Range Report On My New Stainless Taurus PT-1911 AR

[tex45acp]

Well I finally made it to the range yesterday afternoon with the gun and 300 rounds of different ammunition. If you haven't been watching the weather, it is extremely hot and dry here in south central Texas. Yesterday was no exception. The thermometer at the range showed 102 and 78% humidity. Yuck..so I really was hoping the gun would make my day worthwhile. I started out with 50 rounds each of: Winchester White Box FMJ, Federal FMJ, Mag Tec FMJ, American Eagle FMJ and Winchester SXZ. The last box was my favorite carry ammo Federal 230gr. HydraShok. I shot all groups from a bench, using sandbags as a rest fore and aft. This is not how I usually test my ammo but I wanted some real tests of the guns capability. Most ammo averaged 4"-5" groups with flyers from time to time. I had three failure to extract and one failure to return to battery using the Winchester SXZ, but no problems with the other loads. I cleaned the dirty gun and relubed it before the last group. Lastly I decided to get off the bench for the last 50 and shoot the gun like I would in a home defense situation. The target tells the story. The HydraShoks did as I expected and shot the best of the bunch. In the first 50, I had to make some sight adjustment to the rear sight which was about 3/32" off center. That brought the point of impact to within 1/2" of bullseye. I am happy wih the result, so much that I went by a gun store in the area to pick up some bullets for reloading and in the case they had a Streamlight TLR-2. I mounted it on the rail and did a little haggling over the price until I was happy, and it now has a new permanent home there. I palyed around with it and I have the laser dialed in at 12 yards to point of impact. The light is by far the brightest of any weaponlight I have ever seen. I am a happy camper and now have a new home defense gun, that is going to the range very often.

[pickenup]

Originally Posted by tex45acp

I am a happy camper

That is what it is all about.

[neal396]

Nice sidearm you got there. Mine shoots low though, I dont know what to do with it.

[gdmoody]

That is some mighty fine shooting, I love my PT1911, even though I don't shoot it alot.

[Doc1911]

Nice looking weapon - but of course, it is a 1911.

[fyimo]

Great range report and excellent shooting

[carver]

Originally Posted by neal396

Nice sidearm you got there. Mine shoots low though, I dont know what to do with it.

Are the rear sights adjustable?

[tex45acp]

Carver,
No the rear sights are only adjustable for windage.

Neal396,
Either file off the front sight a little or order a shorter front sight from Heine.

[Taurus_9mm]

Thanks for the great range report! The PT1911 is a fantastic pistol and I picked mine up shortly after Taurus released them. I hope to add a second in stainless at some future point.

www.taurusarmed.net

www.gunnerforum.com

[JLA]

Originally Posted by neal396

Nice sidearm you got there. Mine shoots low though, I dont know what to do with it.

Try a heavier bullet weight. Most 1911s will shoot low with bullets weighing less than 230 gr.

[JLA]

Originally Posted by tex45acp

Carver,
No the rear sights are only adjustable for windage.

Neal396,
Either file off the front sight a little or order a shorter front sight from Heine.

The taurus pt1911s are equipped with heinie straight eight carry sights. They are indeed drift adjustable, just loosen the set screw located in the center of the sight and drift with a nylon punch or a sight pusher. I would not recommend filing the sights down unless you plan to blot out the white dots with some black laquer. Ordering a new lower front sight is probably the best method for fixing the problem if you cant find a load that will shoot to point of aim... Taurus tests thier firearms at the factory with standard hardball ammunition. Thats a 230 gr fmj bullet at roughly 850 fps MV. Anything else will have a different point of impact...

[tex45acp]

Originally Posted by JLA

The taurus pt1911s are equipped with heinie straight eight carry sights. They are indeed drift adjustable, just loosen the set screw located in the center of the sight and drift with a nylon punch or a sight pusher. I would not recommend filing the sights down unless you plan to blot out the white dots with some black laquer. Ordering a new lower front sight is probably the best method for fixing the problem if you cant find a load that will shoot to point of aim... Taurus tests thier firearms at the factory with standard hardball ammunition. Thats a 230 gr fmj bullet at roughly 850 fps MV. Anything else will have a different point of impact...

My Taurus AR is not equipped with the straight 8's. It is actually the Heinie 3 dot replicas, which I prefer anyway, from Taurus. In my gun you dont need to "drift" them with a punch. Simply loosen the set screw and tap gently with a nylon tipped hammer to get them to move.



tex

[tex45acp]

As I am sure anyone who has a non standard 1911 knows, finding a holster can be difficult at best. Having one with a accesory rail as a part of the frame is darn near impossible. Yes there are the thigh position tactical holsters made by some very well known manufacturers in that industry, but for the average Tex like me....those are not what I want. Recently I found exactly what I wanted for OWB carry of my new gun.....at least at the range and any informal competitions I attend. It is a holster made for the gun and even has the Taurus name, logo and model on the holster. It looks just like a plastic holster from another manufacturer, but nowhere is their name on the holster. I like it for what I want it for. Since this is primarily a range/home defense/light competition gun, it will fill my needs. I really like the fact that it also has a push button release/retention system. The gun fits perfectly and is nice & tight with no movement whatsoever. I found the holster via the web at Glenn Zanders Sporting Goods in Baldwin IL. Here are a few pics.

[johnlives4christ]

failure to extracts? any centerfire pistol should extract any ammo given it, especially a gun intended for self defence. even right out of the box. this would make me nervious, and i would start tinkering with it, looking for problems and talking to some gunsmiths. nice looking piece though. guess the extraction thing caught me off guard

[johnlives4christ]

in the pictures showing the gun holstered, on the right side of the gun i can see that the backside of the mag release button is sticking up, indicating that the holster is pressing the magazine button while it's holstered. might check that out to make sure

[tex45acp]

Originally Posted by johnlives4christ

failure to extracts? any centerfire pistol should extract any ammo given it, especially a gun intended for self defence. even right out of the box. this would make me nervious, and i would start tinkering with it, looking for problems and talking to some gunsmiths. nice looking piece though. guess the extraction thing caught me off guard

I actualy had the same thing happen, with that ammo, using my Wilson Combat Professional. I truly think there is something substandard with that ammo's case. Everything else worked fine. I was using the last box I had and will not purchase more. The main thing is it feeds and extracts my carry ammo reliably as well as all the other FMJ I tested.

in the pictures showing the gun holstered, on the right side of the gun i can see that the backside of the mag release button is sticking up, indicating that the holster is pressing the magazine button while it's holstered. might check that out to make sure

No, that was my fault....I did not realize I cannot use the Taurus factory mags with the Wilson magwell. The mags plastic base is just wide enough to prevent the mag from completely seating and locking into place. I will either trim some of the plastic off the Taurus mags or use my Wilson 47D's exclusively.