Picked up my new Taurus Tracker. My thoughts

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Well I picked up my Taurus Tracker SS in .357 with a 4" barrel on Sat morning. I spent most of the weekend holding it and dry firing with snap caps as I do with any new gun. Just doing this for two days has improved the trigger pull a lot. It is much smoother now. So far I love the feel. The finish seems to be very good too. I did find a couple of things that bugged me. One was the cylinder release. It's not as solid as I would have liked. There is a little play when you touch it. I have some ideas on how to fix this problem so its really no biggy. The one other thing that I noticed was the barrel and cylinder did not seem to line up just right. I don't know if it will make a difference but because its my first revolver I want to take it in to smith for a look over before I fire it. I'm taking it in at lunch today infact. Once I have a chance to put a box of ammo through it I will post more.
 
Well, hope your Tracker works out for you, mine has been great.
Did yours have the ported barrel too? Really helps with recoil, but makes for quite a bit of "sound & fury".
My trigger is very crisp in SA and pretty smooth in DA, I am very pleased with it overall.
Let us know how you make out.
 
My Tracker was great. The little bit of sloppiness on the cylinder release was no big deal to me. Didnt hamper the action any. My cylinder line up appeared to be a little off too but if you cock the hammer back it lines up just fine. Tightens up the cylinder when its pulled back. Use a bore light and see if it does this as well with yours. Shot alot of rounds out of mine with no problems. It was a great gun but got a good trade offer for a G19 so I had to do it.
 
My cylinder line up appeared to be a little off too but if you cock the hammer back it lines up just fine

Yeah we checked that with no luck. if you move the clylinder with your hand using the little play there is, it lines up just fine, but goes right back as soon as you remove your hand. I took it in at lunch and they said the smith would not be in until Sunday so I could A: leave it there or B: spend the week dry firing more. Gee thats a tough one:rolleyes:. They did say that this smith has seen my problem may times (not just on Taurus') and does a great job of fixing it. He said that its not bad enought to worry but could not hurt to be looked at so i'm going to play it safe. I just have to hold off until next Sunday to fire it.

Did yours have the ported barrel too? Really helps with recoil, but makes for quite a bit of "sound & fury".

Yes mine has ported holes too. I was shocked at how loud it was firing the rental Tracker. I never used to need muffs with my other guns. Just plugs did fine. I think I need to double up with both if I want to keep my hearing. Its was really cool seeing people step out of there lain to see who was firing the canon. I scared the hell out of a first time shooter who was next to me. It was a little girl about 9 years old. I felt bad so I moved down to the end after the first shot. I shoot at an indoor range so its REALLY loud.
 
Muzzle blast

Muzzle blast can be a big problem with the .357 if you use hot handloads. One time at a rental range my best buddy and I were shooting. I had a box of very hot handloads for my four inch model 686. He was shooting a Model 629 four inch with full house .44 magnums. The muzzleblast from the .357 was actually much worse, to the extent people on either side of me left the range!
 
Taurus M971 Tracker 22MAG

Well, I just picked up my new M971 Tracker today after work. What a sweet piece of work. I am still amazed at the quality Taurus is putting into their guns.
The fit and finish is exemplary. Like any engineer should know, the first thing I did when I got her home was checked her trigger pull.

S/A = 4.33 lbs.
D/A = 12.75 lbs.

Looks like I need to do some exploratory surgery. Let's see...standard 3 screws on the right-hand sideplate. Okay, got the "right" flathead bit (very, very important). Slowly, the objective is to do this without anyone suspecting that I had been inside!! Now, pry behind the hammer slot....pry in front of the trigger....slowly...a little bit at a time.

There....the sideplate is off. Hmmmmnnnn....looks pretty standard, kinda like the old S&W's. Let's see....straight pin through the hammer strut to capture the hammer spring. Okay...no problem. Now, slowly start the cock with the trigger...there, pull out the hammer.

Hmmmnnn....where's my 30X jewler's loop? Okay, looks a little rough. Dremel with the fine wire brush ought to smooth things up a bit. Now, remove the cylinder advance , partially depress the trigger return spring...there....trigger came out fairly painlessly.

Now, clip 2 coils from the trigger return spring. Apply lightly some Brownell's Action Magic.

Assemble in reverse order. Careful on the sideplates....time is on my side....no need to rush it now.
Lightly tap with hard plastic mallet. Torque 3 screws.

Walaa.........

S/A = 3 lbs.
D/A = 12.75 lbs.

Boy howdy...that S/A sure feels like 2 lbs, though?!!!.....nothing like falling off the edge....

...Right NOW!!!

By Friday, she should have a brand spankin' new Burris 2X Nickel LER scope set in Warne rings for eyes.

Tomorrow at lunch we'll see if she likes what I feed her...stay tuned.
 
.....M971 Testing w/scope

UPS guy at work delivered my new scope for the Tracker at 11:30am. I mounted the scope on my Tracker at lunch.

After work went to my buddy's farm for some test firing:

Handgun: Taurus M971 Tracker S/S 22Mag.
Scope: Burris 2X LER Nickel
Scope Base: Taurus S/S
Rings: Warne Nickel
Trigger Pull: S/A = 3lbs

Shots per group: 7 measured c-t-c
Rest: Sandbag off spare tire on back of SUV

25 yards: (1/4" high)

Fed. Premium 30gr. Sierra = 0.875"
Win. Supreme 34gr. = 0.768"
CCI TNT 30gr. = 2.161"

50 yards: (1/2" high)

Fed. Premium 30gr. Sierra = 1.859"
Win. Supreme 34gr. = 2.027"
CCI TNT 30gr. = 4.190"

100 yards: (2" low)

Fed. Premium 30gr. Sierra = 3.723"

Well, what can I say? I knew the Federals and Winchesters were shooting good from my first test shooting with open sights. I was disappointed with the CCI TNT's, but, hey this is one gun and one shooter!!
Not a very good sample to draw any conclusions. But, it is readily apparent that my Tracker prefers to "eat" Feds. and Wins!!!

I knew she had some potential when I shot her open-sighted at 20 yards. Obviously, a 2X LER scope is NOT the best aiming device for shots beyond 50 yards. My targets for the 25 and 50 yard groups were a 1/3" dot from a permanent marker. The 100 yard target was a 1" square from the same marker. And who knows how much shooter-induced error was involved. At 100 yards with that 2X scope, I could barely identify that 1" square. I think the next time I'll use a 1" blaze orange sticker.

I am very pleased with these results. I guess I just got lucky and found a 7 shot revolver that has 7 remarkably consistent chambers!!

Well, look at all of you 'chucks and 'hogs...here comes the Tracker!!
 
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