Taurus TCP 380

T

ThomasT

New member
I have sort of gotten interested in one of these guns to replace a 22lr pocket pistol I just sold. I tried to do a search here but if you put in Taurus and 380 you get a bunch of unrelated threads.

I guess it has been discontinued since they are not shown on the Taurus website and replaced with the Spectrum, but there are many for sale on gunbroker. And the prices are good(cheap). I have owned several Taurus revolvers and never had any issues with them. But never owned any of their autos.

So who has owned and owns one and what has been your experience with them? Unreliable? Junk? Inaccurate? Great gun for the money?
 
I've had one for years and it performs fine. However, I am a terrible shot with a little bitty light gun with minimal sights. I am far more accurate and comfortable with my nearly new Taurus 856 revolver and others. It's larger but far easier to shoot and I am accurate with it. The TCP is the least favorite of my 4 Taurus handguns (TCP, 856, 605 and PT111-G2)
 
Thanks Wingman and OsbornK. Those are the answer I am looking for. I did watch several YT videos last night and they were mostly positive with some bad results. Mostly FTF FTE. I am guessing bad mags.

I had thought about getting another Kel-Tec 32acp but I can find these for a little less than the KT. The good thing about the Kel-Tec is I already have a bunch of 32ACP ammo on hand and I reload for it. I have no 380 at all.
 
My daughter bought a TCP and it didn't survive its first range trip. We sent it back to Taurus and took them 16 weeks to repair it and ship it back. Customer service was abysmal and she never trusted the gun when she got it back. We'll never buy another Taurus.
 
I remember you posting that when I did a search before I started the thread. It happens I guess.

I just won the auction on this TCP 380 for $77.00 plus the tax, shipping and transfer. It has been carried and looks to have been shot a bit so it must have worked for the seller. And he did buy one of the "EZ" guns to replace it. Its a small amount to risk. And Academy has spare mags for $20.

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/819224666
 
Nice win. Now you'll have to post a range results once you have a chance to shoot it. Overall impressions and function, feel would be good.

Personally I have shot a couple pocket pistols and like osbornk states I just don't find them comfortable. I like 3 fingers on the grip.
 
Thats why I liked the Kel-Tec I had. It was small but the recoil was nothing. That was a nice little pistol that never gave me a single moment of grief. It was a silver slide and black frame and I have never liked two tone guns. In hind sight I should have just spray painted the slide black and kept that little blaster.

I have owned a few 380s and know the recoil is a little more stiff. But thats OK. I'll get used to it. And for the price I can't imagine I will lose money on it. A gun like that will always sell.
 
Small guns in my opinion require more care in cleaning and lube also they do not like limp wristing, many failings of the tiny guns are operator error.
 
I don't know of any auto's that tolerate limp wristing. And all my guns stay squeaky clean. A clean gun is a happy gun.
 
ratshooter said:
I don't know of any auto's that tolerate limp wristing. And all my guns stay squeaky clean. A clean gun is a happy gun.
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None of them like limp wristing but the smaller ones are much less forgiving than heavier ones. The smaller they are, the more firmly you have to hold them. My 1911 in 9mm doesn't seem to care how firmly I grip it but my TCP does.
 
I've had a TCP for 5 years now. I had some failure to load issues with it when new but those were caused by the magazines, bending the feed lips slightly fixed the problem. I also had an issue with one particular brand of ammo, it fired just fine but the cartridge overall length (I'm guessing) made it difficult to eject a live round from the chamber, no other brands had this issue. Oh, I also filed a bit off the slide stop tab because some bullets had a profile that would catch it, causing it to lock open before the magazine was empty. A tiny bit of filing fixed that. It runs reliable now.

The sights are tiny, I painted the front one orange and the back one green which helped a lot. It's very snappy to shoot, as one would expect from such a light, tiny gun.

Overall it's been a good pocket pistol for me, but one that's probably going to be carried less now that I just bought a Sig P365.
 
I just paid the seller and the gun has been dropped off at the dealer to ship out tomorrow. The total for the gun was $112 and then another $15 for the transfer when it gets here. So $127 total for what looks like a clean gun.

I am going to Academy and buy a spare mag and a couple of boxes of ammo. When I get around to shooting it I will let you know how it went. Thanks for the feedback.;)
 
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