Why does everyone hate Taurus?...

[ponycar17]

So, I partially know... They're 'fer-eign....' Yeah, ok, I know that, but why is it that every time there's a debate that emerges about large revolvers, it migrates towards Smith and Smith only?... Taurus makes a fine revolver with features that Smith is scared to attempt. I'm just curious why we choose to ignore Taurus?...

[djohns6]

You'r right . People seem to turn their nose up at the mention of Taurus .
I have no experience with them but wouldn't mind giving them a try .

[Rommelvon]

good question, and I'm not sure I have an answer, I have seen plenty of taurus models that I like very much...perhaps it the low cost of the pistols that makes us feel like we are buying a cheap gun?. the new Taurus 809B-9mm is a great feeling gun, and a nice price to boot.

[CampingJosh]

I've not tried any of their revolvers, but their autos just seem to be balanced awkwardly for my tastes.
I would love to try one sometime, though...

[Dakota Red 1]

I don't have a Taurus revolver so I don't hate them. I can only hate my PT1911. I hate it because I have never gotten to practice reducing a stoppage; never felt like doing all those fun modifications (except the walnut double diamonds, guess they don't have walnuts in Brasil) because I pretty much like it the way it is; never felt like adding more of Browning's .45 autos to my collection because I don't collect, I shoot.
And if I ever wear out my big Smith, Colt or Ruger wheel guns, I would definately look into Taurus because I would probably hate them as much as I hate their autos.

[thunderstruck507]

Never fired a revolver of theirs...but I do have a PT1911. It's one of 2 autos I've shot or seen shot extensively that hasn't jammed or misfired (the other being my roommates italian beretta 92 stainless).

As far as "problems" go, every gun can have one. No matter who makes it. For instance I have seen problems from: my roommates Sig .45 (jammed on 4 occasions) which also broke a take down lever, a marine buddy's HK .45 (fail to feed, only once after it had been put away dirty and it was cold outside), another marine buddy's kimber 1911 .45 with tac rail (ftf 4 out of 50 rounds our first time out, ftf twice out of 50 the next time we went shooting), my uncle's glock 10mm (stovepipe once, fail to feed once), and another kid at the range had a poor Springfield XD 9mm that would only fire one round at a time much like my Hi-Point 9mm in its current condition

my roommate also just got a used px4 storm, so far so good...we have put over 200 rounds through it with no problems so far

so why do people hate Taurus? the terms "snob", "ignorant", and even "jealous" come to mind for some reason...

but more or less egos are a bitch and noone wants to think someone might have gotten something nice (even if its not AS nice) cheaper, so they feel the need to tear it down to boost their own pride in what they have

I'm not saying Taurus is as good or better than any other brand mentioned here and there are definately better guns, but I will say I have no problem with mine, especially for what I paid for it.

I will be the first to post here when my first problem occurs (and I'm sure it will eventually)

[Colorado1135]

I have a taurus .40 and I don't recall ever having a jam in it, I also recently aquired a 617 that I never got a chance to shoot, but if its anything like my dads .357 it will be a dream to shoot, I prefer taurus over most other models, although I have heard of their 24/7 in 45 fail to feed occasionaly, could have been the ammo too tho...... my .02

[LDBennett]

I have a Taurus 99 which is the copy of the Beretta 92 with adjustable sights. Only the sights have ever failed (fell off twice until I "fixed" them). I have a little Taurus Model 63 semi-auto 22lr rifle. It had some feeding problems when I over stuffed the magazine tube which went away the minute I started following the instruction manual. I have a Thuderbolt (Colt Lightning rifle clone) that has had a feeding problem. There was a timing problem for ammo feeding that was really part of the poor original Colt design that I fixed and the realization that the ammo had to be shorter than the absolute max for 45LC by about 0.020 inches. Factory ammo worked fine but my reloads were the problem.

In general when it comes to revolvers, if you lay a S&W on the bench beside a Taurus revolver you can see the differences in fit and finish. I suppose the same is true of the Model 92 Taurus pistol and the Beretta 92 but there the differences are much less noticeable, at least to me. But for revolvers I'll stick to my S&W's and for simi-auto's and repro rifles I still think Taurus is a viable choice. Taurus does a nice job considering where they are at in their cost point in the market place. I think them to be a good value. I own them and the "snob" equivalents and the Taurus's are good guns, in general.

LDBennett

[Shooter45]

Here's the answer.

Years ago, when Taurus first arrived on the gun scene, their pistols were poorly built and prone to problems. Some say the metal was soft ( where have we heard that before about foreign copies). Taurus suffered because of this. Although a S&W copy, the pistols were lacking the S&W quality and the whole gun world knew.

Now, years later, Taurus has come around from humble beginnings to finally building a top quality pistol. Still a S&W copy but not up to their quality hence the lesser price.

Same as Rossi, Charles Daly,RIA,etc. It takes time to build a quality weapon and instead of working out the bugs and quality control issues,it seems the manufactures want an immediant return on their investment.

[Pistolenschutze]

Shooter, I think you pretty much hit the target in the 10-ring. When they first came out, the Taurus revolvers probably ranked more or less with many of the cheap Spanish imports, which is to say, they were pretty miserable in terms of reliability and overall quality. I believe that has definitely changed greatly for the better. I currently own three Taurus revolvers (a 605, a 617, and a 455), one Taurus automatic (a Millennium Pro 745), and a Rossi (481) which is made by Taurus. All have proven to be well-made and reliable weapons. I do feel the revolvers are still not quite up to Smith and Wesson standards, but they are certainly close and getting better. Since they are made in Brazil with far less labor cost, Taurus can offer the weapons at a considerably smaller price and still maintain excellent quality. Much of the animus against the Taurus weapons in this country is nothing but snobbery.

[AngelDeville]

now if you lay a Taurus snubbie side by side with an S$W, I'd take the Taurus....

[thunderstruck507]

I hope my post did imply simply owning a quality firearm makes one a snob, because that was not my intention. I love my roommates Beretta 92.

A snob isn't someone who owns a better instrument, its someone who thinks the instrument they own is the end all be all of such instruments and all others are garbage IMO.

This is a problem that comes up frequently on the Gibson guitar/ Epiphone guitar forums.

[Taurus_9mm]

I read on another forum someone making a comparison of the Hondas from 25 years ago to the Hondas of today, and how much the quality has changed in a little under three decades. The same holds true with Taurus. Their products today, by and large, bear little resemblance to those of yesteryear. With improvements in technology, new innovative ideas and a hiring the V.P. of Colt to head up things (he had a lot to do with helping bring the PT1911s into existence) Taurus is only going to continually improve IMO.

For their Raging Bull series alone, they invested millions into new CNC machining. A good move on their part because in doing so, it enabled them to take a slice of the market share for big bores along with S&W and Ruger, to a lesser extent. The PT1911s are selling like hotcakes now and many are ancipating the release of both the new PT809s and 24/7 OSS models.

Here's a list of some of the accomplishments of Taurus since 1997:

AWARDS
2005

• NRA Golden Bullseye Handgun of the Year Taurus PT24/7

2003

• Shooting Industry Academy of Excellence 2003 Hall of Fame Inductee Robert G. Morrison
• Shooting Industry Academy of Excellence Ammunition of the Year
• Nominee Taurus Copper Bullet .45 ACP
• NRA Golden Bullseye 480 Raging Bull

2002

• NSSF/SHOT Business Man of the Year Robert G. Morrison
• NASGW Manufacturer of the Year
• SHOT Business Manufacturer of the Year


2001

• NASGW Manufacturer of the Year

2000

• Shooting Industry Academy of Excellence Manufacturer of the Year
• FIRST factory Concealed Hammer on small frame .38 Special and 357 Magnum revolvers.
• Shooting Industry Academy of Excellence Handgun of the Year Millennium
• Guns & Ammo Gun of the Year 454 Raging Bull


1999

• American Firearms Industry Excellence Award Total Titanium

1998

• Shooting Industry Academy of Excellence Handgun of the Year 454 Raging Bull

1997

• American Firearms Industry Revolver of the Year

We have many Taurus lovers at www.taurusarmed.net , which stands to reason since it is a brand oriented site. But if you're curious, please stop by and register.

[ponycar17]

Good responses everyone... Thanks for the replies!

Being one of the under-30 crowd, I did not realize that the first Tauruses were of an obviously lesser quality. I own two of their guns and I'm absolutely amazed at how well they're made for the price. Finish is one of the areas that Taurus may be able to improve, but for the price I'll settle for what they provide.

[Shooter45]

Much of the animus against the Taurus weapons in this country is nothing but snobbery.

Pistol, I really don't think it has to do with snobbery. Maybe just the memories of older shooters like myself that remember the early models. Then passing that info on to younger shooters back in that time who didn't remember the whole story. Taurus got few good reviews even from the gun mags back then. Hell, they give everyone good reviews that spend a buck. It just takes time to work out the early problems of new firearms and the makers want to sell,sell,sell.

[jeanp1948]

I believe it the same as the Buick vs Oldsmobile comparisons. Buick owners and Olds owners would swear their make was better than the other although 98% of the parts were identical and made by General Motors.
It's depends on what you own and what you think of it. Most people will not change their minds. Either Taurus is a piece of junk or a pretty good buy for the money. My only experience is a small .22 Taurus PT22 and I had to send it off to the maker for repairs and found it was the magazines not the gun itself. I now have a Hi-Point C9, who many don't think much of but I had numerous talks with Hi-Point owners and only one in about a dozen had a mag problem.

[Mosin_Nagant_Fan]

I just couldn't find a model I wanted, all anyone had where .22lr revolvers, which I didn't want. I'd give one a try, if the price and caliber where right.

[pickenup]

Like many, at first I was hesitant when I ran across a deal on a 608 SS because of the PAST history of Taurus. I was "kind of" looking for a S&W 627, because I wanted the 8 rounds of 357 (38 special) to shoot in the "revolver" class, when I came across this one.

Having heard a few good reports lately, and after having it in my hand, I went ahead and got it. Sure glad I did. Went to the range and it performed flawlessly. Good feel to it, and accurate enough to satisfy me. Wife even liked shooting it.

Only problem was, I found out later, with the factory porting, I would be kicked up to "C" class (custom) so it defeated my purpose in buying it. That's OK though, now I keep it this far away > < for home defense. I think 8 rounds of 357 mag is going to slow just about anybody down.

I'm still looking for a 627, but @ my price.
It might take a WHILE.
But then, I'm not in a hurry.

[Shooter45]

Pick, have you thought about a barrel change ??

[pickenup]

Originally Posted by Shooter45

Pick, have you thought about a barrel change ??

Never done that, hadn't even thought of it.
I'll check into it. Thanks

[obxned]

I don't!

[Pistolenschutze]

Originally Posted by Shooter45

Pistol, I really don't think it has to do with snobbery. Maybe just the memories of older shooters like myself that remember the early models. Then passing that info on to younger shooters back in that time who didn't remember the whole story. Taurus got few good reviews even from the gun mags back then. Hell, they give everyone good reviews that spend a buck. It just takes time to work out the early problems of new firearms and the makers want to sell,sell,sell.

I certainly can't disagree with that, Shooter. Acquiring bad reputation at the outset has hurt more than one business in later years, even though the initial problems have been corrected. Glock pistols form a good example of that. Still, I do think some shooters don't really check out the Taurus thoroughly enough simply because they are made "south of the boarder." It's a shame really, because Taurus does build an excellent handgun for the money these days.

[Alpo]

In 1976 I worked as a security guard. The company bought 6 Taurus 38 revolvers (basically model 10s).

On one the timing was so far off that only two chambers would fire, and they spit powder and lead on the people on both sides. The other four chambers had firing pin dents in the head of the shells, but they weren't in the primer.

On a second one the yoke fractured, and when the cylinder was opened after firing the second cylinderful (total of 12 rounds), the cylinder and half the yoke just fell to the ground. We sent all six of them back.

Fast forward to a couple of years ago. Indoor range, rental gun. 4" lightweight (Titanium?) ported 357. We only allowed people to shoot 38s in it. It started spitting. When we examined it, the space between the top of the barrel and the bottom of the topstrap was full of lead shavings. I've never seen that happen on any other gun.

I wouldn't have a Taurus as a gift, let alone pay good money for one.

[Kahr]

I only own one wheelgun and it is a Taurus Mod 85 38spcl. It serves as my carry piece easily 50% of the time.

[Vladimir]

As someone newer to the gun-buying scene I can tell you what I have picked up. Taraus has a reputation of being cheap, I suspect that isn't true about all Taraus' buy thats the perception, and perceptions are hard to get rid of.

It isn't the foreign thing or Glocks wouldn't be one of the most popular handguns