OT Taurus 45 S.A. any thoughts

[Bis]

Yesterday I was looking at guns at the local pawn shop (the closest thing we have to a gun shop around here) and I saw a Taurus 45 Colt S.A.. It has a 7 1/2" barrel and the finish is highly polished and almost black. They have a tag on it for $425. I was not able to handle it or ask questions as they were very busy and I was running out of time. Any thoughts on the Taurus 45, are they any good, how does the price sound? I would like to get a 45 to go with my Taurus Thunderbolt. Thanks for any input.

[Pisgah]

I have only encountered one Taurus SA "in the flesh", and it was okay -- not great, but okay, although the action was a bit rough. I have seen them discounted as low as $300, and if I saw one at that price I might be tempted. But for $425, there are plenty of Ubertis out there. Although early Ubertis got something of a bad rap, the ones they have prodused in the past few years are mostly quite nice. I have one , a Flat Top Target .45 Colt, that is 4 years old and with the exception of a Single Six a buddy of mine owns it is the most accurate SA revolver I have ever encountered. The action has never been touched, but it runs like it has had a high-dollar professional tune-up. BTW, that Single Six , benchrested at 25 yards, will put six Winchester Super-X hollowpoints in to a group you can cover with a dime! A squirrel gun extraordinaire.)

[Bis]

I thought $425 seemed high. I wish I could have talked to them to see how firm they were on the price. The gun looks new. I am going to have to make another trip to town to check things out.

[wm]

I won't bad mouth Taurus products as knee jerk reaction like some are prone to do. Some of their offerings are very good, even excellent.

But when it comes to single action revolvers.....well a $425 Taurus compared to a $550 USFA Rodeo is really no comparison. The USFA products are the best IMO. Superior to even Colts. And 10 years from now the USFA revolver will be a sought after firearm. The Taurus not so much.

Wm

P.S. A $300 Taurus single action on the other hand might be an interesting thing to play around with for a few months and if it did not suit the owner he could recoup his money.

[Buck Elliott]

The Taurus Gaucho was ........ Nah, I've said it already... No use beating a dead horse...

[Griff]

It ain't necessarily bad-mouthin'; but, in the world of import Colt SA clones, the Taurus "Gaucho" is near the bottom of the barrel.

Seek the high end Uberti & Pietta clones, they'll be a better bargain in the end.

[dkmlever]

I picked one up to use at our RMEF banquet at our local Gander, it was "used" but hardly , paid $180 out the door, my buddy won it in a general raffel drawing at the banquet, have not seen it shoot yet.

[Streetstar]

About 6-8 months ago, i saw a new one at Bass Pro Shops marked down to $299. I considered it, and went home and checked the SASS website forums. Feedback was about 50/50 --- with half loving theirs, and the other half having timing issues and other things that resulted in trips back to Taurus, and their customer service response time is hit and miss

The 50-50 feedback wasnt good enough for me to bite the bullet, but it might be worth the gamble if you factor in the time it may take to fix it if its got any issues

[jd45]

The other guy, wm, beat me to it, but I second the motion........USFA Rodeo.....no question, and I can speak from personal experience, as I've owned a USFA Premium-Grade SA. The internals are identical. And, right down to the firing pin shape, they're faithful to the 1st Gen Colts, as they should be. jd45

[Bis]

I would love to get a USFA but just don't have the $, The 425 for the Taurus is a push.

[John in MS]

At the local gun shop, they are tearing their hair out with the poor QC of current Taurus DA revolvers. Out of a shipment of 20 guns, 10 or more may have to go back to the factory as they don't work right out of the box. When I was told that, I asked the clerk "So, I guess you've already inspected those 2 that are in the case?" He said he hadn't, and should...
and proceeded to pull out 2 pistols, neither of which worked properly!! He took them to the back to be put with the rest of the rejects that were going back to the distributor......

Why they are bothering to carry them any more, with that much trouble, I have no idea.

These are not the Single Actions you mentioned, but I think that gives you an idea of their
QC process. I would MUCH, MUCH rather have an Uberti...

Hope this helps!
John

[AJMD429]

I've handled a few 'old' (pre-1975) Smith & Wesson's, but if I had to pick a recently-made double-action between the two, I'd pick a Taurus over a S&W.

I've not been able to so compare the single-action revolvers of theirs vs. others, but I doubt they're turning out 'junk' by any means.

"Genuine" Colt's I leave to a) people willing to spend more money on a gun that I am, and b) people who appreciate the 'collector' value of a genuine Colt. So that would leave me looking for a 'reproduction' or 'generic', be it a Ruger, Taurus, Uberti, or whatever.

[Buck Elliott]

OK, I'll say it: Taurus discontinued the Gaucho "..due to popularity." Their words...

[J Miller]

OK, I'll say it: Taurus discontinued the Gaucho "..due to popularity." Their words...

Yep, junk isn't popular.

I've handled a few 'old' (pre-1975) Smith & Wesson's, but if I had to pick a recently-made double-action between the two, I'd pick a Taurus over a S&W.

I've not been able to so compare the single-action revolvers of theirs vs. others, but I doubt they're turning out 'junk' by any means.

"Genuine" Colt's I leave to a) people willing to spend more money on a gun that I am, and b) people who appreciate the 'collector' value of a genuine Colt. So that would leave me looking for a 'reproduction' or 'generic', be it a Ruger, Taurus, Uberti, or whatever.

Why have people swallowed the nonsense that current Colts are automatically collectors items? They are currently manufactured so they are not in any way collectible. They are just expensive. Expensive or not I want one to shoot. And if I had the wherewithal to buy a real Colt I would. That's a given. I'll keep my Rugers and Uberti, but I'd go for a real Colt in a heart beat.

Joe

[Nate Kiowa Jones]

OK, I'll say it: Taurus discontinued the Gaucho "..due to popularity." Their words...

Probably lost something in the Portugese to English translation.

Bottom line is company's don't discontinue a product that works well. Those guns had some problems mostly related to timing issue and the small parts related to the transfer bar failures. The taurus action is based on the colt style lock work but it has the add-on tranfer parts added. The colt style lock work is a robust design but does not lend itself well to these small delicate add on parts. Over the long haul these small parts don't hold up.

If you want tuff out of the box, Ruger is the way to go, but I don`t consider it to be an SAA clone. The ruger lock works were designed in the 1950's. It is nothing like the colt style lock which is basically unchanged since 1836.

Comparing Rugers to colts is like comparing model T`s to 60`s muscle cars.

Comparing the Taurus gaucho's to the Ruger would be like adding a catalitic converter and a smog pump to that Model "T".

The ruger is the most durable, particularly for the CAS game, but it does not feel like the old SAA. My perspective on the various SAA's is from a gunsmiths view. Not what they cost or how well the retain thier value. Purely from the mechanical perspective, I think the current USFA gun are the very best SAA available today. The current colts are good guns too, but a few years (late 80's early 90's) back I had issues with some of the 3rd gen colts so I'm a bit gun shy toward colts. If their QC stays at current levels I may change my mind.

Probably the best buy would be the USFA rodeo's. They are the same quality as the finely finished USFA but have a matt black finish that cost much less to do.

As for the Italian SAA's, I think the EMF GWII's are the very best SAA coming out of Italy now. The only exception would be the new Ultimate and Classic's from AWA-USA. Like the original they both have hammer mounted firing pins and recoil bushing but come with some coil spring improvements. The current two position base pin safety Uberti guns are good guns but aren't as close to the originals as the GWII or AWA.

[Bis]

Thanks for all the inputs. I guess I need to look around a little more. The problem is our town has 2 pawn shops, 1 of which thinks that everything they have is gold. The nearest gun shop is 55 miles away. So my selection is somewhat limited. There is a Gander Mountain but they are 90 miles away and their prices are high.
Again thanks for the inputs

[the telegraphist]

Lotta people seem to bad mouth Colts SAA, I have a new one in 45 Colt, still shooting her in, but cannot fault it. Fit and finish is superb, accuracy so far leaves nothing to be desired. Dont begrudge a single dollar I paid for her. I also own two clones made by Pietta, a 44/40 and a 45 Colt, both also shoot extremely well but the fit and finish falls short of the Colt.
USFA Saa guns have a good name, but have never seen any for sale in Australia so cannot comment. The Taurus SAA has from the start a bad name down here for poor reliability etc.

[phc45-70]

I had one in a .357 mag and couldn't get it to group anywhere near something like acceptable with anything in .38spl or .357 mag