Bashing Taurus

[snubbiefan]

U got me there RAMS. I purchase all my guns from a brother-n-law dealer and get them at his cost plus tax with no transfer fee. I normally buy all mine at around 67% of list, which I realize can vary from retailer-to-retailer. But, on certain gun models that one could compare apples-to-apples between the two makes, there can be a significant price difference. Taurus has an ultra lite snubbie 22LR that I could get for around $294, but it has adjustable sights, which I did not desire on this particular revolver, so I opted for a S&W 317 fix sighted snubbie that cost me $560. I know this is not exactly an apple-to-apple comparison, but it is a 22LR-to-22LR ultra lite (air weight) snub-nose comparison.

I still would not mind paying a little more for one that I did not have to dissemble and clean before I shot it. I have had them right out the box that have worked and still are functioning flawlessly. Then...you run across one that locks-up, or have FTF issues...pop the side cover off and it looks like somebody put the floor-sweepings in there.

Just for the record...I own 4 Smiths and 2 Taurus revolvers.

 

[mkk41]

OK , price aside , or being the same for a similar model , who would really choose a Taurus over a Smith & Wesson?

 

[RAMS]

Not trying to get ya, snubbiefan; you come across as an honest broker, and I appreciate that you are just trying to smooth ruffled feathers of Taurus fans. But I am trying to dispel the very widely held but false notion that all S&W guns cost twice what a Taurus costs.

 

[Tunachaser]

All of them?

No Sir, I mis spoke, but my point is, we should all be able to voice an opinion without being called names. I would not buy one, but someone else may not by a Colt, I would not call that person an idiot, I would say, to each his own.......and if you don't agree with me u r an idiot...............

 

[snubbiefan]

41....the ones that hate the IL bad enough!

I don't have an issue with it. I have one with the IL and I have not had a stroke, or spent any sleepless nights over it, nor have I bought a plug, or installed a screw to try and hide it and ruin a good weapon.

Obviously, if I could have a Smith for the same price as a Taurus...that would be a no-brainer...unless I hated the IL too badly.

RAMS...understood and I am trying to be about as neutral as I can and I realize that was a pretty "broad" statement. BUT...in some similar models ( as I pointed out with the 22 light-weights)...there can be significant price differences. I admit to making an erroneous blanket statement. You guys can shoot me....but use a Taurus....it may not fire (LOL).

 

[Dave T]

Wow, eleven pages discussing Taurus revolvers on the S&W Forum. Amazing!

Well I'll tell you guys what really frosts me. How is it a second rate gun maker like Taurus can produce the 431 and 441s pictured in the first post, 5-shot 44 Specials on a medium size frame, and our own beloved Smith & Wesson insists they can't do the same.

I called them once and in talking to one of the company men I asked why they couldn't build a 5-shot 44 Special K-frame (original call was asking to bring back the 696). He said it couldn't be done and when I said something like, what about the Charter Bulldog and the Tauruses (Taurui?) he got mad and hung up on me.

The Bulldog is smaller than the K-frame yet they insist there isn't room in a K for the 44 Special. I do not understand this and probably never will. Dang!

Dave

 

[stantheman86]

FWIW I recall back in about 2000-2001 at the Valley Forge PA gun show......a dealer had a big table full of security trade in Model 10 4" HB's, looked like 10-8's or 10-10's, I don't know I didn't look too closely. They were all laid on the table mixed in with the older Taurus 82's, like the ones in my pic, the Model 10 HB copies. The sign on the table was something like "used SW/Taurus .38's - Pick ANY - $200" You would think the S&W's would be picked clean and only Taurus' would be left, but at the time S&W M10's weren't priced through the roof and they were still "used guns" and the dealer was selling plenty of both of them. I forget the exact price but I do know it was 200 something, because a few guys were griping that they were too high........ I did end up buying a PD trade in 67-1 from him, he had like 50 of them and IIRC I got it for $300 or so and my "gun buddies" said I got hosed.......getting hosed in 2001 for $300 for a 67-1.......THOSE were the last of the good old days, I guess.

 

[cballman]

I hate to bash anybodys guns BUT. My first revolver was a Taurus model 66. I bought this gun close to 25 years ago NIB. I have shot it quite a lot. I looked at other guns when I purchased it. The main reason I purchased it was because of all the revolvers I looked at and handled the model 66 fit my hand. Now I have another revolver a model 1917 S&W I would love to shoot it more but it does not fit my hand and it is not a good feeling to shoot. Both guns shoot well but when one fits the hand it feels much better. Not a bash on either brand but the way that I feel.

 

[John Fritz]

I did a little looking around and things change a bit when you start comparing Taurus/S&W .357 revolvers instead of .38's. It looks like the price spread is more pronounced then.

 

[cantpickone]

Per snubbiefan: "I would pay another $50-$75 for [a Taurus] that was adequately inspected and tested before it left the factory and still cost 1/2 the price of a similar piece in a Smith."

A Taurus 851SS2UL is factory priced at $500. The S&W similar version is the loved-by-many 638, factory priced at only $449.

If you added $50 to $75 more for an "adequately inspected and tested" basic Taurus 85B2UL, you would be in the $480 to $505 range, which is higher than the $449 factory-priced S&W Models 442, 438, 637, 638 and 642.

In real world selling prices today a Taurus 851 is $286 and a S&W638 is $454 at Bud's.

 

[cantpickone]

No Sir, I mis spoke, but my point is, we should all be able to voice an opinion without being called names. I would not buy one, but someone else may not by a Colt, I would not call that person an idiot, I would say, to each his own.......and if you don't agree with me u r an idiot...............

I agree with you 100%.

 

[cantpickone]

OK , price aside , or being the same for a similar model , who would really choose a Taurus over a Smith & Wesson?

Priced the same, I would buy Smith & Wesson every time. I have a Taurus 85 Ultralite that I bought used at a pawn shop for about $140 a few years back. I have a S&W 642 that I bought new for $372 at at dealer.
I have found the biggest difference between them is the price. They both work equally well.


I apologize to everyone for not knowing how to use the multi quote feature.

 

[RAMS]

Per cantpickone: "In real world selling prices today a Taurus 851 is $286 and a S&W638 is $454 at Bud's."

Cantpickone, the Buds price is $361, not $454, for the S&W 638. In any case, the S&W 638 is not twice the price of the similar (on the outside) Taurus 851.
And if you add the estimated $75 (the added cost of acceptable QC and testing by Taurus), Buds' price for the Taurus 851 would be --now get this--$361, the exact price Buds is asking for the S&W.
Who would pick the Taurus if it were the same price as the S&W?

 

[John Fritz]

... I have a Taurus 85 Ultralite that I bought used at a pawn shop for about $140 a few years back. ...

If that Taurus was in good shape then you got a smokin' deal. Those Ultralites are the most expensive version of those little five-shot snubbies. Nice guns.

 

[RobertJ.]

You know, over at the Colt forum, they look at S&W the same way some people here look at Taurus!

 

[RAMS]

Not so, RobertJ. I am a member of the Colt Forum. There generally is mutual respect there, and some good natured kidding.
Of course, they don't know what grips are; they call 'em stocks or some such, and their cylinders turn the wrong way! What's more, their four-inch .22 Diamondbacks can't shoot straight, like a S&W 17 can ;-)

 

[cantpickone]

Per cantpickone: "In real world selling prices today a Taurus 851 is $286 and a S&W638 is $454 at Bud's."

Cantpickone, the Buds price is $361, not $454, for the S&W 638. In any case, the S&W 638 is not twice the price of the similar (on the outside) Taurus 851.
And if you add the estimated $75 (the added cost of acceptable QC and testing by Taurus), Buds' price for the Taurus 851 would be --now get this--$361, the exact price Buds is asking for the S&W.
Who would pick the Taurus if it were the same price as the S&W?

I am not the person that said anything about adding 50-$75 to a Taurus, I was just curious as to the actual selling prices and reported what I found.
But you are correct, had I scrolled further, I would have found a few 638's for $361 at Bud's.
It is a rather recent event that these no lock j frames have been showing up at lower (better) prices.
And I think that the price competition from Taurus (LCR's etc) and all the people refusing to buy a gun with the internal lock brought this about.
S&W was forced to do something to recapture the lost pocket gun market.

 

[cantpickone]

If that Taurus was in good shape then you got a smokin' deal. Those Ultralites are the most expensive version of those little five-shot snubbies. Nice guns.

This particular pawn shop sells Taurus and Rossi at at very low price and puts prices that are so high on other guns that they sit unsold for years and years.

 

[enfield]

I bought this one that used to be a guy's nightstand piece. Not a problem yet. I also have to say it wears a grip that is the first magna style that fits my hand. It's just a little ugly but in a utilitarian way. It kind of mimics an old Model 10 five screw.

I have this revolver also. Bought it new in Georgia in 1973 for the princely sum of $64. It's my Bee Gun.

 

[snubbiefan]

There is one point I want to make here and then I want to un-subscribe from this thread....it could go on forever. I have already admitted that I own both the Smith and the Taurus and both have their place, as well as the Colt, Charter and all the others.

The Taurus Forum has a subject heading dedicated to Taurus Complaints. The Taurus owners, or potential buyers know their shortcomings and are not afraid to discuss them.

This Forum has no such subject heading dedicated to S&W complaints. Is that because there are not enough complaints to justify one....it could be, but if you read through the S&W threads...you will find complaints.

It's not a perfect world out their for anybody folks.