Pete2,
You shouldn't have discounted the PT145...You were scared off by the bogus accusations from buyers that have little or no sophistication with firearms. I've been down this road...I've been an FFL for almost 40 years, and returns of Taurus products with Heine Straight Eights, like the PT145 and PT140, are usually linked to the customer's naivete, and not the fault of the firearm.
The most common reason you saw returns had mostly to do with the Straight Eight Sights...
Straight Eight Sights, unless they are properly aligned, will shoot low left by about 8-12 inches. Most shooters have absolutely no idea how the Straight Eight sight picture is supposed to be aligned. Most shooters are familiar with conventional sight systems, and misuse Straight Eights to their own detriment, and to Taurus' regret for having used them on the firearm to begin with.
This is the area where I had formerly commented that there are some design decisions that Taurus made with respect to the PT140 that I wish were different. But, it doesn't rise to the level of my accusing them of poor quality or poor design. It is a design intended for a purpose that the especially inexperienced or naive shooter isn't prepared to, nor are they willing to, apply.
The typical buyer of Taurus handguns consists mostly of unsophisticated novices. The statements I make here are NOT intended to arouse the ire of all those experienced shooters that experienced legitimate problems with a Taurus product, but it's a comment made to address the statistical rate of return on those particular models. "Unsophisticated Novice" is not a description I assign to the majority of forum members, but it is truly the reality with respect to the average Taurus buyer, statistically.
If attempting to target practice for accuracy, the Straight Eight Sights are supposed to be aligned in the configuration of a figure eight, the top dot aligned on top of the rear dot, with just enough space between the two, then the front sight is supposed to be placed directly on the target.
Straight Eights have to be perfectly aligned in the dovetail, or they will shoot left or right, depending on whether the shooter is left or right handed, and depending on whether the alignment in the dovetail is slight off one direction or the other. Most shooters are right handed, so they typically shoot low left, putting rounds low left on the target, and their inexperienced trigger control usually exaggerates the misplaced shot even more.
They come away believing that they can't hit the broad side of a barn with that POS!!! "Return this POS to the LGS" so they think. I know, I've been there, and seen it happen.
The purpose of the straight eight sight is for close quarters fire fights where point and shoot is about all the time you have for sighting in. They are not really meant to sight in, but to merely pick up on the front sight, putting it directly onto your adversary, without so much as a nano second of sight picture consideration.
I don't like them, not because they don't work as they're intended, as a point and shoot SD sight system, but because I can't enjoy recreational shooting with the PT140. They are not accurate enough for range shooting, and/or for achieving good scores. I also don't like them because naive customers can't shoot them, are too lazy to read the manual, and are ready to give up on what is otherwise an outstanding firearm for the money.
So, for recreational shooting, and as an excellent sight system for SD, I opted to replace the Straight Eights with the Williams Fire Sights. They've been great, making the PT140 more accurate than with the Heine sights, and the Williams Fire Sights are adjustable, whereas the Straight Eights are fixed in the dovetail, and have no vertical adjustment whatsoever.
Like I said before, the customers that come into a store to buy a Taurus are price shoppers, and most have little or no experience, little or no money, and they haven't the knowledge to diagnose these issues, issues that are not quality issues, but application issues.
I don't expect the LGS to hold their hands. But, in my own case with the PT140, were I not willing to examine the reason for the low left target performance, and to thoroughly understand the HUGE difference between the proper sight picture for the Heine sights, I might have concluded that the gun was defective.
But, it's not the quality of the gun, it never was "defective," it's the misuse of the sight system, and the misapplication of the firearm as a recreational firearm rather than a self defense weapon.