Is Taurus still getting bad vibes?

[OLDSTER]

Taurs

IMO Taurus doesn't learn to leave well-enough alone. I owned a beautiful Model 85 snub nosed .38 for a number of years back a decade or so ago. Great revolver; nice polished blue finish, good trigger, reliable, and spot on POA to POI at 7 yards. Now I've seen where the 85 is "painted" black And they seem to have this need to re-invent the wheel by introducing weird ( to put it mildly) pruducts like the CURVE and the VIEW ?? Have they really gone off the deep end ??

 

[ankona]

Bought a Taurus Gaucho @ 2006. Gorgeous case hardened finish. After a month of shooting the timing was bad and had light primer strikes. Didn't shoot worth a hoot but sure looked nice.

 

[CajunBass]

I've owned a fair number of Taurus revolvers over the years and never had any complaints about any of them. Two of them, a 66, and a 65 I'd have put up against any Smith & Wesson I've ever owned. Man, those were nice guns. The 66 I foolishly traded off for some wunter9 or other...the 65 I had to sell during my "personal economic downturn" period. Oh...I forgot...I had a 431 in 44 Special that I put in the same class. I sold that one to help pay for a Model 69, but if I see another one....

The others, various 38's and 22's of K and J frame size, might not have been as nicely finished as they could have been, but they all shot just fine.

Now all of the ones I've owned were older ones, with wood grips. Probably made from the late 70's to the early/mid 90's. The newer ones I know nothing at all about.

 

[dabney]

For myself, I own several Taurus six-guns and have never had any trouble with them. I own two Model 85's and several Model 82's and 80's. These are "great" buys for the money/quality. The current Model 82 is superb! I have used a blue steel, late Model 82 and a Brazilian Police Trade-in 82 in numerous service pistol matches for law enforcement. Used and "placed" in several matches. A Youtube video of one match, showing myself shooting a stainless steel late Model 82, to win/place in a highly competitive local match for coveted "bragging rights. This four-inch fixed sight service revolver, is a "best-buy" for a quality .38 Special +P Rated Service Revolver. I have no problems with Taurus at all, quite the contrary, I love em! I wouldn't think twice about packing a Model 82 on duty at all! Thanks for a great OP, as it gives me a chance to tell/share my Taurus experience.

David

 

[LEO918]

Just yesterday I met with a guy on a gun trade, who happened to mention he had a Taurus .357 that went out of time really bad shortly after buying. Said he sent it back to Taurus for their "lifetime warranty" and has been waiting for them to send it back repaired for nearly a year.

 

[epj]

I have a Judge, purchased prior to the existence of the Govenor. No issues with it. It resides on my bedside table. You don't want to be in front of that puppy when it barks! It basically has 4 .38 caliber slugs coming out the barrel at once. Fist size pattern at 10 yards. I also have a couple of Taurus autos that I inherited. Perfectly decent guns. No resale value, so may as well keep them. One is a 1911 and the other their version of the Beretta 96. The latter would make a good truck gun.

 

[gwpercle]

I have two and absolutely no complaints with either.
A model 92 FS , 9 mm. And a model 455, 5 shot , 45acp that I wouldn't part with for blood or money. Extremely accurate 45 acp.
Gary

 

[mg357]

I don't want to hijack the thread but I do have a question. is the Revolvers model number stamped or engraved on it?

 

[Grayfox]

I think Taurus gets an undeserved bad rap. I have never owned one, but several friends do and are perfectly happy with them.
I'm actually on the look out for a cheap medium frame .38 or .357 just so I can shoot the snot out of it and see for myself just how good or bad they really are.

 

[Az Dave]

I started buying them back in 85 and at least half have had to go back to the factory for repair. One had to go back twice for timing issues. 6 months ago, I sold off all 4 I owned because I just didnt trust them. I replaced them with S&W revolvers and havent looked back. My first M-92 was sold to a friend years ago and it just sheared the lugs off the barrel last week. It had @ 2000 rounds through it. I told my buddy to let the factory fix it and then sell it! Good thing they have a lifetime warranty because chances are you will need it!

 

[amazingflapjack]

Hey guys-this ain't the place for unbiased Taurus reviews, while I have been here at least. After all, S&W used to own them, so... I'll bet not many Taurus revolvers come with the front sight on the side of the barrel(?) I am very fond of my big frame model 44, and model 608, and you could not trade me out of my 441. I'm a S&W fan-but almost exclusively own only pre-holers.

 

[L Pete]

Just my humble $.02. I only needed to own one Taurus, a model 85. Within one month, I needed to change all the springs in it. It still offered light primer strikes consistently. The dealer took it back for a complete refund. Unless you plan on using any Taurus for range only use, please don't buy it. They are completely unreliable. Relying on one for safety is questionable judgment. Ever notice that Taurus offers lower priced copies of popular revolvers and semi-autos ? Makes you wonder how they cut costs . BTW, Google the current recall of over one million pistols by them. If you can, consider even a used Smith & Wesson or Ruger revolver or pistol on layaway. Your safety will be enhanced and your money will be well spent

Same here.....

The one I had would have a light primer strike one time out of every 100 rounds. That's not good enough for me,.....I got rid of it.......

 

[BearBio]

Had a PT-92. No problems (20 years ago?)
Had a Raging Bull in 454=came into some money and had Gary Reeder make a replacement.
Wife has a Millennium=except for a "mushy" trigger, it seems ok (500-600 rounds through it). She upgraded to 2 Glocks for EDC.

 

[johnnyflake]

I am not a big Taurus fan, but I find nothing wrong with them either. Most people who speak up against Taurus, IMHO, are just personally against handguns made out of the USA, or a simple S&W or Colt, Ruger Nuts.

I have owned five different Taurus hand guns and I still own two. I had a Ragingbull .454 and it was a massive gun, very well made, very strong and very accurate. I eventually let that go simple because shooting .454 mag loads is too much for me. All the others were .38spl, two 85 snub guns and two 4" guns. I kept one of each and gave one of each to my grandson. They are all very well made and have hundreds of rounds through them with never an issue. I know at least a half dozen people that own one or more Taurus handguns and no one have ever had a problem!

Recently, Taurus has been receiving high praise for some of their new releases.

 

[ken158]

Many people want to feel they got something equal or superior to a "top shelf" brand but for a lesser price, but there are no short cuts in the gun market... and that fact will become quite obvious when you want to trade or sell your "good deal" gun. The internet has given buyers tons of information in which to make best decisions - use it wisely.

 

[august1410]

In the space of a month, I purchased two Tauruses.

I bought a Model 66 from 1992 that was solid and felt great, albeit with a heavy trigger pull. A 4 inch .357 Magnum was great to have.

Shortly after, I got a M44, 4 inch barreled .44 Magnum. It shot well and was reasonably accurate, it just felt cheaply made.

Don't have either anymore.

 

[deadin]

I can't speak to much about Taurus but about a month ago a friend was complaining that his Taurus snubby was hanging up on the frame mounted firing pin. It wasn't retracting and he figured the spring had broken. I pulled the FP and found that the spring was fine, it had just been "swallowed" by the pin and was jammed forward. I reset everything and told him to quit dry firing it or get some snap caps or it would probably happen again......
Last week he proudly showed me a .357 Tracker he had just picked up and was real proud of its fit & function.
I dug a 1955 version of a K22 Masterpiece out of my safe and handed it to him as a sample of "fit & function".

He has now decided he wants a S&W...........

 

[CS45Fan]

I don't see anything wrong with Taurus products. I've had several of these handguns over the years (some were sold or traded) and I still have have a few. The only issue I recall was with a 44 mag ultra lite that locked up on me for 30 seconds with some hot Buffalo Bore loads. This also happened on a 357 mag S&W airlite with standard magnum loads. If you shoot extensively you may want to consider a better quality handgun. For most of us on this forum a Taurus handgun will probably do just fine over many years.

Cheers!

 

[JJEH]

Taurus - attractive price, bad QC and careless people behind the brand.

This is my Taurus experience.

 

[Erich]

I can't speak about modern Taurus, because I've not bought one in years.

I can say that I've never seen a 92/99 with issues.

I can say that I had a Model 85 in the Eighties, and - while the gun was beautifully finished - it quickly developed light strikes. (I notice others here have the same complaint.) Traded it off after sending it back. I can say that I had a .41 Magnum all-Titanium 5-shot that worked fine for the short time I kept it. I can say that I fired a 5-shot Taurus .44 Special that was simply lovely - a gun I'd love to own . . . and I gave the guy my card and said, "You're nuts if you ever sell it, but if you ever think about it, call me."

I can say that I've handled more than two (a 94, a .380 revolver and at least one .357) brand-new Taurus revolvers in the stores over the last 15 years and found them out-of-time from the factory. Amazing rotational shake on a .380 quasi-I-frame that had a c. 14-lb-DAO pull. And I can say that I've heard several detailed Taurus customer service horror stories from people on various on-line forums (conveying sufficient detail and hurt regret to make me believe they weren't just making it up) - I've got one up on another screen right now, but I don't want to link it here b/c I'm not sure if that would violate a rule.

Your experience may be different - I hope it is. Every so often I'll come back to the idea of buying a Taurus (the cute little 94, for instance, which Mas Ayoob has written he's found to be more accurate than the S&W 34, or a nice used 92), but I always get nervous when it comes time to pull the trigger. I'd love for this to change (Hyundai is an example of a company that's doing an admirable job of changing perceptions), but it's not there for me yet.

That said, I hope your 65 treats you well - and there's no reason to think that's impossible. I've got a friend who's had one since '85, and he loves it and shoots the pants off it. If you have a good gun, don't worry about the rest of them, eh?