Taurus? ........... Ummmmmmmm, no thank you.

[Zaydok Allen]

Ok, I’m just going to share recent events here and not get into a “bashing session.” All of these stories are first hand. I did not own the guns, but I have shot them. Take it as you will.

About three years ago a friend of mine purchased a Taurus .357 with a 6” barrel. He couldn’t figure out why two rounds out of six were always flyers and inaccurate. We took a closer look at the cylinder lockup and noted that two chambers locked up so tight (as in no perceivable cylinder gap at all), we couldn’t figure out why the gun wasn’t binding up. When we looked at the rotor on the back of the cylinder (probably not the right word, someone help me out) we saw that they were gouged up on two of the turning arms, thus the lockup was inconsistent. He sold the gun and purchased a Ruger Blackhawk.

Last year another friend of mine bought a Taurus Public Defender. The timing on that gun was so bad, that one of the chambers wouldn’t even fire. He took it right back to the gun shop he bought it from, and they gave him a new gun (great shop, I love those guys). Sunday I was out with he and his wife and he was shooting his Taurus. At this point, he had only put maybe 100 (total, not that day)rounds through it. His wife was loading it, and the cylinder fell off of the gun! His plan is to send it into Taurus for repair, and immediately trade it in or sell it in favor of picking up a S&W Govenor.

Two people….. Three Taurus Guns……. All were bad out of the box.

I am going to end this message here. Take it as you like. I realize Taurus sells many more guns than other gun manufacturers, and thus there will be a higher proportion of bad guns distributed. I also realize that there are many, many people out there who own Taurus guns, and are really happy with them. This is maybe food for thought though, for anyone considering a Taurus gun, or maybe just a revolver. These experiences have made my decision on this matter firm.

 

[wow6599]

Ant that is why friends don't let friends buy a Taurus

 

[MMCSRET]

I'm beginning to feel somewhat slighted, underprivileged, picked on, shorted, shunned, excommunicated, ignored and generally alone in my world. Reason??? Reason??? Reason??? Well, OK, since you asked, I'll tell you!!!!! I've been using Taurus semi-auto and revolving hand guns for over 25 years, as well as a few Rossi revolvers, probably totaling over thirty individual arms and have never had a failure that wasn't caused by me or my ammunition. What the hell is going on?????????????

 

[wow6599]

MMCSRET, you should play the lottery

All kidding aside, I know a lot of folks who swear by Taurus.......but I know more who swear at them.

 

[Ankeny]

I have never been much of a Taurus fan, but then again, I have never owned one. This thread will probably help me confirm my opinion without ever actually experiencing one of those pieces of junk first hand.

 

[PcolaDawg]

And I've told this story before, but a couple of years ago, I bought a Taurus Judge. Went right home, filled it with .410 #6 birdshot and fired it off in the backyard.

First shot blew the entire barrel off the gun. I didn't even realized it had happened. I just noticed something heavy bouncing on the ground in front of the target, went to see what it was, and it was the frickin' barrel of the gun.

Took it immediately back to the gun shop who sent it right back to Taurus. Within a week, I had it back and it's worked great ever since. I shoot that gun a lot and haven't had one single problem with it once I got it back. It's actually a very versatile gun and I carry it exclusively when I'm working around my property.

Still, that little incident pretty much guarantees I'll never buy another Taurus. Probably. Maybe. We'll see.

 

[JerryM]

I think there is no doubt that the majority of Taurus handguns give satisfactory performance. However, in my own case I have owned two M85s. One was OK, but since it was blue with an external hammer I sold it.
The other a hammerless SS would fail to fire at least once in a couple of boxes of factory ammo. I sent it back to the factory at least three times, but they did not fix it. I even sent it to a well known action smith, and he failed to fix it.
I asked for a replacement or refund and after a year of sending letters and telephone calls Taurus replaced the gun. I immediately sold it without firing it.

If you get a good one fine, but for me life is too short to have to fool with a second rate product such as Taurus.

Regards,
Jerry

 

[NMBrian]

Ive owned a blued Taurus Tracker in .44mag for about two years now, nearing the 1000 round mark and zero issues.

 

[JustinJ]

"First shot blew the entire barrel off the gun."

A while back a guy was asking about how to turn a judge into a smooth bore. Who knew it was so easy?

"Took it immediately back to the gun shop who sent it right back to Taurus. Within a week, I had it back and it's worked great ever since."

You're braver than me to keep using a gun after that.

Almost all Taurus users i know tell me about their wonderful customer service experiences which is exactly why i'll never buy one.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

I am going to end this message here. Take it as you like. I realize Taurus sells many more guns than other gun manufacturers, and thus there will be a higher proportion of bad guns distributed. I also realize that there are many, many people out there who own Taurus guns, and are really happy with them. This is maybe food for thought though, for anyone considering a Taurus gun, or maybe just a revolver. These experiences have made my decision on this matter firm.

Yeah MMCSRET, that's why I made the above coment. I think many people are perfectly happy with their Taurus guns, and you are a good example. I just know that I will never personally buy one due to personal experiences, and horror stories about the guns themselves, as well as the CS department.

Consider yourself lucky.

 

[PcolaDawg]

"First shot blew the entire barrel off the gun."

A while back a guy was asking about how to turn a judge into a smooth bore. Who knew it was so easy?

"Took it immediately back to the gun shop who sent it right back to Taurus. Within a week, I had it back and it's worked great ever since."

You're braver than me to keep using a gun after that.

Almost all Taurus users i know tell me about their wonderful customer service experiences which is exactly why i'll never buy one.

It's more about being cheap than brave. I wasn't going to sell a gun that I thought was something less than safe, and I couldn't just toss the thing. Plus, I really wanted a handgun that could handle shotgun shells to use on snakes when I'm working on and around my property, which the Judge is perfect for. So I tentatively shot it for awhile, making sure it was fixed. It is. I've shot that gun hundreds of times since then and it is a great snake gun. It's also a favorite gun for guests to shoot. It seems the Taurus Judge is the gun everyone wants to shoot when they come over. And it's operated flawlessly since it came back from Taurus a couple of years ago.

Now, if Smith & Wesson's 'The Governor' had been out back then, that's the one I would have bought. I love Smith revolvers. I'm thinking about getting one and letting one of my kids take the Judge of my hands. But until then, I will use the Judge a lot as it is my sidearm of choice when doing yard work.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

This thread will probably help me confirm my opinion without ever actually experiencing one of those pieces of junk first hand.

and you'll tell two friends and they'll tell two friends and they'll tell two friends and so on and so on....until the Brady Bunch will have one less gun company to rail against.

 

[Weevil]

This is from a fellow on another forum who ordered a Taurus revolver.

When it arrived and they opened the box this is what was in it.








Not exactly my idea of good quality control.

How does something like that make it off the aasembly line, get boxed up, and shipped to the customer without anyone noticing???

 

[KodiakBeer]

Almost all Taurus users i know tell me about their wonderful customer service experiences which is exactly why i'll never buy one.

In for the win!

 

[KodiakBeer]

Not exactly my idea of good quality control.

That odd revolver is due to BATFE rules limiting importation of 2" revolvers. I think the idea is that the extra inch is supposed to be cut off in the US before it reaches the customer. Obviously, it didn't happen in this case.

 

[jad0110]

With any revolver, running it through the checkout process posted in the revolver forum is always a must. But I do pay a little extra attention in going over a Taurus, as they do seem to have more variance in quality than other makes. I've owned 2 and currently own 1. Of the three, one was a complete pile of ____ (a Model 94, pretty high turd rate among 94s) while the other 2 were and are fantastic (a Model 66 and a 431). It's been about 5 years since I sold the 66, and I haven't regretted it until the past year or so. Nice gun, with just a hint of stacking in the DA trigger and a tool mark here and there. Very smooth functioning, and highly accurate. Stupid move to sell it.

I picked up the 3" barrel 5-shot, 44 Special Model 431 a few months back for $268 at a gun show. It is in pristine condition, has a smooth DA trigger (SA is a touch rough) and has proven to be 100% reliable and quite accurate. Still haven't bought a holster for it, but I'll start carrying it one of these days when I do.

 

[Tomcat47]

Beautiful 431 !

I have to say I play the lotto as well! No luck There! :banghead:

But nearly the same 25 years and aproximatey 50 Taurus pistols....

None back to CS and no major issues at all...great shooters, great performers!
Early models may have lacked the polish luster of a Smith in the revolvers but they all went "bang" every time!

Just bought a 905 Revolver and a Model 85....

Both gems...timing perfect! But I checked them when I bought them (As I do on S&W, Ruger, Colt, (Fill in the Blank)

And check this out....the guy behind the counter looked at me crazy when I looked down barrel and pulled hammer back, and took my pocket light out....what are you doing he said? Do you know how to check timing on a revolver I asked?....deer in headlight!....without further delay I said look here let me show you something....

The Last Issue I Had was Slide Stop on PT1911 broke. (New one in 3 days)

There have been a lot of slide stops break on 1911 platform...(non issue really)

I had two Berettas break out of box on first magazine! Beretta CS done great and new guns in reasonable time frame ( couple weeks i believe )

Had A Ruger go back! And you know I actually have seen or heard of about every brand going back or breaking and obviously becoming the poster child for "bad guns"

No way would I accept a Barrel flying off, but I have to say if it were mine it happened to, I would post it here with detailed WHY information with a cause and corrective action from Taurus.

Like the gory details are always missing! Guy told me once Smith & Wesson 29
was junk....mine blew up....blew top clean off of it! (detail left out by local gun smith that knew the situation....yeah I guess so he double charged his reloads!)

If I had 10% of the Taurus firearms I have purchased have problems I would not reccomend them, isolated heresay cases through out the years I can not put into my opinion. just the way it is!

 

[orionengnr]

Yep, I continue to read posts like the OP's, both revolver and semi-auto.

My entire Taurus experience is limited to a 431 similar to the one in post 16. Decent revolver, nothing close to the S&W M696 I owned at the same time.

I don't really have any reason to try again, as:
a) I don't play the lottery and
b) there is nothing they market that holds any particular fascination to me.

Judge? Please, spare me.
I know two people who own them. One has shot his once; the other, to the best of my knowledge, has never fired his (almost two years now).

 

[Nushif]

[...] and not get into a “bashing session.”

Given the title of this thread am I allowed to harbor my doubts here?

 

[IMTHDUKE]

What a surprise.....a Taurus? Really?

 

[TYFOOON]

I had a Tracker .357 and the barell was not even machined centered in the block the cut it from. I forget how bad it was but one barrel wall was like 15%thinner than the other side...

Gun seized, one day loaded. Then another day empty....

Never will own a Taurus gun again.

Foon

 

[Jorg Nysgerrig]

Ok, I’m just going to share recent events here and not get into a “locking session."