Taurus Update

B

BuckRub

Moderator
An Update, I sent a model 66 (357) back to Taurus about a week ago because my bolt got bent. I bought the pistol about 24 years ago used from a friend and just play occasionly with it. After it wouldnt open I took the side plate off to see what went wrong and seen the bent bolt. A new one would have cost me $20.00 but I called Taurus just in case they would warranty it. She told me to pay shipping to them, It cost me 11 dollars and that was with 300 dollars of insurance on it. I think the shipping was like 3 dollars no insurance. Anyway called them about 5 minutes ago and she said that the gun was fixed. Gave me a tracking number and said it should be here Monday. It was gone for about 5-6 days now. Thats pretty fast.
I had to send off a pistol to S&W about 10 years ago and they overnighted me a box and shipping label. It was at their place overnight and in about 4 days it was back at my gate. No money out of my pocket. But still happy with Taurus. I had called Browning on a problem one day with a pistol and they said the gun was like 8 years old and they would only warranty a gun for one year, NO EXCEPTIONS ! Well I know who to do and who not to do business with in the future.
 
I had called Browning on a problem one day with a pistol and they said the gun was like 8 years old and they would only warranty a gun for one year, NO EXCEPTIONS !
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Seriously, Browning is supposed to be better than that, IMO. You would think that something you pay that much for would have better warranty service. Unless I am mistaken Ruger doesn't have an expressed warranty, but honor service requests in a warranty-like manner. I have got the impression that they will not just leave you hanging with a broken gun.
 
Buckrub

How did you ship it for $11.00? As I understand it it must go next day air (UPS/FedX) and the cost is well over $50 on a pistol?
 
I won't answer for BuckRub, but I usually have my friendly dealer ship it for me, by mail (USPS). I am a pretty good customer and he doesn't charge me a fee as long as I do the packaging. The actual postage is around $6.

Jim
 
An FFL can ship through USPS Priority for that price. That's legal and that's -BY FAR- the cheapest (legal!) shipping means for a handgun. And it oughta be cheap, considering how the USPS is run and how we subsidize that business with our money already. :rolleyes::eek:

Taurus has been quoted in a few recent articles about wanting to re-vamp their reputation for customer service and they've said plainly that service like the OP has claimed here is their goal. I will say that this is the first hands-on report I've heard of their "new & improved" customer service, and I honestly hope to hear more and more. Taurus has built a very well-earned reputation for horrible warranty service and I, for one, would love to see them follow-through on a claim to fix that.

Another big player in the market that builds a quality item -AND- stands behind it is always going to be welcome in my eyes.
 
I bought a Taurus 66 from a buddy who bought it from a gun show. I think he bought it new... or perhaps, lightly used. He decided that a six-inch was FAR bigger than he had any tangible use for. Because he's a friend, I was able to borrow the revolver for a solid range day BEFORE I decided to make an offer on it. What I found was (what I consider to be) typical of a Taurus product. Capable of utility... but with some issues. I gave him what I considered to be my highest offer, knowing that I was taking a bit of a risk... and that he was taking a bit of a loss.

I have since put 1,340 rounds through it, most of them full-boat .357 Magnum. On the negative side, the inside of the revolver looks like a rough draft of a gun design. Makes you wonder what kind of tools they work with, and if those tools are ever serviced. It's... ROUGH. Also on the negative side: the right side forward screw that keeps the crane in place simply -MUST- be in exactly the right spot. Too loose and it loosens itself free with use, and too tight and the timing/cylinder advance gets corrupted and the cylinder will travel beyond the stop. But when it's in the right spot, timing is fine in both single action and double action.

On the plus side -- it's impressively accurate. And the brushed stainless finish is good looking, very durable and easy to clean up. I also really like the shape, design, and exterior finishing of the trigger. What I mean is, the contour and "feel" of the trigger itself (not the trigger pull) promotes decent & comfortable double action shooting, and I rate them very high in that regard.

My use for this revolver? It's a chrono platform for my .357 Magnum loads. As I have a number of .357's (and each gun can easily return slightly different velocity results than the next gun), it's good to pick a "base line" if you wish to chrono your loads. This way, all my loads can be compared with each other to give me an idea of what they do. And the Taurus 66 is the revolver I use for this duty, because I don't mind any wear or "beating" that it'll be subjected to.

My biggest fear? I'd be deathly afraid to lock it down in a Ransom Rest and let it go head to head with my Smith & Wesson 686 in an accuracy competition. I would be very afraid it might win. :p
 
Wally, I did pay 11 dollars for the shipping. The woman from Taurus told me that the cheapest way would be to send fedex or ups regular shipping not over night. She said if I wanted overnight that they (Taurus) had special prices on overnight with fedex and I could pay Taurus and drop off at fedex but for regular shipping she said to take to a fedex and tell them to ship regular thats why I paid the extra 8 dollars or so for the 300 dollars insurance. I assumed firearms had to be overnited but the woman said NO. I think it took abut 4 days to get there. 2-3 days for repair and When I talked to Taurus awhile ago she said it went fedex yesterday and Monday it will be at my gate. So thats about 4 days in the mail again.
I thought the same when I bought my browning, very disappointed on the phone when I talked to guy and told him not to worry about having me to buy another one of their products. I told him Smith & Wesson had their business right. After I hung up I called Glock just to ask. He told me on paper they had a 1 year written warranty but they will warranty for lifetime. What the Heck does that mean ??? I guess they'll probably warranty it but sounds like they would only have to for a year if they chose.:o
 
Most companies can't put a "forever" warranty on paper because of the simple fact that when parts for the older guns are used up, they can't repair them any more, and they can't leave the tooling set up forever to make parts for older guns. (S&W would have to be making parts for 158 year-old guns!)

So the Glock rep was wrong, but probably meant that they would repair their guns as long as they could under the same terms as the warranty, but they would not be liable for repairs beyond the stated warranty period.

The overnight shipping "requirement" is not law; a company policy put into effect to reduce theft by their own employees. If the company agent chose to bypass it, that is a company matter that doesn't affect the customer.

Jim
 
Backrub In this area UPS forces you to go overnite air when you divulge (which you must do) what the contents are. I sent a Ruger pistol back a few years ago. When I was told $60, I told them no thanks. I then put it in a long gun, carbine box and stated "firearm"...they then let me do at regular rates. However in transit some SOB at UPS broke open the box...however when whomever it was did, they found another well wrapped box within it with an address label and Ruger rec'd it. Where the heck is their security? I need to ship the pistol back again--the ejector housing screw snapped off...
 
An Update, I sent a model 66 (357) back to Taurus about a week ago because my bolt got bent. I bought the pistol about 24 years ago used from a friend and just play occasionly with it. After it wouldnt open I took the side plate off to see what went wrong and seen the bent bolt. A new one would have cost me $20.00 but I called Taurus just in case they would warranty it. She told me to pay shipping to them, It cost me 11 dollars and that was with 300 dollars of insurance on it. I think the shipping was like 3 dollars no insurance.
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My old Taurus 66 was about that vintage. Internally there were quite a few changes between those and the current Taurus revolvers.

You got very lucky on the shipping.
 
Taurus has been quoted in a few recent articles about wanting to re-vamp their reputation for customer service and they've said plainly that service like the OP has claimed here is their goal. I will say that this is the first hands-on report I've heard of their "new & improved" customer service, and I honestly hope to hear more and more. Taurus has built a very well-earned reputation for horrible warranty service and I, for one, would love to see them follow-through on a claim to fix that.
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I agree. I had a terrible experience with them 5 or 6 years ago. I'd like to buy a 6" 66 again to rectify selling my last one, which I regret to this day.
 
I'm happy to hear Taurus' Customer Service seems to be on the ball.

I do have a quibble with Sevens comment, however:

An FFL can ship through USPS Priority for that price. That's legal and that's -BY FAR- the cheapest (legal!) shipping means for a handgun. And it oughta be cheap, considering how the USPS is run and how we subsidize that business with our money already
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The USPS is required to prepay healthcare for current and anticipated employees for 75 years into the future. This include military pensions for those former service people now employed by the USPS. No other business in the world is forced to do that, it's a huge burden and an unfair one and it is not funded by taxes. We should be so lucky if the government were as well run and profitable as the USPS.

Postal Service bears unique financial burden
 
I have no idea how it got bent. I could tell about the last 3 months you had to push really hard. Anyway got my gun back on Monday around 11 am and the note inside that they replaced the bolt and extractor rod and center pin. Opens smooth as glass now. I was on the porch and seen FedEx pull to gate and I rode the mower to the gate and got it. Got back to the house and shot it about an hour. I love when things go good. Sure leave a bad taste in your mouth when dealing with certain people or have a bad experience.
 
Glad It went good for you BuckRub. I had one of the Mags on my 1911 broke ( stepped on it ). This was 2 years ago,Called Taurus and told them what happened. 5 days later I had 2 new Mags show up at no cost to me. Was very puzzled as to why they sent me 2,but who am I to complain. From all I have read ( in this forum only ) Taurus has a bad rap. I have not found that to be true,but believe MOST of what I read hear. I have over 5000 down my 45 and still going strong.
 
Just for the record, there is no legal requirement to advise the carrier that the package contains a firearm unless it is being shipped to a non-licensee (non-FFL holder). If it is being shipped to a licensee (manufacturer, dealer, importer, or collector (for C&R only), there is no legal requirement to inform the carrier.

The requirement to inform the carrier that a parcel contains a firearm or contains a handgun is the carrier's rule, not the law, but if you break the carrier's rule, the carrier can refuse to pay you if the parcel is lost or its contents damaged..

Jim
 
The requirement to inform the carrier that a parcel contains a firearm or contains a handgun is the carrier's rule, not the law, but if you break the carrier's rule, the carrier can refuse to pay you if the parcel is lost or its contents damaged..
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I just shipped a wheelgun to, uh, a certain popular maker. The UPS tag they provided said "contents: warranty, finished machine parts".
 
Some makers seem to be doing that, and it is a true statement. I suspect the carriers even suggested it. They can't legally require that the parcel be marked as firearms, but the lack of any content marking would be noticeable.

I had a friend who made obsolete cartridge cases. Nothing but pieces of brass but he always had a hassle with the post office until he marked the packages "Seals for high pressure pump." Absolutely true.

Jim
 
just shipped a wheelgun to, uh, a certain popular maker. The UPS tag they provided said "contents: warranty, finished machine parts".
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I remember some years ago, UPS made the news because the packages that were labeled as containing firearms were being stolen by...someone;)

If memory serves they initially adopted a policy that any firearm be shipped overnight, but quickly modified that policy when everyone went to a competitor.
 
To whomever was asking how it got bent (the bolt) I was thinking. Yes it was getting harder and harder to open the last three months or so. Anyway the next day it wouldn't open at all. I tried everything. It was going to a gunsmith one way or the other. It was loaded so when Taurus to me they'd warranty it, I took a small piece of wood and put on thumb lever and wrapped a couple times with a hammer. Still didn't open so I then took a tiny screwdriver and then tried pushing center pin in and it opened. I ten took side plate off and seen bolt bent. All I can guess is center pin got worn after twenty something years and the bolt maybe barely caught on all hole it goes through to push center pin or got slightly out adjustment but when bolt wouldn't go through hole for whatever reason and I whacked on it with a hammer that's when it bent. Maybe not geared up for gun smithing shop right now but maybe later. Lol.
If one hammer don't do the trick just get a bigger hammer. But really I'm glad it fixed and back.
 
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