ltwguns.com

Alrighty guys,
What's the "straight poop" on the Taurus? There are guys that are actually buying the Taurus' advertising saying they have all the bells and whistles of the $2k customs, blah blah blah...

Have any 'smiths actually had the chance to handle one and really inspect it?

Normally, I hate Taurus firearms like poison, but I'm curious about this. At least it seems as if they've fixed the abhorrent trigger guard thickness from SHOT '05.

Thanks

I bought a Taurus PT1911 a couple months ago and am very pleased with it. I'm surprised we haven't seen anything on here yet about them.

The frame and slide are reported to be forged. Pretty much everything inside is MIM. The thumb safety and grip safety appear to be standard STI parts. The checkering on the front strap and under the trigger guard is rudementary but functional. The sights are the same sights Taurus uses on the 24/7 service pistol. The magazine looks like a Novak mag but the base plate has a little different shape to it and the mags are marked as made in Brazil.

Interally, the gun is all 1911 Series 80, with the exception of a funky hammer lock on the hammer.

I haven't run a huge amount of rounds through mine yet. So far it feeds ball and 200 LSWC from Power Mags and Novak mags with no problems.

Richard Heinie reported over on the 1911 Forum that he had one and was pleased with it, given the limited testing he's done. Supposedly he's got some different sights in the works.

Here's mine all stripped:

As Julius (Samuel L Jackson) says in Pulp Fiction:

"Sewer rat might taste like pumpkin pie, but I'll never know..."

_________________
Heirloom Precision, LLC.
480-804-1911

Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.

TR

Pretty much what I was thinking too. I just wanted to see what y'all think.

LOL! I almost spit my drink on the monitor. I was going to leave this one alone but had to comment on that. FWIW, I wouldn't own one for the rollmarks alone. To me a Taurus
is like an Auto Ordnance, no matter what you do
to it it is still a Taurus or still an Auto Ordnance.

I have a Taurus 85 snubbie. It's good for what it is but for 1911s I'll stick to my customs and/or Colt/Springfield.

Priceless!!!!!!!!

I was going to say at least they used a Series 80 design, but then I remembered it was a Taurus and it didn't make a difference anyway.

_________________
"No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave."
Calvin Coolidge

Taurus.... = Pontiac Fiero...

Something that should have NEVER been made!

_________________
Kentucky Colonel, Tennessee Squire & Combat Leprechaun
"You won't rise to the occasion - you'll default to your level of training." Barrett Tillman

Silk purse - Sows ear............

_________________
CT Brian Custom
'Blending Art With Firepower'

For some reason, I always want to like a Taurus product. But when I look it over, it's really hard. I looked at the 1911's last year and thought they were just too rough in every way to consider for improvement..... I remember thinking, "You'da thought they'd check for this stuff on a gun for display at SHOT". On the other hand I guess I have to give them some credit in the honesty department-- they did not tune and perfect their display guns. I asked the guy at the booth about details on the passive FP safety system and he did not know anything about it. I didn't look at them this year, they might be a lot better for all I know but that would surprise me.

One always hates to dis a specific brand. I know somebody with a Millenium 9mm-- again, rough. Looks like it would not last 350 rounds--lots of little delicate parts, screws to come loose.... but it has gone that many and more, and never, ever a stoppage. I did replace the rear, plastic sight that was held on by a tiny screw with a real, dovetailed one.

Looked over one of their .45's several years ago, forget the model number. It would not feed hardball and never will. I could not figure out how that one ever got off the drawing board.

I looked at the new model this year that was just featured in the Amercian Rifleman. I beelined to the Taurus booth because a gunwriter whose work I like (not Sweeney) had said it was worth checking out. Not too bad, indeed. But field stripping required multiple tries and either a tool or great fingernails, and I'm a little embarrassed to say, after multiple tries at getting it back together, I never did get it right. Something like this has to be better in that department.

Most if not all major brands of 1911 suffer from shortcomings in manufacture. My impression from an admittedly small sampling (3-4 unites) a year ago was basically that the Taurus had more shortcomings than most, that would not be worth trying to overcome in a custom project.