smores
Creepy-Ass Cracker
Part I
Ok guys here it is. I've had it for a couple months, but my health and weather have not allowed me to review the pistol until today! I had Carpal Tunnel release surgery performed on my right (shooting) hand in late November, and finally have gained the strength to manipulate the slide, trigger, magazine release, etc. comfortably. I'm still not 100% yet, and while I got a few accurate groups in I did hammer out 119 (out of 120 Winchester White Box 115 gr 9mm ball, see below*) rounds today, and at a few times my hand did get a bit shaky.
This was also the first time I've fired a pistol smaller than a Glock 23 for any length of time (more than a magazine or so - I have shot a few pocket pistols just to try them before), so I was messing around with my grip, how I was pulling the trigger, etc. I will do my best to report my findings to you guys. It will be subjective - but what gun review isn't? Hope you enjoy it! I apologize for sub-standard pictures, but I forgot my good camera and only had my phone. Hope it can cut the mustard...
First Impressions:
This pistol is kinda funny looking, but is unique. It seemed to fit comfortably in the hand, controls are easy enough to manipulate. Fit and finish - at first glance, is good. There are a few scratches appearing on the top of the barrel breech, caused by burrs on the leading edge of the ejection port on the slide, where it contacts the barrel. This can be dressed with a stone, as I plan to do when I return to school. When you break it down and see the internals, it starts getting a little cheesy. There's a ton of grease packed in here from the factory (assuming WLG based on color, appearance and viscosity/lubricity. The double action sear seems cheesy (and we'll get to that...). I hope to do a detailed picture session in the next few days once I find my camera to go over this with you guys. For $350 I guess this is what you can come to expect.
Now, the grip is very narrow and small, and there's a huge trigger guard. I'm guessing this is to fire with gloves on, which I'll try next trip to the range. Sights are clear, and although they are plastic (Glocks have plastic sights, so I don't wanna hear it) - they are nice three dots that are adjustable, not a feature commonly found on compact/subcompact pistols. I'm not sure if this could be considered subcompact, so I'll just call it compact. I can barely get my whole hand on the grip, and it feels reasonably comfortable.
Firing @ 15 yds:
I loaded up 5 rounds in each of the supplied (2) magazines. They were easy to load, and seem to function just fine. I had 0 feeding issues during this trip. I hung a 25-yd target (all the range had) and activated the switch to pull the target out to 15 yds to see how I'd do. I've heard these pistols shoot REAL low out of the box, so I aimed dead center with the front sight over the 10 ring. I placed the first joint of my finger on the trigger and squeezed off 5 shots a couple seconds apart. Here's the result:
Not bad. I fed it back out to 15 yds and fired the remaining 15 rounds from my first box as a warm-up. Here's the result:
You can see the stippling on the backstrap imprinted on my hand (or at least some redness), between my scar (which is still pretty damn tender) and the web between my thumb and forefinger. Maybe it's because my hand is still a bit weak, but it is definitely snappy, but not painful to shoot. I'll try a firmer grip later on. There are 3 obvious recoil anticipation "flyers" at 6 o'clock.
At this point, I had a malfunction. Midway through a magazine, I pulled the trigger and got a click instead of a bang. I thought "GREAT! While I have a FTF, what a great time to test the 'Second-Stike Capability' (SSC)!!!" I pulled the trigger again, feeling the double action pull engaging the striker, and continued pulling to the rear until I heard another click. Then I pulled again and got another click.
For a second, I thought it might be an empty chamber because my thumb might have touched the slide stop, might have lost count of rounds, etc. but when I opened the slide with a press check, there was still a round in the chamber. Sooo this time the sear had caught the striker and with a fourth - and this time single-action - pull it went off just fine.
Firing @ 25 yds:
First 5 rounds at 25 yards, using the same grip, same point of aim:
Not bad again. At this point I can feel my finger getting pinched slightly between the bottom of the trigger and the trigger guard, but no biggie. I moved to the intermediate section of the finger (between distal [tip] and proximal [base] bones) and that pretty much took care of that. Before I did that, I don't think I had a full grip on the pistol, like there was some space between the web and the backstrap. With my new grip, especially when applying a lot of pressure, I noticed a LOT less muzzle flip and was able to get back on target VERY quickly. I did the next 45 shots semi-rapidly, doing speed reloads grabbing the next magazine from the bench in front of me. Of course, my hand was kind of bothering me at this point, and I noticed I was shaky and even dipped the muzzle a few times anticipating recoil. I also spent a bit of the time watching the muzzle flip and motion of the pistol as I was firing, using "point shooting" style technique while trying alterations of my grip style. Here's the result:
Another Malfunction...
During one of these strings of fire, I had another FTF. I pulled the trigger several times (10-12) using SSC but to no avail. I pulled the round out and there was a light strike indentation on the primer, several thousandths of an inch narrower than on ones that had fired. At this point I inspected many of the rounds I had fired, and noticed a few primers indicating primer drag, and a few with lighter strikes like the one that didn't fire. No good. I'm thinking it might be the grease packed up in the slide (that I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get the back plate off of... will be looking for instructions after posting this), a light striker spring and/or return spring, or possibly a firing pin that's too short or somehow out of spec. At any rate, I rechambered the round, and SA didn't set it off, so I tried SSC again. After the 100th pull (and my finger getting REAL tired), I gave up. My range buddy handed me his Ruger P85, which set it off instantly. Go figure.
Firing @ 15 yds, part 2:
I brought it back in for the last 50 rounds. I gave this an "IRON grip" most of the time, getting a good many hits in the 10/9 rings. This is 35 rounds fired about as rapidly as I could get the sights back to center:
Not horrible. Threw another target on for the last 15 rounds:
Part 1 Conclusion:
Well, there were 2 serious malfunctions that were NOT ammo-related as far as I could tell. I'm going to break out my micrometers and examine the fired primers with more scrutiny when I get to my tools to check those out more thoroughly. The big issue here is the Second Strike Capability's Failure. Taurus markets these pistols as being advantageous because they will virtually guarantee the chance to set off that round that didn't go on the first hit. Now, at least in this pistol as it sits here is BS. In two cases where SA failed, SSC did not work.
Once I get more detailed (macro focus) pictures up of the sear system, I can illustrate this more clearly. But from what I can tell, the "Second Strike Sear" as I'll call it does not release the striker as far rearward as the single action sear. This is a problem, especially considering we don't have 100% ignition with the single action striker mode as it is.
The other gripe I have, is when I got home I have discovered that the rear sight is loose. The screw head is VERY thin, and thinner and wider than the supplied key/screwdriver provided by Taurus for sight adjustment. I'll have to Loctite this down and tighten it with a thinner bit I have in my toolbox at school.
I'm already more than likely gonna send this one back to Taurus, but I'll try to get at least 400 more rounds through it for more thorough testing. Any questions or comments would be greatly appreciated!
Ok guys here it is. I've had it for a couple months, but my health and weather have not allowed me to review the pistol until today! I had Carpal Tunnel release surgery performed on my right (shooting) hand in late November, and finally have gained the strength to manipulate the slide, trigger, magazine release, etc. comfortably. I'm still not 100% yet, and while I got a few accurate groups in I did hammer out 119 (out of 120 Winchester White Box 115 gr 9mm ball, see below*) rounds today, and at a few times my hand did get a bit shaky.
This was also the first time I've fired a pistol smaller than a Glock 23 for any length of time (more than a magazine or so - I have shot a few pocket pistols just to try them before), so I was messing around with my grip, how I was pulling the trigger, etc. I will do my best to report my findings to you guys. It will be subjective - but what gun review isn't? Hope you enjoy it! I apologize for sub-standard pictures, but I forgot my good camera and only had my phone. Hope it can cut the mustard...
First Impressions:
This pistol is kinda funny looking, but is unique. It seemed to fit comfortably in the hand, controls are easy enough to manipulate. Fit and finish - at first glance, is good. There are a few scratches appearing on the top of the barrel breech, caused by burrs on the leading edge of the ejection port on the slide, where it contacts the barrel. This can be dressed with a stone, as I plan to do when I return to school. When you break it down and see the internals, it starts getting a little cheesy. There's a ton of grease packed in here from the factory (assuming WLG based on color, appearance and viscosity/lubricity. The double action sear seems cheesy (and we'll get to that...). I hope to do a detailed picture session in the next few days once I find my camera to go over this with you guys. For $350 I guess this is what you can come to expect.
Now, the grip is very narrow and small, and there's a huge trigger guard. I'm guessing this is to fire with gloves on, which I'll try next trip to the range. Sights are clear, and although they are plastic (Glocks have plastic sights, so I don't wanna hear it) - they are nice three dots that are adjustable, not a feature commonly found on compact/subcompact pistols. I'm not sure if this could be considered subcompact, so I'll just call it compact. I can barely get my whole hand on the grip, and it feels reasonably comfortable.
Firing @ 15 yds:
I loaded up 5 rounds in each of the supplied (2) magazines. They were easy to load, and seem to function just fine. I had 0 feeding issues during this trip. I hung a 25-yd target (all the range had) and activated the switch to pull the target out to 15 yds to see how I'd do. I've heard these pistols shoot REAL low out of the box, so I aimed dead center with the front sight over the 10 ring. I placed the first joint of my finger on the trigger and squeezed off 5 shots a couple seconds apart. Here's the result:
Not bad. I fed it back out to 15 yds and fired the remaining 15 rounds from my first box as a warm-up. Here's the result:
You can see the stippling on the backstrap imprinted on my hand (or at least some redness), between my scar (which is still pretty damn tender) and the web between my thumb and forefinger. Maybe it's because my hand is still a bit weak, but it is definitely snappy, but not painful to shoot. I'll try a firmer grip later on. There are 3 obvious recoil anticipation "flyers" at 6 o'clock.
At this point, I had a malfunction. Midway through a magazine, I pulled the trigger and got a click instead of a bang. I thought "GREAT! While I have a FTF, what a great time to test the 'Second-Stike Capability' (SSC)!!!" I pulled the trigger again, feeling the double action pull engaging the striker, and continued pulling to the rear until I heard another click. Then I pulled again and got another click.
For a second, I thought it might be an empty chamber because my thumb might have touched the slide stop, might have lost count of rounds, etc. but when I opened the slide with a press check, there was still a round in the chamber. Sooo this time the sear had caught the striker and with a fourth - and this time single-action - pull it went off just fine.Firing @ 25 yds:
First 5 rounds at 25 yards, using the same grip, same point of aim:
Not bad again. At this point I can feel my finger getting pinched slightly between the bottom of the trigger and the trigger guard, but no biggie. I moved to the intermediate section of the finger (between distal [tip] and proximal [base] bones) and that pretty much took care of that. Before I did that, I don't think I had a full grip on the pistol, like there was some space between the web and the backstrap. With my new grip, especially when applying a lot of pressure, I noticed a LOT less muzzle flip and was able to get back on target VERY quickly. I did the next 45 shots semi-rapidly, doing speed reloads grabbing the next magazine from the bench in front of me. Of course, my hand was kind of bothering me at this point, and I noticed I was shaky and even dipped the muzzle a few times anticipating recoil. I also spent a bit of the time watching the muzzle flip and motion of the pistol as I was firing, using "point shooting" style technique while trying alterations of my grip style. Here's the result:
Another Malfunction...
During one of these strings of fire, I had another FTF. I pulled the trigger several times (10-12) using SSC but to no avail. I pulled the round out and there was a light strike indentation on the primer, several thousandths of an inch narrower than on ones that had fired. At this point I inspected many of the rounds I had fired, and noticed a few primers indicating primer drag, and a few with lighter strikes like the one that didn't fire. No good. I'm thinking it might be the grease packed up in the slide (that I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get the back plate off of... will be looking for instructions after posting this), a light striker spring and/or return spring, or possibly a firing pin that's too short or somehow out of spec. At any rate, I rechambered the round, and SA didn't set it off, so I tried SSC again. After the 100th pull (and my finger getting REAL tired), I gave up. My range buddy handed me his Ruger P85, which set it off instantly. Go figure.Firing @ 15 yds, part 2:
I brought it back in for the last 50 rounds. I gave this an "IRON grip" most of the time, getting a good many hits in the 10/9 rings. This is 35 rounds fired about as rapidly as I could get the sights back to center:
Not horrible. Threw another target on for the last 15 rounds:
Part 1 Conclusion:
Well, there were 2 serious malfunctions that were NOT ammo-related as far as I could tell. I'm going to break out my micrometers and examine the fired primers with more scrutiny when I get to my tools to check those out more thoroughly. The big issue here is the Second Strike Capability's Failure. Taurus markets these pistols as being advantageous because they will virtually guarantee the chance to set off that round that didn't go on the first hit. Now, at least in this pistol as it sits here is BS. In two cases where SA failed, SSC did not work.
Once I get more detailed (macro focus) pictures up of the sear system, I can illustrate this more clearly. But from what I can tell, the "Second Strike Sear" as I'll call it does not release the striker as far rearward as the single action sear. This is a problem, especially considering we don't have 100% ignition with the single action striker mode as it is.
The other gripe I have, is when I got home I have discovered that the rear sight is loose. The screw head is VERY thin, and thinner and wider than the supplied key/screwdriver provided by Taurus for sight adjustment. I'll have to Loctite this down and tighten it with a thinner bit I have in my toolbox at school.
I'm already more than likely gonna send this one back to Taurus, but I'll try to get at least 400 more rounds through it for more thorough testing. Any questions or comments would be greatly appreciated!
