I was looking at getting the Taurus Judge, but my local dealer stopped carrying ALL Taurus models because of too many reliability complaints.

Anybody had good/bad experience with the Judges?

I know one of the dealers up here had to return three Taurus Judges because of problems. Not sure exactly what the problems were though.

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Vaya con Dios

http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot41.htm

This is interesting and informative. It's more about performance than reliability though. Still, a good read.

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- The Federalist #46 -

I was interested, mildly, in a Judge and have been following reports on them. I have seen at least 3 reports of the cylinder locking up on firing as well as extremely stiff and heavy trigger pull.
Cleaning with degreaser and lightly oiling seems to help although the trigger pull still seems to be nothing to write home to Mother about. Still following one report where the cylinder is locked up tight with 4 live rounds still in the cylinder. Can't free it up, can't send it back to the factory.
Overall, Taurus quality seems to be hit or miss, those who have had good service swear by them while others swear at them.
Dan R

I own a Taurus 605. It's a good gun, but not as nice as a S&W. When I needed work done on it, I had to send it to Miami twice and the gun still wasn't right. In the end the weapon was out of service for five months and I wound up fixing it myself. I will never buy another Taurus. Taurus's repair department are beyond incompetent.

I currently own a Taurus M1911 and formerly owned a PT 92, and I assure you they are not junk. Both were totally reliable and I have never had any issues with either. I have no experience with Taurus revolvers. I've read some horror stories about Taurus' U.S. repair service, but have never had to use it.

I too WAS interested in the Taurus Judge. Like you I did my internet research. I talked in forums, watched videos, read reviews, visited the box of truth website. After about a month of research I diverted the "Judge funds" to a target .22 auto fund. I am satisfied with my decision.

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Cheers -Jeff

I also have a Taurus 1911 and it has been 110%, same goes for a 905 revolver (older version). I guess they see all the calls for S&W to bring back the 940 as they have started making the 905 revolver again. Maybe I was one of the lucky ones but mine have been trouble free after quite a few rounds. Biggest problem I ever had was getting extra stellar clips for the 9mm revolver.

A 1911 pattern pistol is relatively easy to make with a lot of "band width" for QC. A revolver, especially a DA needs the precision of a Swiss watch to be reliable. The Tarus revolvers I have experience with were second class and their owners soon parted company with them. Cylinder locking was a common complaint.

I inherited a (new!)PT1911 that was rusted and pitted, such that total disassembly, major sanding/sand blasting and reblue were necessary.

After a few shakedown range trials, it seems to be functioning properly. With a few hundred more rounds downrange, I'll be able to decide.

This model does have a lot of desirable features built in already. Unexplained is how it became pitted with no actual exposure/use.

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Dum vivimus Vivamas

I talked with a co-worker of mine who bought a blued (or whatever Taurus calls that dark finish) 1911. Within 100 ronds, the finish is very heavily worn, and the thumb safety broke (actually snapped in two). With that type of cost of a gun, and some of the problems I hear, I am a bit leary of ever buying a Taurus.

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Vaya con Dios

Over the years I've owned a PT92 and a M85 ultra-lite. I wish I still had them both. The PT92 was a great 9mm for the money. Never had a problem with either. The M85UL shot almost as well as my 60-9. I traded both for things that where higher on the list. It does appear that Taurus QC can be a little bit of a hit or miss. I may have just been lucky.

RE:Mine came apart about round count 300; in this case it was a reassembly error which was easily fixed. The two sides of the safety have to push together from opposite sides, and 'click' into place into their mutual socket-fittings. Otherwise they can and will eventually separate.

This was an easy fix: realign PROPERLY and push together until it 'snaps' into place. Will be watching closely the next few hundred rounds.

I'm not familiar with other 2-sided safety retention designs. My 'smith pointed out the benefits and potential risks of such design.

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Dum vivimus Vivamas

In general, YES it is!!!

I've owned two Taurus 92s and a Tracker in 45 ACP and all were great guns that never had any problems. I sold off the two 92s because I didn't need as many 9s as I had. I kept the Tracker. It is very well made.

I was mildly interested in seeing the "Judge" the first couple of times someone brought one to the range.

Now I just start them out with a BIG target and suggest they stand close.

In my highly personal opinion, the Judge is a large, heavy, VERY inaccurate belly gun best suited for blowing up water jugs at 5 feet (and then cackling like Beavis and Butthead).

I can vouch for the reports that US Taurus warranty repair service can be a PITA.

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Science plus Art

I own a 6.5" blue finish 4410 Taurus with a 2 1/2" chamber, and this is what I have found...

With .45 Colt ammunition of the standard load variety, it functions very well, and have never had a problem. Not all bullet styles seem to shoot alike- it did not like the few rounds of Winchester Silvertips that I ran through it- they shot 8" low at 15 yards. The regular 250-255 grain Space Coast bullets that I load for plinking shoot to point of impact and group as well as I can shoot it.

As for .410 shells- they are a horse of a different color altogether!

The problem is, that not all .410 loads act alike when shot in a chamber that is slightly larger than what a .410 chamber should be (.45 Colt).

Stay away from Rio and Fiocchi .410's to shoot in the Judge- the head of the shell seems to expand much more than other brands and will either require the extractor to be pounded a bit to get them out.

Winchester and Federal ammunition seem to be the easiest to extract and shoot.

Also, don't think that this little gun is going to shoot and pattern like a regular .410 shotgun, because it won't. The rifling and shortness of the barrel cause the shot to spread very, very quickly. To combat this for small vermin, stick with #8 or #9 shot to keep the pattern somewhat denser than that of the larger shot sizes.

Another alternative is what many people have been doing- putting an extension on the barrel with a straight rifled choke tube from a Thompson Center Contender or Encore .410 on it. It does improve the pattern significantly I am told, and have talked with a gunsmith that does this.

All I can say is that it is great fun as a "rat gun" off of the tractor loaded with AA #9's while bush hogging.

Let me add that it shoots identical to my Contender when the choke tube is out of it.

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Lost it all in a boat accident

I own seven Taurus firearms, 5 revolvers and two autos. They are all older except one, which is still pre-lock. I can't tell you for sure if their quality now is junk or not but it has deteriorated to the point I won't buy a new one. It's a shame too, their revolvers used to be my second choice behind a S&W.

My brother in law had a 1911 knock off that has been back to Taurus several times. Their customer service is polite and the gun gets fixed....6 weeks later. He has sent it back several times.

I won't own one.

However, I have had to send back my 627 v comp once also. S&W made it right though.

I have owned a Taurus PT-99 since 1987. Sent it in for service on the lifetime warranty twice. The first time a crack had started in the slide. I had shot the lands from the barrel by this time, and they replaced barrel & slide. The second time, the trigger return slide came off the trigger, and had to be replaced. They replaced a retention pin in the rear sight for me at the same time. Very thorough repairs, both times. Good customer service on the phone. Repairs & returns happened in 4-6 weeks both times. I am very happy with Taurus.

I just bought a new Taurus PT58HC. I should take delivery by the end of the week. I will post a full range report.

I'm glad there are those who like them and are pleased with the service they get.

I personally would not own another one.

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Qui plantavit curabit

I once bought the Taurus revolver similar to a M66 4". After I got it home, I found it was out of time. I took it back to the gun shop and they sent it off to Taurus for warranty repair. I got it back about 3 months later and it was still doing the same thing. It was sent back again. After another long wait, it came back still out of time. I was very disgusted. The dealer offered to give me a couple hundred bucks trade in on a used S&W so I traded it to him. I'll never buy another. I have a friend who has had a M85 2" for about 15 years and it has worked fine.

I like the look, feel, and challaege of shooting a short barrel 357 revolver. So recently I purchased a new Taurus M916 in black. After shooting less than twelve shells it would consistantly lock up. The trigger and hammer would be stuck. To continue firing, wiggling the cylinder would unfreeze it.

I have read many stories on the Internet about other peoples problems with guns made by this manufacturer, And accompanying those stories would be comments from others who have had no problems with the same guns. This caused me to think Taurus has the same problems many companies have. They design a good product, but the people who asssemble it drop the ball.

The simple/qiuck fix required taking the mechanicals out of the gun, cleaning the "lubricant" off and putting it all back together. I sparringly used oil that came with a Hoppies cleaning kit during reassembly. Testing consisted of firing about two hundred various 38 and 357 rounds. No problems. My wife and I really like the way this gun shoots, now.

This will be our only Taurus. Of all the weapons we have, this is the only one that didn't work first time and always.

Only had one Taurus, a 5 shot .45 ACP snub rev. Had zero problems, you could even load/unload the moon clips with your fingers. Gun was fairly accurate. (for what it was) And always functioned just fine.

Traded it in on a mod.60 because the Taurus just seemed too large & heavy for a CCW.

Have had a steel, semi-concealed hammer Mod 85 for quite awhile. The fit, finish and function is good. No problems and no complaints.

I have heard good and bad. I have several Taurus's in the safe. I have not had any issues with what I have.

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It is what it is.

Just got a Melinium Pro .45. So far, so good although I did have one failure to feed in the first 50 rounds. May have been a "limp wrist" as I am relatively new to automatics.

I'll get back to you.

A guy let me fire his Judge a while back, it failed to fire twice...

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"Shall not be infringed"

Just looked at a new Taurus 9mm snubby, timeing was off,gave it back to clerk. Want to buy Taurus but thier revolvers dont seem to be up to snuff.

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Stay safe people!

i own 2- a pt145 and pt1911. havent put a huge number of rounds thru them, but i am yet to have any issues. pretty happy so far.

After many years, matches, range work and practice, I've seen way too many Taurus failures.
You will not find one in my safe.
They have great customer service, or so I've heard. They will fix any problems that they can, sometimes over and over again.

I made the mistake of "saving money" on a Taurus .22 revolver---the most expensive (emotionally as well as monetarily) gun I even owned---with the exception of a SECOND Taurus we were convinced to buy (told years later that all the QC issues had been resolved) for my wife who liked the way it looked & felt. Like the first one, it locked up & Taurus repair (after three times back) wouldn't fix it. Sent a letter to their president, but he was off hunting in Russia and never replied. Finally found a repairman who took them off my hands cheap... Now whenever I tell my wife I got another gun for the collection, the first thing she asks is, "Is it a Smith & Wesson?!"


Result: Sound of crickets chirping...

A year or so ago I never would have even entertained the idea of buying a Taurus for my own use, however, about six months ago a friend of mine was talking up the 24/7 OSS. Now my friend who touted the OSS isn't the usual "gun shop commando," but one of the folks that cause my ears to perk up when he talks. He has written several very technical, in depth multi-part articles for Small Arms Review and is an engineer by trade, as I said, when he talks, I listen and learn Because of what he said about the 24/7 OSS I bought one in .45 ACP along with eight additional mags.

The day it arrived from the distributor I was heading out to do some shooting with a friend of mine, so I didn't have a chance to give it a thorough cleaning before shooting. When we got to the range I wiped off the oil applied to the exterior of the pistol, loaded up three mags and started shooting, on the first mag two rounds failed to fully chamber, so I went ahead and field stripped it, and gave it a 'whore's bath' and ran a bore snake down the barrel. It ran like a champ after that, I fired another 350 or so rounds through it that afternoon without any problems, I haven't shot it much since than, but I have probably put a total of 700-800 rds. through it and the only problems I have had were those that came from the first mag I loaded into the gun before cleaning it.

Since it is the only Taurus I own and haven't had it that long I cannot comment on their overall quality, but I like the OSS. It has a very slim grip for a 12+1 .45 ACP and seems like a quality product, although the take down system does seem a bit fragile.

Friends don't let friends buy Taurus.

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Sure you did