Taurus revolvers, any good? Opinions appreciated

[Joewisc]

My heart's set on a Smith & Wesson 617 .22LR revolver but they're scarce and pricey. As a cheaper alternative (by about 300 bucks), looking at this Taurus M992 Tracker .22, which is a 9-shot compared to the 617 10-shot. Reviews seem pretty good although trigger is said to be heavy. Any advice welcomed. Thank you!
This guy seems to like it:
http://youtu.be/dC3ltKduHbE

 

[NFrameFred]

Enjoy and appreciate it for what it is if you buy it - 'cause you'll likely never get your money back out if it.

Just a sad fact of life.

It may do everything you want and if you can be happy with it, go for it. But if you buy the S&W and find you don't care for it or lose interest for something else . . . you shouldn't have a problem getting your money back.

Taurus has a spotty quality control record and there's a reason they sell so much cheaper than a S&W. You get what you pay for. Depends on your personal tastes and preferences, and of course, your budget. But I've never looked back later and had any real regrets about spending a few bucks more to get what I really wanted. Can't say the same when I went the other direction.

 

[M3Stuart]

I had the 92 (or was it a 94?) .22 LR 9 shooter in 4".

Um, let's just say I don't recommend any Taurii anymore.

It was just impossible to extract the spent cases. We're talking steel ramrod difficult. No amount of buffing could help. To describe the trigger as 'heavy' will prove to be the understatement of the year, and, perhaps the century.

Go to the Taurus forum and see what they say.

My .02 would be that you get what you pay for - especially in Taurii and Rossi.

All that said; I actually recommend Taurus and Rossi for people who aren't shooting enthusiasts - I mean; if all you need is a gun that will generally go BANG I guess it would do. Maybe for a nightstand gun that you'll never use (and has a high probability of working when you need it to). But if you shoot it very much at all, it'll start making pilgrimmages back to Miami to be fixed at your shipping expense.

 

[DeerWrangler]

While i cant speak for the M922 i do have 2 Taurus's and find them to be fairly good. Customer support is more iffy than others but the
Tracker 45ACP ( I just wanted a revolver that shot the same ACP as my autos did) and the 44 mag. All of the triggers seem to be a little on the stiff side so i am guessing thats just the nature of the beast.

 

[Arik]

They are just ok, hold almost 0 resale value and have a lifetime warranty.

This being a 22 should be fine for just shooting the snot out of

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

 

[ogilvyspecial]

My wife & I have been lucky with our Model 94's.
No problems, but the triggers are indeed heavy.

 

[CajunBass]

I've had four Taurus Revolvers over the years. They all worked just fine, and when it came time to sell/trade them, I never had any trouble getting my money back. One of them, an old, blue Model 94, I had people standing in line, in case the first fellow backed out of the deal.

 

[woodsltc]

Worst gun I ever owned was a Taurus......what a piece of junk.

In my opinion friends should never let friends buy a Taurus.

Don

 

[perrazi]

cajunbass, when you say you got your money out of them on selling, were they given to you in the first place? we call taurus handguns around here trotline weights.

 

[Hillbilly77]

I have a Model 941 .22 magnum.
The action is atrocious when compared to a Smith, and only ok if compared to a Ruger, but....
The stupid thing is pretty accurate and tons of fun to shoot. I haven't had any troubles with it since I bought it.

I have no experience with Taurus customer service, but the thing that Taurus has that nobody else does (Smith & Wesson - Pay attention to this...) is that they give a lifetime warranty to the gun, not just the first owner. That's got to count for something.

 

[Penmon]

Friends don't let friends buy Taurus's
Had a 44 special solid design,shot good but the finish wore off the backstrap within a year, I may have fired at most 400 rounds.

 

[roarindan]

The first handgun I bought was a Taurus 357 mag. Bought it in 1997,,,still have it... still shoots great. tuffer than boiled owl.had a handload squib lodge in the barrel. drove it out with a large screwdriver and hammer. gun still performs as brand new.

 

[duppie]

Okay, let's address the obvious question.. The best Taurus is not even in the same category as a middling S&W in fit and finish.
That being said I own a Taurus 605,.357 magnum,3
inch barrel,satin stainless revolver as my primary HD firearm.
For several reasons. My wife find it difficult to rack a slide of any of my semi automatics.
She loves the heft and look of the Taurus and is a crack shot at 7 yards.
The 605 is well made,accurate,reliable,relativity inexpensive and is perfect for a firearm that will most probably spend it's life languishing in a bed side drawer, not to mention it's transferable lifetime warranty.

I have put 800+ rounds of .38 and .357 through her without so much as a hiccup and have no problem trusting a Taurus Firearm with my safety.

 

[eb07]

I made the mistake once. I purchased a new Taurus 651 to save money. It fell apart in my hands thankfully after a shooting session and not during. I returned it under warranty, went through a painful process with customer service that had me tearing out my hair, had it repaired and promptly sold it. Less than 200 rounds through it.

 

[jaykellogg]

I have a Taurus 44C in .44 magnum and I really like it. It has a 2½ barrel and is ported. I have looked at the .22LR and passed on them. My LGS had one almost forever asking $300. I would like a .22LR snub, but I passed on this one because of the awful trigger. I cannot understand why S&W sells Airweight .38specials for $375 and gets over $500 for .22s.

 

[Marshwheeling]

Before I would spend money on a Taurus, I would take a chance on one of the Czech revolvers discussed in this thread: http://smith-wessonforum.com/lounge/274855-alfa-proj-check-made-357-38-revolver.html#post136775631

I would only do that if I didn't want a Single Six, or one of the other Ruger SA .22s.

 

[bpeddicord]

I owned three Taurus model 85 38 specials. Broke each one in less than 50 rounds of standard factory round nose lead bullets. I didn't learn my lesson and bought one of their single actions for use in SASS. Never made it to a SASS match with it. It broke in less than 100 rounds of 38 special. Some people I know swear by them but a lot more of them swear at them because of problems with their quality control. I wouldn't take another one even if it was free.

 

[Joewisc]

Well, so far a mixed bag, which is what I expected. I guess it boils down to the old saying, "You get what you pay for."

 

[TAROMAN]

Only Taurus I ever owned was a Model 441 44 Special.
A very nice, smooth, accurate revolver.
Sold it to "upgrade" to a S&W 21-4.
Big mistake as that S&W was the worst gun I've ever had.
So many problems that even 2 trips back to the factory couldn't make it right.
Never found another 441, so I opted for a 696, so all well that ends well.

 

[silentflyer]

Bought a Taurus 941 .22 mag for my lady friend, did a mild clean up/polish up of the internals, helped the trigger some. She shot it about 50 times one day at the range and its never been fired since. Accuracy not too bad with CCI rounds, but it's not a S&W in any measure. That being said since it will most likely spend it's life in a drawer, never fired it is a reasonable gun for the $$$, but as mentioned above, you get what you pay for. If you are looking for a .22 for just plinking I would go with one of the Ruger .22 semi-autos for about the same $$ a much better value.