Anyone knows anything about Taurus guns? -
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/feat...ecame-the-only-product-that-can-t-be-recalled
I know Bloomberg is not a fan of guns but if the story is true, then defective guns should be gone. Safety is paramount.
In other news, I did not buy any gun lately, money is a bit tight so no idea about how slow instance background check is.
Taurus makes decent budget guns, but they have made their share of turkeys over the years. The hit an all-time low when they manufactured a family of striker-fired, semi-auto pistols without internal trigger block safeties. That doesn’t make the pistol necessarily unsafe, but it is one less safety mechanism to keep the pistol from firing if the sear or trigger spring fails.
There is a video on youtube showing a Brazilian police office shaking one of these pistols and it fires. The trigger is absolutely flopping back and forth while he shakes it which is in no way normal. I suspect the trigger spring was either worn, broken or missing. Since there was no pressure keeping the trigger forward it fired when shaken, and probably would have fired if dropped as well.
This lack of trigger block safety feature may have caused several accidental shootings and at least one death. Taurus was sued a bunch and settled most (all?) of the suits out of court. In the end they voluntarily recalled 9 of their more popular models manufactured between 1997-2013, including: PT-111 Millennium, PT-132 Millennium, PT-138-Millennium, PT-140 Millennium, PT-145 Millennium, PT-745 Millennium, PT-609, PT-640 and PT-24/7. They did so without admitting the pistols had any defects.
Now, let me point out that it’s not unheard of for a gun to be made without an internal trigger block safety, but without one it makes the gun more dangerous to carry cocked with a round in the chamber. Also, excessive wear on internal parts can make any pistol or revolver unsafe. There has also been a lot of fake reports and even faked video of Taurus pistols unintentionally discharging. Lastly, I’ve never heard of a new out of the box Taurus PT111 firing when dropped or otherwise. The pistol shaken by the Brazilian cop obviously had some major internal wear or the trigger would never have flopped around like it did in the video. Also, the pistol in the Bloomberg story was purchased used from a pawn shop, and I have no idea if a reputable gunsmith every checked it over for safety concerns or what state of wear it was in.
Taurus has since started making a redesigned second generation of these pistols with a trigger block safety. They have been almost universally well reviewed as reliable and safe by those who own them and the gun media. I’ve owned one of the PT111 Millennium G2 (for gen 2) for three years. After 500ish rounds of cheap and self-defense ammo it’s never had a single FTE or FTF, let alone an accidental discharge. Review after review from actual Taurus owners say the same. In my experience most of the bad press against Taurus is from gun snobs who hate all budget firearms and/or have never even shot, let alone owned, one.
In my opinion as a retired newspaper journalist, the Bloomberg article it’s a POS hit piece. The questions they asked were insulting, and they failed to challenge or even question any of the accusations from the family or lawyers against Taurus, the gun shop and even the Walmart where they purchased their ammo. I saw zero evidence of any journalistic due diligence. The article was definitely written with an agenda and to get readers to turn off their brain in favor of their emotions.