Taurus .380 slide lock
Went to sportsmans wearhouse 3/5 to compare the Taurus & LCP and buy one or the other and went with the Taurus for now. Never seen it before and right off the batt I racked the empty slide back & it would not lock open (in store before I bought). I thought that was odd since this is a feature that LCP doesn't have and upon further investigation noticed the Taurus mag follower has a small metal strip half ass molded into the plastic and the metal piece actually pushes up on the mag release by design. On the first gun it appears the empty mag/follower is not contacting the slide stop and may just need slide stop to be tweeked further into the middle or the mag was twisted. I thougt this was odd since I've had good success for 10 years shooting USPSA open & stock class competition & on the 1st Air Force Action Pistol team 1996-1998 on 1911's primarily STI that had plastic followers. Anyway I asked for another one of the rack and it didn't lock back either most of the time by hand, jeeeez, so now I'm confident this is a hit or miss out of the box problem. I mulled it over and figured I usually don't carry and extra mag anyway (like most people w/baby guns) and could live with it since the price was only $269 w/2 mags, and belt gun purse. Had him bring me a new unwrapped and it works for now by hand and will see if good at range soon.
-I noticed with a full mag in and open the slide, the slide lock ledge sits really close to the bullet heads. If I have any concern this will hamper feeding, I'll cut the ledge off.
-I felt the side of the barrel feed ramp was super skinny and had flared out spot on outside edges of ramp (kinda bulged) about halfway up on both sides and on the bottom of the feed ramp, not sure what this was from and smoothed the bulges out. I also polished all the edges all around the feed hole and put a very slight chamfer around the edges.
-The grip seems a little more fitting than the LCP and purchased a hoque sleeve ($7) about 2 inches long with one finger groove grip and put it on upside down and trimmed the bottom so wouldn't interfere with mag and wow, it really filled out the sides of the taurus grip since the flat side plastic grips on taurus & ruger doesn't really fill up the sides of hand very well and gave me a finger groove as well. If you get the TCP or the LCP I highly suggest you get this hogue sleeve and try it. You can just cut the rubber grip with scissors and mold it minor around the mag release on each side and cut about 1/4 inch off the bottom so mag change is not hindered. I don't remember the model number but the package shows a sleeve w/one finger knub and the whole thing is about 2 inches long (don't forget to put it on upside down or the finger groove will not fit in right place.) I think you'll like it.
-The bottom of the trigger guard has a sharp edge on both sides and should have been rounded and bites into the finger under my trigger finger when gripped. It's plastic and just dremmeled it round and fine sanded and it's as comfy as the LCP now which I'll appreciate if I fire the buffalo bore.
-The slide pin that holds the slide & frame together does suck to get in by hand since it's totally round and flat on bottom and must go into a none round hole due to the detent rod. I may try to angle only a tiny small portion of the pin edge to help this (don't round off the whole thing or it will not fit tight into the round other side of the frame tight and could cause issues).
-Trigger pull is definitely smoother and lighter double action than the LCP.
-Since everybody's hoarding ammo, I couldn't find any cheap ammo and I'll repost when I can get some name brand ball ammo and test fire and the buffalo bore that I had to buy just to have bullets for now.
-Overall I've owned 4 taurus guns including this one and they are not without issues but for the money and only occasional issues so far I'll see after this TCP. I've had a taurus .38 that timing went bad on and binding up during cycling, a taurus PT40 that broke the extractor, and a taurus ultralite .38 that was my primary concealed no problems and wanted something lighter/smaller that I would be more prone to carry all the time. I know several people who have CC permits and don't carry half the time because they own big heavy autos that they can't/won't conceal during summer months or in slacks & shirt tucked in unless that have a jacket or large untucked shirt, some even carry less rounds to save weight so I feel the lack of power is a trade off. Everyone says hey that bad guy will just eat up those .380's and keep coming. Try it on your friends and see. I doubt most bad guys are gonna get shot at 10 yds with a .380 and just look at you and scoff "you didn't just shoot me with a .380 did ya"
-Overall I think the guns looks nice, for sure not what I'd consider the best in form fit & function compared to some, but the range will tell.