Author Topic: S & W worth twice the price of a taurus revolver? (Read 11244 times)

jcn59 · « **Reply #60 on:** February 02, 2011, 05:37:10 PM »

A used, older Smith can be bought for less, usually, than a new Taurus. Furthermore, the S&W doesn't have a lock; it's always ready to do what it was designed to do. I think the Taurus Tracker is as fine looking as a revolver gets, but I always wind up selling them for less than I paid for them. Doesn't happen that way with my S&W or Colts.

GH1 · « **Reply #61 on:** February 06, 2011, 01:53:04 AM »

I don't know if it's twice as much gun, but it's certainly a higher quality piece. One thing about a Smith is it will deinately have a higher resale value. Another point to consider is application. Reliability is a subjective term. A guy who shoots 50 rounds a month will probably find the Taurus to be a reliable, long lasting weapon. The guy that shoots 1,000 rounds a month will most likely not.
I own a Taurus Model 65 in .357 and aside from having to have some warranty work done it has proven to be a solid performer. Then again, I've only had it for two years and have put maybe 1,000 rounds through it.
Another point to consider is ammo. Are you going to shoot standard factory ammo, or will you be loading some high potency hunting loads? Personally I don't have the confidence to load my Taurus to the same level as I would a Smith. Then again, I wouldn't load a Smith to the same level as a Blackhawk, but that's just me. The Smith might be fine.
Another thing to consider is budget. Some people just don't have the money, so that means buying used or buying a lesser brand. Some people aren't comfortable buying anything used.
So I guess it all boils down to the wants, needs, expectations,and resources of the buyer, and only the buyer can address that.

GH1

Spirithawk · « **Reply #62 on:** February 06, 2011, 07:02:33 AM »

Worth is determined by both the owner and buyer. I know many models and makes of firearms that have those that both love and hate them. As the old saying goes, " One person's trash is another person's treasure."

Mohawk · « **Reply #63 on:** February 06, 2011, 07:27:54 AM »

I remember my old range instructor. He had what we called his "Bag'O Guns" he brought to our range session. It was a canvas bag full of assorted .38 and .357 Smiths. He would simply dump then onto a table as if they were potatos and have us pick our revolver. 30 + guns. After we cleaned them he would simply throw them back in the bag until next class. He said he bought the entire bag for around $500 back in 1988. No idea the goldmine he had. They weren't the prettiest but all functioned perfectly. I think one 28 had a cylinder yoke issue but it was a cheap fix. Lucky man!

Fishmantx · « **Reply #64 on:** April 18, 2011, 02:39:38 AM »

It's funny how things go. A few years back with the S&W debacle chumming up with the anti's people were griping like crazy. Seems nobody would even admit to buying a new one. Used ones were cheap too and I picked up several. Have done the same with Taurus, buying a couple for less than $200 that look new and work great.

quasne.inc · « **Reply #65 on:** April 18, 2011, 05:33:48 PM »

I almost bought a used smith and wesson .38 spl., and then I pulled the trigger on the smith and then on a ruger lcr and my mind was made up. The lcr trigger was so much better than the smith. I couldnt believe it. It is a great new carry gun.

S.B. · « **Reply #66 on:** April 18, 2011, 05:47:12 PM »

Quote from: quasne.inc on April 18, 2011, 05:33:48 PM

I almost bought a used smith and wesson .38 spl., and then I pulled the trigger on the smith and then on a ruger lcr and my mind was made up. The lcr trigger was so much better than the smith. I couldnt believe it. It is a great new carry gun.

Unbelievable, the only Ruger that I ever pulled that came remotely close is my current Redhawk but, still any S&W I own will beat it.
Steve

sidewinder319 · « **Reply #67 on:** April 18, 2011, 06:03:04 PM »

If you can find a nice old S&W 1955 Target you will love it. It is great with 45ACPs. I load .45ARs with 250 gr semi-wads and 13 grs of 2400 for back country use. I have never owned a Taurus. I own many S&W they have served me well. The post regarding S&W siding with the enemy? Yes they were bought out back then by a company in England. TKS was very anti-gun? This in no way reflected the attitude of the honest hard working staff at the S&W company. I think it was too bad that narrow thinking Americans caused a number of the employees to lose their jobs. TKS failed at S&W and went back to England. Thank God.

gcrank1 · « **Reply #68 on:** May 08, 2011, 08:48:32 AM »

All this brings to mind the old motorcycle helmet adage," if you got a $10 head buy a $10 helmet".

The Happy Kaboomer · « **Reply #69 on:** May 14, 2011, 04:34:12 PM »

Quote from: Autorim on November 19, 2009, 04:10:32 PM

All of my double action revolvers are S&W and all of my single actions are Rugers. I am happy to keep it that way although most of my Rugers have custom trigger work by Alan Harton. I have Smith revolvers in .22, .38, .357, .44 mag and .45ACP. Personally, I will not consider buying anything else unless it is a Colt or custom gun.

Mine too. And.......... I have 4 S&W .45acp revolvers. They are trouble free and accurate and will out last me. I've owned (2) taurus's. One pistol. One rifle. Both broke. I've found they won't hold up to LOTS of sustained shooting. I sold the pistol. Still looking for a sucker(Buyer) for the rifle. Only Smiths and Rugers(with the occasional Colt) for me.

chewie146 · « **Reply #70 on:** May 24, 2011, 07:00:29 PM »

I've owned 3 Taurus revolvers. 1 worked right for more than a year. It broke. I've owned 5 J-frame smiths. None have ever given me issues.

zorba · « **Reply #71 on:** August 23, 2011, 05:55:45 PM »

The only Taurus I have owned is a .44 mag Tracker with 4" barrel. I later got a 629 with 4" barrel because it's easy to mount a reflex mini red dot sight on a S&W. With the Taurus, mounting the red dot sight would involve custom gunsmithing.

Comparing the Tracker with the 629: The tracker is 8 oz lighter and a little louder than the 629 because of the porting on the Tracker. My Tracker is as accurate as the 629 with most loads, and its trigger is as smooth (but .5 lb heavier) as the 629. The smoothness of the actions is equal, but there are visible tool marks on the exterior and in the chambers of the Tracker. The manual recommends that the Tracker should not be dry fired, and that ammo should be limited to nothing more powerful than 240 JHP at 1350 fps. The cylinder of the Tracker is slightly shorter than the .629. Download the manual for any Taurus which you contemplate buying and study it carefully before you buy.

For a hiking and camping revolver which is carried a lot and seldom fired, my Tracker is functionally equivalent to my 629.
For firing a lot of ammo and for hunting, I would definitely go with the S&W. To me it is worth the extra money.

The porting works very well and reduces both recoil and muzzle jump. It makes the Taurus noticeably louder for those standing to the side than the Smith. The porting makes the barrel a lot harder to clean. It is not a good idea to shoot many lead bullets through a ported revolver. Use jacketed only. The lead and powder deposits can be very difficult to remove. Speer warns that all shot shell ammunition is unsafe to fire in any handgun with a ported barrel (or with a comp.)

My Tracker is a good quality revolver and shoots well. But I wouldn't get another one unless I wanted to use only open sights. I did break the firing pin spring through excessive dry firing. If you decide to purchase a Taurus, inspect it carefully in person and use a feeler gauge to check the cylinder gap.

If you ever do need service on the revolver, many gunsmiths won't touch them, and Taurus CS is well below sub standard. Taurus USA often refuses to send you small parts which you could easily install yourself. They usually require you to ship the gun to them. For that reason alone, it is difficult for me to recommend a Taurus..

quasne.inc · « **Reply #72 on:** August 23, 2011, 08:46:27 PM »

Since I started this post I have read about many experiences with Taurus guns. Some were good, but a lot of them were quite bad. I have owned a few different taurus guns through the years and never had any problems with them. But I dont shoot half as much as a lot of folks on here. Just from all the negative stories I have read on forums and reviews on gun selling sites I just cant bring myself to buy another one. Why spend my money on something that has a good chance of having problems when I can just save a little longer and get something that I can pass down to my kids and that they could pass down to theirs. Thanks for all the input guys!

Ladobe · « **Reply #73 on:** August 28, 2011, 07:04:12 AM »

Might be an "in what era made thing", but the Taurus revolvers I bought in the 90's were very reliable without a single moments problem ever, and they got shot a lot with hot loads. A couple became my preferred CCW revolvers, a 606 ported 357MAG and a 431 44SPL that I was fully confident in and that they would get the job done.

S.B. · « **Reply #74 on:** August 28, 2011, 03:15:07 PM »

Another good point is S&Ws are made right here in the good ol' USA(read keeping us working), also.
Steve

rawhidekid · « **Reply #75 on:** August 30, 2011, 01:07:41 AM »

Yes they are made here in the USA, in one of the most anti gun states in the Union.

I had really hoped when the AZ lock company bought them out they would move here to Az. One of the most pro gun states.

xd45nut · « **Reply #76 on:** September 09, 2011, 09:52:21 AM »

Go with the Smith. A Police Trade-in model 10 or 64 can be had for less then a Taurus.

Check it out:
http://www.jgsales.com/index.php/smith-wesson/revolver/cPath/16_211_431

https://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/411545790

GreggK · « **Reply #77 on:** December 24, 2011, 05:35:09 AM »

Pay the money for the Smith and don't look back. They will hold their value so you will be able to enjoy it and when or if you want to sell it you can get your money back.

I was talking to a gunsmith friend at a local shop and asked him about the Taurus revolvers that the shop owner carries and sells. He said that he carried them because some people demanded a less expensive option. He told me some horror stories about how poor the quality was on the new ones. He said many of them that they send back for warranty work actually come back worse!

Now if your going to just let it lay around and not use it much maybe you can get away with the less expensive gun. I usually average 20-30K rounds a year out of my competition revolvers. You don't see any Taurus revolvers at the matches because those that have tried to use a Taurus have given up and went with the S&W. S&W does on occasion have some QC problems but at least they will get them fixed all on their dime including shipping.

coyotejoe · « **Reply #78 on:** December 27, 2011, 10:16:29 AM »

I've owned several Taurus revolvers including a Tracker .45 ACP which misfired constantly in double action mode and even sometimes when thumb cocked. Sold it and got a Tracker in .45 Colt, thinking the flimsy moon clips might be cushioning the hammer strike but no, it also misfired. These were brand new, out of the box revolvers which I had hoped would be suitable replacements for my old 1917 Smith which had been stolen. Accuracy of the Trackers was good but reliability, especially in double action was lousy. On the other hand I have a Stainless Rossi 6" .357 which is top notch in accuracy, smoothness of double action pull and total reliability. I'd say it's a case of "sometimes", sometimes you get a good one and sometimes you get a lemon. That's probably true of anything but Taurus seems to have more lemons in the basket.

sidewinder319 · « **Reply #79 on:** December 27, 2011, 03:52:39 PM »

Look at the tons of old "Saturday Night Specials". Some people have bought cheap handguns as long as there have been handguns. I am sure even 100 years ago they claimed they were as good as Colt and S&W. Years from now gun owners will look at piles of old rusty broken Rossi handguns. The question will be why did people back then buy those Damn things??

jimster · « **Reply #80 on:** December 28, 2011, 09:51:47 AM »

Quote

I am sure even 100 years ago they claimed they were as good as Colt and S&W. Years from now gun owners will look at piles of old rusty broken Rossi handguns. The question will be why did people back then buy those Damn things??

Well I own a couple of older Rossi revolvers imported by Interarms, an old .38 special with a windage adjustable sight, and found a 44 spl model with adjustable sights a few months ago. Been shooting the .38 special a long time, only have put a couple hundred rounds through the 44 spl. just have not had it that long yet. They both work and both do what they are supposed to. I keep waiting for the older .38 to break, but it just won't break, I'll keep trying. I also came upon a S&W .38 model 36 not long ago (1986) that did not look like it had ever been fired, well it has now, and a lot, I wanted to get used to it.
So yes, the older prelock .38 S&W is a fine revolver for sure, nice fit and finish inside and out, better than both Rossi's...but I think I might be waiting a long time for those Rossi's to fall apart or get rusty...truth is they shoot as good as anything else I shoot, so I'm not sure I understand what your saying about these old Rossi's...the .38 is around 30 years old maybe...the .44 spl 3" ss is maybe 20+ years old? Neither one is rusty yet, and neither one is for sale. S&W makes a fine revolver, no doubt about it...but I'll keep those two older Rossi's from Interarms, they work just fine. Never owned a Taurus or the newer Rossi's so I can't comment on any of the newer ones.

Spirithawk · « **Reply #81 on:** December 28, 2011, 11:12:07 AM »

Personaly I don't think S&W's quallity is up to par with what it use to be, unless you buy their more expensive firearms and not everone can afford to do that.

sidewinder319 · « **Reply #82 on:** December 28, 2011, 03:47:44 PM »

Yep, buying imports has sealed the fate of the American firearms Companies. Americans flock to Walmart to buy from China gun buyers put down good old American fire arms. Well you win Colts all most gone S&W is fighting to stay afloat. That good old 94 Winchester 30-30 is now made in Antigun Japan. Americans cuss Socialism but have no problem supporting them with their VISA cards.

S.B. · « **Reply #83 on:** December 28, 2011, 04:19:26 PM »

sidewinder319, ahmen brother!
Steve

bluedog6 · « **Reply #84 on:** December 29, 2011, 12:23:19 AM »

Sidewinder, I couldn't agree more! It's not just guns either, it's everything! Some products are not a bargain even at half the price.