So Im looking at getting  a .357 or .44mag and want to know what the story is on Taurus.  Any issues to be aware of or common problems with their revolvers?

Ive owned many Taurus revolvers over the years, they had a few issues many years ago when they first started out but they got the bugs worked out and now make a top notch revolver! I'll buy a Taurus before a Smith anyday, every Taurus Ive ever had would shoot right with its Smith look a like. Quality is just as good at a lower price and they have excellent customer service and stand behind their product. What few minor issues Ive had they took care of with no questions! I had a .357 I bought new a few years ago, when you shot it there was a lot of flash come from around the cylinder, the gap was a little to big, I called them they sent me a shipping lable, boxed it up and sent it to them, it was gone about two weeks, they fitted a new cylinder and sent it back. As much as I have always loved their revolvers Ive never owned one of their autos, Im thinking about buying me a new 24/7  compact for my new carry gun, Ive heard nothing but good coments about their autos also.

I've owned 2 Tauruses and both were complete crap. Especially the .357 snub. It seemed to work only when it wanted to. I wouldn't even take one if it were offered to me for free. Spend a few extra dollars and get yourself something with a reputation behind it.

my Taurus PT1911AL has been 100%...there are some things I might change about it but who doesn't want to change something on most any 1911 pattern pistol ...needs nothing that has to be changed...



Bill

My Taurus 24/7 pro has been a great gun.  I read a lot of Taurus bashing on this site, but mine runs great and everyone I know personally who has a taurus loves theirs too.  ymmv

So what was wrong with them? Just jumping in saying they were crap and didnt work is'nt a very productive way to share information. Ive owned probably 30 Taurus revolvers over the years and Ive only sent two back for repair, both were handled with no problem and very quick turn around. The last Smith I sent back was a brand new pistol that wasn't in time, it would shave lead. The first phone call to them lasted about 30mins and I talked to three different people. The first time I sent it back it was gone a month and when I got it back it had a new cylinder but was still out of time. After another 30min phone call they told me to send it back again, that time it was gone for two months (both times I had to pay shipping to them) when it came back that time it was fixed. Now this was several years ago, it was a model 686 in .357, I traded it off and bought my first Taurus and never looked back.

In all products you get the proverbial turd in the punch bowl every now and then, its how the Company handles the issue and deals with the customer that makes the difference.

The two I have sent back, one had to large a gap between the cylinder and barrel. The other was a used gun I bought that I got cheap and I knew it had some internal issues (it had seen a lot of use!), main spring was very weak and the sear was worn to the point you could push it off with your thumb by pushing against the hammer.When I sent it back I expected to pay them to get it back in good condition, I told them I wanted it totaly rebuilt and reblued back to safe condition. When I got it back it looked brand new, every spring had been replaced, trigger, hammer and sear had been replaced. It looked and operated like a new one and the only thing they charged me was for the reblue which I think was something like fifty bucks at that time.

I bought the .357 snub(605?) NIB from a friend who bought it for his wife, then divorced her a few weeks later. It would not lock up properly, the nipple in the cylinder would get stuck inwards therefore not locking the cylinder closed and rendering it inoperable. There was also an issue with the timing, sometimes the cylinder would not rotate when pulling the trigger in DA. I called Taurus, and because I was not the one who actually purchased it new(it was still unfired when I got it, so its new in my book) they would not do anything about it. So rather than dick around with a gun worth more in scrap metal, I sold it to my LGS. I bought ammo with the proceeds.

I bought the 24/7 Pro .40 new, which was also the first pistol I ever bought and owned. I could not hit air with this thing. I have a few friends who are quite the shot, they had the same issues. Both mags that came with the gun displayed a FTF at least one while cycling though them, and the trigger had this horrendous issue of moving side to side. It almost would extend beyond the trigger guard. About once every 100 rounds I would get a light primer strike resulting in a failure to fire(which just as a range gun was not that big an issue since it would revert back to DA), and it would fire on the second trigger pull, so it was not an issue with the ammunition. Rather than screw around with Taurus, I traded it towards a Springfield Loaded Champion.

The ONLY thing good to ever come from Taurus IMO is the feature in the 24/7 that allows the trigger to be pulled again without racking the slide.

I will never own one again. For a few dollars more I can buy a gun that will work every time I pull the trigger.

I own a mill pro PT111 and it is flawless!  Taurus makes a quality item and I will buy another Taurus made gun.  All manufactures have issues and people who swear them off.

Buy what you think feels, looks and priced right!

Taurus has quality control problems at times. They seem to be very hit or miss. If you get a good one you have a fine weapon, if not you may have issues. The old school revolvers and metal framed auto pistols are usually good to go. You will hear horror stories from those who get the bad ones.



I have sent a PT99, a model 96 revolver and a PT22 back for work. The 99 and the 22 were damaged by my stupidity using ammo it wasn't rated for. It was fixed for free. The model 96 was out of time and bought used and was also repaired for free. I have had no problems with the guns since.



I had a PT945 that was flawless. (think Sig 220) It ate everything I fed it, was accurate and easy to shoot. The only reason I don't still own it was it hammer bit the hell out of me. Swapped it and a Kel Tek P11 (another I wish I had back) for a Glock 30 and haven't looked back.



The only way to silence a Taurus snob is to outshoot him with one then outshoot him with his gun.



YMMV.  


 

Im a gun nut, been working on, shooting and building guns since back in the late 70's. Spent many years in a gun shop learning from a very good gunsmith. Over the years Ive had problems and issues with just about all makes at one time or another. Ive always rated guns by how often you seen them sent back, how good the customer service was and how fast they fixed the problem.  None of the companies are as good as they use to be! Some of the worst ones I ever dealt with trying to get something fixed was Browning, Beneli and Remington. Some of the best ones was Ruger, Marlin and Taurus. Ive only sent one used Taurus back for repair, but they never even asked me if I was the original owner they just fixed it.

and this is what I'm getting at. As a matter of fact, the only other gun I have to send back is a used Smith because the PO jacked it up, not because of any sort of factory defect.

I have a PT92, a 605, and a 66.

I've owned them for 15+ years.  Zero problems.

The grip screws rusted on the PT92, when I let a friend with very sweaty hands shoot it.  I didn't oil the grip screws apparently when I cleaned it.  The rest of the gun was fine.  I went to order some from Taurus, and they sent me 4 for free.  I couldn't believe the guy said no charge.  This was about 12 years ago.

My pt92 Is still running strong after many thousands of rounds.
I had a model 65 357 and a model 85 38spcl...the 65 was older and had alot of rounds through it..still worked fine when i traded it off for something els.
The 85 was newer but i put around 300 trouble free rounds through it.

I should note that my uncle had a model 85 and the cylinder release broke of..... so idk.

The only platform I have ever actually trusted with my life that Taurus puts out is the PT92.
They do not deserve the same reputation as the company has itself...they are damn fine guns generally speaking..im sure there have been a couple lemons but I have yet to see them...
even if mine failed tomorrow I couldn't complain as it has outlasted many Beretta's.

Dont get me wrong, Smith makes a fine pistol and you dont see to many of them ever sent back for problems. But just about every one I have ever seen sent back it was a fight to get them to fix the issue. Their customer service people and their gun techs are just  arrogant  about it, they take the position about it like they make the finest firearms in the World and there could be nothing wrong with one of their guns and if there is something wrong you must have did something to it because they dont make mistakes and they dont let guns out of their factory that isn't perfect. I just hate dealing with it! All the ones I have seen sent back to Taurus over the years went smooth as silk! You call them tell them theres a problem, if there is something they can send you to fix the issue they do it, if it needs to go back they dont argue they tell you to send it in and they will fix it, and thats just what they do. Ruger is another good company, atleast they use to be I havent sent one back to them in a few years. I bought an old Mark I target model at a yard sell few years back, it was wore out! I sent it in to get it rebuilt, a week later got a letter telling me they no longer had the parts to fix the old models but they would gladly replace it with a new model Mark II target for my pistol and $90, which I did.

I think Benelli  was the worst I ever seen. I ordered a new shotgun, when it came in I took it out to shoot it, when I tried to load it the shells just fell in the magazine tube! There was no spring in the tube! Took it back up to the shop and he called their service department. They would not send us or even sell us a spring we had to send it back. A week later he got a call from them telling him the magazine spring was missing and that was all they could find wrong with the gun (which we told them that when we sent it back!). They told him there was a $75 charge for them to look at the gun and determin what was wrong with it! If we wanted them to fix it there would be a $25 labor charge and another $20 for the spring! He told them just send it back and he would get a spring and fix it himself, they said all they needed was a credit card number to pay the $75 service charge and they would ship it back.....REALLY! He paid the bill to get it fixed and when it got back I never even shot it, after all that crap I told him to put it on the shelf and sell it to someone else! That was my first and only Benelli.

Benelli and Smith are both great guns, and it is very rare to get that old turd in the punch bowl with either one, but when you are the one that gets that turd in your cup of punch it leaves a bad taste in your mouth! Im sure there is people out there thats had bad experiences with Taurus also, but me personally, Ive always had good luck with them, they have always been very helpful and always went out of their way to solve or fix any issues.

I'm not calling you a liar, but that is contrary to everything I've ever heard and read about Taurus' warranty.

From their site:



http://www.taurususa.com/repair-policy.cfm

They are hit or miss. Same goes for the aluminum frame pistols. The older PT92 and 99 were great guns, but In my opinion the newer polymer frame pistols are junk.

I dont know what to tell you, maybe they had a new guy answering the phones that day.

He is correct.  I called about my brand new purchased by me in 2012 from the dealer PT1911 9mm stainless pistol.  The Taurus guy on the phone stated the pistol was made 2 years ago and they were going to charge me for a replacement front sight.  My 1911 shoots about 6" low at 10 yards and has since I purchased it new.  The first time I phoned about a replacement front sight for my 1911 the guy said they would send me one, no charge, and about 6 months later the sight never showed up at my house.

The largest percentage of returns at the LGS are Taurus autos. Occasionally a revolver comes  through, but not that often.
Out the last two revolvers one was so out of time it was ridiculous and the other had a cylinder that was not bored out correctly.

Taurus revolvers seem to have a better reputation than their pistols.  Also, it's practical to check out a revolver pretty well without shooting it; see:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6Fh3F6hufhDMWZiNjBkMWItZDhkNS00MTlhLWE4YzMtOTdmN2YwNmY4NzM2/edit?hl=en_US&pli=1

I have a Taurus 617 (7 chamber .357) which has been trouble-free.

Just my two cents/personal experience:

I own: a taurus judge 3" and  two pt99's (one newer model with decocker bought new, one older bough through PP).

My father also has a Raging Bull 44 mag, a judge 3 ", and had a Raging bull in 454 (got stolen during a home break-in).

ALL of the revolvers mentioned have functioned flawlessly and were a joy to shoot. Surprisingly accurate. I've shot my father's pistols about as much as he has. All of his have had at least 250 rounds through them, varying loads and reloads included.

As for mine, I have put well over 500 rounds through both the 9mm autos (I'd say closer to 1000 each, but don't want to over-estimate, and I know for a FACT each has had over 500 through them when in my posession). The ONLY issue with those two: some feeding issues with non-factory, old mags (came with the blued one I bought private party). Other than that, these are my favorite of all the pistols I have as far as shooting goes. I'm a broke college student, though, so I don't own and Ed Browns or Kimbers. I haven't shot any other full-size 9's to compare them to except my uncle's 80's era Browning HP. It was a little bit more accurate than my nines in my uncle's hand, as well as I was more accurate with mine than his first time I shot it. But I will say the HP had fixed sights and was impressive, while my pt99's were nto sighted in well for me factory and I have the ability to adjust the sights. The only other full size auto pistol I've shot extesnivley enough to compare  is my dad's range officer which is more accurate than these two (I know I know,apples to oranges).

My Judge had the fiber optic front sight piece fall out the first time I took it out to shoot, but realized it was snagging on the (not-so-properly-fit) holster I had it in; the sight came out after about 3 hours of shooting and hiking on the property, it probably snagged 10 times before I headed home and realized the FO had fallen out. Not saying that excuses the failure, but it didn't occur simply from firing.

I understand this is such a SMALL sample population of experience, but it's what I got. I personally would recommend getting a Taurus to someone, but I've only had personal experience with <10 of their pistols, and haven't personally met someone who got a lemon.

I will say this, the one thing I actually DID LIKE about my 24/7 Pro was the Ribber Grip. I liked the way it molded to my hand.

I have 4 Taurus firearms and love them all. They've given me zero problems and eat whatever ammo I feed them. I CC them frequently and trust them to defend my life if ever needed.

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd231/redalrt1/IMG_0472-2.jpg

I have a Taurus Tracker 627. Never had a problem with it, it's accurate and reliable.

Truly they are hit and miss. I've had and know of others that have had units that were 100% and units that i wouldn't give to a enemy. If you can afford to buy a glock, sig, hk, kimber do so and don't look back.

I have 500 or so rounds out of my 4" .41 mag. tracker and carry it often....no problems and I bought it used out of Texas!!

I have Taurus snubby in 327 federal, I had to ream the chambers because it would not eject 327 Fed cases after one cylinder. I've rented the reamer for my Ruger 32 mag to extend the chambers to 327 Fed and in the same time I reamed out the Taurus. Now it works great.

I have seen other Tauri revolvers finished very well though.

I have 3 Taurus firearms

Raging Bull 8" barrel, 44 mag.  No problems. Very accurate. Reasonably good trigger.

24/7 OSS DS 40 S&W,  Front nite sight was dead on arrival. Called Taurus No Customer Service, they said tough luck they wouldn't do anything about it.  Sent pistol to Novak for replacement.  They called and told me that the sights were forgeries, not Novak at all.  Sight replaced at my expense. Functioning is very good, no problems with stoppages, accurate,  excellent ergonomics. My favorite pistol to shoot. Not so much Taurus Cust Svc.

Raging Bull 2.5" barrel, .454 Casull. Timing was way off. Cylinder would sometimes not revolve to next chamber.  Trigger was binding and sometimes could not pull trigger, it locked up.  Sent back to Taurus for repair.  Came back better, timing was ok. trigger not locking up anymore but is pretty rough.  I originally got this gun for bear protection, can't trust it.  Ended up getting a Ruger Alaskan .454 Casull.  Will sell the Taurus.

I had a bad gun from Taurus.  Also Glock, Ruger, Smith & Wesson, Walther, and Remington.

I have had  Taurus Millenium Pro 45 for quite a while now, thousands of rounds through it, no problems. Springs will need replacing soon.

I have a PT111 Millennium Pro that's currently my carry weapon. I've had a couple jams (Range ammo that I think was loaded cold), failure to lock open upon empty (Range ammo that I think was loaded cold), and it shoots about 4" low at 25meters....

I've not had a problem with various selections of good ammo, other than it shooting low... M&P or XD subcompact will be my next carry weapon though.

My PT709 Slim was a POS. I sent it back to the factory 3 times in a row because they didn't fix anything. Third time it came back, it ran well for the few mags I put through it and I felt ok about selling it.

I've heard some are good and some are lemons. I hear fewer complaints about the revolvers. Think I'd rather get a used Smith than a new Taurus though.

I read a LOT of bad reports here year after year....

My two PT1911s have been problem free thru lots of use.

Your results may vary......

All mine have been good
Older pt92af
Newer pt92afs with rail
Raging bull 454 8 3/8"
TCP (needed about 100 rounds to break it in)

I bought a PT 809 a year ago for $250 brand new..
First couple of mags i shot it failed to fire a few rounds, then kinda locked up and the DA trigger wouldn't do anything...
I stripped it and soaked it and scrubbed the grease out of it, now its perfect. Probably 200 rounds without any failures, very tight gun....18 rds in the clip too

My experience with Taurus revolvers is limted to my M85.  I bought it new within the last 10 years, shot a few hundred rounds through it with no problems what so ever.  Much of what I have fired is Winchester +P 125gr JHPs. Still locks up tight, no timing issues, I like it.  I also have a similar Braztec Rossi that I bought at about the same time; haven't shot it as much but no issues with it either.

Crappy cell phone pic; Rossi on bottom, Taurus on top.

My PT709 ran like a top... until Sunday.  This has been my full time carry gun, and I grease the rails (so it doesn't dry out)... so it was not running dry this day.  

But this time it failed to extract on the third shot (not eject, extract).  I dropped mag and cleared it, and when I reinserted the mag on the locked back slide, it slammed home on it's own before the mag was fully locked in!?  Then I noticed that if I locked the slide back and tapped the bottom of the grip (no mag inserted) it slammed home on it's own.  

So it appears the slide lock slot and or catch has rounded off a bit.  Since I've only taken it to the range about 4-5 times, this is kinda disappointing... and I rarely use the slide lock because I keep it loaded with one in the pipe almost full time... but now it's not locking back on the last round and when I manually lock it, it doesn't stay there.

Don't get me wrong, I do still think it's a great compact handgun, but for now I've gone back to carrying my sig until I fix the slide lock issue with a file and have a look at the extractor.

I should add though that it is still 10 times better than my Keltec PF9 was.  I GAVE that thing away just to be done with it, even after it did a trip to keltec and back.

So I have 2 a mil-pro gen. 2 and a gen. 1 24/7. The 24/7 is a dream to shoot accurate and flawless. The mil-pro had lots of trouble at first, had to go back to Brazil, but when it came back it's been flawless. In fact it's my daily carry.

Here's a scenario for you

You have your choice of gun and 5k rounds of ammunition.   You get to  shoot  4,900 rounds.   Cleaning and lubing and maintaining your gun as desired.    

Then the test.  You have to shoot the last 100 rounds without incident.

The kicker ...... i get to kill you if your gun malfunctions in any way during these last 100 rounds.      

Now,  Do you really want that gun to be a taurus?

I took a gamble purchasing a Taurus 627 sight unseen, NIB. It has zero failures of any kind with just under 1K of ammo through it, from popgun 38 loads to 1800fps 357 magnum loads.



I probably wouldn't buy one of their semi autos, but my revolvers good to go.

I've owned a PT 99 for about 25 years and have fired hundreds of rounds of all makes and configurations ( HP, FMJ etc.) with absolutly no problems at all.

Hell no!. The only firearms i've ever had to send back for repairs was taurus 709 and a 738. The 738 still doesnt work and i would feel weird selling it to someone since i know  how crappy it is.  Sold the 709 when they replaced it because the new generation of mags would get stuck in it. What manufacturer would make magazines that wont work with their own pistols?

Lets look at this from a realilistic point of view. Due to the warranty that Taurus adopted many years ago, they dont want just anybody doing internal repaires on thier firearms. Thats why they dont sell internal parts to all these companies like MidWay or Brownells or even the customer, they want their gunsmiths doing the work to insure their firearms are safe and function properly like they were designed to do.  Unlike most other manufacturers who have released their parts and opened up the aftermarket world, those companies are always dealing with malfunctioning firearms that have been altered or repaired with aftermarket parts or factory parts that were not fit properly.

If a gun shop tells you they return more Taurus's then anyother gun, its because of this lack of parts on the open market for their firarms. Most of the guns returned to them could be fixed very easily at home or in a shop if the parts were out there.

Taurus keeps their prices low by mass producing firearms. Unlike Smith & Wesson that hand inspects every gun for fit, finish and function and test fires every gun they produce. Smith pistols have issues like all the rest, but they usally find them and fix the issues before they leave the factory. Hand inspecting every gun takes time and that time is expensive and you pay for that time in the price of the Smith.

Taurus has sold millions of fierarms in this Country over the years and they continue to crank them out by the thousands and they stand behind eveyone of them. Ive owned many of them, had a few small issues here and there but nothing major. Like any mass produced item you will find the proverbial turd in the punch bowl every now and then and because of that I would not buy one off the shelf and stick it on my side for protection without testing it first. I have no problem carring a Taurus after I have shot it and tested it for function and operation.

As for the other posters 5000 round question, I wouldnt take that bet with any firearm! I have owned just about every brand of pistol out there (currently own Smith, Glock, Sig and Colt) and I have had mulfunctions and breakdowns with all of them over the years!

I realize you were asking about revolver reliability but my experience is with my sub compact 24/7 in .45.  I originally bought it because of the way it felt in my hand.  Ive had pistols that I didn't shoot because I didn't like to.  The Taurus felt good and was priced for my use.  Inexpensive enough that i didn't care about it getting scratched or anything.  

I have put a little over 1200 rounds through it.  Ball ammo I used Blazer.  I've also run Win Ranger, Hornady CD, and Hornady TAP.  Different grain too but mostly 230.  Never had any issues.  I trust it.

I had a PT111 Pro 9mm for the wife. She recently had our baby and was safe to shoot again so we went out to practice.

Now this is her "nightstand gun" - after a little refreshing on handling, she goes to pull the trigger - click. With the "second chance strike" or whatever they call it, she pulls the trigger again - click.

Now I take the gun, pull the magazine out, eject the round in the chamber - primer is dented, but never fired. Reinsert the magazine, hit the release, next 9 rounds go off without a hitch. Insert new mag, drop slide, click - click - click. Eject mag, round (dented primer), reinsert mag, drop slide, 9 rounds downrange.

Did the same thing for the 1st round of the next 6 mags, and started doing it in the middle of the mags also. By then I've had enough. Take the 10 "squibs", put them in my Hi Power - all light off with no problem.

If anybody wants a PT111 Pro cheap - it's on consignment at the local gun store. I'd rather give the wife an FEG Hungarian Hi Power clone that I know works than the Taurus. Taurus has been trying to reinvent the wheel with their PT line and I don't think it's working out. Revolvers are probably OK, and the early 92s made on the old Beretta machinery are probably OK, but there's sure as hell not a John Browning in the building when it comes to designing new stuff.

This is odd.  The Taurus lifetime guarantee applies to the gun, not the just original owner.  Some new customer service reps may not know their job yet but Taurus will fix or replace any of their products sold in the US indefinitely but you'll probably have to pay the postage to get it to Miami.

Most returned gun at our shop. Had a guy call the other day and after getting his judge back from factory for a hammer issue he then couldn't get spent casings out of the cylinder

The two decent models in my opinion are the PT 92 and the 1911.

Have a .357 revolver that when fired the primers would expand against the frame and lock the cylinder, not sure if this was an ammo related issue or excessive gap at the rear of the cylinder. Dad has a PT1911 that the hammer would fall when you took the safety off Taurus fixed it but I would never buy one of their guns.

I had a PT140  Mil Pro once.  Buddy of mine had just gotten back from deployment, spend $586 on the gun and a couple boxes of ammo, and then went out to shoot it.  The slide flew off the frame and landed 10ft in from of him.  
He then sold it to me for $150.  I heard about their quality control issues, and I hated Taurus, and I still want to hate them.  So I did everything within my power to get it to jam, treated it like shit, the whole 9 yards.  Alas, I just decided to sell it instead of waste money and time trying to get it to jam.  Apparently it still shoots well.


I just will never own one again.  If one was offered to me for free, I would take it and sell it.  This would be among my last choices for a gun period.

I had one revolver (titanium tracker .357 7 shot) that was shaving.  Sent a piece of hit copper into my ear lobe that needed dug out later that day.  Bled alot and sizzled when hot copper met blood.  I had a .357 CIA snub that broke because I was firing hot loads found at a garage sale.  Sent them both back and were returned in perfect working order.  

I have had great luck with the 24/7 Pro's (have 2 in 9mm that are my favorite pistols to shoot d/t the SA/DA) and the later millennium models (DA only).  24/7 Pro in 9mm is my daily CCW gun.