Taurus Experience - Beware

A handgun that can't be dry-fired is a handgun that is of little use IMO. Dry-firing is a large part of maintaining familiarity with your weapon and maintaining/improving trigger control.

After reading the quote from the manual reported here, any chance of my purchasing a Taurus went from slim to none!

Dave
 
I have a Taurus Model 415 and have cited the admonition regarding dry-firing a Taurus da revolver on more than a couple of occasions when the topic of dry-firing has come up, but I've often wondered if using proper snap caps would make it ok. I guess the best way to find out is to contact the company; might do so when I get the time and inclination.
 
I spent several years as gun room manager for Sportsman's Warehouse, and Taurus revolvers were the absolute worst guns we sold. I sent back more Taurus revolvers for warranty service than everything else we carried, COMBINED, with The Judge and the single action Gaucho being the absolute worst of the worst. Taurus autos, on the other hand, seemed to be a decent gun, and I can only remember sending back two for service, and one of them was just a screw the customer buggered up trying to remove it.

That said, I've had two Taurus revolvers, a M85 and a M941, and they worked just fine. I still have the 941. If they were all bad, Taurus wouldn't be in the revolver business, obviously, but I had a much larger return rate on them than everything else. The Gaucho was so bad, they got out of the single action business right quick. We only carried them for a very brief period. They were introduced in 2006, I believe, discontinued in 2007 for re-engineering and QC issues, re-introduced, then discontinued for good in 2009.

If you're a big retail chain, such as Sportsman's Warehouse, warranty service is prompt, but if you send it in as an individual or through your friendly neighborhood kitchen table FFL $20 transfer guy, you're going to be waiting awhile.
 
I'm sure Taurus turns out a stinker once in a while. Over on the Smith & Wesson forum, there are a number of threads about the junk they say Smith & Wesson turns out now. That hasn't been my experience, but it must be someones. I'm sure you'll find the same about most other guns. Or cars. Or refrigerators. Or....

The only gun I ever had to have serviced, and I bought it brand new, was a Ruger Security-Six. You know, one of those "built like a tank," never fail Rugers. Right out of the box, it would bind up as tight as Dick's hatband after 50 rounds of jacketed bullets. They fixed it.

It happens.
 
I had a binding cylinder 66. Taurus replaced the ejector? or something.

It did take longer than advertised. It did come back working right.

If you don't let the understated lead time hurt your opinion, I think they are worth the money. If it does tarnish your enjoyment, I can see getting rid of it.

Despite all the nonsense about revolvers being tougher than an auto, you can easily destroy timing in a revolver. Rapid firing, pulling the hammer back wit excessive force, flipping the cylinder, etc.
 
Taurus can and does make decent firearms. I've owned and shot, a fair amount, a model 617 Ti with no real problems. The only problem I had was the factory internal lube thickened up from lack of use after a year or so. That was a home fix; pull side plate, clean out old lube, re-lube and I was good to go.
 
I've had no Taurus issues(own 6). I did have two Glocks that needed to visit the repair shop, "Perfection" requires a return shipping label apparently. I've had two bad Ruger semi autos also.
 
I have owned around 8-10 Taurus revolvers and only had one that spit lead from the cylinder gap. So no complaints from me but I doubt I will ever buy another unless its a smokin' deal and I can check the gun in person. No guns off GB for me even with an inspection period.
 
M-66 : great trigger but after years of shooting started getting funky. Taurus did half-donkey job of fixing. Gone
PT-22 : fun gun that worked great. Shouldn't have sold it.
PT-111: piece of garbage that had several fatal issues. Taurus couldn't seem to fix it, had several go-rounds with customer service. Gone.
M-94 : crap with shallow barrel grooves that started keyholing after a couple dozen rounds. Back to the dealer
M-85. Great revolver. Gave it to inlaw relative who is now EX-inlaw. I should have kept the revolver. Dangit.
I'm done with Taurus. There are much better options.
 
Found barrel down range of my new stainless steel 85

I went to the range yesterday to shoot my new Taurus SS 85 snubby. I started with 130 grain winchester fmj standard pressure. I fired 5 rounds and on the fifth round the barrel broke off. I had the range master shut down the range and we found the barrel at the end of range in the bullet stopping material. I turned the gun into the dealer and got a receipt. He is taking this issue up with distributor. What a shock to all of us at the range. Anyway this gun was a smooth shooter until destruction.
 
I have a Taurus PT-111 Gen 2. Once I got far enough up the ladder with my reloads to reliably cycle the gun, it has run like a champ with everything I feed into it (plated, jacketed, lead, round nose, hollow point, truncated cone, etc). Yes, the trigger pull is long and heavy, but if I wanted a target pistol, I would have paid the money to get a target pistol. For a $250 gun, it has given me no reason to complain.

Of course, I do follow the manual's recommendations and I don't dry fire it.

And while I have never had to deal with Taurus Customer Service myself, the thread on the Taurus forum (taurusarmed.net) suggests that most people are pretty satisfied with their experience both on the phone and with the work done on the gun.

Of course, the people whose guns are part of the class-action suit are not at all happy since the litigation has dragged on for years and they can't get their guns back until everything is finalized, but that's a problem of the courts and the legal system and not Customer Service.
 
A barrel breaking off is the result of over-torquing and is not unique to Taurus, though it is almost unknown in any other make. Again, poor quality control in assembly, the perennial problem with that company and, in this case, impossible to detect in advance.

For many years, Taurus has claimed that it has solved the problems, usually by appointing a new QC guru, some "expert" who will magically make things right. Like sports teams hiring a new manager/coach, the "fix" seldom works since the problem is endemic to the production line, and the solution works only as long as the new man has enough authority to hire and fire as well as educate employees who probably can never own any of the guns they work on, and see no reason to worry if some rich dude on another continent gets a lemon.

Jim
 
Hmmm . . . I think like their guns their customer service quality is inconsistent. I sent my PT-22 in for repair. It came back in just over two weeks and runs like a champ. First time I needed parts for a Taurus gun I called them and they sent them free. Second time I called them, talked to a CS rep who clearly did not know what she was talking about and had to pay for parts. With Taurus it's a crap shoot. I only bought the PT-22 because it was at an auction and I got a great deal on it and it's become one of my favorite guns.
Life is good.
Prof Young
 
Not all Taurus revolvers are Lemons. I bought a Taurus model 455 , a 5 shot snub nosed 45 acp revolver in 2004. That's 13 years of moderate use , 100 to 200 rounds per month fired at the local indoor range adds up to 15,000 rounds in round numbers .
No problems to date, it is the most accurate 45 acp I own (3 are 1911's).

It will never be for sale because I really like this little power house. A large bore snub nosed revolver with a ported barrel is just an awesome little powerhouse in a compact package....Don't believe all the negative press spewed out about Taurus revolvers , not all of them are bad .
Gary
I've heard a lot of S&W horror stories, not every one that rolls of any assembly line will be perfect and sometimes customer service is poor from all of them.
 
I've had two Taurus hand guns. The first was a SS85, really a nice little gun. I should have had my bore light with me when I bought it, bore was very rough, a lot of chatter marks. But once I learned how to handle it I could shoot a fairly nice group at seven yds pretty consistently. Unfortunately no matter what I did it was always 3" to the left. It was me, not the gun. It just didn't work with my hands, so I traded it off. My second one is the PT111G2, and once I got my handloads working correctly it's been good. But, like the revo I should have had my bore light with me when I bought it, chatter marks in the rifling again. It doesn't seem to bother the gun, it's not a target gun by any means but is adequate for its intended use. It's my car gun and goes with me to work every day.
 
My two Taurus firearms had unacceptable problems. However, I have had an unacceptable Glock and two SW guns that had severe problems. The SW guns - one was ditched and the other fixed acceptably. The Glock is under review.
 
As gunsmithing students, we all disliked Taurus revolvers. They are simply inferior to S&W upon which the Taurus design is devoluted from. Taurus really cheapened the design and are a PITA to work on. Transfer bars are almost always guaranteed to break and Taurus is aware of it, but won't do the proper heat threatment or change the metallurgy.

Friends don't let friends buy Taurus.
 
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