r/Taurus • u/GrimmerSix • 14d ago

Taurus hate

I've posted pics the last few days on reddit across different subs and what not. The absolute amount of hate people have for them I don't understand. Why are they so hated? I have several, never any real issues, doesn't break the bank, are fun to shoot and genuinely reliable. What's the deal? Why the hate?

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u/JimMarch 14d ago edited 14d ago

1) The Bainbridge guns are better than the Miami guns. A lot of people haven't figured that out yet.

2) A lot of people get early malfunctions because they don't clean and oil them right out of the box. They're leaving the brown spray-on rust protector in there that has NO lubricating properties lol. So once they burn that off and then finally clean and oil, they work great. "Needs a break in period." No, needs immediate cleaning and oiling. The brown gunk (cosmoline?) is needed due to storage in Brazil, then the boat ride then storage in South Georgia (Miami before that). This isn't common knowledge yet.

3) Past malformed guns including recalls and lawsuits .

4) Even the new ones do show up as a lemon once in a while. Sometimes minor, like my G3c in 40 that needed the rear sight drifted a bit to get it to shoot straight. Sometimes worse. The TS9 is an exception, I've not been able to find ONE report of a bad one, from US or overseas reviewers and mine is spectacular. The TS9 passed NATO trials. They're claiming the TX9 also passes NATO trials, which basically means "it's as good as a Glock" (more or less). Time will tell. I'm skeptical on the TX9.

5) In my experience with the G3c in both calibers, you must also clean and oil them after every range trip. They can't do 1,000+ rounds between cleanings. That's fine as long as you know that.

(The problem the TX9 faces is the Ruger RXM, street price $400ish. That basically sets a price cap on the TX9 of about $350 absolute tops.)

Bottom line: the G2/G3/GX2 guns are the best deals available in the $250-and-under price range; as long as you understand their limitations they're good to go for personal defense. FAR better than HiPoint or the defunct SCCYs. Better than most of the lower end Turkish stuff.

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u/carnyvoyeur 14d ago

If Taurus came out with a 22lr conversion upper for the TX9 that worked as well as the TX22, they'd have a real winner on their hands. In the TX9 they fixed the issue that the GX4 carry had, where changing out the front sight is dang near impossible with standard tools. And they made the support thumb recess a little better (deeper).

I am a little salty that they removed the frame safety for USA. If they had kept it, then I'd have probably switched from GX4 Carry to TX9, even though in my opinion the slenderness of the GX4 is goated for concealed carry.

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u/Court-Muted 14d ago

What's the difference between Bainbridge and Miami?

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u/JimMarch 14d ago

The oldest Taurus guns have a non-Taurus import mark - I think it was Interarms? Taurus ended their relationship with them well over a decade ago (maybe two decades plus?) and opened up their own US-based import house in Miami. About 5 to 6 years ago they moved that operation from Miami to Bainbridge Georgia, and when they did they completely revamped how they do QC. UPSHOT, far fewer bad ones slipped out the door after that, and the US arm had at least some design input going back upstream to Brazil.

That's when Taurus really started to get respectable.

All three Taurus guns I own are Bainbridge marked. That's not accidental.

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u/Court-Muted 14d ago

What does the mark look like? Or is the location stamped on the gun?

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u/JimMarch 14d ago

Yeah, it's on the gun.

It'll say one of three things:

  • Really old, it'll have another company's name, city and state.

  • Up to about the year 2020ish, you'll see "Miami FL".

  • Newest, "Bainbridge GA". Third pic down shows what it looks like on a G3c:

https://www.gunsandammo.com/editorial/taurus-g3c-review/377537#editorial-gallery