Bashing Taurus

[.357magger]

Once owned a Mod 85 and was suprised to discover that standard speedloaders did not work with the factory supplied rubber grip. Just no way there was enough clearance to fit the darned things. Also found the trigger pull on DA to be horrendous, even after cleaning the internals. At that time I noted VERY rough maching present, nothing like the interior polishing that is common on lots of Smiths and Colts.

Got rid of it shortly thereafter. Was purchased as a wifes bedside gun and the more I thought about that grip the more I wondered about the quality internally. So...I decided she was worth more than a "bargain' blaster and upgraded her to a 686-4+. She digs it, has some nice resale value if I ever want to sell it, and the quality is so much higher that the only common factor was .38 special and they were both snub handguns.

Won't own another one unless I saw something very different in quality control.

 

[Revolver-time]

I have owned Taurus revolvers. Still keep a Model 94 in .22-LR for plinking. It has thousands of rounds through it. No complaints. I had a Taurus 85 UL for years and had no problems. Only reason I switched to S&W was a good price was offered by a local dealer. Never had to return any of three Taurus revolvers to the factory.

Much as I like S&W, I cannot say they are perfect. My current EDC has been back to the factory twice. It is a Model M&P340 and had its barrel come loose and a firing-pin spring break. So, S&W do break, they do need repair, just like anything mechanical. I just wonder how a revolver gets out of the factory with a loose barrel? It had but ten-rounds fired through it before I noticed the loose barrel.

Chevy cars run good, Ford cars run good. Own one, bash the other. Same goes for firearms.

You are quite right. People always try to defend their purchases. To not think you have the better product is to admit you made a mistake or perhaps you are not as smart as the guy that bought the other one.

As a mechanical engineer, I really enjoy looking at the innards of my mechanical toys. And when I take apart a Colt or a Smith I can appeciate the work and fitting that went into the parts. I can also see that some parts on a Taurus are not as finely finished. But if it doesn't affect function then I am okay with paying a bit less. Is a forged part better that a cast part? The answer is....it depends. Is a MIM hammer inferior to the older case hardened Smith hammers? The answer is........I don't know. I have a hammer of of a 57 no dash that is cracked at the spur. The MIM hammer on my 610 looks like it is doing okay. Will I get more rounds out of my pinned and recessed 27-2 then my 27 Classic? The answer is no because I put the 27-2 in a semi-retired mode due to it's value. I do know I had to put a shim in my 28-2 to get rid of an end shake problem but I can't seem to wear out a Ruger Blackhawk with that inferior cast aluminum frame.

Is my wife's C6 Vette as good as that Beemer Z? I don't think so but I couldn't fit in the Beemer. And that last recall really ticked me off.

 

[Bullseye Smith]

While this is a Smith and Wesson site I think discussing other competing manufacturers products is perfectly acceptable. S&W products do not exist in a vacuum. The innovation shown by Taurus is quite unique, and when it actually influences our beloved Smith and Wesson products, it should be recognized. The S&W "copy" of the Taurus Judge says something about Taurus.

Maybe, but you can bet you butt on it that the Smith will be built better and last longer than any inport will. Don't blame S&W letting the VW try the ice to see if it fall in and sinks before they bring out the race ready Porshe .

 

[batmann]

I read the same thing about 'new' S&W's, new Ruger's, pick one. Taurus makes mid-range price revolvers and autos. I have a Taurus PT 24/7 ProDS in .40SW and it has been an outstanding weapon. It has fired and ejected any and all ammo I have fed it and that includes some steel cased Russian stuff the my buddies Glock wouldn't (sorry, Holy Grail handgun). My 24/7 is my go to gun for home now replacing my 629 MG loaded with .44 Spls.
There is a topic on this forum (at least one) that slams the new Smith's. Sorry guys, get over it. PRICE will deterine the buyers and Taurus, Smith and Ruger seem to understand that. The days of hand fitted lock work and rich blueing are gone.
One last thing and I am done, most of the Taurus bashing is by people who have NEVER owned one. Same with the new Smith's, they only repeat what they have heard on the i-net or some gun store commando said.

 

[jrs70]

21 years ago I bought my boy a Taurus 94 in blue. At the price for a kid it was good. I liked it so much when the stainless steel came out I bought one. It does not have the fit and finish of a smith. I still have it and the box for it. Shot it a lot over the years with no problems. However that is the only Taurus I have. There is just something about Taurus, I would rather have a Smith. I like the older smiths better. I do own a new no lock 642 and it is my carry gun and I like it.

IMHO Paul

 

[goldenbb]

I have a 669 that I traded some EAA piece of **** 9mm Witness for. On that very same table sat a used Model 66 that I didn't notice until the deal was well underway. I should have gone with the 66. The Taurus shoots okay, but the cylinder pin would unscrew and jam the cylinder. I fixed that and now the hammer sometimes locks up. Reliable? Absolutely not. Also, it isn't as smooth as an S&W because the mainspring is a coil and not a flat spring. All Taurus does is cut corners. I would never buy another Taurus anything and the resale value is ****, too.

 

[stantheman86]

Taurus fills a "niche" and they sell a TON of handguns. They may not be as good as the "big boys" but the average Taurus buyer does not shoot their guns heavily, and if they can get an 85 snub for $325 NIB over a $500 Model 60, the choice is pretty clear for a gun they will maybe shoot 20 rounds through.

The PT92 has long been regarded as one of the best things to ever come out of Taurus. Back in the late 90's, every gun guy I knew had a PT92 as their "range beater", because they were priced pretty cheap years ago. Now Taurus seems too proud of the PT92, a new one isn't too far below the price of a new Beretta 92fs.

Taurus revolvers have a bad rep for the firing pin spring getting mashed into uselessness. Also a bad rep for timing issues, and poorly fit internals, i.e. "cap gun triggers".

I have not heard of many Taurus "collectors" but I imagine there are some out there. Check out the Taurusarmed.com forum, there are some big time Taurus fans on there.

I own 4 Taurus revolvers, all were security trade ins, and all were bought for a price so low they were nearly free. They work, 3 of them needed some tweaking to get them up to par, and they fill a "niche" as "out in the barn" guns, truck guns, beaters, etc. Taurus' "base model" guns like the 82, 65, 66, 85 etc. are all in the $320-400 range, but like I always say, "half the price, half the quality".

My personal opinion on Taurus, is if you get a good one, you will be happy with it. But the odds are decent you may get a garbage one too. It's a dice roll, really. Out of my 4, I would say only 1, a Model 80 made in 1992, was the only one that I didn't need to do anything to and it works perfectly.

Taurus fans tell me my 82's will last just as long as a Model 10, and that the 82 has a beefier slide and forcing cone. I feel Taurus beefed up the parts to make up for spotty steel quality. Either way, I don't plan to put enough rounds through any of my Taurus' to find out how long they last. The last time I fired my 82 it was to dispatch a groundhog.

 

[Cpo1944]

I have been searching for a short barrel .41 mag to use for CCW.
I found a used 1 year old Taurus 415 for $350 , so I bought it .
First time shooting it I got so many FTF `s that I lost count . It would take 5 go rounds of the cylinder to get all 5 shells to go bang.This was DA only, Sa it was ok.
It also suffered the occasional failure to cock the hammer while the cylinder rotated on fast DA .
I was very fortunate and most relieved to have a honorable seller who agreed to buy it back.
The little Taurus was just the right size and caliber , and was exactly what I wanted... too bad the quality and reliability was so poor!
Taurus has some good ideas and innovative designs , but I will never buy another.

 

[Tunachaser]

when I see a taurus I throw up a little in my mouth, finding a good one is as common as finding a bad smith, it don't happen often. But hey, some folks buy Shaffer beer.............

 

[stantheman86]

Taurus knows their role in the market. If they upped their QC and finished the guns better, they would cost too much and no one would buy a Taurus if a S&W or Ruger were only $30-50 more.

I agree with what was said above,most of the Taurus and new S&W bashing is done by people who haven't tried them.

Taurus has a place in the market, as low cost guns that give people something that goes bang to use for CC or put in the sock drawer, and most of them are not sold to people who plan to put 10's of thousands of rounds through them.

Nothing has changed, over 100 years ago makers of plain jane budget guns like Harrington & Richardson and Iver Johnson sold boatloads of cheap revolvers to people who needed a gun but didn't want to pay for a Colt or S&W. Instead of Brazil, back then small Belgian and Spanish gun makers flooded the market with cheap knockoffs of S&W's and Colts. There will always be a market for low cost guns and this is where Taurus comes in. Not everybody wants or needs top quality when they know the gun probably won't ever see it's first 100 rounds.

 

[cal50]

I put Taurus on par with Ruger, rugged guns that work. Not the nicest finish or machining of parts but far from junk status.

 

[RobertJ.]

Wow, you'd think some people rate Taurus right up there with Hi-Point or Lorcin!

I've owned 2 Taurus 689's, one blue and one stainless. They were both decent shooters. They didn't have the finish of a Smith, but they shot pretty good. No problems with either one. I currently have an older stainless Model 85. It has a nicer finish, and a sleeker look, than the newer ones, in my opinion. It goes bang every time I pull the trigger, and it shoots to the point of aim with my ammo choice.

Most of my collection are S&W and Ruger, with a couple Colts also, so I am familiar with true quality. I haven't had a Taurus lemon so far, and if another one appeared at the right price, I'd probably buy it.

 

[BigBill]

I did lube my taurus 94 inside with moly. When moly is applied inside any gun its lessens the trigger pull and smooths it out. It feels like an expensive trigger job was done with just a lube. I just picked up a pre 1938 H&R 922 revolver in 22cal.

 

[Pepi4]

I've owned one for years and IMO anyone that calls them junk is an idiot

 

[cantpickone]

They're not nearly as nice as a S&W but hardly junk either. Evidently a lot of these guys that only drive Porches and Maserati's sneer at the commoners that drive around in Fords and Chevys.
Like a previous poster stated, I own mostly S&W, Ruger and one (in my case) Colt and can recognize quality. But I not only also own a few Tauri, I even have a Charter Arms Bull Dog.
All of them function just fine. It may be true that a Taurus may not hold up to 10,000 rounds but I don't shoot these small frame guns that often just as I don't shoot my j frames that often compared to kframes and L frames and N frames as they aren't all that pleasant to put a lot of rounds through.

 

[JC4013]

Just a passing thought since most of us are concerned with the need to protect ourselves with firearms if needed: If I use my gun in a shooting, the first thing I have to do is turn it over to the police as evidence. I'll get it back, if I do, months of even years later or perhaps never. The problems with Taurus seem to appear when they are shot a lot. I expect a gunfight to be over in a couple or three rounds. I don't expect a firefight. When I hand that gun over to the police, I would much rather hand over a Taurus that I paid a couple or three hundred dollars for and not a thousand dollar custom made work of art.

 

[amazingflapjack]

To each his/her own-ain't it great to have a choice?

I read with some interest, many of the comments up to this point. I am a S&W collector, and I am very fond of, especially, older S&W's, but I have 2 holers, and it really does not concern me in the least what someone else thinks about what I do or don't own/like/dislike/collect, ad infinitm. Taurus, et al, does not have to be "bad" in order for S&W to be "good." But just for fun, here are a few high lites of my Taurus experience: I have a Taurus 441-44 spl-that I bought from an acquaintance dealer who is a life long S&W adherent, and holds Taurus in disdain, probably simply because they are Taurus. He's certainly privilaged to his own views, but he sold me this pristene 4 inch revolver for 215.00 dollars otd. Georgious bluing. I put some of those wood and rubber Packmeyers on it-made the gun. Later when I was doing some other business with this dealer, the subject of this gun came up, and I quietly mentioned that it had one of the best double actions I had ever experienced. Well, his eyebrows rolled up like an old fashioned windw shade, and he kind of froze there for a moment. I have known this man for about 20 yaers, have purchased many guns from him, and I don't know it, but I would say he has probably never shot a Taurus anything. I am even more certain that he never shot that one. One of my other early Taurus revolvers is a model 44-44 mag. Kind of looks like a cross between a Colt Annaconda and a model 29, kind of a nice mix in my view, but of course, it's stainless, has factory porting-the long barrel. I put some oversize hogue Lamo-Camo's on it, and what a hog leg. Accurate, shoots real nice, a favorite of mine. I bought it on lay-a-way for 469.00 bucks. Then about a year ago, I became aware that Taurus was building an 8 shot 357 mag on the same frame as my model 44. I thouight, "my, what a nice idea" so I bought one of those on lay-a-way-the model 608. It also has the factory porting, which makes it handle sweet. I got the 6 1/2 inch. I put some Hogue top fingers on it, beautiful gun. It has the best trigger, out of the box, that I have ever experienced, and is better than, or as good as, some of my Smiths that have taken extended vacations up at headquarters in New England. I only wish my experience with the Taurus service U.S. HQ in Miami was as good as my experience with their products, kind of hit and miss, but I can't pin that all on the folks in Brazil, can I? But I'll just keep enjoying these fine guns. Why, I might even buy another one sometime, probably on lay-a way though. Flapjack.

 

[stantheman86]

I carry a beat up, rust pitted Ruger .38 Service Six for the very reason stated above......I wanted something utilitarian and reliable, to get knocked around in my IWB holster and if Heaven forbid I ever had to use it, I wouldn't be turning something irreplaceable over to the police.

I trust the Ruger lightyears ahead of my Taurus' to function when needed, and I paid $200 for the Ruger which is less than any Taurus I have ever seen.

 

[ladder13]

If I were involved in a shooting, one of the first things I'd think about is either going to jail or being sued, losing my gun is not even on the radar. I have plenty to replace any held up in an evidence locker, it's only a gun afterall. And the gun I carry needs to work all the time, everytime. If there's any doubt about one of these "sub par" guns why would anyone carry one in the first place?

 

[mc5aw]

My local dealer has drastically cut back on stocking Taurus models due to a significant problem with quality control over the past year. Too many Taurus guns she has sold have malfunctioned and required service. That's not a commentary on brand preference or bias, but a simple fact directly from a person who makes her living selling a variety of firearms. If I'm going to stake my personal safety and well-being on the quality and functionality of a product, it's going to be with the product that has the best track record of quality and functionality. I stay with S&W exclusively, and don't begrudge anyone else for their respective choices.