Taurus Tracker 4 in 45ACP Thoughts?

[Shooter6br]

LGS had 2 used Taurus 45 ACP trackers.( 4in) One fixed sights the other adjustable. I had a Taurus Ultra light 44 mag. It was ok. Split cases at times and rear sight had "play".
Not up to Smiths of course.......Wanted $549 for adjustable...... Thoughts please [smilie=1:

[dilly]

$549 is good Ruger money, or even a used Smith.

Up to you but I have less opinion of Taurus than that price.

[Shooter6br]

I have a Smith 25-2 6in hard to compare Not totally fond of Taurus Thanks

[Tackleberry41]

Does seem a bit steep for a USED Taurus. I bought a barely used convertable black hawk in 45 colt/ACP not long ago for less than that.

[dubber123]

I've heard of several members who have had/have the Tracker series and seem to like them. I have had less than stellar luck with Taurus, and would have to pass. Wait and see what current owners have to say and make your decision.

[Trapshooter]

I own a Taurus 445, and a 5" 1989 Smith 625, and a Smith 1917 all in 45 ACP. The 625 Smith is much easier to shoot, and deadly accurate. It is an N frame, so it is bigger, and heavier, and not as concealable.

I bought my Taurus used. When I first got it, there was a problem with the spring that operates the cylinder bolt. The hole that the spring and plunger were in was very rough, and the spring or plunger or both would sometimes stick, which didn't do anything for cylinder lock-up. I burnished the hole, and solved that problem.

The Taurus cylinder is designed only for jacketed bullets and only for 45ACP brass. Cast boolits can be used if you are willing to stand on your head to do it, or are willing to modify the cylinder. Also, it will not accept 45AutoRim brass without a lot of expensive machining of the frame and cylinder. I think the cast vs jacketed problem could be resolved by DougGuy, but I haven't done that yet. The trigger isn't too bad, and the sights aren't bad. It doesn't group as accurately as the Smith, but it cost a bunch less. I don't care for the porting, but it doesn't come any other way.

Overall, it is a decent gun, not great, but not terrible either. It is stainless, not an alloy frame like the Ultralights, and it works at a lot lower pressure that the 44 Mag. I haven't seen and wouldn't expect any durability problems. It holds 5 and the Smith holds 6 if that is important to you. Ranch Products makes moon clips for it at a competitive price. I was thinking about it as a carry gun, but I stuck with the 1911. The Taurus is out of production for several years now, and is not a real common gun, so the price is a little high, but the price you quoted is comparable to what I paid for mine.

Trapshooter

[tazman]

I own 2 Tracker revolvers. A 6" 357 and a 6" 9 shot 22lr. Both are great guns. Thousands of rounds through each. No failures and very accurate. Both have adjustable sights.
I have no experience with the other calibers.

[osteodoc08]

For that price, get a ruger or smith. Taurus is ok. I had a 66 that went out of time fairly quickly and it went down the road. It was very accurate, but didn't measure up to my others overall. There were machine marks on the inner trigger guard and while not as rough as some of the cheap European or com block stuff, it was very functional.

[Trapshooter]

I wonder how many of the Taurus revolvers that "went out of time" had the same problem as mine, and if their carbon steel guns had the same problems. From what I've read, it was not an unusual problem with Taurus revolvers of a certain period. Mine worked correctly most of the time, but every once in a while, the cylinder didn't lock up and the chamber wasn't aligned with the barrel. I couldn't reproduce the problem cycling the gun slowly with the side plate off or on. It happened most often with heavier loads.

It was a pretty tough problem to troubleshoot. As soon as you bumped anything on the gun, the plunger let loose, and the cylinder bolt locked up as it was supposed to. Based on the experience with one of their 9 shot 22 revolvers, I suspected the root cause was that the stainless steel is stringy and tough to machine, which left a very rough surface inside the drilled hole. The roughness would catch the spring or plunger, and the cylinder didn't lock.

Trapshooter

[Gunslinger1911]

I have 2 Tauri (?), Tauruses (?),
Raging Bull 454, never had a problem.
And a Tracker in .17HMR - yea, I know, WHY? Why not ? No issues with it either.
Really had my eye on getting one of the Tracker 45acp's, never got around to it.
If I found one for the right price, I would not hesitate to buy it.
So, no Taurus bashing from me, but that seems high even for an out of production gun.

My 2 cents, worth every penny lol

[osteodoc08]

I still would like to pick up a 41 mag RB, but those are typically outlandishly expensive. So I stick to my Rugers and Smiths

[Bigslug]

If you offered me a free Taurus, I'd probably pay you $20 to keep it.

They have been known to make a decent gun from time to time, but when they make one wrong, they will SCREW you. Their "Lifetime Service Policy" only seems to apply to guns they can fix. Seems that they can't fix them pretty regularly, and are perfectly willing to sell you a replacement at a discounted rate. Seen it personally a couple times working at the LGS 10-15 years ago. Hear it's still ongoing. Eff that!

[MT Gianni]

Close to a 1911 money, for the acp that is the way to go.

[str8wal]

Taurus guns seem to be fine, until you need to have one fixed. Their CS has a rep for being less than helpful and even rude to folks.

[9.3X62AL]

Bigslug's caveat looms large for me. When we have good firearms from good companies like Ruger and S&W who have good reputations for standing behind their products, I see no need to "roll the bones" on a Taurus product. 45 ACP revolvers aren't common, but some effort can yield a quality example that won't turn ownership into a tennis match with Customer Service. It just seems like there are better routes to 45 ACP performance than a Taurus revolver. Bias statement--I don't like the things, not one bit. $549 is a large percentage of the price at which any number of good 1911A1s can be had--add a few more dollars, and get a real gun.

[osteodoc08]

I've seen several 45acp/45 colt Blackhawks for sale used around here for less
money.

[9.3X62AL]

The 45 ACP revolver has a relatively small but enthusiastic following in this day of the UberMagnums. Makers like S&W have produced limited numbers of them, and those "limiteds" sell well enough, but not so well as to justify full-on series production. The 44 Special has a similar selective coterie of followers, and I was a little surprised to see Ruger expand its line to include 44 Specials in its Blackhawk series. How long that production continues remains to be seen, but the initial offerings sold well. I shoot a large amount of 45 ACP from the bottom-feeders both recreationally and as practice for CCW. My loading and shooting of the caliber is rather skewed in those directions.

I have in the past owned and enjoyed 44 Special and 45 ACP revolvers. On one hand both calibers handle 90% of the jobs I have for large-bore sideiron.......but over time I have found that the 44 Magnum and 45 Colt can be loaded to the same levels in their revolvers that the Special and ACP rounds accomplish. The 44 Special and 45 ACP wheelguns went down the road; 44 Special brass got sold off along with 45 Auto Rim hulls; the ACP brass gets funneled through the bottom-feeders; the 45 Colt on hand is a BisHawk, and the 44 Magnums on staff are two double-action rollers and a levergun. If a D/A 45 roller was considered, it would almost certainly be in 45 Colt. Given my current preferences, one of the 44 rollers will likely go to a daughter and I can live without a 45 D/A, having done so for well over a decade.

[BigAl52]

If you offered me a free Taurus, I'd probably pay you $20 to keep it.

They have been known to make a decent gun from time to time, but when they make one wrong, they will SCREW you. Their "Lifetime Service Policy" only seems to apply to guns they can fix. Seems that they can't fix them pretty regularly, and are perfectly willing to sell you a replacement at a discounted rate. Seen it personally a couple times working at the LGS 10-15 years ago. Hear it's still ongoing. Eff that!

I couldn't agree with you more. I had one of there 22 22mags. It was way out of time from the start and would shave and splatter lead all over the place. They could not ever fix it. Had the 8 round 357 also. It was ok but was just poor quality. There on my never again list. Al

[Ilwil]

I had a Tracker .45 acp, and it worked well. Taurus discontinued it early. I think the problem was the "moon clip" accessories. They are flimsy, easily bent, impossible to bend back into shape. You also cannot use .45 ar in this revolver, they won't fit. I liked the look, porting, and grips quite a lot.