Taurus PT145

johnwl07 · October 1, 2011, 08:29 PM

First time post, pleasure to be here. I am in the process of buying a used PT145, duotone black frame-stainless slide. I am having trouble identifying what generation it is. I have read so much but am still confused. It appears to have features of 1st and 2nd generation. The serial number only appears on a metal plate at rear of the gun (NUH *****). This indicates it was produced in July 2001. I could not find the SN on the slide anywhere. It has the TSS security system (2nd Gen?). There is only Millenium on it, not Pro (1st Gen). It has a textured grip (2nd Gen?). I am not sure what action the tirgger is. I have not shot it. When I dry fire it there ss a difference from my Glock 19. When I dry fire my Glock I have to rack the slide between every shot. With the PT 145 I only have to rack the slide once and it keeps firing without having to rerack the slide. I am somewhat inexperienced so I don't know if that makes a difference. I was thinking that possibly the frame was replaced on the original slide 9maybe due to crakcing). Is that possible? Based on this info can anybody help me identify the generation of the pistol? I can post photos once I acquire the gun. Can anybody post photos of both sides of multiple genreations to compare? When did 2nd begin production? When did upgrades to 1st gen begin? Also, if I provide Taurus with the SN can they identify it or give me a history on the gun? Thanks.

AustinTX · October 1, 2011, 09:39 PM

You should post your questions at Taurusarmed.net, if you haven't already.

And I'll just go ahead and recommend that if you can stop this buying process, you should. Good luck, regardless.

Adamantium · October 1, 2011, 09:42 PM

You can try this but it doesn't work all the time.

http://www.taurususa.com/find-model.cfm

WESHOOT2 · October 2, 2011, 11:35 AM

Quote:

if you can stop this buying process, you should

This reflects my personal opinion also.

wild cat mccane · October 2, 2011, 05:54 PM

wonderful gun. If it is a duo tone it is the newest version. Duo tone is a very recent advent.

I had a pt140 that was a pleasure.

Would I listen to those above about not looking at it? no. The gun carries lightly, and is actually pretty small compared to the competition. Knowing it is a small gun there are accuracy limitations to expect.

Good luck. Know that they are 350 new.

AustinTX · October 3, 2011, 01:13 AM

Quote:

Would I listen to those above about not looking at it? no. The gun carries lightly, and is actually pretty small compared to the competition. Knowing it is a small gun there are accuracy limitations to expect.

My Walther PPS is a small gun, yet it's extraordinarily accurate. But then we're talking about a gun produced to a far higher standard of quality and precision than any Taurus.

Gary L. Griffiths · October 3, 2011, 09:25 PM

Quote:

My Walther PPS is a small gun, yet it's extraordinarily accurate. But then we're talking about a gun produced to a far higher standard of quality and precision than any Taurus.

Interesting. I have a stainless Taurus PT-145 Millennium Pro and a .40 Walther PPS. After the first hundred rounds or so, the Taurus has been 100% reliable and very accurate. I had to send the Walther back to the factory twice because the extractor flew off while firing. They apparently got it fixed the second time, and it's now 100% reliable. Still, I never had vital parts flying off the Taurus!

armsmaster270 · October 3, 2011, 11:10 PM

I have no complaints on my two tone PT145

scottycoyote · October 4, 2011, 08:49 AM

i come down on both sides of the taurus fence.....ive had a bad taurus i had to get rid of....ive had 2 goo taurus's too. One of them is my pt145, i made sure i got the latest generation at the time and its a heck of a carry gun....over 10 rounds of 45, shoots well, reliable and light weight making it a great ccw in my book.

Ace_Breaker · October 4, 2011, 07:23 PM

[QUOTEAnd I'll just go ahead and recommend that if you can stop this buying process, you should. Good luck, regardless. ][/QUOTE]

I agree 100%. Bottom line, you get what you pay for.

I've owned both the PPS and PT145 gen 3. The Taurus was inaccurate, unreliable, and parts started falling off on the first range visit. 3 Tauri and 3 breakages and returns to the factory. Resale is also miserable if you ever try to sell one. I will never do it again!!

AustinTX · October 5, 2011, 05:04 PM

Quote:

Interesting. I have a stainless Taurus PT-145 Millennium Pro and a .40 Walther PPS. After the first hundred rounds or so, the Taurus has been 100% reliable and very accurate. I had to send the Walther back to the factory twice because the extractor flew off while firing. They apparently got it fixed the second time, and it's now 100% reliable. Still, I never had vital parts flying off the Taurus!

And then there's Ace Breaker's experience. Interesting.

Buy a thousand of each and see which has the more frequent issues. That would be much more interesting than the anecdotal experience of someone who owns one or two of each.

Ace_Breaker · October 5, 2011, 09:50 PM

Austin, that's a nice collection you have there. I don't see any Tauri listed amongst those fine weapons.

I don't have any bull mingling with mine either!

Jeff56 · October 5, 2011, 10:58 PM

The 3rd generation PT145's seem to be much more trouble free than the 1st and 2nd generation models. The 3rd gen. models also have a SA/DA trigger which means it fires in single action mode (much shorter trigger pull and much easier too then if you get a misfire caused by a dud you can pull the trigger and strike the bullet again hopefully causing it to fire and if not you can rack the slide and eject the bad bullet). The earlier generation models have DA only triggers (much longer pull and harder). Some DA triggers are ok but the Taurus version is pretty tough to pull IMO.

As for no Taurus being accurate or dependable that's just not true. I've spent lots of time on the Taurus board and that opinion is definitely the minority view. I have a PT145 3rd gen. model myself and in about 5000 rounds I have yet to have a single problem of any kind. And I've shot a whole lot of different ammo through it mostly during initial testing to see what it liked best. I've also been able to shoot .45 casings at 15-20 yards back to back on my first 2 attempts. I could not hit the one at 20-25 yards but I came very close. My PT145 is very accurate out to about 25 yards which is about all that can be expected of a short barrel pistol. And not having a single issue in 5000 rounds is hard to beat I'd say. I've stopped shooting it so much because I figure the springs will start wearing out soon if I don't.

I carry my Taurus for my concealed carry weapon every time I carry a gun. I have much more expensive handguns too including a Sig P220 a XDm in .40, and a S&W 629. The Taurus is a better size for CCW and it's been incredibly reliable. And I'm far from the only person who thinks so.

Still I don't think I'd want one of the earlier generations. They have well known problems including a mag release that is very touchy on the 2nd gen. model and a problem with frames cracking on the 1st gen. models. There have been some problems with the 3rd gen. model but they were mag related and easily fixable. I have 4 mags for mine and they all work perfectly.

I had my doubts about buying a Taurus at first too but I did some research and found that people were having excellent results from the 3rd gen. models. And I bought from a LGS that gave me a 30 day tryout period where I could return it for a full refund if I had any problems. I suspect the owner knew I wouldn't have any problems. I had actually been looking at Glocks when I bought the Taurus. I checked nearly every Glock made but I don't care much for the grip angle on the Glocks even though they obviously make fine pistols. The LGS owner steered me to the Taurus knowing I had twice the amount of money needed in my pocket because I had come close to buying a much more expensive Glock from him. And I am very glad that he did steer me that way. This gun is perfect for me in so many ways it isn't funny. YMMV as always but I love the grips, the angles, the recoil direction, the accuracy, the dependability, the lifetime warranty, the capacity (you won't find many .45's that size that hold that much ammo), etc. etc. etc.. The recoil is such that I can fire followup shots very quickly and still be on target. I've shot 11 rounds in 10 seconds at 20 yards and hit a 8" target every time. I know that many guns will shoot faster and the Taurus probably will too but I can't do much better than that personally with any gun.

It is almost a miracle pistol IMO but of course YMMV and I sure won't say that all of them will be like mine. But a lot of them are. If you look around you'll see that for yourself.

AustinTX · October 5, 2011, 11:38 PM

Thanks, Ace Breaker!

Nope, no Tauri. If I'm bored and have everything I really want someday, I wouldn't be opposed to adding a mid-1990s PT-92, but that would be the only Taurus I'd ever let near the other guns, lest the garbage from that company negatively influence my well-behaving firearms.

October 1, 2011, 08:29 PM	#1
johnwl07 Junior Member Join Date: October 1, 2011 Posts: 1	Taurus PT145 First time post, pleasure to be here. I am in the process of buying a used PT145, duotone black frame-stainless slide. I am having trouble identifying what generation it is. I have read so much but am still confused. It appears to have features of 1st and 2nd generation. The serial number only appears on a metal plate at rear of the gun (NUH *****). This indicates it was produced in July 2001. I could not find the SN on the slide anywhere. It has the TSS security system (2nd Gen?). There is only Millenium on it, not Pro (1st Gen). It has a textured grip (2nd Gen?). I am not sure what action the tirgger is. I have not shot it. When I dry fire it there ss a difference from my Glock 19. When I dry fire my Glock I have to rack the slide between every shot. With the PT 145 I only have to rack the slide once and it keeps firing without having to rerack the slide. I am somewhat inexperienced so I don't know if that makes a difference. I was thinking that possibly the frame was replaced on the original slide 9maybe due to crakcing). Is that possible? Based on this info can anybody help me identify the generation of the pistol? I can post photos once I acquire the gun. Can anybody post photos of both sides of multiple genreations to compare? When did 2nd begin production? When did upgrades to 1st gen begin? Also, if I provide Taurus with the SN can they identify it or give me a history on the gun? Thanks.

October 3, 2011, 11:10 PM	#8
armsmaster270 Senior Member Join Date: November 25, 2008 Location: California Posts: 1,951	I have no complaints on my two tone PT145 __________________ http://www.armsmaster.net-a.googlepages.com http://s239.photobucket.com/albums/f...aster270/Guns/ Retired LE, M.P., Sr. M.P. Investigator F.B.I. Trained Rangemaster/Firearms Instructor & Armorer, Presently Forensic Document Examiner for D.H.S.

October 4, 2011, 08:49 AM	#9
scottycoyote Senior Member Join Date: November 19, 2005 Location: southwestern va Posts: 830	i come down on both sides of the taurus fence.....ive had a bad taurus i had to get rid of....ive had 2 goo taurus's too. One of them is my pt145, i made sure i got the latest generation at the time and its a heck of a carry gun....over 10 rounds of 45, shoots well, reliable and light weight making it a great ccw in my book. __________________ "i got the most powerful gun in the world........an .88 magnum. It shoots thru schools......"

October 1, 2011, 09:39 PM	#2
AustinTX Senior Member Join Date: June 19, 2010 Posts: 2,145	You should post your questions at Taurusarmed.net, if you haven't already. And I'll just go ahead and recommend that if you can stop this buying process, you should. Good luck, regardless.

October 1, 2011, 09:42 PM	#3
Adamantium Senior Member Join Date: June 6, 1999 Location: El Paso, TX Posts: 1,021	You can try this but it doesn't work all the time. http://www.taurususa.com/find-model.cfm

October 2, 2011, 05:54 PM	#5
wild cat mccane Senior Member Join Date: May 22, 2011 Posts: 3,624	wonderful gun. If it is a duo tone it is the newest version. Duo tone is a very recent advent. I had a pt140 that was a pleasure. Would I listen to those above about not looking at it? no. The gun carries lightly, and is actually pretty small compared to the competition. Knowing it is a small gun there are accuracy limitations to expect. Good luck. Know that they are 350 new.

October 4, 2011, 07:23 PM	#10
Ace_Breaker Senior Member Join Date: October 9, 2007 Posts: 1,170	[QUOTEAnd I'll just go ahead and recommend that if you can stop this buying process, you should. Good luck, regardless. ][/QUOTE] I agree 100%. Bottom line, you get what you pay for. I've owned both the PPS and PT145 gen 3. The Taurus was inaccurate, unreliable, and parts started falling off on the first range visit. 3 Tauri and 3 breakages and returns to the factory. Resale is also miserable if you ever try to sell one. I will never do it again!!

October 5, 2011, 09:50 PM	#12
Ace_Breaker Senior Member Join Date: October 9, 2007 Posts: 1,170	Austin, that's a nice collection you have there. I don't see any Tauri listed amongst those fine weapons. I don't have any bull mingling with mine either!

October 5, 2011, 10:58 PM	#13
Jeff56 Junior member Join Date: July 21, 2011 Posts: 116	The 3rd generation PT145's seem to be much more trouble free than the 1st and 2nd generation models. The 3rd gen. models also have a SA/DA trigger which means it fires in single action mode (much shorter trigger pull and much easier too then if you get a misfire caused by a dud you can pull the trigger and strike the bullet again hopefully causing it to fire and if not you can rack the slide and eject the bad bullet). The earlier generation models have DA only triggers (much longer pull and harder). Some DA triggers are ok but the Taurus version is pretty tough to pull IMO. As for no Taurus being accurate or dependable that's just not true. I've spent lots of time on the Taurus board and that opinion is definitely the minority view. I have a PT145 3rd gen. model myself and in about 5000 rounds I have yet to have a single problem of any kind. And I've shot a whole lot of different ammo through it mostly during initial testing to see what it liked best. I've also been able to shoot .45 casings at 15-20 yards back to back on my first 2 attempts. I could not hit the one at 20-25 yards but I came very close. My PT145 is very accurate out to about 25 yards which is about all that can be expected of a short barrel pistol. And not having a single issue in 5000 rounds is hard to beat I'd say. I've stopped shooting it so much because I figure the springs will start wearing out soon if I don't. I carry my Taurus for my concealed carry weapon every time I carry a gun. I have much more expensive handguns too including a Sig P220 a XDm in .40, and a S&W 629. The Taurus is a better size for CCW and it's been incredibly reliable. And I'm far from the only person who thinks so. Still I don't think I'd want one of the earlier generations. They have well known problems including a mag release that is very touchy on the 2nd gen. model and a problem with frames cracking on the 1st gen. models. There have been some problems with the 3rd gen. model but they were mag related and easily fixable. I have 4 mags for mine and they all work perfectly. I had my doubts about buying a Taurus at first too but I did some research and found that people were having excellent results from the 3rd gen. models. And I bought from a LGS that gave me a 30 day tryout period where I could return it for a full refund if I had any problems. I suspect the owner knew I wouldn't have any problems. I had actually been looking at Glocks when I bought the Taurus. I checked nearly every Glock made but I don't care much for the grip angle on the Glocks even though they obviously make fine pistols. The LGS owner steered me to the Taurus knowing I had twice the amount of money needed in my pocket because I had come close to buying a much more expensive Glock from him. And I am very glad that he did steer me that way. This gun is perfect for me in so many ways it isn't funny. YMMV as always but I love the grips, the angles, the recoil direction, the accuracy, the dependability, the lifetime warranty, the capacity (you won't find many .45's that size that hold that much ammo), etc. etc. etc.. The recoil is such that I can fire followup shots very quickly and still be on target. I've shot 11 rounds in 10 seconds at 20 yards and hit a 8" target every time. I know that many guns will shoot faster and the Taurus probably will too but I can't do much better than that personally with any gun. It is almost a miracle pistol IMO but of course YMMV and I sure won't say that all of them will be like mine. But a lot of them are. If you look around you'll see that for yourself.

October 5, 2011, 11:38 PM	#14
AustinTX Senior Member Join Date: June 19, 2010 Posts: 2,145	Thanks, Ace Breaker! Nope, no Tauri. If I'm bored and have everything I really want someday, I wouldn't be opposed to adding a mid-1990s PT-92, but that would be the only Taurus I'd ever let near the other guns, lest the garbage from that company negatively influence my well-behaving firearms.