Reliability Taurus revolver vs Taurus.

How reliable is/was your Taurus revolver? Reliability = works 100% of the time.

  • I never had a problem.

    Votes: 54 75.0%
  • I had a problem but I fixed it my self.

    Votes: 4 5.6%
  • I had a problem but Taurus fixed it on the 1st time.

    Votes: 3 4.2%
  • I had a problem(s) but Taurus fixed it the 2nd time.

    Votes: 2 2.8%
  • I had a problem(s) but Taurus fixed it on the 3rd or more time.

    Votes: 1 1.4%
  • Taurus was not able to fix it. I kept having problems. It will never be as reliable as a S&W

    Votes: 6 8.3%
  • A gun smith was not able to fix. I kept having problems. It will never be as reliable as a S&W

    Votes: 3 4.2%

  • Total voters
    72

Ronn82727

Inactive
How reliable is/was your Taurus revolver? Reliability = works 100% of the time.

Hello to everyone from sunny Florida.
I asked this same question on the S&W forum and on the Taurus forum, but I wanted to make sure I get an unbiassed pole.

I am assuming that S&W revolvers are more reliable, but I figured that if I annoy taurus enough they will fix my revolver if I have problems.
I know why not just get the S&W?
The Taurus that I want has 8 shots and the S&W has 7.

If I can get the Taurus just as reliable as the S&W either by annoying Taurus or taking it to a gun smith, then I would get the Taurus. However if the Taurus keeps having problem after the problem then its no good to me.

Now for the Poll: How reliable is / was your Taurus revolver
My definition of reliability is that it works 100% of the time provided its clean and you are using the right ammo.

Please feel free to elaborate.
 
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The Taurus is reliable, in the sense that any revolver is reliable. They are simple systems and function when you pull the trigger.

The problem is accuracy, metallurgy, and longevity, to me. I have 3 of the Taurus .22LR or .22 Magnum revolvers, and will not step up to a centerfire in this make. Fit and finish are acceptable, but I can see they are not built to last, and punishing pressures and recoil are not going to help in that regard.

So your extra round for a carry revolver can be a compelling reason to choose a Taurus. It's going to shoot.

By the way, do I have to be Polish to respond to the Poll?
 
I only have one so my sample is small. But I have a Model M327 and have never had a problem at all.
I have 5 smith's 4 are perfect and a Model 19 that had a heavy dose of heavy 357 mags through it. Had been shot loose.
If you beat any gun you can wear it out or break it.
If you want a tank, buy a Ruger.

327-2.jpg
 
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I never had a problem with mine. Somewhere here there should be a "revolver checkout" sticky, just about every forum seems to have one.

Learn what to look for in a revolver. It can save you a lot of grief. Often the screwed up ones come that way from the factory.
 
kilimanjaro, I hear what your saying.

The Taurus wont be as reliable as the S&W because of the metallurgy & or tolerances. Even if the Taurus gets repaired something else will go wrong with it again because of the..... quality of the Metallurgy & or the Tolerances? And not even a gunsmith can fix a Metallurgy problem?
 
This Interarms Rossi reflects an earlier, less precise period of Brazilian manufacturing. The internal parts look like they were hand filed from soap chunks. The pistol goes bang and all of that but it shows a lot of hand fitting.



This little Taurus Ultra light is something quite different. The internals are as precisely machined and fitted as a modern S&W. I called Taurus about this, they said the factory had been outfitted with modern CNC machinery. It shows.



In 2012 Brazil ranked 8th in the world of manufacturing, making about 2.2% of the world's manufactured goods. They are a serious manufacturing business, not some "Tropical Jack across the tracks" backwater.
 
Hi Ron,

I've owned 2 taurus revolvers. 1st was a 3" 22 mag 8 shot the action stunk. The 2nd was a taurus millenium 40cal. It jammed too many times for me to trust it and I developed Uncle Arther. So I sold/traded both for Rugers.

Happy New Year & we are also here in sunny Florida.

Doc
 
Hello Doc, thanks for the reply. The 2 guns I am between are the Taurus 941 Ultra-lite and the S&W 351 PD. I loooove the idea of 8 shots but not if its only going to last 2000ish rounds before I have a problem. I am going to practice my rear end off and will probably put through 100ish rounds a month. Too bad S&W does not make a 8 shot.....thats not $1,300 lol.
 
Thanks for your reply too slamfire. How many rounds have you put through your ultra-lite taurus?

Hundred's, not thousands. About the same I put through my S&W Airweights in 38 Spl. Never had a problem with any of these. The revolver with the most rounds through it has to be my S&W M10-5 in 38 Spl. That has had thousands of rounds put through it, maybe up to 10 thousand so far, and it was a used Cop gun before I got it.
 
Wow thats what I am talking about slamfire. Thanks for the data! :) I dont quite trust the taurus 941 yet. I want to see more of a track record.

Has anyone here shot upwards of 5,000ish rounds on here with a taurus revolver and not had any gun issues?....I would not count ammo issues against the gun.
 
i can only make a VERY biased reply to this thread, because the 3 revolvers i own, along with with semi-auto EDC and my 357 lever-action, are all Taurus Products manufactured and purchased in the last 5 years. At this time i cannot say for sure the round counts of any of my Taurus firearms, just that the lever has likely the highest with the semi-auto and the ".357mag Poly-Protector" trailing close behind. All of these have AT LEAST 2000 rounds a piece, which i understand is not alot, but since these are either "role-specific" firearms or just the fact that i haven't owned some very long, they aren't exactly the type of guns i am doing mag dumps every trip to the range. I do have a Taurus 85, it's pretty much what most would call the "standard" Taurus .38spl, from a good many years back. My stepfather just gave it to me when he picked up his Beretta semi-auto a few weeks back, but he cannot recall the exact purchase date, just that it may have been in the late eighties and outside of the occasional range trip with friends he did not shoot it much. This 85 is over 95% still, despite being holstered in his center-console for a couple decades, i found that to be pretty impressive. I wish i had more time behind these, what i surmise, fine pistols that very much exceed the value that I put into them. I have yet needed to call Taurus so i have no comment to their CS or standing behind their warranties. I have never needed a part or a part repaired on my Taurus firearms, but time will tell, but eventually any firearm will wear out a moving part.

Knowing i am still in the infant stage with most of the Taurus guns,i will do my best to give a non-biased opinion on the quality of Taurus, comparing only to my limited experience with several other brands. I'll start with my favorite, the .357 M92 lever-action: not just my fav Taurus, quite possibly my favorite rifle in my safe period, tough call, but this has been a silk smooth extremely reliable action, out-of-the-box. I ordered from Taurus through distributor to get the 24" round barrel in stainless, it's a freaking beauty, undeniable. Upon opening the action and exposing the internals, yes i agree with alot of bad reviews, that they look pretty darn rough, especially on the sides of the bolt, at least the polished the ins-outs of the lever/lugs/gates etc. just that danged bolt is stupid rough, and i admit it can be a pretty big turn off. It has ZERO effect on the function of the rifle, this thing is crazy reliable with a huge versatile array of projectiles, but it's the principle that kinda makes you wonder. If you built a rifle for public consumption, and paid attention to detail/aesthetics of every last piece and in the end you had what most would consider a very handsome rifle, but you noticed when racking the bolt you see an inch thick slab of steel come out with the most horrific, jagged cuts that get exposed for all the eye to see.........wouldn't you dang well make sure the next rifle you did would have that piece taken to the belt-sander before assembly? I find that very strange, because it's such a simple procedure, yet t's constantly complained about by just about every Rossi 92 buyers review ever, and it's pretty much a free and no hassle fix, not to mention quick. Small things like that make you wonder about the pride, or lack thereof, that's instilled into the company as a whole when NOBODY down the line stands up and puts their foot down to get this quick fix done.....................sorry, but it's just plain weird.......

Now i will speak to, what i believe to be, my highest quality Taurus. This is also my newest Taurus and is the Model 82B4 "Homeland Security"....i know, it's a little hokey, but a fine revolver. This is a HUGE revolver for being only a .38+P, which to me is the appeal of it as well. I have shot many Rugers, Smiths and whatevers and have to say there are not a whole lot of triggers out there that have a DA as good as this thing and very few that have a better one. Now i am not going to say i have never shot a top-o-the-line bobbed smith that wasn't better and glided like silk, but lets take cost into account when it's relevant. Note again, this is a large frame revolver (K-ish) with a flawless finish and beautiful, IN MY OPINION, streamlined lines. The barrels rifling looks laser cut with no jigs/jags anywhere to be seen, flawless rounded crown that blends seamlessly in and around the front of the barrel, cylinders that had the extra time taken to be honed properly after the rough cuts, a cylinder gap that is immeasurable to the eye and just "okay" quality engravings. to me this revolver serves no purpose to anyone outside of the range, and am pretty disappointed that i am staring down a fixed frame sight. make that VERY disappointed, but again we need to look at the costs, and with the infinite threads of undeserved Taurus bashing on every google search, it's not likely even if Taurus made the holy grail of target revolvers, that many folks are going to wait in line to pony up nearly a grand for a Taurus whether it's worth it or not. Outside of the non-adjustable sights i am unbelievably pleased and even surprised at the quality and attention that is apparent almost immediately after fondling this particular model. A- overall, points off for sights and the "no-swell" rubber grip. A+++ for exceptional value at under $450 for a real competitor to the known "quality" pistol-smiths.

On to the worst of the collection. When i say worst i am talking quality in terms of fit/finish/QC and not the execution of the firearm itself, which if i thought was poor it wouldn't be my wife's EDC. I'm talking about the Taurus 605POLY. This design appears to be modeled as close as possible from the Taurus 85 which most would see as a utility revolver with a CC implied role. The 605 takes the popular design and only builds a steel cage around the cylinder housing and puts inside a polymer framed body with a decently thick barrel insert to make a lighter CC revolver capable of full-house .357mag in a pistol that comes in less weight than the steel .38spl. This revolver did everything it could not to pay too much attention to small details. It has a slightly larger than normal cylinder gap, a plastic end-cap the pops in and out to cover the crane screw that will eventually pop-off and disappear, rough-cut chambers that make for sticky extraction with the mildest loads out there, likely the shallowest grooved rifling i've ever sen outside of a Nerf gun and finally a metal front sight with a red fiber-optic insert which will come out sooner that the crane screw cover. This gun sounds pretty terrible right? Well, it's not. It's actually surprisingly accurate and even somewhat tolerable for a couple cylinder of the magnums here and there. It hasn't hick-upped for us once, as an owner for over three years and, a low guess, of 1500+ rounds of various powered am mos, this particular revolver is still my wife's favorite and the one she shoots the most accurately, really it TAUGHT her to shoot efficiently. As she went through various semi-autos, struggling all the way, her confidence/motivation and interest in the sport was fading quickly. we didn't know at first that the mousey 9's were a poor choice for newb's, but from the first round out of the barrel she has been able to control the weapon unlike she ever was with a semi despite weeks of practicing. I also like this gun, it has an armor tough body that doesn't scratch/dent/ding/discolor and is very easy to conceal in a pocket. Despite the rough and shallow rifling, i also have been able to master the accuracy of this little blaster. The body is a slightly fatter, but lighter, than the steel revolvers and for some reason that lends well to it's comfort. the grip fits my hand very well and is likely what makes me slightly loathe the , much nicer, 82B4's grips. I personally just have a slight discomfort with a five shot EDC and i don't believe tactical revolver reloads is practical in ANY real-world defense situation. If i was, i would likely carry this exact gun, pocket-carry, as my EDC. It's a utility gun and it does exactly what it needs to for a price tag that is embarrassingly low. C+ for wobbly front sight, rough cylinders, shallow rifling A+++ for reliability and value and bringing another affordable usable firearm to the masses.

i could talk about the others, but pretty sure this post has already become annoyingly long, like so many of my wordy posts of late, this pretty much gives the examples of Taurus quality from high/mid/low, note the price tags generally already give away these trade secrets. And although i could go for days about how anyone who doesn't buy a Taurus G2 is missing one of the greatest values in semi-auto pistol history, that wasn't really the question......
 
skizzums wow you are a wealth of knowledge. I wish i could elaborate as much as that. Are you are writer?

Any ways yes, I figured that the 941 is probably not the highest quality taurus out there. I bet it would work for a few 1,000 rounds maybe 3,000 But, what happens after that? Is there such a thing as a revolver tune up every 1,000 rounds? If my life depends on it I want something I know will go bang every time.

Has anyone here had an issue with a S&W under 5,000 rounds?
 
I've had just a few Tuarii(?) and had problems with all but this 941, 22mag that I've had over 20 years. It gets used a lot and has been rock solid. All my other revolvers are Smiths and Rugers, but I'll keep this Taurus forever.

941.jpg
 
I have owned at least one Taurus at any given time since 1987. I have yet to wear one out. I have owned about a dozen all told. One was defective from the factory and it took two trips back for it to be fixed properly. The rest have been fine. A few of them have had very good triggers. Most of them have had so-so triggers.

I don't expect the average Taurus to have as nice a trigger as the average S&W. But I do expect that if I break one in for a few hundred rounds and it functions correctly, it will continue to do so for longer than I am likely to ever shoot it.
 
I have a Taurus 94 22LR snubbie and a 9mm 905. I've had these for about 8 years and shot the 94 quite a bit. A family member has an 85 snubbie which I've also shot quite a bit.

There have been no problems with any of these guns. The fit and finish is quite good too. I really do enjoy them.

I also own a Ruger SP-101, Single Six, Vaquero, along with S&W model 10, 15, 28 and 642 (all pre-lock except the last one).

Of all these guns, the Model 15 and SP-101 are my favorites. I do enjoy the Taurus 94 over the Single Six though. It's just more comfortable in my hand.
 
Thanks tallball and gbran for the reply. Its looking better and better for the Taurus 941 ultra-lite. I thought for sure people would have said get the S&W. But then again maybe the sales man at the gun store did a "sales" job on me.

I think I am going to make another poll on the reliability of the Taurus ultra-lites and see how many rounds people have fired before an not had a problem. I hope its not annoying but I am a numbers person.

If the taurus ultra-lights can prove to be as reliable as the S&W air lites then, I'll get the taurus.
 
I own Taurus 357 mags
617 stainless 7 shot
627 stainless 7 shot
651 titanium 5 shot
Never any problems using all ammo even 180gr woods loads.
 
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