Ti vs. Multialloy Taurus 85

And now...a brand new reply for an almost brand new gun!

I have read a lot about the .32 H&R magnum round. I decided to buy a snub chambered for it as I was on my "1911 search". I did not want to buy a new S&W. (Although, BigG you were right. The Scandium and the Airlight Ti models were tempting!) However, having to get up in the mornings and look at myself in the mirror... reluctantly, I passed on the excellent S&W's.
I felt my chances of finding a used Airweight Ti in .32 magnum were nonexistant. However, sometimes luck changes! In an above post, I mentioned that my gun shop owner called and sounded happy. (How could he be happy when I was facing all this "Taurus misery"??) I went out to his shop and to my utter amazement, he had an Airlight Ti chambered for .32 mag. At first I thought it was brand new. He knows how I feel about the boycott, so I was a little surprised he would call me to come in and look at a "new" Airlight Ti. It turns out that he has another customer who believes REVOLVERS are ABSOLUTELY the ONLY way to go
and, having no problems with the S&W boycott, he had purchased a new Airlight Ti in .32 mag for his wife. (Who happened to be a new CCW holder.) Here comes the problem. His wife wanted a Sig 232! ("Just TRY the Smith, Honey"!) Well, she shot it THREE times! Not three cylinders, THREE cartridges! She put it down and stated that she wanted the Sig auto, and that was that! NO DISCUSSION!!! Angerly, the guy had traded this nearly new Airlight in on the Sig she had wanted in the first place! The owner just put it in the safe for me! Talk about luck and timing! Christmas is looking WAY UP now for THIS very happy guy! I didn't have to put any money in S&W's bank account and I STILL got an almost new pistol!

Ta DAA!! And now you know the REST of the story! :)

Kentucky Rifle
 
That's a great story Kentucky Rifle, Congratulations!

I got my Scandium Chief's Special Mod. 360 in about the same way. The guy fired one cylinder full and promptly put it up for sale and I happened to be the lucky winner. I got his original box of ammo sans 6 shots. The cartridges he bought (Sellier & Bellot)stuck in the cylinders after firing, but some Federal worked just dandy. I'm a happy camper. If it seems to have trouble extracting, try a different brand of cartridges.

Range report, please!
 
Alamo...

Don't worry, you didn't take over my thread what you guys did was help me!!! All this discussion about Taurus service ir really helpful and interresting. As I said in my other post Í also own a Glock 25 and this Taurus 85 will be my gun to carry around. I believe that all these problems mentioned above are good reasons to dislike a brand. For me however Taurus has always been good. I happen to live in Brasil where these guns are manufactured and service here can be simpler if needed but my experience with Taurus in general is good even with their older semi-autos. The other factor that I HAVE to take into consideration is price. From what I've read in this forum, Taurus products are much less expensive here in Brasil (probably because there is no import tax) and brands from other caountries are way to pricey. My Glock for example cost me the equivalent of US$1000.00. Anyway thank you guys for everything.


Best regards,

Andre
 
Andre/BigG

Andre: That is one HUGE price to pay for your Glock!! How does it shoot? Aren't .380's blowback? In any regard, I'm sure the Glock is a fine piece. I love my G27!

BigG: I bought all the Federal .32 mag he had on the shelf. What caliber is the 360? I've kinda lost touch with S&W.

:o

KR
 
KR--sure sorry to hear about your experience with Taurus' so-called "customer service"...while everyone puts out a sub-standard article once in a while, the "World Class" manufacturers BACK their products with CLASS service...guess Taurus is just a "poser" in that regard...shame, too, 'cause the five or six I've owned over the last half-dozen or so years have all been good guns...
BTW, what do you think of the .32 Magnum cartridge? I myself am a little prejudiced...I've got an SP101, S&W 332 AND a Taurus 731 all-steel in the chambering...like it a LOT, 'tho the Taurus remains unfired at this time...gotta change that soon!!!
Good Luck with your S&W AirLite Ti .32...they're really nice guns, in my experience!!!....mikey357
 
It does sound like they weren't taking you very seriously. On the other hand, sending the gun back is pretty standard when there's a problem regardless of the manufacturer. What were the other solutions you proposed?
 
The S&W Sc 360 is a .357 Magnum. Same size and appearance as the Model 36 Chief's Special .38 snubby.
 
Another Okie...

I'm out of the Taurus "business" now and I just want to forget that I ever had ANYTHING to do with them. However, I'll tell you two of the solutions to the problems that I thought sounded pretty good:
1) I would order and pay for another pistol with my American Express Card. (To be shipped to my FFL with all paperwork completed.) Also, I'd PAY for the overnight shipping to my FFL. I'd then pay for the overnight shipping of the unfit pistol back to their "committee". If their committee decided that the problems were their fault (How could they not?) then they could credit my card and I'd go get the new pistol at my gun shop.--No way, No how, No dice was the answer from the Taurus supervisor.
2) My FFL would order a new 731UL on HIS credit and I'd buy that one for cash and also pay for the bad one to be shipped via overnight Fed Ex to their committee. They could examine it at their leisure. Neither of these options would even be considered by the Taurus service supervisor.
I simply can't understand why my gun shop could not be allowed to order another pistol that I could buy for cash while the Taurus Committee looked over the screwed up 731. (Unless, possibly they HAVE to buy from a dristributor.)
I'm a little mystified as to why Taurus would not even sell my FFL a new pistol, but I think it has to do with not letting anyone get off easy who trys to take advantage of the non-existent lifetime warrenty.
At least I stopped my friend "Alamo" from getting stuck with the Taurus CIA. I hope to stop LOTS of potential customers from buying a Taurus. I'm a little tired now, but I plan to "spread the word" starting in the morning.

KR
 
Kentucky Rifle

My Glock is a fine weapon on my opinion. Yes it is blowback but I can not really compare it to other Glocks since for civilians here in Brasil .380's are the best you can get. Because of that I've only fired mine and the sub-compact version of it in the same caliber. I do look forward to shooting a .40 though.

Regards

Andre
 
Andre...

I notice that you're pretty new to The Firing Line, so...welcome! Since you've not been around all that long, you may not have read that several guys have posted questions regarding the .380 Glocks. You see--we can't get them here in the USA. We all wondered how they shot. A lot of guys (including me) have thought a .380 Glock would be good to have. It's kind of like "collecting the whole set". :) I don't know for sure, so exactly what is the problem with buying a Glock in a larger caliber in Brazil? A G27 (like mine) is a sub-compact and the .40 caliber isn't really a military caliber, so what is the problem? Also that price!! Does the government put a huge tax on firearms as an attempt at gun control?

KR
 
Kentucky Rifle

Thank's for the welcoming part!

The deal here in Brasil is the following: Civilians can only buy 38's for revolvers and .380 for semi-autos or something less powerfu. If you are a licensed collector you can buy anything you want AR-15, MP5, etc... But those guns can only be fired at army ranges and you have to get the collectors permit wich is a pain in the a**. I wasn't aware that there wero no .380 Glocks in the US. If you are part of the shooting federation you can get 45's and some other calibers for competition purposes but even so for carry weapons only 38's and .380's. The police here uses .40's but not all, actually most carry 38's like the rest of us mortals. The only problem are the bad guys, they buy what ever they want from who knows where so police special forces carry .40's and 9mm aside from their full autos usually aprehended from the bad guys they are fighting. I'm curuious, why would anyone in the US want a .380 Glock if you can have the same size gun in a variety of different and more powerful calibers? Are there any advanyages in your opinion on this caliber?
As for the price, the problem are not the taxes to control guns but import taxes which are 70% of the price of any imported goods plus shiping, this ususlly adds up to 100%. But for products manufactured here there are none of these taxes, so for example this Taurus 85 Multialloy that will be arriving soon for me cost the equivalent of US$ 365.00 brand new from a Taurus authorized dealer which I believe is less than what they cost in the US.

Ragards,

Andre
 
Andre,

I like .380's. A lot of us do. I own several pistols chambered for the .380, they're fun and accurate shooters. In regards to a .380 Glock...well, it's just like being told that I can't have one. I suppose it all boils down to--"But I WANT one"! You're right. It IS nice to just go out and buy a 9MM, .40 or .45 caliber Glock. However being TOLD that I can't have a .380 Glock just makes me want one all the more!
$365.00 is pretty good for a Taurus 85 Multi-Alloy, but I do believe I could go out and buy one for that price tomorrow. (If I wanted to of course. And, obviously I don't!)
The thing is that I'm a repeat customer. I have three other Taurus products that I've NEVER had to send back for service. It feels pretty bad to realize that if I ever needed service, I'd be S.O.L. (Ask an American friend what the meaning of that expression is. :) )
Stick around. We're a pretty good bunch here!
It's nice to have another international person on the board.

KR
 
I have two Taurus pistols and have had no problems with them so far. I purchased my first Taurus about 4 years ago. It was a used PT100 AFS and after I put about 1500 rounds thru it I noticed a hairline crack on the slide face just above the extractor. I had no way to eddy current it to confirm the crack so I sent it back to Taurus and 3 weeks later I recieved a brand spankin new pistol and have shot the heck out of it since with no problems. I also picked up a Tracker SS in .357 and enjoy it very much.

Sorry to hear that Kentucky Rifle had such a problem with them. Its unfortunate that they treated you that way. I personally have had no problems with them. Everyone should perform a detailed inspection of any weapon they are prepaired to buy. Unless of course you order one in and even then go over it with a fine tooth comb upon reciept.

One thing I do agree on, Taurus polymer line is definitely defect prone as of now and hopefully they will get their act together. Would I buy another Taurus? Yes I will but I will be sure to check it over meticulously prior to paying for it. Remember, everyone has their own opinion and I think your best off forming your own. But certainly take their opinion into concideration when you form your own.
 
A different experiance...

Years ago, I bought a Model 85 for concealed carry. When I got it home & shot it, I noticed the fixed sights seemed way off, the gun shooting practically off the paper to the right.

Upon close inspection, the barrel was turned in too far, so the front sight was canted over to the left. Also, the gun would not reliably ignite a cartridge in with a double action trigger pull, but always worked with a single action pull.

I called Taurus & asked for the correct procedure to have the gun repaired. I sent the gun off to them - hating to be without my new piece, but so be it. I can't remember how long it took to get back; memory seems to indicate it was a while, maybe 4 to 6 weeks. When I received the gun back, it was fitted with a new barrel & mainspring. It worked flawlessly after that & was accurate. My wife at the time took her NRA pistol class with that little gun. I sold it to a good friend to by a small semi-auto that would be, IMHO, better for concealed carry. He still has it today.

I had to send another gun back to the factory for repair. It too was a revolver - my S&W 686. The cylinder developed too much play. Lead would build up on the front of the cylinder & it would bind on the forcing cone. It too was perfect after getting it back & is to this day.

One thing to mention - I had S&W also fit a new red insert into the front sight ramp, as I had dulled mine with careless cleaning practices. I admitted to them it was my fault when asking for a new one. Still, I was a little surprised when the charged me $25 to replace it. Not that it was their place to do it for free, but in my mind a good Customer Service policy would have done just that. My field of employment is Inside Sales & Customer Technical Support; the best definition I have come across for good Customer Service is offering the customer more than what they expect. It didn't happen then. Not that it matters now, I won't buy another new S&W until the agreement is void - but I thought it might be of interest.

Oh - another thing people - buying a used post agreement S&W, again IMHO, enhances the value of those guns. Personally, I only look for pre-agreement, with the hammer mounted firing pin.
 
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