Graybeard: What's the status w/ your Taurus problems?

[Mawgie]

Graybeard-

I have been following (sympathetically) your posts with respect to the trouble you are having with Taurus.  Could you update us on what they have decided to do for you, if anything?

Also, to the folks at Taurus who may be reading, I am one customer in the market for a $500 + big bore revolver, and it won't be a Taurus.  I very much liked the Raging Bull gun, but Graybeard's experience with poor quality Taurus product and worse customer service will keep me away from Taurus.   Period.  

Perhaps a lesson can be learned from Leupold.  Make fine products, add an unconditional warranty, provide support after the sale.  Well, Leupold scopes sure are expensive, but they are fine quality, backed by a great organization, and hold their value really well.  One of my three was manufactured in the 1960s, and has been in regular use since new.  It still works perfectly: rain, snow, mud or shine.

Another example? Cabela's.  Great products, no nonsense unconditional return policy. (My buddy just bought a recoil pad from Eders, then installed it on his gun, after drilling it.  Wrong size, though he ordered the correct one for his gun. Not my buddy's fault.   Eder's told him he couldn't send it back.  Cabela's would have taken it without question.)

I find it hard to believe that Taurus is not going out of their way to square things away to Graybeard's satisfaction.  He's purchased multiple Taurus products, and with his great initital experience, posted scores of positive comments that surely led to referral sales for Taurus.  For Taurus to now ignore him is bad business, bad form and even seems a little arrogant.

Anyway, Graybeard, now that the word  Ruger can be used at your table without a trip to the woodpile (!), and if you aren't too busy, would you please call Ruger up and arrange for a Super Blackhawk Bisley Hunter in .44 Magnum to be delivered to your doorstep for a review and test shoot?  That's the lead gun for me in my quest, and quite popular.  I'm sure you'd enjoy putting it throught its paces, and we'd all like to see how you like it!

Good luck to you - Mawgie

[Graybeard]

I've already updated the thread about he Taurus on the Taurus Forum but here it is again in response to your inquiry.

Remember now this gun came home with me on Nov. 25, 2003. I've not yet been able to fire the first shot thru it. It has made TWO trips to Taurus which is where it is today as I type this.

I made numerous calls yesterday to Taurus to speak with Robert the head of Customer Service. BTW wanna know what an oxymoron is? Taurus Customer Service. That is an oxymoron. At any rate I never made contact with Robert. Each time I got his voice mail not him.

I finally called back and told the gal who answers the phone it was time for me to speak with someone. I'd had this gun since November and not yet been able to fire a shot. She put Anthony on the phone. He said he'd check and call me back. To his credit he did.

BUT what he told me was no decision has been made. I asked for the results of the Magnaflux testing of frame and he refused to discuss it with me. He said that a replace or return decision will be made by the head honcho of Taurus USA this week. He would not let me speak with this decision maker or tell me the result of the NDT on frame. He said he will call me back on Friday to tell me their decision on this gun

Well to say I am one unhappy customer is an understatement for sure. This is my LAST TAURUS gun as long as I live. You will NEVER EVER again hear me say anything good about the company because quite frankly at this stage I know of nothing. I will say if you buy one without first doing a really complete full inspection of it you are making a serious mistake and are likely to regret it. For sure DO NOT assume that they will take care of you after the sale. That is not my experience with them.

As to the Ruger, no can do. Ruger will not ship a gun to me for testing for several reasons. 1. I'm not an FFL holder. 2. I'm not a member of the Outdoor Writers Guild 3. I don't work for a major newstand publication. Seems like there was another they gave me back when I tried to get a SRH in .454 to run at same time as the FA83 and RB454. They said they'd have a reb drop by my range one day to let me handle and shoot it but I couldn't have it out of his sight. Needless to say I passed on the overly generous offer.

I have no intentions of buying that gun just to test it and report it here so reckon unless you have more pull with Ruger than I do you'll not be seeing a review of it here. Now if you can get them to ship me one I'll test and report it.



GB

[Catfish]

I can give you a quick compairson of the Ruger Red Hawk and the Taurus RB. I bought both so that I could compair them. The RB weights alot more hence it not as nice to carry. It does not come with scope mounts and rings like the Ruger. As far as shooting them, I`ve never benched eather of them, but the RB is far more accurateoff hand than the Red hawk. The trigger is far better on the RB, the recoil is less than 1/2 with the RB and it`s alot more fun to shoot, even though it to heavy to shoot 1 handed. I`ve got several Rugers, mostly Black Hawks, and love them. The RB is the only Taurus I own and I like it shooting it better than any of my Black Hawks. I have always thought of Taurus as a cheap gun untill I got my RB, then I thought they were the best gun on the market untill I started reading this thread, and now I don`t know what to think.

[Mawgie]

GB-
Thanks for the update.  I'll keep my eye on the Taurus forum in the future.  Alas, I have no pull with Ruger.

[454-hunter]

I had just as much touble out of Ruger about two yrs ago with a frame problem due to the scope mounting system being bend upward due to recoil I imagine and they would not fix it either they are all bad when it comes to replacing the whole gun for some reason any frame problem and they will just give you the run around especially ruger . I personally will never own another RUGER and besides that My RB in454 is twice as accurate out of the box as my SRH in 44 mag was so I feel I traded off nicely.

[DirtyHarry]

Man, and here I thought those investment cast ruger frames were indestructable... :roll:

[Bikenut]

Just to chime in on Taurus products............

I watched a lady in a CCW class try, yes try, to shoot her brand new Taurus 9mm. The gun stuck open after every shot and she had to manually release the slide. It wasn't jamming due to ammo but the slide catch or stupid key lock thing was malfunctioning. Now that was a brand new gun, a gun she had intended to use for self defense/concealed carry. Needless to say she took that thing back to the dealer the next day........

While I'm aware that every manufacturer occasionally makes a "lemon" and that every gun purchased should be tested by the new owner before relying on it..... I am of the opinion that all guns need to be function tested and fired several times before they leave the factory. A gun isn't a car where if anything goes wrong a person will probably just walk away and have to call a wrecker.. a gun is something that MUST work! Especially a gun that was designed and intended for concealed carry/self defense!

Now I hear from Greybeard that Taurus won't stand behind their products and repair/replace the "lemon" that got out of their factory. I'll not say that I'll never own a Taurus of any kind because I've said that about other guns/things and ended up with one anyway in trade or somehow but I will most definately NOT be actively considering any Taurus products after all this.

My thanks to you Greybeard for posting your experience with Taurus.