Why does Taurus auto pistols have a bad rap?

M

Markk9

New member
I have a taurus PT-100 in 40S&W that I use to shoot IDPA with. Unit the end of last season most people at my club looked down on taurus. Most people were under the impress that it would jam under stress. Last season I put 5130 rounds of full power loads (Fed brass, CCI primmer, 7.2 grns of AA#5, topped with 180gr Hornady). I had zero jamms once AOL was found. The pistol will hold a 3in group at 25yrds off sand bags. The finish on the inside is not as good as a beretta, but the outside finish is very good. The gun goes bang and hits wear I aim every time. What more in combat pistol can you ask for?

Mark
 
Hi my brother has a Taurus PT -92 Stainless. It's the 9mm version of your gun. I have a Beretta 92F. While the fit and finish of the Taurus is not as good as the Beretta it has all the functional qualities that the Beretta does. My brother has put many rounds through his gun and never had a jam. It is a very reliable design,regardless of who built it,Beretta or Taurus. If the gun has preformed well for you and you trust it,use it. Unless you had a real POS gun like a jennings or a Lorcin or something like that I wouldn't worry about what people think. I had a guy tell me his Ruger P 97 was a better and more accurate gun than my Sig 220. Is the Ruger a good gun? Very good for it's price range. It is not in the same leauge as a Sig.
It was just his opinion of my Sig. See what I mean?
I have seen people take worn down S&W model 10 .38 revolvers and shoot circles around some guy with an auto.
It's the shooter more than the gun. The two most important things in a defense gun are reliable function and hitting the target. If your gun does both for you,your all set.
45automan
 
Taurus Auto

I have a Taurus PT945 ported alloy frame pistol that looks and shoots great. Accuracy is at least on par with my 1911.
Anyone interested in a non-1911 .45 cal. should take a look at this pistol.
There was a recent article, I think in HANGUNS magazine where the time to draw and get off the first shot was determined and the Taurus won against the other 9mm and the Beretta. They attributed the easier frame mounted safety as opposed to the slide mount as the reason it was faster to bring into action.

How can you beat the Taurus --If it breaks; send it back.
 
They have a bad rap because, for years, their quality wasn't that good.

In the last couple of years, however, they've cleaned up their act.

In a recent Gun Tests Magazine, the mag recommended the PT-92 OVER the Beretta 92, commenting on the quality, price/value, and better accuracy..

The only Taurus I've had, a revolver, was pretty good. Ditto the only Rossi I've had.
 
Bad rap NOT deserved (but I've seen two Raging Bulls lose their rear sights! LOL).

My 'off-body always' is a PT22....
 
I am sure you heard that first impressions are the most important. Well, the first ever handgun I purchased was a Tauras .357 and it was not accurate at all and it would throw back splinters of copper and lead from the bullet.

I went home from the range many times with streaks of blood running down my face from this.

I traded it in for $100 which was probably $99.99 more than it was worth.
 
I don't think it's deserved

I own a PT940, and I shoot it better than any of my auto pistols, except maybe for my Ruger MKII .22LR

I bought this gun about 1 year ago, to support Taurus for publicly announcing they would not join Traitor & Wesson in signing the HUD agreement. I really didn't need it. I bought 2 boxes of FMJ range ammo, shot half of them & put the gun away. Although I picked up some more ammo over the last 12 months, I never brought this gun out again until a few weeks ago, and that was just to shoot up some of the ammo. I had pretty much decided I was going to sell it to help pay for the 1911 buying spree I went on.

Well, the worst thing I could have done was shoot it. At 10 yards offhand, these 45 year old eyes & that PT940 completely annihilated the center of a 50' pistol target. And this was using cheap, commercial lead reloads. One single shot out of 50 landed ouside the bull, & I think I pulled that one.

So...while I took the pics, cleaned it up, & packaged it in preparation to go to one of the online auction services, I haven't listed it yet. I'm hoping I can swing this without having to sell.

I mean - they wouldn't really shut off my electricity, would they?? :eek:
View
 
I think we've all agreed here, they got their bad rep from years ago, but I can't imagine HOW MANY years ago that must have been, because I've bought them for years and loved them all...

Me - Taurus PT100 - 1990 - First not-.22 pistol I ever owned. LOVED IT! I sold it to buy an HK USP45... may buy it back from the current owner, 12 & 13 round mags still intact.
85UL 1999 - Still my camping/hiking/rafting revolver, ABSOLUTELY flawless.

Wife - PT92 - 1980-something - Her every day carry (under the seat) pistol when we met. We still own it. It shoots fine, except for one of the 3 15 rounders that her father left loaded the WHOLE time she had it... it won't cycle after the first 5 or 6 rounds.

Father in Law - PT99ss - 1994 - Perfection.

Mother in Law - Millinium 9mm - Carries it daily, shoots it monthly, no problems (yukky trigger though)

The only Taurus I ever had a problem with was a USED 940 that hadn't been taken care of judging from the finish, but the shop wanted $150 for it, so I bought it. Terribly inaccurate, and jammed a lot. Not the guns fault, I'm sure.

As for Beretta vs. Taurus, I can only say that I like the Taurus safety 1000 times better!!!
 
I currently own three Taurus handguns: a PT58 (a .380 that looks like a baby 92 at about 2/3 the size), a PT100 and a 441 .44 Spl wheelgun. Each one of them has been absolutely reliable once I found the brand of ammunition they liked, or in the case of the 441, the handload that I like.

I don't spend a whole lot of time worrying about whether they are the equal of Berettas because they are as good as I can be with either maker. And I, too, prefer the frame mounted safety/decocker of the Taurus autoloaders.
 
From first-hand experience:

Three PT-92/99's. All three were reliable. Had a PT-22 that wouldn't function. One 44 Magnum that had so much side-to-side play in the cylinder I was afraid to shoot it. Two model 85's both of which required repairs. One 'Milennium' pistol that wouldn't feed ball and a second that was reliable with everything but some of my reloads. That's all I can think of off the top of my head.

Summing it up, this is really poor performance from a company. I like the products, but such a track record is hard to ignore. I don't own any Taurus products at this time. Wouldn't mind another PT-99 though.
 
Quality problems not over.

Bought a m85 back in October, 50% ftf right out of the box. Three trips to the factory and three months later it was finally fixed. I don't like getting a product that is bad out of the box, but it happens and I can deal with that. But Taurus sent the stupid thing back to me twice, with the problem not fixed, I mean give me a break, the timing was so far off that there was no way to know where the firing pin was going to strike. I had even sent spent casing showing them the problem, there is no way the smith's did any test firings the first two times. The third time I had to wait for an "executive" review committee to check the problem out before they gave it to a third smith who finally fixed the problem.

Now that snubbie does shoot beautifully, and I carry it every day. But I was all set to buy a PT99 but wasn't willing to risk the lack of quality control again, instead I picked up a Beretta 92FS and couldn't be happier. Will I buy a Taurus again? Probably, but it will be a while and I will check with the members of this group to see how they are doing at that time

Terry
 
The first semi-auto handgun I ever purchased was a Taurus PT-99, and soon afterwards, a PT-101. Both of these guns have been reliable firearms for me. They have both functioned well with no mechanical failures, and they print decent groups at 25 yards. The only problem I ever encountered is with ammo that was loaded too lightly to fully eject the spent casing and bring the gun back into battery with the next round. You can't beat the lifetime warranty either!
 
I am certainly not on expert on Taurus's, and have only shot two or three, but on the ones I did shoot the trigger felt terrible and action was not smooth at all. IMO, they look and feel cheap. On top of that, the owner of an almost-new Taurus revolver told me that the company recommends against dry-firing as it may damage the gun. No thanks, I'll stick with S&W's and Rugers.
 
I have a PT99 that I bought used in '93. This pistol has never jammed and is pretty accurate. The only thing I would change about this pistol is make the trigger feel more like a Beretta and mine is an early model before they came with decockers and I wish it had one but other than that the pistol has served me very very well.
 
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