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Old December 9, 2017, 12:50 PM   #1
kwiebe
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Taurus Experience - Beware

I bought my first Taurus firearm, 85 revolver, the first week of October. Getting familiar with it, dry-firing, I noticed occasionally it would lock up and not fire single-action. Oops, not good.

Had to send it back, they said six-week turnaround. I'm still waiting. Called them yesterday, they said it will "probably be a few more weeks..."

W T H?

Beware. Also their customer service during this time sucked exponentially. Despite having Facebook and twitter, you can only get them to respond by calling on the phone, and you will wait on the phone for at least 30 minutes (oftentimes much longer).

After you finally talk to someone, their shtick is to give you a bunch of excuses as to why it takes so long. Great, like I care about how inept your company is.

So if you want to invest your hard-earned money in a Taurus, keep in mind you're rolling the dice. And heaven help you if you roll craps and have to deal with their customer 'service'.
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Old December 9, 2017, 04:03 PM   #2
cjwils
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I bought a new Taurus .22 revolver a few years ago. Don't remember the model number. I had very frequent jams. I sent to back to Taurus, which took a long time. After it was returned, it still jammed. The gun was clearly a lemon, but the dealer would not take it back. I finally sold it back to the dealer at a big loss. I am unlikely to ever buy another Taurus.
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Old December 9, 2017, 05:14 PM   #3
Smoke & Recoil
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Taurus, model 85, 38 spl. 21 years shot regularly, no problems with it and
I have never allowed it to be DRY FIRED.
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Old December 9, 2017, 05:32 PM   #4
JohnKSa
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Quote:
I have never allowed it to be DRY FIRED.
That's an interesting point. My initial impression was that dryfiring shouldn't be an issue. But there are a lot of different guns out there with a lot of different manufacturer recommendations so I thought it would be good to check.

Here's the manual for Taurus revolvers.

http://www.taurususa.com/pdf/revolver-manual.pdf

From Page 6:
"22. SAFETY FIRST: Dry firing is bad for this firearm, whether the hammer block is engaged or not."
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Old December 9, 2017, 05:54 PM   #5
joed
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I always hated Taurus. Someone would always have one at the range and ask me to try it. All felt like gritty actions and didn't impress me.

My friend at the LGS called me up and told me to come in to look at a gun once. It was a Taurus 445. The action, finish and fit were great. Hard as I tried I could not find a reason to say no. Had that gun for 8 years without a problem. Stupidly sold it because it was a .44 Spl, and ammo was expensive.
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Old December 9, 2017, 06:49 PM   #6
rickyrick
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I had a 24/7 that was a great functioning gun, had a great trigger and was accurate. I carried it for a few years. I got tired of not being able to find holsters that fit it specifically, so I started carrying something else.
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Old December 9, 2017, 07:41 PM   #7
laytonj1
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Quote:
Getting familiar with it, dry-firing,
Quote:
From Page 6:
"22. SAFETY FIRST: Dry firing is bad for this firearm, whether the hammer block is engaged or not."
I don't know if dry firing caused the problem the OP's gun has but it does point out the fact that one should read and follow the owners manual... before using it.

Jim
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Old December 9, 2017, 09:17 PM   #8
Panfisher
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I had a Taurus 94, 9 shot .22 for several years, after a minor trigger job it was fine, not a target pistil but good serviceable little gun, had to be kept clean though, if it got really ditry it would start to land bullets sideways, and enough gunk at end of cylinder it would begin to bind. Sold it to somebody who wanted it more than me. Recentry bought a Taurus 605 .357 snubbie. Love it, so far zero problems, except for my lack of ability.
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Old December 9, 2017, 09:21 PM   #9
Kreyzhorse
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Ive owned one Taurus, an M85 as well. It jammed often and had a forcing cone issue.

For the reasons you described, that was my first, and last, Taurus.
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Old December 9, 2017, 09:21 PM   #10
Slamfire
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Maybe I have been lucky, I am very happy with my Taurus pistols. They all shoot fine, triggers excellent, no problems at all.








Unfortunate about the long time getting through to Customer Service. Corporations are consistently reducing staff to maximize profits. Soon you will be talking to a robot who won't have any real idea what your problem is.
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Old December 9, 2017, 09:52 PM   #11
James K
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Most Taurus guns work fine and will do so for many years. But their Quality Control has always been "iffy" and no one wants to learn the hard way that his gun is in the minority that will fail. I strongly suggest that, if price or some other factor (an unwanted safety mechanism, for example) leads to considering purchase of a Taurus, you learn the basic checks to avoid most problems. No gun shop will allow a customer to fire a hundred rounds just to check, but a clear understanding of warranty policy will help. Also a few basic checks (about one minute for a skilled person) will weed out 95+% of the problems and won't harm (or even fire) the gun.

Jim
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Old December 9, 2017, 10:04 PM   #12
Buckeye!
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I have several Taurus hand guns ...

605 -357mag
PT111 G2 - 9mm
PT709 -9mm
TCP 738 -380
TCP 738 SS -380

All function 100%

But Taurus is not known for stellar CS ...
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Old December 9, 2017, 10:27 PM   #13
Model12Win
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Sorry to hear that. I've heard enough bad things about Taurus customer service to never buy a gun from them, nevermind the quality.

S&W 642s can be had for a little over $300 brand new, and you rarely if ever hear a bad thing about them. Even if you do, S&W customer service is usually very good, which I know personally as I've used it repair a used S&W I bought and they did a great job with a very short turnaround time.

But I guess if it saves a few bucks, the Taurus 85 is worth it... to some.
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Old December 9, 2017, 10:51 PM   #14
lamarw
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Not sure of what a revolver jam entails. Maybe it is the cylinder failing to rotate properly???
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Old December 9, 2017, 11:34 PM   #15
Charlie98
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I bought a PT1911... it shot high and left. Even after a barrel switch it continued to do so. After reading about their mediocre CS, I just traded the pistol off...

I just traded into a different PT1911, one from a friend, that has decent accuracy... now that I have it, the rear firing pin retention plate seems to be peened into the slide... so I guess I'll have to deal with that.
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Old December 9, 2017, 11:56 PM   #16
shootniron
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Been there, done that and got the hat...TWICE.

But...NEVER...EVER...again.

Mess with the bull(Taurus)and you will get the horns.

Nowadays, I just laugh at folks that defend them...ha ha ha!
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Old December 10, 2017, 03:20 AM   #17
Ibmikey
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Not bashing Taurus but their designs seem to be poor copies of successful designs. I love revolvers and have dry fired them untold tens of thousands of times....but I Buy Smith and Wesson pistols, carried a Mod 19 in uniform and often target competition, a 36 off. Duty and backup, a Model 14 for bullseye shooting and a Mod 29 when I wanted my body to hurt. My local dealer refuses to stock Taurus revolvers because he got tired of disgruntled customers and sending pistols to Taurus repair center.
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Old December 10, 2017, 06:51 AM   #18
Kreyzhorse
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Quote:
Not sure of what a revolver jam entails. Maybe it is the cylinder failing to rotate properly???
Yes. Mine would bind because of the forcing cone being out of spec. Once it bound, you could not get the cylinder to rotate at all.

As many have said, Taurus can make a good gun. Mine shot well and had a good trigger, but after a couple of boxes of cartridges, the problems started and their customer service reputation, well, it's well earned.
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Old December 10, 2017, 10:31 AM   #19
walnut1704
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I've had several Taurus guns. For the most part they are serviceable weapons. The one I had to return came back in two weeks. Right now they are all jacked up because of all the return guns they are getting (google "Taurus Settlement") which have to be processed.

I have less than I used too. I'll keep the three I have for now. When Taurus discontinues a gun they blow them out of their inventory at really low prices and destroy any value you may have. Two of my three are worth so little it's not worth selling them. I have five magazines for each and I could sell the mags for more than the gun. When they discontinue them mags get hard to find.

I'm waiting for the next panic and I'll dump them. They function fine, but their triggers are typically poor. They'd make a good platform for amateur gunsmithing.
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Old December 10, 2017, 10:54 AM   #20
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I have 3 taurus firearms the 1st one being purchased back in 1982. They all eat what I feed them and ask for more. I've sold 3 glocks over the years because I didn't like the way they shot. But I will never sell my Taurus guns.
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Old December 10, 2017, 01:01 PM   #21
Dave T
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A handgun that can't be dry-fired is a handgun that is of little use IMO. Dry-firing is a large part of maintaining familiarity with your weapon and maintaining/improving trigger control.

After reading the quote from the manual reported here, any chance of my purchasing a Taurus went from slim to none!

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Old December 10, 2017, 02:47 PM   #22
dgludwig
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I have a Taurus Model 415 and have cited the admonition regarding dry-firing a Taurus da revolver on more than a couple of occasions when the topic of dry-firing has come up, but I've often wondered if using proper snap caps would make it ok. I guess the best way to find out is to contact the company; might do so when I get the time and inclination.
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Old December 10, 2017, 02:54 PM   #23
Jbar4Ranch
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I spent several years as gun room manager for Sportsman's Warehouse, and Taurus revolvers were the absolute worst guns we sold. I sent back more Taurus revolvers for warranty service than everything else we carried, COMBINED, with The Judge and the single action Gaucho being the absolute worst of the worst. Taurus autos, on the other hand, seemed to be a decent gun, and I can only remember sending back two for service, and one of them was just a screw the customer buggered up trying to remove it.

That said, I've had two Taurus revolvers, a M85 and a M941, and they worked just fine. I still have the 941. If they were all bad, Taurus wouldn't be in the revolver business, obviously, but I had a much larger return rate on them than everything else. The Gaucho was so bad, they got out of the single action business right quick. We only carried them for a very brief period. They were introduced in 2006, I believe, discontinued in 2007 for re-engineering and QC issues, re-introduced, then discontinued for good in 2009.

If you're a big retail chain, such as Sportsman's Warehouse, warranty service is prompt, but if you send it in as an individual or through your friendly neighborhood kitchen table FFL $20 transfer guy, you're going to be waiting awhile.
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Old December 11, 2017, 05:52 AM   #24
CajunBass
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I'm sure Taurus turns out a stinker once in a while. Over on the Smith & Wesson forum, there are a number of threads about the junk they say Smith & Wesson turns out now. That hasn't been my experience, but it must be someones. I'm sure you'll find the same about most other guns. Or cars. Or refrigerators. Or....

The only gun I ever had to have serviced, and I bought it brand new, was a Ruger Security-Six. You know, one of those "built like a tank," never fail Rugers. Right out of the box, it would bind up as tight as Dick's hatband after 50 rounds of jacketed bullets. They fixed it.

It happens.
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Old December 11, 2017, 08:17 AM   #25
wild cat mccane
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I had a binding cylinder 66. Taurus replaced the ejector? or something.

It did take longer than advertised. It did come back working right.

If you don't let the understated lead time hurt your opinion, I think they are worth the money. If it does tarnish your enjoyment, I can see getting rid of it.

Despite all the nonsense about revolvers being tougher than an auto, you can easily destroy timing in a revolver. Rapid firing, pulling the hammer back wit excessive force, flipping the cylinder, etc.
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