Why do I hate on Taurus 1911s?

[JD]

It has been well established that I am not one to recommend Taurus pistols, I catch some heat here and there for it every now and then, but when it comes to their 1911s, there are just simply better options.

Now I know that there will be some that have had good PT1911s, but a majority I've seen are....well I'll just say that they're pretty nasty.

I recently cleaned up two PT1911s for a buddy, one was "OK" while the other was horrid. I was talking about those two to another friend who unbeknownst to me was a PT1911 owner. He's not a big 1911 guy and asked if I could take a look at his with him and see if anything was out of sorts.

These are two links to my blog. The first is for the two guns I cleaned up, the second link is for the gun I looked at today. I will admit that I did not shoot these guns and I did not dig deeper on the gun I just looked at today, but in looking at the issues with each, while they may have shot fine (for a little while at least), I would not be comfortable in shooting them a whole heck of a lot.

Not trying to start a product war, but I've not had the opportunity to take pictures of the issues I've seen with PT1911s until now.

For those that have PT1911s, inspect them and follow up with Taurus as needed. For those that have good running PT1911s, enjoy them and I'm glad you have a good one that's running well.

For those looking to buy a 1911. I'd buy something other than a PT 1911. I have not seen another brand of pistols with this amount of lackluster machining.

Guns, Guns, and More Gosh Darn Guns: Update on the PT1911s....

Guns, Guns, and More Gosh Darn Guns: PT1911 #3: Have I Ever Told You...

If you don't want to read over the blog links, here's a brief sample of some of the pictures.














If you want a better explanation of what's wrong with these pictures, please feel free to ask. Again, I'm looking down at anyone that has one etc. Just showing what I've found.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[40Bob]

I would never trust my life to a Taurus. I have fine Smith and Wesson revolvers. I have no use for a Taurus 1911.

[RubenZ]

My dad has an older Taurus revolver .357 mag than has been great but I'd never use anything from them currently. I never liked any of their semi autos

[bmcgilvray]

"The first ads boasted $2100 worth of features, well what I've got in front of me is maybe $500 worth of features and about $2.00 worth of fitting and labor to add those features to the gun."

Excellent observation, JD. And the high quality detailed photography represents a lot of effort.

I've examined and fired one of those Taurus 1911s that's supposed to be chock full of the trick features and was not impressed. It's owned by a close acquaintence. I've also examined, fired and worked on a goodly number of Taurus revolvers over the years and remain strongly unimpressed. Too many glaring QC failures along with metallurgical problems to suit my tastes. As Dionne Warwick used to sing, just "Walk On By" the brand and save aggravation.


Only one opinion but I really wish Taurus would just go away.

[Spidey2011]

Of all the things you listed, mine has this. Had it from day one. I'm not sure exactly what caused it, but I'm considering filing it down flush. It can't possibly be good.

[buckeye .45]

Don't try to make it look like you actually have a reason JD. We all just bash on Taurus because we are gun snobs, and elitists. Don't try to make a reasonable argument anout their inferior products.

Seriously, my Springfield GI, and I daresay my Auto-Ordinance 1911 look a lot cleaner than that on the inside.

[SpringerXD]

Only one opinion but I really wish Taurus would just go away.

Actually, make that two.

Buy the Bull, get the Horns. I actually did so. Twice. Never again.

[kmagnuss]

Yep. Their revolvers aren't any better. I bought one last year for like $279 shipped. Got it, opened it up, saw what looked like grinding done with a rock on the street... closed it up and sold it.

Never again will I get duped by Taurus.

[RevolvingMag]

"Why do I hate Taurus 1911s?"

Gritty triggers, FTFs, FTEs, HORRIBLE triggers, overpriced... anything else?

[Spidey2011]

"Why do I hate Taurus 1911s?"

Gritty triggers, FTFs, FTEs, HORRIBLE triggers, overpriced... anything else?

Maybe I just got a good one, but the trigger on mine is lighter and smoother than my Dad's Kimber Custom II. As far as function goes, mine works. So does my other Taurus. Not a problem yet and I'm into my PT1911 about 400 rounds and my PT140 has countless rounds through it. Maybe I'm just lucky, but then again, that's never been the case before.

I do agree, they ARE a little rough around the edges (sometimes literally), but when I can pick up a railed 5" 1911 for less than a GI model Springfield, I tend to lean towards Taurus. Heck, it shot great out of the box. Didn't even need a "break-in period."

Everyone has their reasons. I hate Armscor (RIA, High Standard, Citadel), and rightfully so. I had a High Standard Crusader that the ejector bent (albeit quite a few rounds into it). Sent it back and heard nothing for 3 months. Finally got someone to call back and it was "unfixable." They offered a replacement. So when I went to pick it out, they said, "Oh, we shipped your gun back. You should have it in a few days." Ok. I really liked that model anyway. Got it back and the ejector had been tapped straight! Two magazines through it and it was already bent again. Had a gunsmith look at it and he said it was his opinion that the ejector wasn't hardened enough. Turns out there have been quite a few of those coming back to him.

Hate as you wish, but IMO, Taurus is decent for the money.

[bmcgilvray]

The last Taurus revolver of which I took a peek inside had about a quarter of the hammer, including where the single action sear is cut, that just boke off in a big chunk. This was a late model medium-framed .357 Magnum.

Taurus products aren't too hard to hate.

[JD]

...Didn't even need a "break-in period."

Very few 1911s really do.

[Hoganbeg]

Thanks for the post JD. This injects some reality into the perpetual Taurus quality argument. I'm now firmly in the "don't buy a Taurus" camp.

[RevolvingMag]

Maybe I just got a good one, but the trigger on mine is lighter and smoother than my Dad's Kimber Custom II. As far as function goes, mine works. So does my other Taurus. Not a problem yet and I'm into my PT1911 about 400 rounds and my PT140 has countless rounds through it. Maybe I'm just lucky, but then again, that's never been the case before.

I do agree, they ARE a little rough around the edges (sometimes literally), but when I can pick up a railed 5" 1911 for less than a GI model Springfield, I tend to lean towards Taurus. Heck, it shot great out of the box. Didn't even need a "break-in period."

Everyone has their reasons. I hate Armscor (RIA, High Standard, Citadel), and rightfully so. I had a High Standard Crusader that the ejector bent (albeit quite a few rounds into it). Sent it back and heard nothing for 3 months. Finally got someone to call back and it was "unfixable." They offered a replacement. So when I went to pick it out, they said, "Oh, we shipped your gun back. You should have it in a few days." Ok. I really liked that model anyway. Got it back and the ejector had been tapped straight! Two magazines through it and it was already bent again. Had a gunsmith look at it and he said it was his opinion that the ejector wasn't hardened enough. Turns out there have been quite a few of those coming back to him.

Hate as you wish, but IMO, Taurus is decent for the money.

I'm glad you got a good one. I've 'played' with 5 or 6 of them new, and they weren't very awe inspiring. The triggers were rough, gritty, and just all around nasty. The slide felt OK, the magazine release and catch was great, the safety snicked nice and firmly, and the sights looked awesome. But, the 5 or 6 RIAs I looked at were better- standard sights, but everything else felt as good as the Taurus except the trigger was better by far.

I think that a Taurus PT1911 COULD be a good gun. But (in my experience) it would have to be smoothed out. And, maybe after shooting it enough (or enough dry fires with snap caps) it would smooth the trigger right out- I don't know, I haven't tried.

I've had two Taurus' myself- one that I sold, 24/7 Pro because it wasn't what it was supposed to be (but it wasn't bad), and my new little PT22 which has been everything I wanted it to be. And, in all fairness, I'm not a fan of Kimbers; they're good guns, but it's kinda like getting a Corvette. It's expensive, it's pretty, and it's not all it's cracked up to be. (I just got the Kimber guys, AND the Chevy guys in one sentence. ) Not saying it's bad, but not saying it's garbage either.

I only have my Springfield because I got a SERIOUS deal on it. If I hadn't found the deal I got, I would have a RIA, and be happy with it. I'm not bashing Taurus as a whole, just the 1911s based on what I've experienced with them.

[Doodle]

Ok JD, I just visited your blog for the first time and didn't leave their for a couple of hours. Needless to say it's now bookmarked on my tablet. How the heck can you afford all those classes though? (I was just reading about the point shooting class at Saurez.)