Taurus vs. Smith and Wesson

I've owned a M94 22lr, my father owns a Raging Bull in 45Colt, and I'm shopping around for an 85series Taurus. Here's my experiences...

The M94 was rough and had a terrible triggerpull. I sold it after a few months. However, this gun was purchased and sold over 5 years ago.

The RB 45Colt has a good trigger (tad heavy and long, but smooth) and is accurate. My dad likes it and I like it as well.

Recently, I've handled a standard 85, an 85 Ultralite, and an 85 Total Titanium. The 85 and 85UL had the best trigger of any unsmithed "j-frame" sized gun I've ever handled. The 85TotalTi was rougher, but serviceable.

I'm seriously considering an 85Ultralite as my travel gun (small, light, easy to secure with the built in lock). They can be purchased locally for $275 (Al frame, steel cylinder).

Chris
 
jvlip3

Taurus introduced the PRO series to replace the earlier guns.
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Ok, Sorry you got hurt. I only asked a question! Well, two actually... :)

I think when there has been a serious problem with a mfg, model, etc. it helps others if we tell the whole story. :) The Pro series fixed the problems that Taurus experienced with the old Millenium series.

Did some people get screwed, yes! Are Taurus Millenium Pro auto's safe today? As safe as any others, I would think. :rolleyes:

So thanks for the information. :) The worst I have heard about any gun... :o
 
My problem with Taurus!

I have owned six Taurus revos over the years. All were NIB. Three of them were just fine while the other three had serious difficulties which required that they be sent back to the factory. I just find that I cannot trust Taurus. FWIW
 
Called our local County shooting range rangemaster, who's been there for 20 years now, 30,000 customers a year. They don't sell guns or accessories there. He said immediately,"Don't buy a Taurus!" Said he's "seen more Taurus handguns fail to fire than all other brands combined." Said the "quality is poor."

That, along with all the helpful comments above, tells me it's worth paying a little more, or to buy a used S&W, than to settle for less for a self defense firearm.

Thanks for all your help and comments.
 
If you can find a used one.

I guess it depends where you live, but used s and w's are hard to find around here. You can get a bad anything. Taurus 605. 850 rounds fired. very few ftf's mostly attributed to poor ammo(reloads). If you look around these threads, you can find something bad about anything, that's for sure. There is no doubt that the s and w is a fine quality gun. But the taurus, if you get a good one, is a good gun as well. If you shoot it enough, you will know if it is or not. If not, get rid of it. I think that applies to any gun. A good name doesn't automatically guarantee a good gun. Especially if someone is pushing off their used "junk". You could be getting someone else's problem child.
 
Drifter721

He said immediately,"Don't buy a Taurus!" Said he's "seen more Taurus handguns fail to fire than all other brands combined." Said the "quality is poor.
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He's wrong, and probably biased! :) Taurus wheelguns have no history of failure. Other than the old millenium series, Taurus auto's have no history of failure. :)

I own 5, and none have ever failed. Several other popular guns have. If my SW 625jm ever fails, I'll be the first to let you know... ;)
 
The rangemaster said: "The ratchets on the revolvers are poorly made on the Taurus, that they have burrs, and that this causes inconsistent trigger pull from one chamber to the next. And, the tool marks on the inside of the frame cause the roughly finished trigger parts to bind and hang up the trigger pull, also causing creep and inconsistencies. He also said he'd seen the cylinder of a Taurus revolver completely skip a chamber when shooting double action mode, leaving an unfired round after six trigger pulls.

As for the autos, he said the model that copies the Beretta 92 is the biggest piece of sh** he's ever seen. That he's seen several completely locked up to where a range rod and mallet could not get the action's locking lugs to open, that it had to be sent to a gunsmith - with a live round locked in the chamber!

Those statements, and after the one revolver I opened up to get a look at the trigger parts has got me running from any Taurus purchase.
 
As for the autos, he said the model that copies the Beretta 92 is the biggest piece of sh** he's ever seen.
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His opinion. :rolleyes: And, to believe him would mean somewhere down the line Beretta made bad 92fs! Not true...either. I will, and have stacked my PT-92 up against any auto, as far as, quality, finish, and workmanship are concerned. :D

Beretta had won a huge contract in 1974 to produce small arms for the army of Brazil. Part of the deal was that Beretta construct a Brazilian factory and use Brazilian labor. This they did, in the southwestern coastal city of Sao Paulo. When the contract ran out in 1980, Beretta sold the plant, literally "lock, stock and barrel," to Taurus. Taurus now owned everything that once belonged to Beretta, including drawings, tooling, machinery, and a very experienced work force. Taurus was in the pistol business, and immediately sought to improve on the Beretta design, resulting in the popular and acclaimed Taurus PT-92 and PT-99 9mm pistols.
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I'll give you the last word. I'm not going to go down this road again...If trashing Taurus handguns makes you feel good, then go for it...
 
I'm not trashing anything, just going by the experienced word of a range master, who does not sell firearms, who's worked a busy public and law enforcement firing line for 20 years.
 
smith

iam currently comparing a not to older model 10 to a new one i purchased and by looking at them the blue doesnt look as well finished compared to the older one.seems by looking at both of them the quality seems to be slipping away,now i compare a blue finish 605 taurus to a older model blue taurus and the quality seems to be a big improvement compared to a new model 10 fit and finish that iam looking at know.by looking at the taurus and smith it seems taurus is banging at smiths backdoor in terms of fit and function but at a fraction of the price.if smiths prices continue to rise there different model handguns slowly dissapear from there catolog every year to the point they will end up like colt with just a couple of overprice handguns while the cheaper guys with a variety of models continue to rise in sell.
 
Just remember, while Taurus has tried to improve their quality Smith and Wesson has been hell bent on ruining their product line in order to make what used to be good guns more cheaply.
MIM parts, two peice barrels, etc.
I have yet to hear about a cracked Taurus titanium cylinder. I can't say the same about S&Ws new unobtanium designs....
I am a lot more impressed by new Tauri than new Smiths these days.....
 
I am a lot more impressed by new Tauri than new Smiths these days.....
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Same here. They seem to be trying harder. Taurus is like the Toyota of the late 70s, early 80s, while S&W is the Ford of the same era, living on it's past achievements.

Chris
 
No one is trashing Taurus Handguns. I have lots of guns that have failed and were repaired yet the Taurus PT-145 is the only one I rant about. Why? Because of instead of the customer is always right- I was jerked around by Taurus NON-customer service. And I had to employ an attorney to resolve it. Never have I had to do this with gun company or any company for that matter. Guns need to be made well, not just for us shooters, but to keep consumer product protection laws of the manufactuers backs. And one final FYI- Taurus guns are repaired by repair techs and overseen by gunsmiths. I guess they were on a break while mine was being worked on. I also have two Taurus revolvers which I like very much.
 
I think that in the small framed revolvers the Taurus line have better triggers than the S&W J-frames and have been that way for some time now. The Model 85 has been a very good little revolver.
I still give the nod to S&W with the bigger frames because of the flat springs. You can get a better trigger than the Taurus which uses coil springs.
 
Jack Malloy states:

I have yet to hear about a cracked Taurus titanium cylinder. I can't say the same about S&Ws new unobtanium designs....
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Well, I've related my experience with a Taurus Titanium Tracker (.357) several times on this forum and others, so I guess you missed it. Do a search by my screen name if you want the details. Cylinder developed hairline fractures and I was fortunate enough to notice during a cleaning session before it had opportunity to blow up in my hand. Furthermore, the weeks and weeks (and weeks) of waiting and badgering required to collect on their "lifetime warranty" was enough to push me into the camp of virtually any other manufacturer. This is FIRSTHAND experience.

My FIRSTHAND experience with a PT99 was no more impressive - lackluster trigger, prematurely broken firing pin, adjustable sight that literally fell apart before my eyes (and NO ONE but Taurus makes a replacement for it).

I don't see myself ever buying another Taurus product.

And to Bullrock: if relating my FIRSTHAND experience qualifies my post as "Taurus-bashing", then so be it. I guess I'm a Taurus-basher. :rolleyes: Glad you've had more pleasant experiences.

stellarpod
 
Called our local County shooting range rangemaster
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Our local rangemaster would not let a friend of mine shoot his Norinco 1911 because he thought it was junk, based on his first hand observations of the gun in action.

Some people will make up a story and then lie to prove it's true

I have owned about 6 Taurus revolvers over the years and have heard the same kind of rubbish from the range gods since the 80s
If the guy is in his mid 40s on he probably is relying on on popular wisdom from back then

The only reason I am thinking about buying a Smith now is because I don't have one. My last 2 Taurus revos were bought when I went to the shop to look at a S&W
 
Stellerpod

Glad to hear you were not hurt. Sad to say I was looking at the back of my gun for cracks when it went KA-BOOM. That's where the gun cracked for the first repair. Good thing for me I was still wearing my recoil gloves and I always wear safety glasses.
 
rotating cylinder

Greetings from Idaho.......I had a chance to buy a taurus revolver many years ago. when I closed the cylinder, it turned without locking up. that has put me off T's. I have had problems with s&w revolvers, but nothing that wasn't caused by me, such as out of time, or doing my own gun smithing. so I practice with reasonable loads in my smith, and carry hot loads; before I would buy a new smith, I would buy a used smith; want to carry and pracitse with hot loads? buy a ruger, you get the best of everything. :cool:
 
I wanted an economical trail gun in .22 revolver so i purchased a Taurus 94 on the net for $175.00 i didn't expect much at this price but the gun came in like new condition.The metal is as good as i have ever seen on any gun,a dark blue lustre finish with rubber grips which i changed to factory hardwoods.Outside of having a rather tough D.A. pull i love this little nine shooter and am now looking for a 941.I own or have owned Smiths,Colts,Ruger ect. and for the price i don't think you can beat the Taurus.I know this is off topic but i bought a Taurus 62 pump rifle for $200.00 as a companion piece to the revolver and i like it just as well. So i am outfitted for hiking for under $400.00 thanx to Taurus and both guns are fine shooters. Max W.
 
Lets apply some CONSISTANT Logic here.

The model 29 is a peice of crap because somebody somewhere blew up a cylinder on one with a load their Ruger Blackhawk worked fine with for years.
The Colt Python is a peice of crap because a buddy of mine had a buddy who bought one brand new that was so out of time that the cylinder would not align up properly with the barrel as the bolt locking notches were in the wrong place.
The Colt .45 auto is a peice of crap because my first genuine colt was a Jammamatic.....

Do we see a trend here vis a vis people that are continuing to bash AN ENTIRE MAKERS PRODUCT LINE because they happened to get a lemon?
Just because you get a sub par gun from ANY maker does not mean that the makers entire product line is junk.
Just because you get a good gun does not mean the makers entire product line is perfect either. The late, great Elmer Keith once woefully admitted that if a producer only made one bad gun out of a thousand, he invariably got that one bad gun......

Just as not every Taurus firearm is perfect just because I never had any problems with my .44 and my high school buddy never had any problems with his PT 92, it stands to reason that not ever taurus (or other makers product) is total junk because a handful of guys had some bad experience with a lemon or two.
EVERY maker lets loose lemons.
My best friend once had a brand new 586 that would rotate the cylinder when you closed it, just like a peacemaker in an old Sphaghetti western. Under recoil, the cylinder unlocked and rotated backwards! Just becuase my L frame did not malfunction and his did does not mean that they are all bad or all good. Sometimes, you get a lemon. Thats life.
 
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