Is Taurus any good?

As an FFL dealer Taurus handguns are our best sellers with very few complaints from buyers.
I think they're a bargain, but not the best firearms built.
 
Their problem is this,,,

The quality control out of their factory is hit or miss.

If you get a good one out of the box,,,
It will probably give you 50 years of good service.

If you get one of their (all too often for me) lemons,,,
It's doubtful whether you will ever get it fixed properly.

I have purchased 4 Taurii handguns new,,,
The 2 revolvers were not good guns.

They were bad out of the box and the lifetime warranty proved to be worthless,,,
They were never fixed properly (to my satisfaction) so I peddled them off.

The two semi's (22-PLY & 25-PLY) have been flawless performers,,,
I shoot the heck out of the .22 and it's been very reliable.

So buying a Taurus is a crap shoot,,,
People argue what the odds of the crap shoot are,,,
My personal experience with that company is exactly 50-50.

JMnsHO - YMMV

Aarond

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never had any problems with taurus, my grandfather has a judge, a public defender, and a pt940 that he hasnt had any problems with, like others posted, its not a smith and wesson, but it gets the job done
 
They can certainly make a good revolver. They can just as easily make a bad one in therein is the problem. Their QA is spotty and at times their customer service is worse than their QA.

In my experience, I bought a NIB Model 85. It was a nice gun until it froze up solid with less than 250 rounds through it. After dealing with their customer service, that became my first and last Taurus.

in my opinion, the money you might save by buying a Taurus isn't worth it if you have issues with your gun.
 
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I have never had a bad Taurus handgun. I have had less than perfect Colts and S&Ws. I don't consider any of them bad handguns. They are all machines, and machines can malfunction from time to time.
 
I like my Taurus 94 revolver @ .22 caliber, nine shots. Seems built like the proverbial brick house. Looks good. Affordable. I also have a Ruger revolver. Proud of both.
 
The only tarus guns I would consider are revolvers, however even then with the price of nice used s+w revolvers I go that route. Their 5 shot large bore guns do call me though.
 
taurusarmed.net has a lot of happy owners, check them out.

I have had no problems with my Model 94 and looking for another Taurus revolver.
 
I keep hearing that, even for a revolver, Taurus's are bad. Is that true?

I have 3 Taurus revolvers. No complaint. I have 3 Rugers. One had been a pain but Ruger took care of it so I've no complaints with them either.

Not long ago I was at the range and doing pretty well. A fellow shooter came up to me and asked what I was shooting so I showed him my Taurus 66. His comment was, "Nothing wrong with Taurus" So you be the judge, excuse the pun
 
My mom has an older 85 that like a lot. Good trigger, accurate. Trying to swindle it from her!
 

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I have owned twelve (yes). Still have two. Just bought an M85 recently.

Seven of the twelve have been revolvers, mostly M85s, and all the revos have worked although some of the triggers were a little crunchy at the beginning.

Quality control is not as good as Ruger or Smith & Wesson, and durability and metal quality are probably not as good either, particularly when I think of the classic Smith K-frames and the Ruger SP and GP. My Taurus 1911 broke its thumb safety and hammer after only 300 rounds, for instance.

They have honored their warranty the two times I have sent something in, and they took care of the problem, including replacing an M85 that broke after 8 years of service and more than a few rounds of unauthorized plus-P. But it takes a long time for them to return a gun, and from what I read here they don't always fix things . My guess from what I read about the more recent service issues is that they need more service staff to deal with the demand. This might not be a good sign.

I would not buy a Taurus as an only or first gun, for the above reasons.

I have a local gunsmith who is expert in revolvers and, though he grimaces when I bring him one, will work on my Tauruses. It costs some money, but he smooths the trigger, and when needed he makes sure the gun is fixed, and I get it back faster. He's an expert in 1911s also, and replaced the broken Taurus parts with quality aftermarket. Better than waiting 8 or 9 weeks for Taurus to put the same crap back in.

So the verdict? If you get a Taurus revolver, it will likely work OK. I would find a good local gunsmith to work on it if something goes wrong, rather than deal with their service. And as stated, I wouldn't want a Taurus as my only choice.
 
Closet Taurus former owner. Don't ask, don't tell.

I see people that ask about Taurus, and on other more affordable guns. Your either cheap, poor, or ignorant.

I do not and will not recommend a Taurus, with all the other better choice's.

TBS, I had a 608 4" .357mag eight shots revolver. I put around 3000 mags through it, and even the gun snob's liked shooting it. I sold it to my brother to buy a S&W Performance Center R8.

And yes, I was being cheap when I bought it, but now I'm in the snob category.:D
 
To avoid fanning the flames I will keep it simple.

Of all the brands we sell at the store I work we see a higher percentage of Taurus issues than any other brands. Out of the box I've personally found some Taurus firearms with major defects.

They're certainly not all bad; not every Taurus on the market is going to fail quickly. I personally would never trust my life on one based on their current quality (or lack thereof).
 
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