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huchahuchax · November 4, 2009, 07:26 PM

Knowing of the mediocre reputation of Taurus, I went ahead and purchased my first Taurus semi auto pistol, a 709 slim. This is my fourth Taurus firearm, I've got two revolvers and a .22lr pump action rifle. I liked the 709 because it is a single stack 9mm, and I thought it could make a nice carry gun. Today I took the gun to the range for the first time. The good news is that I can quit looking at holsters because I won't be using it as a carry gun anytime soon.

First thing I noticed was that the adjustable sights are completely useless. I got some lovely groups at 7 and 10 yards, but they were low to where I was aiming, no matter how I adjusted the sights. All the adjustable sights are good for is deciding if I want to be one inch or two inches off target.

I was using Winchester white box target ammo, and I had four or five intermittent jam ups where the empty case failed to eject. The extractor would grab the case, but it would slip past the ejector and ram into the next round. I would drop the magazine and repeatedly rack the slide to clear the empty, but it would repeatedly miss the ejector and just stay there until I removed it by hand. Obviously this is not a good thing to happen in a carry gun, which is unfortunate since concealed carry is really the only practical purpose for the 709. Oh well, you live and learn. No point in sending it back - the sights could be classified as a subjective problem, and the ejector problem is intermittent. If the Taurus gunsmiths can't duplicate the problem then they won't be able to fix it.

Just another toy for the range, but definitely NOT a concealed carry gun.

November 4, 2009, 07:26 PM	#1
huchahuchax Senior Member Join Date: April 14, 2007 Posts: 298	My Taurus 709 slim review... Knowing of the mediocre reputation of Taurus, I went ahead and purchased my first Taurus semi auto pistol, a 709 slim. This is my fourth Taurus firearm, I've got two revolvers and a .22lr pump action rifle. I liked the 709 because it is a single stack 9mm, and I thought it could make a nice carry gun. Today I took the gun to the range for the first time. The good news is that I can quit looking at holsters because I won't be using it as a carry gun anytime soon. First thing I noticed was that the adjustable sights are completely useless. I got some lovely groups at 7 and 10 yards, but they were low to where I was aiming, no matter how I adjusted the sights. All the adjustable sights are good for is deciding if I want to be one inch or two inches off target. I was using Winchester white box target ammo, and I had four or five intermittent jam ups where the empty case failed to eject. The extractor would grab the case, but it would slip past the ejector and ram into the next round. I would drop the magazine and repeatedly rack the slide to clear the empty, but it would repeatedly miss the ejector and just stay there until I removed it by hand. Obviously this is not a good thing to happen in a carry gun, which is unfortunate since concealed carry is really the only practical purpose for the 709. Oh well, you live and learn. No point in sending it back - the sights could be classified as a subjective problem, and the ejector problem is intermittent. If the Taurus gunsmiths can't duplicate the problem then they won't be able to fix it. Just another toy for the range, but definitely NOT a concealed carry gun.