Taurus Curve, the curved pistol

But what "technology" is involved in this dumb looking thing. It turns a defensive tool into a fashion accessory. All the operational technology is the same as most other small semi autos.
 
S&W hasn't come out with any new innovations lately. Just the same old box guns they have made for years but they made a Taurus Judge copy. Even a weak .380CAL pistol with a built in laser. In a perfect world some posters only like one kind of gun and slam all the others. And the gun has not even come out. Not saying S&W does not make quality guns. They did come out with the 50S&W which is one fun gun to shoot and the 8 shot M347 but all well over $450 and up and up. (I have these and more.)
 
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MagnumWill said:
Hasn't this exact statement been expressed against new technologies for centuries?
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Taurus is cutting edge?

That's a new one.

There's nothing "new" in the Curve beyond packaging. The integrated laser has been done. Integrated light, ok, I'm not aware of one in a pistol (shotguns have had them in forends) but given Crimson Trace's LightGuard it was only a matter of time. Poor sights (Taurus does take bad sights to the extreme with this thing) have been done too... far too much, even.

The one thing nobody else has done is wrap the frame to pretty much completely eliminate any possible printing. I'm not particularly sure that printing was all that serious a problem with pocket sized .380s, but ok. There's also several very good reasons to NOT curve the thing (poorer firing grip, not everybody has the same body curve so it can still be uncomfortable or even print, and that's ignoring people who aren't right handed).

I still stand by my initial statement that it's gimmicky. Taurus (and admittedly, others too) have been more interested in producing gimmicks that sell over guns that work properly. That's not a good thing.
 
Taurus is cutting edge?
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Where did I say that?

People also thought Galaxy smartphones were ridiculous and impractical? Here I am typing on one. Just playing devil's advocate.

After chatting with my wife about this gun, she had some very good points (as always :rolleyes:). I'm not an advocate for this pistol, I wanted to bring up the discussion of thinking about what shapes a firearm in the first place. She had a good point - as if I had just started getting into guns, and was easing her to buy a pistol... would this be one that I recommend, or especially to a stranger? Absolutely not, I would recommend a 1911-derived platform. I was attempting to argue the point that newcomers to the industry would be more accepting of a gun that doesn't appear as imposing as a 1911. However, that's kind of what you want, isn't it?

Personally, I laud the attempt at rethinking the pistol platform. However, I would never replace my 1911 with it.
 
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Taurus (and admittedly, others too) have been more interested in producing gimmicks that sell over guns that work properly. That's not a good thing.
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Funny, my thoughts are exactly the opposite: Taurus wasn't too good at making copies of other manufactures' guns, like the PT99, so perhaps it's best that it design and make its own, unique guns.:D
 
Technosavant said:
I'm not particularly sure that printing was all that serious a problem with pocket sized .380s, but ok. There's also several very good reasons to NOT curve the thing (poorer firing grip, not everybody has the same body curve so it can still be uncomfortable or even print, and that's ignoring people who aren't right handed).
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I don't disagree with your other comments, but just would note the following:

1) If you strip off the polymer grip frame and mag baseplate of the curve, you see that the frame and slide are just like any other gun -- nothing curved about them. The curve of the Curve is really mostly smoke and mirrors -- it's about a very thin frame and a thick, lopsided polymer covering. (Details in the patent drawings are available online, maybe on this forum, too.) Switching the Curve to a left-handed format will probably be as simple as mirroring the right-handed grip frame and base plate with changes made for the control to poke through. Taurus probably won't bother until they see whether the Curve is accepted by the buying public.

2) As for the grip possibly not fitting the hand: hold your shooting hand up, fingers curved and loosely point at something. You'll notice that the middle of your grip forms a curve, too. The Taurus CURVE fits into that shape at least as well as a straight, flat-framed gun. Better? Who knows. Shooting it will be the test -- but I suspect Taurus has done that.

3) Does it print less? Probably, but as you note, "printing" isn't much of an issue with most .380 pocket guns -- so the improvement there might be very minimal. It might be slightly more comfortable to carry, using the Belt Clip or a form-fitting IWB holster (which is what I'd probably use were I to get one.)

All this said -- and with me sounding like a proponent, which I'm not -- I'm not rushing out to get one. I think I'm more comfortable with a more potent caliber. (Some of the reading I've been doing, however, makes me think .380 might be a better round than I thought -- but probably better only in longer barrels than found in most of the .380 pocket guns.)

.
 
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Sparemag said:
for the purpose intended, sights are unnecessary.
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I disagree.

While I may say that in the intended role sights may not always be absolutely necessary, I'm never going to say that any gun flat doesn't need them. Even rudimentary sights can be a help at times and those are fairly simple operations for a manufacturer to mill into the slide. They don't hurt concealment and don't impede a draw.

I don't think it would take huge changes for me to think "ok, the curving is still a gimmick, but it might be a useful gun," but for me those changes would include some form of iron sights and moving the laser activation from a separate button to something activated by a firing grip.* The light is a GOOD idea; I'd like to see more makers integrating one.

*Yeah, I know Crimson Trace has a patent on that, but I have a gun where you have to hit a button to activate a laser and that makes the laser next thing to useless in encounters where it would indeed be needed.
 
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