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Ugly gun of the week.


blue109

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A co-worker asks me to look at a misbehaving firearm about every other week. It's usually really easy stuff like AR trigger pins hanging half way out but they look at me like a guru for being able to fix them. It gets me free lunch and stuff like that so I'm ok with it. This week's feature is the silliest Taurus PT101 I've had the pleasure of handling. I present..Tucson's finest....the cartel Taurus.

PicsArt_01-04-09.04.11.jpg

Edited by blue109
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FYI

 

Taurus PT101 Review

by Richard (Guest Author)
(Oklahoma)

taurus-pt101-21251651.jpg

 

It has been many many years since I have owned a Taurus handgun. I remember back then how a couple of friends and other shooters would look down their noses at it and kind of have that "well, if that's all you can afford" attitude. The guns, in my opinion, were always well made and perfectly reliable. However I gave into pressure, sold it and bought a "real gun".

About a year ago I decided to try another Taurus, a compact 9mm and found it to be every bit the quality I remembered...excellent.

Moving along to the present, I have always loved the look and style of the PT clone of the Beretta. Having been made aware that Academy Sports had the Taurus PT101 .40 caliber on sale for the crazy price of $299, I went, I looked, I bought.

When I got it home, I gave it a quick once over, cleaned off the grease, ran a patch through the bore and put a couple of drops of oil along the slide rails. Checking the gun over shows that it is well fitted and working the slide is glassy smooth. Barrel length is 5" and weighs 34oz empty.

You have several options for carry...you can de-cock the hammer by thumbing the safety lever all the way down and carry it chambered, hammer down, off safe for a first double action shot. You can also keep the safety on, then thumb it off with and have a first double action shot. If you are a 1911 fan (I love them) then you can also carry cocked and locked which is the hammer cocked, safety on with a first shot being single action.

Now we come to the one complaint I have. The capacity if 16+1 for a total of 17 rounds. I can load the magazine with 15 rounds...no matter how hard I try, I cannot in any way get that 16th round in the magazine. I can live with that, I normally leave magazines downloaded by one anyways, but if you like a completely full magazine it is something to consider.

Finally off to the range. We now have a little over 200 rounds through it...zero malfunctions. The gun is plenty accurate. I don't shoot much for the bullseye so I cannot tell you how tight the groups can be. I can say that at 50 feet, it will easily keep all shots in the 10 ring. The sights are adjustable 3 dot and seem to be well adjusted out of the box, no adjustments needed.

The double action pull is long but smooth ... stacks a little towards the end. Single action has some take up then a nice clean break. Recoil is very manageable. Today the trend is towards guns as compact as possible even in larger calibers. The Taurus PT101 is anything but small...it is big, wide and heavy. This means that in 40 caliber, the recoil does not snap or kick...it is more of a "push" and really cushions the recoil. Even new shooters should be able to handle it very easily and not be scared off by the kick. My wife (experienced shooter) prefers 9mm in larger guns as she is not a fan of heavy recoil. She was hesitant about trying the 40, but absolutely loved it and found The Taurus PT101 just as easy to control as her Ruger P95 ... and thought the trigger was a little easier and smoother than her beloved Ruger.

Can it be carried concealed? Of course. Right now the weather is cold, so I have been carrying it IWB under a slightly over sized shirt and my jacket. It disappears easily this way and although you know it's there, it is not at all uncomfortable. On warmer days, it still hides well without the coat. I wear an over sized t-shirt, a button down shirt (left unbuttoned) and still carry IWB. Very concealable this way, although you probably should be careful at the store when bending down to get something off the bottom shelf...make sure it stays covered. Nowhere near as easily carried as one of the pocket pistols, but quite doable with just a little effort.

The Taurus PT101 is truly a pistol that is worth far more than the asking price. If you can get it for 299, great. If that sale ends and you have to pay the more .... still a great deal. This is one that is not just "good for the price". It is actually an excellent gun at full price and easily rivals more expensive guns.

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Trigger felt long and heavy during dry fire. Slide is silky smooth but safety felt chunky. Grip is way too wide for me and it's got some weight. Didn't feel like a gun I'd ever be interested in owning. Maybe a non-cartel edition would feel better but it just felt piggish all around.

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I think it is safe to say that we all pretty much know that Taurus doesn't have the best reputation, but every now and then I hear of a Taurus pistol that blows an experienced shooter away. so I believe that once in a while you may get a cheap gem from them, but it isn't worth taking the gamble unless you shoot it before you buy it.

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1 hour ago, blue109 said:

Trigger felt long and heavy during dry fire. Slide is silky smooth but safety felt chunky. Grip is way too wide for me and it's got some weight. Didn't feel like a gun I'd ever be interested in owning. Maybe a non-cartel edition would feel better but it just felt piggish all around.

We use a PT-92AF for the MILO system.  Use it to simulate revolvers, until we can get the proprietary revolver attachment.

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FYI

 

Taurus PT101 Review

by Richard (Guest Author)
(Oklahoma)

taurus-pt101-21251651.jpg

 

It has been many many years since I have owned a Taurus handgun. I remember back then how a couple of friends and other shooters would look down their noses at it and kind of have that "well, if that's all you can afford" attitude. The guns, in my opinion, were always well made and perfectly reliable. However I gave into pressure, sold it and bought a "real gun".

About a year ago I decided to try another Taurus, a compact 9mm and found it to be every bit the quality I remembered...excellent.

Moving along to the present, I have always loved the look and style of the PT clone of the Beretta. Having been made aware that Academy Sports had the Taurus PT101 .40 caliber on sale for the crazy price of $299, I went, I looked, I bought.

When I got it home, I gave it a quick once over, cleaned off the grease, ran a patch through the bore and put a couple of drops of oil along the slide rails. Checking the gun over shows that it is well fitted and working the slide is glassy smooth. Barrel length is 5" and weighs 34oz empty.

You have several options for carry...you can de-cock the hammer by thumbing the safety lever all the way down and carry it chambered, hammer down, off safe for a first double action shot. You can also keep the safety on, then thumb it off with and have a first double action shot. If you are a 1911 fan (I love them) then you can also carry cocked and locked which is the hammer cocked, safety on with a first shot being single action.

Now we come to the one complaint I have. The capacity if 16+1 for a total of 17 rounds. I can load the magazine with 15 rounds...no matter how hard I try, I cannot in any way get that 16th round in the magazine. I can live with that, I normally leave magazines downloaded by one anyways, but if you like a completely full magazine it is something to consider.

Finally off to the range. We now have a little over 200 rounds through it...zero malfunctions. The gun is plenty accurate. I don't shoot much for the bullseye so I cannot tell you how tight the groups can be. I can say that at 50 feet, it will easily keep all shots in the 10 ring. The sights are adjustable 3 dot and seem to be well adjusted out of the box, no adjustments needed.

The double action pull is long but smooth ... stacks a little towards the end. Single action has some take up then a nice clean break. Recoil is very manageable. Today the trend is towards guns as compact as possible even in larger calibers. The Taurus PT101 is anything but small...it is big, wide and heavy. This means that in 40 caliber, the recoil does not snap or kick...it is more of a "push" and really cushions the recoil. Even new shooters should be able to handle it very easily and not be scared off by the kick. My wife (experienced shooter) prefers 9mm in larger guns as she is not a fan of heavy recoil. She was hesitant about trying the 40, but absolutely loved it and found The Taurus PT101 just as easy to control as her Ruger P95 ... and thought the trigger was a little easier and smoother than her beloved Ruger.

Can it be carried concealed? Of course. Right now the weather is cold, so I have been carrying it IWB under a slightly over sized shirt and my jacket. It disappears easily this way and although you know it's there, it is not at all uncomfortable. On warmer days, it still hides well without the coat. I wear an over sized t-shirt, a button down shirt (left unbuttoned) and still carry IWB. Very concealable this way, although you probably should be careful at the store when bending down to get something off the bottom shelf...make sure it stays covered. Nowhere near as easily carried as one of the pocket pistols, but quite doable with just a little effort.

The Taurus PT101 is truly a pistol that is worth far more than the asking price. If you can get it for 299, great. If that sale ends and you have to pay the more .... still a great deal. This is one that is not just "good for the price". It is actually an excellent gun at full price and easily rivals more expensive guns.

 

Once upon a time I picked up a 9mm one of these at a private trap shoot from a friend that said it had had several unknown owners for  a paltry sum. It looked used and abused, but shot standard loads well. I carried it around as a throw down.  I traded it off for a set of aviation head phones. 

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4 minutes ago, bubbas4570 said:

I used to own a Taurus Model 65 (copy of S&W M19), and that revolver was the best shooting 357 I could ask for, as long as I kept the base (?) pin lubed well.

I've had a couple of Taurus.  They've been hit or miss for me.

PT92 - hit, twice

PT22 - two misses (one was good after repair but the trust was spoiled)

PT1911 9mm - hit

PT945 - hit

65 - partial hit/partial miss

Students have had about the same hit or miss with them.  Great for range toys.

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I also owned a PT145 Millennium Pro, but have long since sold that to a friend who happened to own the very same model.

His had rendered itself unshootable  shortly after acquiring mine, by simply having the recoil spring mechanism come apart....and Taurus will NOT  send a new one out for replacement,  they want the whole gun to "repair" it.

Edited by bubbas4570
F'ing spell checker
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4 minutes ago, blue109 said:

I forgot I had a 140 millennium. Was actually a pretty decent gun and accurate, but the slide occasionally wouldn't go forward 100%. It would still fire fine, but there's too many nice guns on the market to keep one that isnt perfect.

I got my nephew  this one in 40s&w and two mags. Its a good gun from my local pawn shop it was a good price also.

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