think there are many others that fit my experience level so I thought I would give my thoughts, as a somewhat novice, on the Taurus TCP.
We just got back from the range. The gun is small, light and easy to conceal either with or without the Blackhawk #3 pocket holster. Other than having more square edges than the LCP, they looked and felt nearly identical. The Taurus magazines were easier to load than my Ruger 10-22 mags. The mags inserted easily into the mag well and seated every time. Even with a full load of ammo the gun still felt light and comfortable in the pocket.
The trigger pull was smooth but long. Very long, maybe overly long. I had to battle wrist twist and nose dip by the time I got the trigger far enough back to fire. Once fired, the recoil was very manageable but something in the trigger guard nipped the top of my fingertip right by the edge of the fingernail every time. After 10 or 20 rounds it became very uncomfortable. After firing, the reset (I think is the term you guys use) was equally long. It did not inspire me to try a double tap.
The Taurus has low profile fixed sites. We were at an outdoor range with lots of ambient light. The sights worked fine in this environment.
My first set was fired from 5 yards with a two handed grip. The groups were surprisingly tight but were a good 4 inches low and 1 to 2 inches to the right. My friend took a turn and his strike point verses aim point was similar. By tight, I mean 5 rounds, fired slowly and deliberately grouped inside of a 2 to 2.5 inch circle. At 10 yards my groups opened up to about 7 or 8 inches. Inside center mass but not pretty or awe inspiring.
We fired a total of 100 rounds of Remington UMC 95 grain FMJ. All chambered rounds fired, all ejected cleanly. After about 50 rounds I experienced the first of several fail to feed episodes. Visual inspection showed no dents or scratches on the bullet case or nose but did confirm a lot of powder residue in the base of the chamber and on the feed ramp. You could not remove the magazine by yourself when it jammed like this. I had to hold the slide open with my two hands, but had to have my friend grab the magazine and pull it free from the mag well as it wouldn't drop on it's own when the mag release was pushed. After about the third such event I tried gripping the slide and applying extra forward pressure and seated the round and cleared the jam more easily. My friend is going to thoroughly clean the gun and use a polishing tip powered by a Dremel along with some semi-chrome polish and see if he can smooth out the ramp and mouth of the barrel.
As a novice without a lot of range time with pocket pistols I would say the Taurus meets the requirements of a conceal carry pocket pistol. However, unless I am shooting something chambered in a very large caliber, I don’t expect pain to be an acceptable component of practice shooting.
I’m shopping for a pocket pistol too and I think I am going to pass on this one. More because of the finger pinch than the feed issues.
