The truth about Taurus

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I have owned quite a few other brands in the last 45 years or so, but never a Taurus, so I can't bash them. I was acquainted with the owner of a high volume gun shop in a large metro area. He carried a wide range of guns at competitive prices, yes, a lot of Colts, SIGs, Glocks, S&Ws, Kimbers, Springfields, HKs, etc, etc. He shared with me one time that he did not carry Taurus, because it seemed like every one he sold came back with some problem. Now I don't know, but he moved a lot of guns and obviously liked to make money with whatever would sell, but would not carry Taurus. I figure he was more knowledgeable about Taurus quality/problems/customer service,etc. than I could ever be.

By the way, I did not know, and am suprised to learn, that S&W ever owned Taurus...
 
By the way, I did not know, and am suprised to learn, that S&W ever owned Taurus...
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No, no, no, S&W never owned Taurus, nor did they exchange manufacturing technologies, or even co-mingle personnel so far that I have heard.

Both were owned - at one point in time - by the same holding company (Bangor Punta, from 1965 to 1984). In 1965, Bangor bought S&W, then in 1970 they took a majority stake Taurus. S&W and Taurus remained completely distinct and separate entities, coincidentally owned by the same investors. In 1984, Bangor went belly up, and the two gun companies continued to go different directions.

That holding company owned a whole lot of other businesses as well, which they did not manage overly-well at the time:
  • General Ordinance
  • Lake Erie Chemicals
  • Stephenson (the Breathalyzer guys)
  • Piper aircraft
  • Duo Marine
  • O'Day Sailboats
  • Starcraft
  • and a whole bunch of unrelated stuff
 
I've owned a number of Taurus products and fortunately never had to send one back for any type of service. From what I've heard about their customer service I hope I never do! In general I've found them to be pretty well made, reliable, and decently priced. On the other hand, I've had to return a number of guns to S&W, Kahr, Ruger, & Sig for various reasons ..usually relating to quality control ..or lack thereof. My chief complaint with Taurus is the difficulty of obtaining various accessories, such as magazines for certain newer models, and those little "Stellar clips" used in some of their revolvers, such as my little model 905 9mm snubby. Even calls to Taurus have confirmed that some extra magazines are simply not available yet, only the ones that ship with the pistols. In fact I sold an otherwise decent Taurus pistol for that very reason. I like having several magazines for each pistol in order to rotate them periodically, as well as having an extra one to carry, should any situation ever call for a reload. Without extra magazines readily available, I consider a pistol to be undesirable for CCW. As far as overall Taurus quality, I'll just say that I've seen some that were better built than others. Generally there's a lot more play in the cylinders of some of their revolvers than I like ..yet a couple I have show little to no play at all. Their discontinued Gaucho single action revolvers have cylinders that lock up so tight it's almost as if they were cast in place. Also, I'd like to know why Taurus chose to put an adjustable rear sight on their polymer framed "Public Defender" yet not on the "Raging Judge" .454 Casull, where they'd actually be of some use(?). -LG
 
I can't get over how sensitive Taurus handgun owners seem to be these days (multiple threads running here and on TFL on how mean and dishonest people are in talking about Taurus). If they work for you, great. Have at it.

Honestly, it matters little to me if someone likes my Glock, Ruger, Smith, or any other firearm for that matter. If they want to report a problem on one, fine. Again, it makes no difference to me, because I use what works for me without worrying about if other people like it.

For the record, I've owned 7 Taurus handguns. 4 of which had problems requiring at least one trip back to the factory. One worked okay, but had regular light strikes that I tolerated. Two worked perfectly. I no longer buy Taurus.
 
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Dayum I'm Lucky!
I've got eight Taurus handguns and they all perform flawlessly.
Don't have any of their rifles though, so I can't comment about that.

The Taurus handguns I own are just as good as any other guns I own. I can't speak to their longevity 'cause I can only afford to shoot 5,000 rounds (excluding .22s) per month. None of my guns will ever have 2,000,000 rounds through them.

I can say, though, that my Taurus guns with 65,000 - 110,000 rounds thru them are no worse off than my Smith and Wesson guns with the same amount of use.

In my not so humble opion if there is a winner in the round count competition, it'd be Ruger. My Ruger guns with the same amount of use seem to suffer less than the Taurus or Smith & Wesson guns.

I don't pussy-foot around ... I SHOOT my guns. My Taurus guns are just as good as almost any of my other guns.
 
I have to fess up about something I knocked Taurus a few posts back and I am indeed sorry I may have offended any die hard Taurus owners.

But I have to point out one major thing a GOOD Gun must go bang every time the trigger is pulled. My Hi-point has done that for me and is still going strong despite several 10s of thousands of rounds. I have had only a couple of hiccups that required calling CS. But even then I got what I needed without having to jump through hoops or wait an intolerable amount of time. And they sent the parts I needed FREE and I got 2 extra mags just for the fact I had to call them at all.

The only CS worse than Taurus I have had the Displeasure of dealing with was Jimmenez AkA Jennings. :barf:
 
Truth about Taurus?

At one time was owned by Smith and Wesson and made on the same machining.In 1980 they purchased the Berretta factory in San Paulo and began making their firearms there.
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Patently untrue.
Having owned Rossi, Taurus and S&W, I know of what I speak.
 
I've owned one Taurus. It was a .38 Ultralite. To this day, it has been the only wheelgun that I've owned that didn't go bang when I pulled the trigger. I sold it and have never looked at another Taurus product.
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:scrutiny:..........You have to load it! ....ya know!....:eek:
 
So you say you have to be rich to own and shoot a Sig, 'cause I own and shoot two and am not rich.:(
 
I've owned two Taurus firearms. The first was their model 445 .44spl revolver. I carried it almost every day for 2-3 years. I didn't even clean guns back then; no problems. I sold it to finance a Glock. While I don't regret it, I definitely wish I had it back sometimes! Very faithful.

My second purchas was a 24/7 Pro Long Slide in 9mm. I've had about a dozen failure to feeds (out of about 200 rounds), but all from one magazine. Next time I hit the range, I'll put about 100 through the allegedly "good" mag and then try the allegedly "bad" mag and see what happens. This has not soured me, at least not yet. The jury is still out, I suppose. However, this wouldn't necessarily speak ill of Taurus, in my opinion. It happens. Father-in-law broke down and bought his first Glock recently (I'm a HUGE Glock fan) and it had some serious issues for a while with FTFs, FTEs, etc. It happens.
 
In the gun shop I worked at, Taurus was the #1 gun returned for repair or warranty work. Also Taurus was the most complained about by those customers that brought them back due to poor customer service. So you are right they are #1 at something. I own one a model 92 rifle, however I would never own a Taurus handgun. I have a good frined that swears by his 740P. To each his or her own I guess.
 
i own a .357 snubby its older than dirt i baught it used and my dad carried it for years. its never give a bit of problems. just my experience. i have had good luck with my S&W autos and there are guys on here that wont own one.
 
Quote:
At one time was owned by Smith and Wesson and made on the same machining.In 1980 they purchased the Berretta factory in San Paulo and began making their firearms there.

Patently untrue.
Having owned Rossi, Taurus and S&W, I know of what I speak.
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I don't know about the Smith and Wesson thing, nor do I care, but the Beretta part is common knowledge and is absolutely true. Also, I don't know that owning a particular brand of gun makes you know anything about anything.
 
I logged into THR just now, thinking, "Oh I hope there is another new thread about Taurus handguns...."
 
I heard Taurus moved production to China to be closer to their Motherland where there is no EPA, as their production process is similar to 15th Century smelters? (Not talking little fishies here.)
 
One of the Taurus fans implied in an earlier post that the Taurus
problems were in the past and that we should only be discussing
current production guns. I find that to be somewhat amusing since
I was in my local gunshop today and noticed that there were no
Tauri in the display case. The owner explained that Taurus was,
without exception, the most problematic brand by far. The time
and expense involved with carrying the Taurus brand simply was
not cost effective, so Taurus is no longer sold. Apparently, the
problems at Taurus are not just in the past.

I have to marvel at the wisdom of someone who would carry a
Taurus when one's very life may have to depend upon it. I wonder
which model Taurus the OP trained with while in the USMC. ;)
 
I have to marvel at the wisdom of someone who would carry a
Taurus when one's very life may have to depend upon it.
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Sigh.... If you don't like them, don't buy them. It ridiculous to say what you said based upon your gunstore owners opinion. As I mentioned, my Taurus 605 has been shot frequently for over 7 years now, and it was my concealed carry gun for a good part of that time, and in fact, it still is on a semi-regular basis. Never once has it failed to function, and it looks and works as good as the day I bought it. I am not supposed to trust my life to it, even after it has proven time and time again to be a totally reliable handgun? At what point do I trust it? 20 years from now? Never? Should I go back in time and choose not to buy it?

My point here isn't so much a defense of Taurus, as it is a defense of common sense. Maybe I have gotten lucky and somehow avoided this horrible companies crappy products (5 different times), but even if that is the case, why wouldn't I trust my life to it? Clearly I am one of the chosen few who got a servicable, reliable gun that has been proven to be so many times over, so why wouldn't I?

Frankly, your statement is as nonsensical as the guys with $2500 pistols that say things like "How much is your families life worth". Answer: Depending on my geographic location, It is worth the $500 or so bucks I paid for my Glock, the $350 or so I paid for my 870 or the $300 or so I paid for my 605. Even maybe the $100 bucks I paid for any one of my Mosin Nagants. I actually do own an expensive handgun that I bought just last night (a Sig 1911 Scorpion), and you know what? While my expectations are high, with zero rounds downrange with it, I trust it far, far less than I trust my 605 right now. Not only that, but I can truthfully say that I will continue to trust it less than my 605 until at least 500 rounds are down it. I can also truthfully say that I will never trust it more than my 605.

So, remain baffled at people like me if you wish, but the cold hard truth that this weird little band of Spartacus-like Taurus haters will refuse to acknowledge under threat of death is this: not every gun that rolls off the Taurus line is a piece of junk. Statistically speaking, I am guessing it would be a totally accurate and non-biased thing to say that most guns that roll off the line are fine. I am certainly not denying that some are. No question about that. But to imply (or, as in your case, straight out say) that you risk life and limb choosing to defend yourself with one is just dumb.
 
Well said Timbo! You just articulated my very thoughts.
I've been carrying my PT709 for a couple years now. At any price, I don't know how much more I can ask of an EDC weapon. Rock solid reliable, accurate, compact, thin, and eats any ammo I put thru it.
My life is worth more than any firearm I could possibly purchase.

The internet is full of guys favoring one gun over another. Some guys rave about some gun I wouldn't give you a plug nickel for. My feeling is, if that's your weapon of choice, far be it from me to doubt your judgement.
I've been fortunate, all my choices related to firearms have been good ones.

That's the nice thing about the good ole U.S.A., we all have choices.
 
How are the internals of the gun finished?
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Mine are fine. They aren't rough or anything like that, but again, your missing the point. If The gun has proven reliable over time, what possible difference does it make how the internals are finished? I know what your getting at, which is that gun company X has a far better level of fit and finish, and I will certainly be happy to concede that may be true, but at the end of the day what I want is a gun that works, and internals be damned. If polished internals were truly the measure of quality and reliability, we would all be shooting Ed Brown pistols and making fun of the Smith and Wesson wankers.
 
I never said I like or dislike Taurus. I do however like my 709. Barrel lock up is solid, trigger pull is quite good and the slide is tight. Ramp is well polished, sear and striker are smooth.
If your asking about tool marks, there are some tooling marks in the slide. Where it counts though, everything is smooth and well fit. The gun has about 2000 rounds through it.
Is it the best darn gun ever made? No, but it does what it's supposed to do, shoot straight and do it everytime.

I just bought a S&W M&P40 pro series. It has some tool marks inside and I had to do a trigger job on it today just to make it as nice as my 709. Go figure....:scrutiny:
 
I love my PT145 I can shoot it great, it feels good and I like the heni sights. Only problem is with the 3 magazines I have (2 from the factory and one 12rnd 24/70) none of the 3 will feed more than 4 or 5 rounds of fmj without jamming.

I bought it second hand from a guy that had shot it 11 times...at first it only jammed HP's but over the period of a year both factory mags started jamming, I bought the 24/7 mag and it gives me the same issue....nose diving right into the front of the magazine. Man the 24/7 mag feels great.

I hate to invest in more mags, and I hate to send it off. I tried a mod someone recommended on one of the mags but haven't had time to test it yet. I bid on two last night but lost the auction because I was only willing to bid 10 bucks on both of them.

k-12.gif
 
...and right out back behind the Taurus factories in China, you know what they do? They kill kittens and puppies!! Not for lunch, but for fun!?!? :evil:
 
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