The only thing good about Taurus is Jessie Harrison. How she hasn't been picked up by a real sponsor is beyond me. She's hot, she's a great competitive shooter and she's hot.

I had a Taurus clone of a Beretta once - wouldn't shoot a full mag without a malfunction. I also had a Taurus .22 tip up clone of the Beretta 21. It was also a piece of junk and if you weren't running the hottest .22s to be found, it'd do nothing but cause you malfunction practice. Junk. Except Jessie. She's not junk.

I have had very good luck with many Taurus firearms over the years. Mostly revolvers, but I like the centerfire pump rifles as well.

It also helped that Taurus was 20 minutes from my office if I needed a part or service.

In 2013 or 2014, when I first handled the Curve at SHOT, I could not believe it. Functioning aside, curving a grip-frame so that it conceals better was just silly and has been pointed out, they did not consider lefties



A few years after the Curve, Taurus introduced semi-autos with WINGS





YES, little fold out metal tabs to make pulling back on the slide easier

I can not imagine what occurred if in a stressful situation you forgot to fold your wings all the way in before pulling the trigger

I had a coworker discover these piles of shit a few years back at launch and really try to get me to give buying it my blessing. He never did because the other gun guys and I really hammered on the caliber, the gimmickiness, and the fact that it was Taurus. I think I'll share this with him so he can be reminded of his near error.

I have seen more malfunctions from Taurus firearms in my classes than all the other brands combined, which results in distraction and disruption on the line. So much so that I will no longer allow a Taurus in my classes. Yeah you might get one that works, or you might not. I cannot fathom why anyone would trust their lives to these pieces of junk. When students ask about Taurus, I tell them they make a fine fishing weight. From the few I have seen, SCCY is not much better. If price is your #1 factor in buying a defensive pistol you have your priorities mixed up.

Good lord, what a useless piece of junk. It would probably even fail to make a good paperweight

I've owned 3 Taurus handguns; a PT99, a model 85 .38 snubbie, and most recently, a vintage-ish model 96 .22. The 99 had an adjustable rear sight that seemed pretty cool until the drift pin holding the whole thing together would depart the scene every 50 rounds or so. It was also not fond of hollowpoint ammo. The 85 was far better. It went bang every time and didn't shave bullet jackets at the forcing cone, which was a huge plus.

The 96 is the true gem of the three. It is shockingly accurate and fit and finish is astounding for a Taurus. It is consequently the only Taurus I own (or ever will, given the steady downhill quality curve).

I had a coworker a few years back who was interested in these when they were announced. I guess the concept made sense to him. He wasn’t really a gun guy, more of an admirer from afar kinda thing. Anyway, he gave me the whole pitch about concealability, etc and I listened politely and when he was done, I told him “if you want a little .380, just get a Glock 42 and you won’t have to wonder if it will work if you ever need to use it.” He said something about them not being as concealable. I pulled mine out of my coat pocket and said “it’s been in my hand the whole time we’ve been talking.” He had no idea, of course.

I don’t know if he ever bought one, but I did give him the “friends don’t let friends buy a Taurus” line. I don’t know why he was so worried about something as concealable as possible, the guy was about 6’6” and 300lbs in good shape, just simply a huge dude. He could have gotten away with concealing probably most any full size pistol with relative ease.

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:
He wasn’t really a gun guy, more of an admirer from afar kinda thing.

Sounds like Taurus' target market.

"Taurus: Guns For Those Who Don't Know Any Better"

You know, I actually came back to edit something along those lines into my post.

It’s funny, discussions about Taurus usually seem to go two ways among owners. There’s always the one guy who responds with “I own several of them and have never had a problem” and then there’s others who say something like “I bought one when I didn’t know any better....”

quote:

Originally posted by gearhounds:

The 96 is the true gem of the three. It is shockingly accurate and fit and finish is astounding for a Taurus. It is consequently the only Taurus I own (or ever will, given the steady downhill quality curve).

I'd never heard of it before, so I went out and looked up the Taurus 96 on gunbroker. That's actually a really nice looking piece...basically a S&W Model 17 for 1/4 the price. And it would just be a range gun...see, there I go...justifying it. It's stuff like this that gets me suckered in to doing things I swore I'd never do again, lol.

In a moment of delusion many years ago, I purchased a Taurus .40 something. I came home and promptly came to be senses and returned to my LGS the next day to trade it in for something else. I don't know what I was thinking.

quote:

Originally posted by OttoSig:
My father bought me a Taurus PT99 I believe was the model.

This was 15 years or more ago and at the time my research and all my talks with folks led me to believe the Beretta style models were the only thing they got relatively right.

Perhaps that's because they simply copied the plans.

Mine was flawless and I never felt bad abusing the hell out of it.

<<snip>>

I bought one of those in the late 1980's, brand new. Walked back to the range to try it out (after lubing of course), and it wouldn't fire a single round without the slide jamming to the rear! Took it back up front and traded it for a used HK USP40 and never looked back. Also never looked at another Taurus anything again!!!

quote:

Taurus Curve

A really dumb idea that - probably because it was a dumb idea - didn't last long.

I bought a Taurus PT945 in 1995. The very first shot, the one in the chamber, resulted in a failure to extract and the top round in the mag butted up against it. I could never get it to fire more than two consecutive shots. Yes, this was a long time ago, but nothing has happened since to change my mind.

Well, when comparing the two, a Hi-point has the dubious honor of being the tool you can use when it won't fire to beat the ever loving snot out of someone....


Probably it's most lethal attribute...

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
[FLASH_VIDEO]<iframe frameborder="0" height="408" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/G2jPCtwFv2Q" width="725"></iframe>[/FLASH_VIDEO]

I have a Rossi .22 revolver that I have regretted buying so inaccurate it wouldn't hit a billboard at 20 feet.
Rossi is or was the same company as Taurus.
I couldn't give it away the transfer fee in the peoples republic of NJ cost more than the gun is worth about 45.00

I once had a Tiger brand revolver, sort of a kind of a clone wannabe of a J-frame. Made in Brazil, so probably a precurser to Taurus. Loaded it up, and carried it in some right dicey places. Finally tried to shoot it, found they had bored a 32 cylinder to 38. The hand would jam on the case heads, you couldn't turn the cylinder to cock it, If It Was Loaded!!! Took it back to the gunshow, traded it for something of value. My favorite gun dealer won't even take one in trade.

quote:

Originally posted by oldseabag860:

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
[FLASH_VIDEO]<iframe frameborder="0" height="408" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/G2jPCtwFv2Q" width="725"></iframe>[/FLASH_VIDEO]

I have a Rossi .22 revolver that I have regretted buying so inaccurate it wouldn't hit a billboard at 20 feet.
<<snip>>

Interesting; my Rossi .22 revolver is reasonably accurate. It'll never match a Smith & Wesson, but it's plenty good for the way I use it. It was an inheritance from my brother, otherwise I doubt I would have bought it.

On the other hand, I have a Rossi Mod. 68 in .38spl that I purchased new back in the late 1970's, and it shoots quite well and looks great while doing it... so it's "hit or miss" on quality much like Taurus.

The line I always hear from Taurus owners is “well it’s got a lifetime warranty.” We can have that engraved on your tombstone when the miserable piece of shit fails you in an emergency.

quote:

Originally posted by Leemur:
The line I always hear from Taurus owners is “well it’s got a lifetime warranty.” We can have that engraved on your tombstone when the miserable piece of shit fails you in an emergency.

Sadly, people say the same about Hi-Points.

quote:

...so it's "hit or miss" on quality much like Taurus.

This pretty much sums it up when it comes to Taurus. I've got to sample several of their more recent models with generally good results, though one of the TX22s I shot had the barrel with the fouled up non-concentric rifling. However surprisingly it shot accurately to POA. I've not tried the Curve; we've had a couple in the shop over the past years that it's been out; just seemed like a thoroughly stupid design premise that makes very little sense for a gun that small in height. If anything, a curved grip makes more sense for a much taller grip and gun, where printing and carry comfort will be a far more prevalent issue. Then again...engineering and building a curved magazine and its spring might be a bit of a trick, something that would probably boil the brain cells of Taurus' designers.

I've also tried (and even owned) past models that were total crap. I still own an early 709 that according to the internet was riddled with problems yet my stupid example wasn't paying attention to the rants nor having any of that bad karma, since it's functioned flawlessly from the word 'GO'. Even my Gen3 G19 can't say that (granted that the Glock has many, many, many more rounds through it than the 709 Slim does, and it was that cheap Walmart WWB garbage that it choked on).

So yes, it's a veritable crapshoot when it comes to buying a Taurus. Most 'intelligent' folk tied to a budget tend to save their pennies and use them to buy something else. Like a SD9 VE...

quote:

Originally posted by colt_saa:



YES, little fold out metal tabs to make pulling back on the slide easier

I think they should have called it the "Iron Bullwinkle".