[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Tons of Taurus (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 12/11/2008 10:49:32 AM EDT
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My local shop has a ton of Taurus PT1911s right now for pretty cheap. I was thinking about getting one. Then I realized that I didn't know anything about Taurus 1911s. What are their quirks? What is good, bad, very bad? Is there anything that I should look out for? Most of all are they worth buying or should I just not waste my time. |
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Quoted: For the most part everyone here agrees they are shit but some people absolutely love them. Personally, I would buy something else, after hearing so many bad things. I have heard that many people do not like them. I also know that the general consensus around arfcom is that they are shit. I was looking for more specifics as to why they are considered shit. What makes them bad? Are their flaws fixable with replacement parts or some gunsmithing? I think that I would much rather get a Springfield or Rock Island, but those are both hard to come by right now and Taurus is so plentiful that I was concidering getting one while I wait for more Springfields to become avalible. |
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I have one waiting for me this business trip is over. I just want to see if a 1911 style pistol fits me and if I will have any issues with the way they operate since I've never done more than fired one for a handfull rounds 5 years ago. I have heard good and bad comments in general, but nothing really stands out other than the soft bluing on early models. It seems that several other big names have spotty quality from time to time and individual models might need some adjustments to run right, not just Taurus.
I think the biggest reasons the Taurus isn't more popular is that it's not COLT (all bow down  ) roll-marked and that Taurus had some issues 15-20(?) years ago when they were starting out in the US market. My opinion may change in a few weeks when I get to put some rounds through mine, so I reserve the right to be wrong. 
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I have one waiting for me this business trip is over. I just want to see if a 1911 style pistol fits me and if I will have any issues with the way they operate since I've never done more than fired one for a handfull rounds 5 years ago. I have heard good and bad comments in general, but nothing really stands out other than the soft bluing on early models. It seems that several other big names have spotty quality from time to time and individual models might need some adjustments to run right, not just Taurus. I think the biggest reasons the Taurus isn't more popular is that it's not COLT (all bow down ) roll-marked and that Taurus had some issues 15-20(?) years ago when they were starting out in the US market. My opinion may change in a few weeks when I get to put some rounds through mine, so I reserve the right to be wrong. Generally speaking, the PT1911 is of better quality than most of their other models. While the internals are mostly low quality and the fitting leaves much to be desired, the slides and frames are forged and of decent quality. Taurus not only had problems with quality 20 years ago, but they have problems with quality to this very day. That, coupled with their HORRIBLE customer service prevents many seasoned gun buyers from taking their products very seriously. For a range blaster and beater gun, hey, go for it. It's a cheap way to figure out if you're a 1911 guy or not. But I wouldn't make a Taurus my personal defense gun. FYI: This sign hangs in my dealers show room for a reason. Taurus sucks when it comes to warranty work. They have so many Taurus guns going back for repairs and Taurus refuses to pay shipping (most reputable manufacturers pay shipping) that they can't afford to absorb the shipping costs. I don't think Taurus can afford to pay the shipping on all the guns coming back to them either... that's why the stick it to the gun owner. 
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I have no knowledge of their 1911's
I do have a Raging Bull & it is an excellent example of a wheel gun. Fit, finish, accuracy top notch. I know this has nothing to do with what you asked. But for revolvers I would stack the bull up beside any makers revolver. Even with all different pistols, rifles I own & have owned I still have a place in my heart for the wheels. You dam sure never hear of a revolver jamming, you pull the trigger & boom. If I ever had to grab a pistol & run out of the house & lives depended on it The Raggin Bull 44 Magnum would be the grabber. Anyone or anything within 100 yds would be mine for the pickin. |
| I've got about 1100 rounds thru mine, all ran great. They where a mix of HP and ball, The only malfuncions were limited to the CMC 10 round mags(pos's in my opinion). The frames and slide can be fitted with better quality parts as needed. Regardless of which 1911 you buy you will always want to upgrade it.(1911 disease) For the money you cannot get any other 1911 off the shelf with more features than the Taurus. As far as trigger pull mine is crisp..................No conplaints...........Just my two cents...... |
I hear ya......Whats your expierience been with them SGB?
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All anyone likes to talk about is horror stories. I know of a few people, mostly on other forums, that have Taurus 1911s and have not had a single problem with them. For the price, they could not ask for anything better.
As far as I know, Taurus got most of its bad rep from their early years. Since then, they have improved quality and customer service significantly. I have not owned anything Taurus myself, but if you are on a budget, I would definitely consider them. |
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I've got about 1100 rounds thru mine, all ran great. They where a mix of HP and ball, The only malfuncions were limited to the CMC 10 round mags(pos's in my opinion). The frames and slide can be fitted with better quality parts as needed. Regardless of which 1911 you buy you will always want to upgrade it.(1911 disease) For the money you cannot get any other 1911 off the shelf with more features than the Taurus. As far as trigger pull mine is crisp..................No conplaints...........Just my two cents...... "for the money," which these days is a lot more than it used to be, you could get a Springfield Loaded and get a better 1911. So I'm going to have to hoist the BS flag on that line of yours. |
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I've got about 1100 rounds thru mine, all ran great. They where a mix of HP and ball, The only malfuncions were limited to the CMC 10 round mags(pos's in my opinion). The frames and slide can be fitted with better quality parts as needed. Regardless of which 1911 you buy you will always want to upgrade it.(1911 disease) For the money you cannot get any other 1911 off the shelf with more features than the Taurus. As far as trigger pull mine is crisp..................No conplaints...........Just my two cents...... "for the money," which these days is a lot more than it used to be, you could get a Springfield Loaded and get a better 1911. So I'm going to have to hoist the BS flag on that line of yours. I got in on the Taurus 1911 when they first came out ($450.00 out the door). Hence my statement "for the money".......But consider this, they both are forged in Brazil, which more than likely the metals used in both came from the place, to this date I"ve not heard of one failure to the frames or slides...... As I said the interals can be replaced. You can fly your Bullshit flag all you want but the fact is I'll meet you any day on the range with your Spingfield, Colt, or any other high dollar gun and prove my words....... For the record I own 1 Taurus, 1 Colt, 1High standard and a Norinco in the 1911 format and they all are good guns! |
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I've got about 1100 rounds thru mine, all ran great. They where a mix of HP and ball, The only malfuncions were limited to the CMC 10 round mags(pos's in my opinion). The frames and slide can be fitted with better quality parts as needed. Regardless of which 1911 you buy you will always want to upgrade it.(1911 disease) For the money you cannot get any other 1911 off the shelf with more features than the Taurus. As far as trigger pull mine is crisp..................No conplaints...........Just my two cents...... "for the money," which these days is a lot more than it used to be, you could get a Springfield Loaded and get a better 1911. So I'm going to have to hoist the BS flag on that line of yours. I got in on the Taurus 1911 when they first came out ($450.00 out the door). Hence my statement "for the money".......But consider this, they both are forged in Brazil, which more than likely the metals used in both came from the place, to this date I"ve not heard of one failure to the frames or slides...... As I said the interals can be replaced. You can fly your Bullshit flag all you want but the fact is I'll meet you any day on the range with your Spingfield, Colt, or any other high dollar gun and prove my words....... For the record I own 1 Taurus, 1 Colt, 1High standard and a Norinco in the 1911 format and they all are good guns! These days, $450 will get you a Springfield GI...maybe a Mil-Spec if you get a deal. Not a Taurus, as those seem to be running close to Springfield Loaded prices...hence my doubts about "for the money," since the amount of money has gone up markedly since you bought yours. And given the choice, I'd get the Loaded, as it's made by IMBEL (you know, the well-known Brazilian arms maker, notable for FAL rifles not too long ago). Mine's been very cooperative in the year or so that I've had it. I've heard far more iffy stories about Taurus than Springfield, and hearing that they have a firing pin block in them makes me want one even less, if possible. |
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I bought one when they were cheaper ($480). After exactly 38 rounds, it locked up and had to be sent back to Taurus. They replaced the barrel and the safety. I think the lugs/and or link ass'bly were broken.
The several times I called during the 6+ weeks they had the gun, I got ZERO info out of them. Talked to someone different everytime I called, and got the same response- "it usually takes 6 weeks for warranty work". It's been flawless since then (several hundred rounds), and the trigger seems a little crisper than my Mil-Spec. I like want to like the pistol, but wouldn't buy another one. Fuck their CS. It's like they just sat on it for 6 weeks and then fixed it. They must be getting more plentiful, because Cabela's has them on sale every week. a-bare |
| Depends on how cheap you mean. I got one early on at $430, and it ran great with no problems. It was my entry level 1911, and got traded in on something else after 2+ years and about 3-4,000 rounds. Many of the problems with the PT 1911 are caused by a pretty marginal ambi safety, and lots of folks buying them now just plan to replace that as part of their purchase price. Taurus seems to have a pretty well deserved reputation for slow Customer Service, and repeat trips back to fix problems. If it's a lot less expensive than anything else you can get with similar features, maybe give it a try, but know you could be facing crappy CS if you have problems. |
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I've got about 1100 rounds thru mine, all ran great. They where a mix of HP and ball, The only malfuncions were limited to the CMC 10 round mags(pos's in my opinion). The frames and slide can be fitted with better quality parts as needed. Regardless of which 1911 you buy you will always want to upgrade it.(1911 disease) For the money you cannot get any other 1911 off the shelf with more features than the Taurus. As far as trigger pull mine is crisp..................No conplaints...........Just my two cents...... "for the money," which these days is a lot more than it used to be, you could get a Springfield Loaded and get a better 1911. So I'm going to have to hoist the BS flag on that line of yours. I got in on the Taurus 1911 when they first came out ($450.00 out the door). Hence my statement "for the money".......But consider this, they both are forged in Brazil, which more than likely the metals used in both came from the place, to this date I"ve not heard of one failure to the frames or slides...... As I said the interals can be replaced. You can fly your Bullshit flag all you want but the fact is I'll meet you any day on the range with your Spingfield, Colt, or any other high dollar gun and prove my words....... For the record I own 1 Taurus, 1 Colt, 1High standard and a Norinco in the 1911 format and they all are good guns! You don't know what you're getting yourself into by saying you'll put it up against any other 1911. I'll tell you what, I'll put it against this old thing..........  [/img]
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I've got about 1100 rounds thru mine, all ran great. They where a mix of HP and ball, The only malfuncions were limited to the CMC 10 round mags(pos's in my opinion). The frames and slide can be fitted with better quality parts as needed. Regardless of which 1911 you buy you will always want to upgrade it.(1911 disease) For the money you cannot get any other 1911 off the shelf with more features than the Taurus. As far as trigger pull mine is crisp..................No conplaints...........Just my two cents...... "for the money," which these days is a lot more than it used to be, you could get a Springfield Loaded and get a better 1911. So I'm going to have to hoist the BS flag on that line of yours. I got in on the Taurus 1911 when they first came out ($450.00 out the door). Hence my statement "for the money".......But consider this, they both are forged in Brazil, which more than likely the metals used in both came from the place, to this date I"ve not heard of one failure to the frames or slides...... As I said the interals can be replaced. You can fly your Bullshit flag all you want but the fact is I'll meet you any day on the range with your Spingfield, Colt, or any other high dollar gun and prove my words....... For the record I own 1 Taurus, 1 Colt, 1High standard and a Norinco in the 1911 format and they all are good guns! You don't know what you're getting yourself into by saying you'll put it up against any other 1911. I'll tell you what, I'll put it against this old thing.......... http://i33.tinypic.com/2mmj0qh.jpg[/url] If we lived closer it would'nt be a problem.. 
How many of you guys that are downing them have actually owned one? |
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A good friend and forum member MrNuke had one. The thing ran like gangbusters! All hp and fmj went right through it. Dare I say it, it was "Glock like" in reliability. Why He sold it, I'll never know! It hung right there with Kimbers, tricked out Springfields etc.
I had a bad PT-145, but my pt-1911ss has been good so far. |
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2,700 rounds 0 failures.
The adjustable sights were crooked and loc tited in place i had to burn them loose. There are several ridges in the magwell. The finish wore off and it started rusting prematurely. The screws were loctied to the bushings yet the bushings werent loc tited to the frame. If I could do it all over again I would have gone with the springfeild but I didnt shop around , i still own it and I still work on it. |
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"I think the biggest reasons the Taurus isn't more popular is that it's not COLT"
Uh, not quite. I have a Kimber,a SA and a Taurus. On the outside the Taurus is fine minus the blue finish. Its the internals that suck. My first PT1911 was a total POS.It was when they first came out and it fed 50% of ball and 0% of HP ammo.The blueing came off like it was put on with a magic marker. Did'nt want to send it in for warranty so I sold it. I now have a PT1911AR and it has been 100% so far. I have replaced the sear,hammer, FLGR to GI and the grips. I did all the work myself and honestly would never buy a PT1911 unless I was comfortable doing so considering their warranty. If you just want a 1911 to see if you like it and wanna go cheap I would rather go with a Rock Island Armory or keep checking back in the used section of my local shop. |
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If you just want a 1911 to see if you like it and wanna go cheap I would rather go with a Rock Island Armory or keep checking back in the used section of my local shop. It's gonna sound weird, but this is something I agree with. The Rock Islands seem to be decent enough quality nowadays, their customer service dept. tries a hell of a lot harder than Taurus's, and unlike the PT1911, Rock Island is still positioned as a budget model, pricewise. The downside to Rock Island Armory and its Phillipine siblings is that they are made using cast frames and slides, where the Taurus is forged. I submit that most owners will never shoot enough for the difference to matter. |
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At my local fun store there is a 25% return rate on Taurus guns. You saw the picture I posted of the sign hanging in my dealers showroom. They return far more Taurus handguns than any other make. My local gunsmith has a whole stack of Taurus handguns in his shop at any given time being repaired. Most are there on their second or more trip. Most belong to owners who tried Taurus's customer service and will never do that again. You can get one that works ok, that much I know because I've seen them. It's the extremely high failure rate that causes me pause. Even if you have a good one that works, it's still built using the same poor quality parts and by the same incompetent boobs that built all the faulty ones which in my mind tells me the good ones are destine to premature failure too. I mean seriously, how the fuck do you pull this off? 
Here's a couple of examples of Taurus machining. Note the tool chatter caused by dull tools or too slow of a tool speed. 
Then this... 
Seriously, a high school shop class could produce higher quality parts. As SGB said, friends don't let friends buy Taurus. |
| Thier customer service IS horrible, but I have a Taurus 1911 ALR with close to 1000 rounds down the range and have had ZERO problems with it, and same goes to both of my 24/7's. Granted I don't/can't carry so its mostly a range toy, once I get my CHL i'll be getting some tupperware for carry. |
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Wow, lots of bad press for Taurus. I hadn't known, or perhaps would have avoided getting one.
I ended up with a Stainless PT1911. And so is my introduction to the .45. I guess everyone's opinion is different. My brother has a Springfield 1911 and his jams. I had a friend a few years back who got an early Springfield 1911 - it jammed. I've got another friend with a Springfield 1911, he had to have his trigger worked on (I don't recall seeing that one jam though). In all three of them, I found the sights to be crude and not that great to use. That's 3 of 3 Springfield 1911's I know about. I also found the Springfield safeties to require a somewhat awkward level of force and angle to disengage. Springfield's are made in Brazil, just like the Taurus, so I'm not sure what to make of the glowing recommendations they get in comparison. I'm not bashing Springfield's, they are fun 1911's to shoot and I almost got one for myself. Until I saw I could get a Taurus for darned near the same price - and in Stainless Steel. I'm not really biased towards Taurus. To be honest, the other lines of Taurus I've seen look pretty junky, and my default opinion on this brand is to Stay Away. But there's something about their 1911 - almost like a different product manager in charge of that line. I get the feeling they have more pride in this one - then again, maybe just marketing. In any event, I just took mine apart to check the fit and machining. I looked for the mentioned chatter marks or other obvious tooling issues on the side/frame/barrel and rails. I have to say they look crisp, sharp, solid, and straight to me. Fit is nice and tight. I shot it at the range last week and put about 200 rounds through it. No jams. The Straight-8 sights seemed odd at first, but pretty quickly I decided I rather like them - quite a bit. I found the trigger wasn't as great as advertised, but still better than the Springfields I've shot. Since that time, with a lot of dry fireing and a little hammer stacking, it's smoothed out quite a bit. I'll probably drop the mainspring a pound or two to lighten it up further. My beloved CZ-75 trigger, which I used to think was pretty decent, feels like crap after firing the 1911 for a while now. So I'm thinking the Taurus trigger's pretty good after all! From what people are saying here, it sounds like some of the internal parts may not be the best. I guess I'll find that out first hand. So far no problems to report. Should there be a problem, I'll be sure to replace them with good parts. I can say that the slide, frame, and barrel all look extremely well made. I just got the basic black plastic checkered grips. I find them very comfortable in my hand and have no intention of changing them. I'm not so sure I care for the flat mainspring housing, I think the arched feels better. But I hate to replace it, because I can't find a replacement arched mainspring housing with the checkering quality that matches the rest of the checkering on the Taurus gun. A note that is quite a juxtaposition to all the statements in this thread about how crappy Taurus construction supposedly is. The grip safety seems to have a fairly strong spring behind it, so I may replace that with a lighter one. The full length guide rod means little to me, I don't care. It's all the rage, so cool - I guess. Same for extended trigger with holes in it - a feature I'd not pay extra for. Perhaps I'm displaying my ignorance of 1911's here - since these are all the rage, and must be so for some reason. I'm not invested in Taurus. Owning this Taurus isn't a representation of my value as a man. If it turns out to be a dog, I'll be quite happy to post an update to that then. I also don't have the human-nature-bias of having bought my pistol for twice what someone else paid for a Taurus. In the meantime, I'm tickled pink to finally have a 1911 .45 ACP pistol to shoot! That thunderous boom and satisfying kick is a treat. If a shooter is thinking about buying a Taurus, all I can say is I'm glad I ended up with one. See you at the range. |
| Two deputies I work with bought blued PT 1911s right after they came out. One deputy shoots his rarely and it mostly sits in a safe, the other used his for a master firearms instructor's course and put hundreds of rounds through it without problems per day. His only complaint is that the blued finish rubbed right off during presentations. I've shot it and it feels great, but not as great as my Loaded Champion with a C&S trigger pull kit (imagine that) |
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Where did the picture of the .357 "Magnun" come from? Not saying it's right or wrong, but in Portuguese that would be correct. For example: Thomas MAGNUN from the 80's TV show. I personally find it wrong for various reasons, but if it was a Brazilian market pistol...
Unfortunately my business trip (oddly enough to Brazil) was extended for another month so I will have to be patient to get my mitts on the one that's waiting for my return. Then I can make up my mind as to quality of the parts. |
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Where did the picture of the .357 "Magnun" come from? Not saying it's right or wrong, but in Portuguese that would be correct. For example: Thomas MAGNUN from the 80's TV show. I personally find it wrong for various reasons, but if it was a Brazilian market pistol... It's a camera phone pic from a good old American pawnshop. Also, I have never seen Magnum (an English/American word trademarked by S&W originally and a derivative of the Latin "neuter of magnus" meaning "large" or "great") translated to "magnun" in any language. That's not to say it hasn't been as some sort of slang I suppose. I checked Babelfish and found this: 
I even Googled "portuguese magnun" and it came back with nothing with the suggestion "Did you mean: portuguese magnum". |
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In all three of them, I found the sights to be crude and not that great to use. That's 3 of 3 Springfield 1911's I know about. I also found the Springfield safeties to require a somewhat awkward level of force and angle to disengage. Yeah, those crappy fitted SA's... 
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Springfield's are made in Brazil, just like the Taurus, so I'm not sure what to make of the glowing recommendations they get in comparison. I'm not bashing Springfield's, they are fun 1911's to shoot and I almost got one for myself. Until I saw I could get a Taurus for darned near the same price - and in Stainless Steel. That's funny, according to the BATF the one you're looking at above wasn't made in Brazil but in Geneso Illinois. The frame was forged there, but a forging isn't a firearm. But let's pretend for a minute all SA's are made in Brazil. Following your logic then all Japanese made electronics are equal... right? |
| I have an opportunity to trade my LNIB G19 for a new Taurus PT1911. Im new to 1911s so I really dont know what is what. I've read alot of negative feed back on the Taurus. The guy who has it says that the fit is nice and tight with no tool marks. Any thoughts on what I should do? |
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I have an opportunity to trade my LNIB G19 for a new Taurus PT1911. Im new to 1911s so I really dont know what is what. I've read alot of negative feed back on the Taurus. The guy who has it says that the fit is nice and tight with no tool marks. Any thoughts on what I should do? In all fairness, folks reading this thread in the "Taurus" sub-forum are probably current and continueing Taurus owners. Most of whom are happy and enthusiastic about the brand - so the it will likely be a biased positive. That said, I really like my PT1911. I find it to be a very well made gun with excellent fit and finish. With features and at a price that I wouldn't have purchased one otherwise. That's the background - so take what I say in that context. In your case, I recommend meeting at the range and both of you putting a box or two downrange in both guns before sealing the deal. After it's all said and done, I like a classic 1911 .45 over the Tupperware for my tastes - so heck yea, I'd recommend going for it. |
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I will tell you I did a lot of reading before I bought the Taurus and most of the negative I have heard I can just say haven't found to be true. My friend has a blued version and it does have a weak finish. The only other issue I would say is pretty common is the ambi safety but mine hasn't been a problem at all.
I picked mine up a while ago and have put about 1000 rounds through it and it is my favorite shooter. It is accurate and smooth as hell. The overall fit is good but the finish if you know what to look for or care isn't the greatest. In my opionion it is one of the best $500 (if you can't get it for this or under) 1911 on the market. If you start getting into 600 or 650 I would recommend something else. I have had any experience with CS and I hope I don't have two. Own another .38 snub and it has been flawless as well. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2304/2148759379_95a1728e83_b.jpg |
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I looked at a blued & a SS in a shop today.
I really liked the fit & finish for the 2 minutes that I looked at them. The blued was tagged at $539, and the SS was over $600. The only thing that jumped out at me was the lock in the hammer. I suppose that would get changed pretty quick. I was impressed with what I saw, for $539, but I will research Rock River 1911's. Great thread. Johnny C! |