Taurus Quality: Objective Opinions...?

My experience with Taurus is as follows: I had a Taurus 445 .44 Special Snub. The only issue I had with it was that the trigger would become difficult to pull after about 50 rounds or so and would lighten back up after cleaning the revolver. I suspect that the revolver had an overly tight barrel-to-cylinder gap. I didn't really feel that it was that big an issue because as a carry gun (what I bought the gun for) I couldn't imagine ever having to shoot more than 50 rounds in self defense. I sold the gun because it didn't fit me well (the muzzle climb of a 200+ grain bullet and the rather smallish grip didn't agree well with my shooting hand).

My father owned a Taurus M66 revolver in .357 Magnum. The only issue he ever had was the ejector rod backing out once (an issue I've also had with S&W's). Once properly tightened, the ejector rod nor any other part of the revolver ever gave any more problems. That gun was sold in order to finance a Ruger SP101 which fit his needs better.

My father also currently owns a Taurus 738 TCP .380. While he's not had the gun very long (just a couple of months), he's had not issues thus far. He uses the TCP as his everyday carry gun.

I don't really look much at Taurus products anymore, but not because of a bad experience with their quality. My reason for looking elsewhere is the rather poor resale value of Taurus firearms. When I sold my 445, it was difficult to find anyone who would give me over $100 for it (I paid roughly $300 when I bought it). I prefer to buy guns which will retain at least 50% of their value should I decide to re-sell them and Taurus doesn't seem to be able to accomplish that. With regards to Taurus customer service, I can't comment as I've never personally used it.
 
I don't own a Taurus, but I cringe everytime this subject comes up.

There are so many people on this board that hate Taurus; and they're just biting at the bit to tell you about it.

I would venture to guess that there are some Taurus owners in this forum that don't post about their positive experience, just to avoid the headache of getting bashed and insulted. I'm not waving the Taurus flag by any means; but gun bashing in general is way out of control.

I have no recent experience with Taurus. However, a long time ago, I had a PT99 that I shot countless trouble free rounds through. Perhaps I was lucky, but my experience was a very positive one. If you'd like to hear from current owners, you could try taurusarmed.net. There are actually some happy campers over there.

Lee
 
I do not believe G&A. It's a sales magazine and rarely do they have a bad word for anything.

But, the two Taurus guns I own, a TCP and 85, work fine. I like them.

I cannot say every Taurus product is great, nor every example of a particular type, but the two I have work well.

BTW, I'm a Glock man and Smith J frame man. I shoot alot. But I know there are many companies and products that will do well to besides the two I use so much.
 
My experience went like this...
Around 2001 I bought a Taurus. It was fine and I liked it enough that I bought another, and another, and another over the next few years.

One broke. Taurus repaired and returned it within a reasonable amount of time (in spite of things I'd heard about getting them repaired) so I was enthused enough to buy another.

Then it all started going south. The "repaired" gun developed a horrible trigger slap, then another began failing with light hammer strikes and got "lost in the repair queue" for months. Then another started having trouble, then another!

At the same time a friend started having trouble with his PT-145 (It somehow blew the recoil spring halfway out of the hole in the front of the gun). He also had a pretty extended wait on repairs though his was fixed when he got it back.

Eventually I was so frustrated/concerned about the cascading failures that I sold or traded them all (with full disclosure) including the remaining couple (a PT-140 and a PT-1911) that never gave me any trouble.

At this point I have, no confidence left in anything with the Taurus name on it. I don't stop anyone from buying Taurus, and I won't give a Taurus owner any grief, but it's not a brand I recommend.
 
There are so many people on this board that hate Taurus; and they're just biting at the bit to tell you about it.
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Amen! In fact, one of our fellow handgun lovers here would have about 2000 fewer posts if he never griped about his one-and-done Taurus experience. But, perhaps if I'd been burned in a similar way then I'd be on a crusade as well.

Oh, my PT 24/7 in .45 ran like a champ. Very well made.
 
I was comparing a Taurus 1911 the other day to my custom 1911...

The Taurus had some nice Heine sights, good trigger, great thumb safety action, nice grip, good feel. Barrel to slide was pretty decent, slide to frame was 'combat tight'.

Not sure what it cost, but it was put together pretty well...
 
There are so many people on this board that hate Taurus; and they're just biting at the bit to tell you about it.
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I don't hate them, but I have seen a much higher failure rate with their products than other manufacturers. You're taking a risk buying one of their products. If you get a good one, it's a great gun. If you don't, you're dealing with an average wait of 5-6 weeks to get service.

The gamble is the problem.
 
my opinion of taurus is good. i own 3 revolvers and 4 semi autos by taurus and all work just fine and accuracy is good too. many of the taurus haters don't even own one, they just repeat what they hear or see on the internet. until one breaks or wears out or falls apart i will continue to enjoy my taurus firearms and recommend them.....but isn't that true about any gun maker? they are all good until you have a problem and then you have to decide if it's due to use, misuse, abuse or bad quality. i read about alot of problems with guns on these forums, all brands, all calibers, all price ranges. no gun or gun maker is immune. i think part of the problem with guns are the gun owners. they don't read instructions, don't clean their guns often enough or properly and they all fancy themselves as shade tree gunsmiths even though they often can't reassemble their guns after cleaning. another problem is many look upon guns as jewlery, why buy a timex when you can brag about a rolex even though the timex probably keeps better time.
 
I own two

Both are model 605 snubnose revolvers. Got the blued one from a funshop owner who was going out of business and owed me. NIB. Nice firearm, accurate, decent enough trigger. Got it for the wife. Liked it so much that I got a stainless for myself. Cylinder bound up before I even had 15 rounds through it. Sent it back. After two months it came back. Transfer bar broke before I even had 25 rounds through it. Another two month vacation in Florida. Now it seems to work, but I'm saving up for a Ruger SP101. I don't have the heart to stick somebody with it even at a cheaper price and full disclosure. Guess I'll keep it as a stash/car gun. It has a couple hundred .38s and about 50 .357s through it now.

I had heard that they were hit and miss. Guess I know now. This was all during 2009. I won't be purchasing anymore Taurus.YMMV.
 
I still think they're crap.

No Taurus that has entered my family, or circle of friends, has satisfied the buyer. And, every single one of them had to go back for repair. Some people might brush that off as a bad run... I can't, though. This is why:

Taurus was sent a new, unfired revolver with a timing issue. Instead of fixing it, they sent the buyer a completely different model, without contacting him. Then, they refused to swap him for the original pistol. He was stuck with a cheaper pistol - in a model and configuration he didn't want.

Not long after that, there were not one, but two barrel separations on the first shot, with other revolvers. Every manufacturer makes a lemon, once in a while. But, when you see the barrel fly off two revolvers within a month - at less than a month after they 'stole' a revolver from another shooter.... It doesn't give warm fuzzies about quality.

My most recent experience involved a recent model, Taurus claims to have designed from the ground up.

It was a piece of crap. Customer service was crap. They kept trying to blame ME for the problems I was having (including being assembled incorrectly from the factory).

Then, when I described the issues I was having, I wasn't told they wanted to take a look at the pistol - to see what was wrong. They came right out and told me - they've had too many issues with the model I purchased, and would simply send me something else in the same cartridge. Once my pistol entered the repair center, they weren't going to give it back.

They only reason I still own the newer one, is because I can't get a decent price out of it at any local gun shops. So... I'm hoping some gung-ho Taurus collector will stumble upon my classified listing, and offer me a couple gajillion dollars for it. (It was the first model produced for the "product line" it falls into, and 8th pistol produced of that model.)

For me, their name is Mud.
 
I have had 2 (a PT1911 when they first came out and a 145) The safety kept falling off the 1911 and the 145 had to go back for light strikes and FTF. After about 3 months , they sent the 145 back- it was worse than it was when I sent it off. I wound up trading it back to the dealer - at a loss- and got a different brand of gun. So I guess I'm 0-2 with Taurus.
 
My Taurus Experience

In July of 2009 I purchased a Taurus 617 Stainless to be used as my day-to-day carry weapon, as I had regulated my M-66 21/2” to nightstand duty. So far I have run almost 1,000 rounds of 38 special +P, +P+ and .357 Magnum ammo through it with out one misfire or problem of any sort. Both the double and single action trigger pulls have smoothed out and at 25’ it’s more accurate than I am; on a good day I shoot seven rounds D.A. in seven seconds and keep these in a 2” – 3” group C.O.M.

I carry and shoot my Taurus with confidence, and the only two modifications I have preformed were the addition of several coats of red nail polish to the front sight and several hours of polishing the exterior with Mothers Mag cleaner. Yet based on the horror stories I have heard on this forum and some others I would not recommend a Taurus to a friend nor do I believe that I will purchase a second Taurus.
 
Well if it is a "different company" I'd suggest they rename it. Taurus has gotten a ( well deserved) rep for bad quality control and poor factory service. I had 5 Taurus of older /pre 2000 vintage. Two were OK, two were horrible quality/workmanship and went back and forth to the factory until I traded them out of frustration. The last blew up in my hands at it's first range session ( forcing cone issue.) I WON"T be trying anything with their name on it ever again.
 
The last blew up in my hands at it's first range session ( forcing cone issue.) I WON"T be trying anything with their name on it ever again.
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That is exactly where I'm at.

Buying a TV that has picture issues, and has to get serviced is one thing....

Buying a model train that won't pull the advertised number of freight cars is one thing....

Buying a firearm, designed to contain 55,000psi, only inches from vital body parts.... which tears itself apart on the first shot.... totally different beast.

When lives, eye sight, and fingers are on the line - You better be making a quality product. ...Not something that's a roll of the dice.
 
I'm the firearms manager at a NW retail chain, and I return more Taurus guns, by far, than any other brand; revolvers for the most part - the autos seem to hold up much better.
 
I've owned three Taurus revolvers. They all worked just fine. One of them had wooden grips that looked like they had been carved from a 2x4, then were checkered by some guy using a carpenters hand saw, but they worked.
 
Jbar4Ranch said:
I'm the firearms manager at a NW retail chain, and I return more Taurus guns, by far, than any other brand; revolvers for the most part - the autos seem to hold up much better.
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That seems to be an often told experience. The shame is that I like a lot of the Taurus semi's designs. I liked the PT945 I had, except it was just not accurate...at least for me. I like some of their new slim line pistols. I think a lot of their semi designs features are even ahead of other manufactures, but it's the quality and customer service issues that stop me from buying another Taurus.
 
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