Handgun Failure

[NullSyndrome]

I have nothing against Taurus per se, I have owned a couple of their guns that I liked and had no problems with.

That being said....

I wonder about the wisdom of a polymer framed gun shooting .45 Long Colt and .410 shotgun shells. If I was in the market for a Judge (I'm not) I think I would go with the metal variety. Unlike a semi-auto where the recoil spring and slide take up a large portion of the stress, in a revolver that is all transferred to the frame directly. I could be wrong about my assumptions, it just doesn't seem to be the best design to me, especially with that really long backstrap.

 

[Caleb]

No reason for that! Any gun you want to buy, with a little research, will yield a failure of some kind. Not saying Taurus is perfect put I have but about 200 rounds of 45 Colt and about 20 or so .410 through mine and its just fine!

I hope Taurus does replace the OP's Judge for him.

Of course they will...cheaper to replace the pistol than to lose a customer.

 

[dyerwatcher]

I guess I take the Judge off my "to buy" list.

Buy a S&W Governor

 

[Mike.B]

As far as ammo goes, all ammo was new factory, No reloads were used. Now I guess it could be possible there was a bad round. As far as barrel obstructions or anything like that no. He was scanning the target after each shot. What alerted him was he fired a shot and did not see a new hole in the target. At that time he checked it and found the failure.

 

[Hookeye]

Place I worked at for a while sold that brand. Sold a lot of them.
Even volume adjusted Taurus has a HIGH failure rate- new and used.
Design, execution and metallurgy issues.
Fixed many, sent many back, won't touch another one.

 

[looney2ns]

Yep, one of my local shops stopped selling anything Taurus, he got tired of constantly sending stuff back. Plus it made him look bad.

If you ever get a chance to watch a video tour of their factory...it's not encouraging if you really pay attention.

 

[Tombs]

Yep, one of my local shops stopped selling anything Taurus, he got tired of constantly sending stuff back. Plus it made him look bad.

If you ever get a chance to watch a video tour of their factory...it's not encouraging if you really pay attention.

I wouldn't buy an S&W performance center gun after seeing a tour of their factory.

Doesn't mean much.

The long history of taurus revolvers dissembling themselves, as well as last time I was at the local range a guy with a taurus revolver mentioning his had to have the barrel replaced 5 times, doesn't speak much to their durability. That said, my father has a 38 snub nose taurus from the mid 80s that has always been 100% and is unbelievably accurate, it's better built than my new "upper end" S&W is.

There's diminishing returns both on the highend and the lowend. There's almost always a middle ground that has a good track record and that you won't have to worry about.

 

[RobF82]

Ive been shooting Taurus for years (24/7 PRO) with no issues. Just picked up a 605SS too.
The fact there is a term (KABOOM) means it happens more than it should. Also it's a "weapons System" so there are many variables not just the gun.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

As far as ammo goes, all ammo was new factory, No reloads were used. Now I guess it could be possible there was a bad round. As far as barrel obstructions or anything like that no. He was scanning the target after each shot. What alerted him was he fired a shot and did not see a new hole in the target. At that time he checked it and found the failure.

Wait... he noticed that there wasn't a new hole in the target before he noticed that the top of his pistol had blown off??

 

[Hookeye]

I've seen guns poorly machined, so poorly as to be inoperable- brand new, from the box. Seen it repeatedly.

Different models, from different suppliers, over a fairly long period of time- so it's not like a short bad run of something got out.

 

[Mike.B]

He traded it in towards a 1911. Trying the new one out today.

 

[Bubbajms]

My first combat handgun was a Glock 17, and I went with a Taurus 9mm revolver as a smaller backup. It went back 3 times (light primer strike disease) before the shop where I bought it decided it wasn't worth sending it back for me a 4th time and traded me dead even for a Glock 26, which continues to function (just like it's big brother) like a gem to this day..

 

[DRob]

Me too

As far as ammo goes, all ammo was new factory, No reloads were used. Now I guess it could be possible there was a bad round. As far as barrel obstructions or anything like that no. He was scanning the target after each shot. What alerted him was he fired a shot and did not see a new hole in the target. At that time he checked it and found the failure.[/QUOTE]

I'm curious also. Clarification please. Did the gun blow up on the subsequent shot after "he fired a shot and did not see a new hole in the target" or did he not notice his gun had blown up until "he did not see a new hole in the target". In the case of the former, I'm thinking barrel obstruction. In the case of the latter, he shouldn't be smoking that stuff while he's shooting!

 

[churchmouse]

Even though the likeliness of this happening again is very slim he is seriously considering selling the replacement and getting a 1911.

I have heard of this happening before, not first hand so you always wonder about the rumor/story. I think this puts some validity to it..

Darn good idea, get a 1911 and join the rest of this group of junky's....

 

[exphys2010]

That's rough and pretty disheartening I would imagine. It looks like the polymer framed version right? I have always wondered how a handgun that is almost completely polymer would stand up to the recoil and chamber pressures caused by some larger rounds ever since I first saw these in stores; it sure does make them a heck of a lot lighter though. I personally have a Stainless steel judge that I have never had any issues with as well as several other Taurus pistols that all operate wonderfully, so I have started to like that company quite a bit, but like IndyBeerman said, all companies will have duds on occasion. I hope all goes well for him with getting that fixed, keep us posted on how it goes.

 

[Relatively Ninja]

Wait... he noticed that there wasn't a new hole in the target before he noticed that the top of his pistol had blown off??

Gotta get your priorities straight! First, see if the threat has stopped, then see if you're capable of following up with more shots. And paper targets can be very threatening. He's just lucky that target didn't charge him and paper cut him to death when the weapon failed.

 

[Hillbillyblood]

Thank God no one was injured. I have seen cracking in some frames but WOW

 

[mainjet]

I can't stand people constantly bashing Taurus. I have owned at least 6 or 7 of them over the years, and they've all been fine. Every manufacturer has issues. *shrug*

Heres one,

And another,

And a third,

All manufacturers have issues. Notably, older Tauri were known for their issues, but I think that their quality has improved vastly since then, (despite the OP.)

/rant

To the OP, sorry your range time was ruined, but glad that nobody got hurt. Best of luck in the future.

Looks like your hand loads are a wee-bit on the HOT side. May want to back off a couple grains or 10. J/K

Those are some serious malfunctions soldier.

 

[Mike.B]

I'm curious also. Clarification please. Did the gun blow up on the subsequent shot after "he fired a shot and did not see a new hole in the target" or did he not notice his gun had blown up until "he did not see a new hole in the target". In the case of the former, I'm thinking barrel obstruction. In the case of the latter, he shouldn't be smoking that stuff while he's shooting!

He fired a shot, did not see a new hole on target. At this point he noticed his sights were screwed up. Inspected and found in a couple of pieces. There was no second shot after, No barrel obstruction. I was about 20ft away when this happened I was on the 100 yard stand closest to the 7-25 yard stands. He was about 4 stalls in on the 7-25 yard side. All is well the Taurus has left the building, the Rock Island 1911 has made the inhabitants much happier.

 

[jamesg]

Well that's unfortunate, went out this weekend in the backwoods of GA and broke in my new PT145 Mil Pro. Ran like a sewing machine with 230 grain FMJ, 185 grain Hornady Z-Max and a couple + P hand loaded 96 grain MagSafe rounds. Very pleased with its accuracy as well.