Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns What is the true story of the Taurus warranty?

I have been looking at a possible purchase of a Taurus PT111 G2 Mellenium pistol, the price looks especially good too. I already have a Glock 19 but wanted a second 9 mm pistol that would be easier to carry.

When I checked the recent reports on the warranty issues with Taurus it is often very negative and the guns stay at the warranty station for over a year, and the calls and e-mails are ignored. Taurus developed a bad reputation back in the 1990's when I owned 4 of their handguns and I expedited my removal of them from my collection while I still could sell them.

I had 3 of their revolvers, and all of them had some minor timing issues, but shot well, never jammed and were accurate. The steel was soft though. My Taurus Beretta 92 clone was not all that accurate and the frame seemed to be wearing faster than it should have been, soft aluminum? Probably should have kept one as a truck/house gun as they were pretty cheap to buy and I never had to send any of them back for warranty work.

With their ongoing bad customer service reputation I cannot understand why they are still in business? Is it because many Americans are short-term thinkers and believe that cheap is good over more expensive but better products? Or is it that most Taurus guns do work and enough satisfied customers are around to do repeat buying?

Anyone have experience with Taurus both as a customer and in the business (gun seller) to know on the truth of the warranty issues?

Thanks.

Can't give you a recent example but about 10 years ago I had the cylinder of a .41 Magnum Titanium Tracker bind up. I was not the original owner of the gun.

I don't recall if I sent the gun to them on my dime or not. It was about four months before the gun returned. Did the same thing again. This time they paid the shipping. Came back in about three months and has been fine since.

One thing to consider, and I don't know if it is the case with all their guns, but mine went back to Brazil for the work....

Bob

We sold a few when I was working in a local gunshop. We mostly sold the Taurus 92 9mms, which held up fine, as near as I could tell. One of our regular customers had a .38 revolver had fine luck with his, as did a co-worker's M85 .38. However, they seemed to be the "lucky" ones, they either came 'really good', or 'really bad', and there was no in-between. Either you got lucky or you didn't.

One thing you can say about Taurus, though, they aren't scared to try new things, or come out with new ideas, from which US gunmakers hide. S&W didn't come out with the Governor until Taurus came out with the Judge. They shake things up. I don't hear bad things about the 111's, but I have read horror stories about danged near all the other models they make, right or wrong.
Oftentimes, the worst horror stories are by people who are scared of doing anything to their guns on their own, and probably shouldn't own a firearm (too damned stupid). Most of the things are likely little things that could be fixed by a careful scrutiny of the issue and tinkering a bit with it. I see that the most on Facebook's 1911 lovers page, some of those goons don't need to own a BB gun, let alone a good pistol.

The reason their 92 is generally well made and reliable is that they actually have military contracts for them, and thus make them all to a high standard in order to keep said contracts.

I have a Tarus PT111-G2 as my CCW. It has worked flawlessly since I got it. However, the sights are notoriously wrong right out of the box. Every person I have spoken with has had to adjust them. Once sighted in, I put 10 shots in a playing card at 30' free hand. I paid a little extra for the stainless version, due to sweat vs finish, and ease of cleaning.

You have a Glock, which is a good gun. You want a Taurus but you have had bad experiences with them and they have pretty bad reviews both on the web and when talking to people in person. It seems like you answered your own question. Glock and Smith both make guns smaller than the 19.

That was my first thought, too, upon reading the OP. No way I'd choose a Taurus for the purpose of saving my life, unless it was one of their models with a reputation for reliability, or one that I had first already thoroughly checked out. Why take the chance, though, when Glocks are available for all self-defense purposes.

Taurus introduces interesting designs and sometimes produces very fine guns.
It's a real shame that such a capable outfit suffers from institutional ADD.

P.S. The PT-111 G2 is a very good pistol - the innovative feature is its second strike capability.

My two experiences with Taurus customer service have been great . A few years ago I needed some sight parts and a few odds and ends for a Rossi 92 lever action I was repairing . Went through the company, found out their parts were ridiculously expensive for a similar item elsewhere the shipping was pretty steep as well. I just bit the bullet moved on from that one.

The other was related to one of Taurus's Beretta 92 clones that belongs to a coworker. His was the adjustable sight version and the fine adjustment screws on that particular pistol broke into little pieces. Due to the shoddy construction of the adjustable side mechanism I suggested we just contact Taurus and obtain a fixed sight slide for that model. Oh hell no, you simpletons cannot install a slide it must come back to the factory to be done, hey we will probably just repair the adjustable sites anyhow. Finally told him to go pound sand and we found a fixed sight slide on eBay which fit perfectly and functions great.

I have one Taurus product left which is a 2016 model 92 lever action in 45 Colt. It must be a Wednesday afternoon gun because it is the best fit and sweetest operating example I have ever handled. Should it ever suffer a perch failure, the very last place I will go for parts or service is Taurus. I would tear it down and auction off the parts before I'd do that.

Please look at the M&P compact before you give these Brazilian jackasses any more business.

Yes, a Glock or Smith and Wesson would be just fine for me, especially since Glock now has single stack smaller version available. But, the price issue, I saw a Cabelas ad for the Taurus at $200.00, Glock and Smith/W cannot even come close to that. Taurus makes a S/W revolver clone without the ugly hole in the side of the receiver that Smith continues to stupidly do, a so-called safety.

Honestly my friend I would hunt around for a police trade in M&P which you can usually find anywhere from 250 to $325. I've seen so many action problems from Taurus revolvers that I would recommend a Charter Arms over them hands down. Even the Armscor copy of the little Colt 38 snub is a better deal in my opinion.
G
I'm not trying to rain on your parade. You asked our opinions and that's all I'm doing is giving you mine.

Yeah, but you don't want to go with the lowest bidder for a self-defense gun.

A beat up, used, rusty gun of quality manufacturer, is always better than a shiny new piece of schit.

Especially if your life may depend on it.

I like my Mother's oldest boy far too much to depend his life on a Taurus.

^^^This^^^

Buy a Glock 43. Buy once, cry once. After 25 yeas in the Firearms Wholesale & Retail business, you couldn't give me a Taurus.

I can no longer tell my concealed carry classes that the only way to make a firearm fire is someone has to pull the trigger. We found a You Tube account of a guy shaking a semi-auto Taurus pistol. He'd shake it for about 5 seconds and the pistol would discharge a round! His finger did not come anywhere near the trigger. I watched him do it about 4 times in a row. I know the chances are someone with a dremel tool and no experience decided to work on the Taurus trigger, but still, the video is out there.

Taurus got their ass in a sling with their own government for selling those shake and boom pistols to military or federal police, I forget which one . Really makes me want to run out and buy one.

I will test that, next time I am at the range or my hunting property.

Edit: got a link, so I duplicate the test in the same manner?

they stay in business because people need cheap guns, its the same reason people buy cheap scopes and cheap cars, its why some people are emotional eaters, smoke cigarettes, drink mouthwash or cough syrup, drive drunk, or have unprotected sex with prostitutes. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. One of the most problematic brands sold by my local gun store if the owner is to be believed.