Posted: 2/3/2007 1:11:00 PM EDT
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Here are my initial impressions. The pistol has alot of features. Polished barrel and feed ramp. Heine straight 8 sights that I love. Beveled mag well, Beavertail grip safety, checkered front and back straps. Front slide serrations, lovered mag well, hand fit airgauged barrel and ambi safety. The finish is a utilitiarian black matt finsish with no serious shine to it. Grips are black plastic and serviceable. I won't replace them if they don't break. The proof however is in the firing. I headed to the range with a box of ammo. Loaded up the supplied mags and set an OPOTA target at 7 yards. The sights lined up and I fired three rounds that formed a cloverleaf. The remainder of the rounds in the mag followed the others COM and just made the initial hole larger. Smiles all around as I moved the target out to 50 feet and put another mag into the head area of the target. I finished the box with no issues. I then witched to my previously flawless Kimber rimfire kit. It was tight. I further noticed that the mags fit tight and didn't drop free. Accuracy was still excellent, but there were several instances of the hammer falling only to half cock. It got somewhat better as I shot more. This kit funs flawlessly on my 1991A1 and the mags eject with authority. Back to shooting .45acp with the Taurus supplied mags marked " Made in Brazil " although they look very mecgar, and the gun ran perfectly again. Perhaps this needs the break in period other purchasers have mentioned. Take down for cleaning was straght forward and one could clearly see that this pistol was hand fit. I later found perhaps too well hand fit. You see, after reassembly I put in a Colt mag. It locked fine but seemed a little snug going in. Not alot and not unusual in a new pistol. The problem came when I went to eject the colt mag. It was firmly stuck in place and had to be firmly pulled out while depressing the mag release button. My mecgars were worse. I had to disassemble the mags in the gun, put the base plate back on and knock the mag out from the top with a brass rod. It seems the supplied taurus mags are a couple thousandths or so narrower and the mag catch is of course fitted to the mags that Taurus supplies. I know this is not their intent and I've not heard of this problem before. It is certainly possible this is an earlier production pistol as the shop I bought at sells alot of Glock and a little of everything else. The mag catch needs a little off the top I think. To be fair, the Taurus mags eject with authority, but every other mag is either tight or stuck. Clearly a few minutes with a dremel would remedy this. I could also send it back to Taurus. Overall though I like this pistol enough to do what it takes to make it run right. I'm also not sure about the half cock issue with the .22 kit. It did not occur with the stock slide and .45 ammo. It is possible that the fire control parts have not got the rough edges off yet and the bump of the .45 is enough to allow reset and the .22 is not although the pistol appears to be going to full cock, then falling to half cock when I pull the trigger. Manually pulling the hammer back to full cock sometimes produced the same result and sometimes allowed a full hammer fall. Again, going back to .45 and no problems at all. This does bear looking into. I will consult taurus on Monday. |
| Good write up. I have a Taurus PT1911 and it has been flawless through 200 rounds. Suprisingly it is very acurate and well made. The only mags that I have are the ones that came with the gun but next time I go by my dads I will see if his Colt mags do the same thing. |
It does have a key lock built into the hammer. I can't forsee of anyone actually using it, but its there none the less. Some have reported that they simply replaced the hammer, but I think that is unnecessary. Choose to use it or not. |
WELL !just send the troublesome pice to me i,ll take it off yer hands for a 50$ the Gaul of taurus for making imperfection!!! |
I can forgive a production mistake. I can understand with the popularity of this gun, they must be under great pressure to get them out the door. The real answer will come tomorrow when I call and ask them what they are gonna do about it. BTW, add a 0 on the end of that number and we are having a serious conversation. |
 I am Jack's COMPLETE lack of surprise.  NOW we just need: a DETAILED RANGE REPORT with: - PICS (of Gun & Target Groups) - Pics of internal & inspection after 1st shoot & tight mags/scratch marks - Pics of your used Brass & their fired Primers... - Pics of a hot chick posing with your Taurus 1911...  ENJOY YOUR LOVELY NEW TOY!!! I'm sure it's a beauty!  Edited to add: Are you sure it's the Plunger Tub Rivets? I'd have checked the Grip Screws as well. Sometimes grip screws are too long, and they extend into the mag well area, and snag on some mags not allowing them to easily drop free. Either loosening them up, or replacing them with shorter length screws can solve this problem in some 1911s. I've never seen a rivet on a Plunger Tube that restricts mag relieasing (but it could happen, and that quite possibly IS the cause). I was just going to suggest also checking the Grip Screws though. I hope she provides you with many years of flawless service! 
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That will be the real test. Otherwise its a great pistol, but for it to be an acceptable duty pistol it must be able to swap mags. I notice though that no one else has reported a similar problem nor did I have any other issues as reported by others. The primers of fired cases looked fine and unremarkable. |
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Cool! Thanks for the update! I like when there's good customer service as that typically wins me over 100% of the time. I don't much care if the price is a little higher between one vender/manufacturer or another... If their customer service is top-notch, then they've got my money! That's why it's still a tough decision for people to make between Springfield Armory (& build up) & Taurus (stock with all the bells & whistles)... Keep us posted with all the details as this situation progresses! 
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I took the pistol to my local smith this afternoon. He is a custom builder of 1911 race and target guns and his work is fantastic. He reviewed my issue and quickly found that my diagnosis of the problem was correct. The Plunger tube studs were finished just a tad too long. He fixed it on the spot. He further inspected the rest of the pistol and prounced it excellent. He and I both understand that errors do happen in production guns and honestly, if all they tested with were factory Taurus mags, they would never have detected the problem. It is after all, a new gun on the market. I suggest inspection prior to purchase of the studs to ensure they are flush. Taurus has already taken steps to make the situation right for me. Kudos all the way around here. |
