Taurus Model 66

[willie]

With handguns being as cheap as they are in this glut market, buying other than premium brands is an error. About 40 years ago I bought a .38 Spl Charter Arms Undercover. I fired 100 rounds through it as a function check. It worked flawlessly. I knew that these revolvers often crashed before reaching 500 rounds.
Thus, I shot it rarely. Sometimes I carried it. Today I would not consider buying this weapon. My criteria for "belly guns" as we called them then have changed. I know exponentially more now about self defense weapons and relevant ammo than I did then. The knowledge base for this discipline has increased tremendously. So, I can say gently to Taurus owners or prospective buyers these comments: Those who study and teach concepts and principles of self defense shooting do not recommend Taurus products. Federal, state, and local police officers are not issued Taurus firearms. There are reasons for this. Further, many knowledgeable old timers who roll beer cans and shoot stumps and dirt clods don't recommend them either. Why? Because they are frequently inaccurate, unreliable, and made and sold by a company with terrible customer service.

[Bigghoss]

I had an SP101 once. The trigger was awful. I’ve shot other Ruger Wheelguns, they weren’t all as bad as my SP, but they really weren’t remarkable. The Taurus I shot yesterday was on par with a nicely tuned S&W. It felt pretty remarkable. Or maybe i’m imagining it because I was shooting a G43 and G42 beforehand lol!

Bah, it was a thought. Who knows? I’ve got my G48 to get and mod before I mess with a Wheelgun anyway .

But seriously, if you look at the rare Taurus 66 review, I’m shocked at how positive they are.

I installed lighter springs and shimms on a few Ruger revolvers. It's not terribly difficult and it makes a huge difference. The Match Champion trigger is supposed to be good out of the box.

[willie]

Recently in a lgs I saw an older Taurus 4 inch .38 Spl that appeared to be good quality. Action was in time and also smooth. The blue finish was nicely polished. I saw no tool Mark's in the barrel. Barrel cylinder gap was within S&W specs. Try as I might I saw no defects. For some it would have a niche as a sock drawer revolver. It would serve nicely stocked with shot cartridges for the fisherman afraid of serpents. The era of that Taurus product is long gone. I think that the manufacturing facility which had been an arsenal could make serviceable guns. Certainly the engineers know better. Maybe it's a bean counter thing.

[Chuck Haggard]

Looks like it may not be a value after all.

Just because I saw the original question before it was edited...

I used to be the Rangemaster for my organization. I was responsible for all of the firearms training and maintenance for the organization. 300 sworn. We had a wide open off duty gun policy so there were quite a few folks who bought whatever they felt like.

Two of the seven I posted of were mine. I discovered issues in the first few cylinders of live fire. One of them wouldn't stayed locked up, as in fire a round and the cylinder would open itself up. The other was shaving horribly.
The others were guns the officers brought to me to qual with. Two of those wouldn't even dry fire right out of the box, the internals were jacked up. Taurus wanted the officers to pay for shipping, $65 one way the last I checked, for the guns to get the "lifetime warranty" fix. I debated with their CS quite a bit before they relented and gave up shipping labels.

Of the semi autos, one self destructed the RSA in the middle of the first 50 rounds it was to shoot, that one I had to beat with a mallet to get it unloaded so it could be shipped back, we couldn't get it disassembled at all, officer ended up with a brand new gun, the original was trashed. He sold it right away, because fuck Taurus.
Another lost the rear sight in live fire in under 100 rounds, then the trigger quit working....

It didn't used to be this way. I've owned at least a dozen older Taurus semi auto pistols and revolvers, they used to make nice lower tier guns, I used to recommend them. Now? I wouldn't buy a Taurus made in the last ten years though.

[Hambo]

. But seriously, if you look at the rare Taurus 66 review, I’m shocked at how positive they are.

Most people don't shoot much. A friend of mine would say that all the small 9mm pocket pistols he prefers ran well, but he hasn't fired 1000 rounds through the last six pistols combined.

Of the semi autos, one self destructed the RSA in the middle of the first 50 rounds it was to shoot, that one I had to beat with a mallet to get it unloaded so it could be shipped back, we couldn't get it disassembled at all, officer ended up with a brand new gun, the original was trashed. He sold it right away, because fuck Taurus.
Another lost the rear sight in live fire in under 100 rounds, then the trigger quit working....

Then there is the Taurus shake-fire feature...

[Totem Polar]

Not that I expect anyone here to be keeping track of my posts as a hobby, but, I have been justifiably critical of Taurus here numerous times. I would not buy one at this point in my life, period. I won’t even send my broken/defective PT-22s back, out of bare fear that Taurus might send me a new one. That said; A, if any guns are going to work, it’s probably an older 92 clone, or their older 5-shot snubbies. I’ve actually had good luck back in the day with an older DAO model 85. And, B, there is a trajectory intersection happening across time over the last several decades, and I’m not so sure that some of the newer small-frame S&Ws haven’t sunk below the level of 80’s Tauri snubs.

Put differently, if Marty McFly was wanting to pick up a cheap snub on his travels, hitting the Taurus dealer for an 85 or 605 while the Delorean was parked in 1990 might be as safe a bet as picking up a j-frame today off of grabagun.

Or, Marty could just snag a fresh Gen2 G19, and call it a day.