Bad Day At The Range - Broke My Gun

T

Tsquared

New member
I have a Taurus PT92AF that I have had since I bought it new back in '88. The Locking Block on the bottom side of the barrel broke. I was at the range shooting some Blazer Brass 115 grain round nose target ammo when this occurred. I usually shoot my reloads but I have had half a box of Blazer for a couple of years and I was shooting it just to clear a spot on my shelf.

This is the first issue I have had with this weapon as it has given me excellent service over the years. I used to keep a round count but when my son started shooting it I lost count around 28K in 2008. I have no clue how many rounds my son shot through it for 4 years but I have put another 4500 rounds since he stopped shooting it. My guess would be in the high 30's.

When I fired the gun it discharged the bullet but the slide did not move and I could not rack the slide to clear it. I dropped the mag and I was able to open the take down key and remove the slide. The barrel was jammed in the slide with the broken ear off of the Locking Block jamming the mechanism. I was able to get the small piece out and the barrel assemble was able to be removed. Upon inspection it appears the Locking Block is the only part that is damaged. The brass that came out looked like it was supposed to: the primer was not flattened or cratered and there were no tell-tell bulges on the spent casing. I only fired 6 shots of 9mm and I just got the brass out of the tumbler and they all look the same. I went on to shoot 8 mags of 45GAP to make sure the range time wasn't a total loss.

I contacted Taurus Customer Care Call Center and was informed I needed to send the part to them and they would replace it or I could send the entire gun and they could go through it and check everything. I am sending the broken Locking Block back to them tomorrow.
 
.........:confused:

So you're upset a common failure point in the Beretta M92 design failed at over 30,000 rounds? And you bought it in 1988? Sounds like you got your money's worth.
 
Sorry to hear about your gun breaking. After having it for so long and firing so many rounds though it I imagine it had great sentimental significance. :(
 
Appears the Taurus PT92 is a good Taurus. 30K rnds sounds good/respectable. Some say inspection of the block can give indication of pending failure.
 
HankC1 said:
Taurus locking block is a stronger design than Beretta.
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Curious about a source for this claim.

Sorry about your gun, OP, but I was born in '88 so that's a pretty good run!

Evil Monkey said:
So you're upset a common failure point in the Beretta M92 design failed at over 30,000 rounds?
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Sounds like he just wanted to talk about his gun breaking because this is a gun discussion forum. Not seeing where he blamed design or the company in the OP, or even said he was upset.
 
Sounds like he just wanted to talk about his gun breaking because this is a gun discussion forum. Not seeing where he blamed design or the company in the OP, or even said he was upset.
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Title read "Bad day..." so I assumed the worst of feelings.

30k, that's impressive for a taurus. :D

OP have you ever replaced other parts on this particular pistol? If so, which parts?
 
Doing a quick Google search on "M9 locking block" brought up a lot of hits concerning shattered locking blocks. I'd say that given the gun is 26 years old and has been shot for ~30K rounds, you've gotten your money's worth out of that locking block. If it's the same as an M9, I'd just buy a replacement and a set of springs and call it a day. As long as there's no frame damage, I think you're good to go. Very pleased to hear a positive Taurus story!
 
I consider that a wear and tear part, I probably would have changed it before 30000 rounds. How offend do you change the recoil spring?
That's one of Taurus better models imo and the first gun I bought.
 
30K out of a Taurus with no issues until now. I'm impressed.

I hope their customer service treats you as well as the gun has.
 
I bought a 1997 PT92 last year. Though it looked unused, I bought a Beretta locking block kit, which includes their latest 3rd gen block, pin, and new recoil spring.
Installation was a breeze.
 
40CalGuy said:
a taurus semi auto failed?



i've never heard of that ever happening before. :rolleyes:
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I'm not a Taurus fan but here I don't think that's fair. The locking block is a known failure point of the 92 design. It's my favorite design, I own 3 Beretta variants, and I swap them around 6k rounds on my main shooter. 30K is a good show.
 
Update

I visited a gunsmith friend of mine this morning hoping he might have a work around. His take is the early PT92's Locking Block was a direct copy of the Beretta and not beefy enough as both Beretta 92's and Taurus 92's suffer from this issue. The Locking Block would fail from 7k-35K rounds depending upon whether it was shooting +P (would break earlier) or lighter loads (lasts longer). Most of what has been shot out of my gun is reloaded 124 gr bullets that are usually on the lower end of the recommended powder loads.

In the late 90's Taurus redesigned the Locking Block radiusing the edges using steel with a higher carbon content so it is supposed to be much stronger. Beretta also updated their design and the two are now slightly different but interchangeable. There are some after-market sources but my friend's opinion is that the Taurus new Locking Block is the best one out there.

As far as the maintenance history of my 92AF I replaced all of the springs back in 2003 when it had about 25k rounds through it. Also the total round count on this gun is in the 34k-38K range. I kept a round count on it till it hit 28k and I left to work overseas for a few years. During that time my son shot this pistol at the range. I do know he shot over 2500 rounds because that was what I had in inventory when I left and I had just enough ammo to fill 2 of the magazines when I returned. What I am (and he is) not sure about is how much ammo he purchased and shot while I was gone. I have shot another 4500 rounds through it since I have been back.
 
As far as the maintenance history of my 92AF I replaced all of the springs back in 2003 when it had about 25k rounds through it. Also the total round count on this gun is in the 34k-38K range.
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thanks for responding back.

How's the frame holding up? No visible cracks or anything "weird"?
 
The frame shows little wear and there is no evidence of any cracks. I identified the rub spots early on and did a light polish on those parts and I have used a synthetic grease and Tri-flo oil to lube it. The bottom of the slide near the rear shows the most wear and it is nominal. I have a field strip cleaning process which takes me less than 10 minutes to clean the gun after a range day. Every 3 to 5K rounds I will strip it all the way down to clean and lube everything. I replaced the rolled pins with solid pins many years ago. I did a full strip cleaning on this gun in December and everything looked good then.

I have also found that the design likes to be wet with lubrication. If it is lightly lubricated with minimal lube it will load up with grime and start to have FTF issues after about 150 rounds. With it wet lubed I have had 300-500 round range days with no hiccups. I have shot a lot of Bullseye powder through it and that powder does tend to burn dirty so that may be a contributing factor.

The only "wierd" thing was after I changed out the springs I noticed how much better the trigger felt. I used the Wolf service pack standard replacement springs and it made a drastic difference.
 
I bought a used PT92 in 2009 (third owner, to my knowledge) and a couple years later, the feed ramp cracked while shooting a friends reloads. I sent the gun to Taurus, who replaced the barrel. No issues since then, which is great since I enjoy shooting it quite a bit.

I understand why people are critical of many Taurus firearms, but they seem to have done things right with the PT92 in any case.
 
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