# My Taurus 380 Mini Revolver deemed Unsafe



## Hack88 (Jun 4, 2015)

In Jan 2013, I purchased the 380 Mini rerovlver. It was the worst firearms purchase of my life! The trigger is horrible. But more than that, the cylinder would jam at least 3-4 times out of every 50 rounds. To free the jam the cylinder had to be rotated manually, as the trigger cannot be depressed once the cylinder jammed. This is a terrible situation for a firearm intended for concealed carry! Since that time I tried cleaning, polishing and working in the revolver. After running several hundred rounds through the revolver, the jamming (and trigger) never improved so this year I sent the revolver back to Taurus for a warranty repair.

While it is true Taurus has a lifetime warranty, Taurus customer service is horrendous. First, I had to ship the revolver back to them at my expense. Next, while their on-line tracking system acknowledged receipt of the revolver, the status never progressed past under review. So after 3 months, I called Taurus. I was informed that the revolver was unrepairable because the frame had been improperly drilled with some of the holes (including the one for the firing pin) misaligned. Taurus offered to ship a replacement revolver to an FFL but the catch is that I'd be responsible for the FFL fees. This presented a problem for me as the FFL fees for handguns is expensive in my home state of Maryland as a result of legislative changes that went into effect in Oct 2013. Without going into all of the details, it would cost me about $200 to receive the handgun from an FFL because I do not have the Maryland handgun purchasing license. I tried explaining this to Taurus and asked if they could either send the replacement revolver directly to me, which is permitted under Maryland law (I even gave them a link to the state police website), or provide a refund. Taurus refused and referred me to their policy on their website.

Two points are noteworthy: 1) It is unknown how wide-spread this the problem is. All I know is that my revolver was manufactured incorrectly and Taurus' quality control did not detect the problem. Taurus is returning my revolver with a letter saying that it is "unsafe". I do not know how many other "unsafe" Taurus revolvers are out there but Taurus seems to be in no hurry to warn its customers. 2) Taurus is hiding behind its company policy (posted on the website) to explain the fact that their remedy for the unsafe revolver would result in extensive charges to their customer. The fact that Taurus' sloppy manufacturing and poor quality control resulted in a unsafe firearm being delivered to their customer and the fact that the customer had this unsafe firearm for 2 years does not seem to bother the company.

As a result, I cannot recommend the 380 mini revolver and advise against having any dealings with Taurus.


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## TurboHonda (Aug 4, 2012)

When I have a problem with a company, and can't resolve it at the customer service level, I usually send a letter to the company president. His office will often refer the problem to a manager that was heretofore inaccessible. This has worked for me in the past. 

Good luck.


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## RK3369 (Aug 12, 2013)

Taurus has a bad rap for service work. The guns are, at best, fair quality. If you get an ok one, it's usually fine. If you get one with a problem, they can end up being worthless because of issues like the one you described. I bought a PT22 a year or more ago, used, on gunbroker. Paid $160 for it as I remember. Anyhow, got the gun through my ffl dealer, took it to the range, after about 200 rounds, the firing pin end snapped off. I figure, no big deal, I'll just get a new firing pin from Taurus and swap it out. After about 5 or 6 times trying to contact Taurus (nobody ever would answer their phones), found out by accident on the Taurus Armed website that Taurus won't sell "restricted' parts (firing pins, etc, anything that normally would require a gunsmith to install). So I look into sending the gun back to Taurus for a warranty repair. My ffl dealer won't send guns out, cant' find anyone in the area that will (seems to be everyone is glad to receive a gun, nobody wants to send them out I guess because they don't want to deal with the Post Office? Anyhow, can't find anyone locally who will send it back to Taurus for me). Check with UPS. Yes, they'll ship it for $80. $80 shipping for a gun I paid $160 for to return it for a free repair. So then I'd have $240 into the gun, used, and it probably didn't cost $240 new. So now it sits in my safe unusable. Checked other parts houses and nobody has a firing pin for it. I may just part it out and sell it on Ebay or something. Probably worth more in total for the parts than the original gun was worth. 

I guess the moral of my story is if you buy a Taurus, don't spend a lot on one because you may end up having to use it as a paperweight. The're ok when they work, but if they don't, good luck.

and imo, their warranty is worthless because it requires you to pay to return the gun to them. Why? If they warranty the gun and think they are so great, they should handle all parts of the process for the customer. If their guns were that good to begin with, they wouldn't have that many warranty return issues. I never hear anyone complaining on here about sig or S+W or any of the other manufacturer's warranty service, only Taurus. Wonder why?


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## Goldwing (Nov 5, 2014)

They
Are
Un-
Reliable
Un-
Safe. 

Be glad you didn't get one of the 100,000 shake fire models that they sold to the Brazilian police!

GW


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## Greybeard (Mar 17, 2013)

I have a TCP that is reliable and I like it. Given all the negative feedback on this and other forums, I would think long and hard before I bought another Taurus. True, they do make some guns with some nice features and the price is 100-400 less than a comparable gun from another maker but, if you are like me and it gives you trouble, I always get rid of it at a loss.


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## Hack88 (Jun 4, 2015)

TurboHonda said:


> When I have a problem with a company, and can't resolve it at the customer service level, I usually send a letter to the company president. His office will often refer the problem to a manager that was heretofore inaccessible. This has worked for me in the past.
> 
> Good luck.


I started by sending a letter to customer service. They claim it never arrived.


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## Hack88 (Jun 4, 2015)

RK3369 said:


> Taurus has a bad rap for service work. The guns are, at best, fair quality. If you get an ok one, it's usually fine. If you get one with a problem, they can end up being worthless because of issues like the one you described. I bought a PT22 a year or more ago, used, on gunbroker. Paid $160 for it as I remember. Anyhow, got the gun through my ffl dealer, took it to the range, after about 200 rounds, the firing pin end snapped off. I figure, no big deal, I'll just get a new firing pin from Taurus and swap it out. After about 5 or 6 times trying to contact Taurus (nobody ever would answer their phones), found out by accident on the Taurus Armed website that Taurus won't sell "restricted' parts (firing pins, etc, anything that normally would require a gunsmith to install). So I look into sending the gun back to Taurus for a warranty repair. My ffl dealer won't send guns out, cant' find anyone in the area that will (seems to be everyone is glad to receive a gun, nobody wants to send them out I guess because they don't want to deal with the Post Office? Anyhow, can't find anyone locally who will send it back to Taurus for me). Check with UPS. Yes, they'll ship it for $80. $80 shipping for a gun I paid $160 for to return it for a free repair. So then I'd have $240 into the gun, used, and it probably didn't cost $240 new. So now it sits in my safe unusable. Checked other parts houses and nobody has a firing pin for it. I may just part it out and sell it on Ebay or something. Probably worth more in total for the parts than the original gun was worth.
> 
> I guess the moral of my story is if you buy a Taurus, don't spend a lot on one because you may end up having to use it as a paperweight. The're ok when they work, but if they don't, good luck.
> 
> and imo, their warranty is worthless because it requires you to pay to return the gun to them. Why? If they warranty the gun and think they are so great, they should handle all parts of the process for the customer. If their guns were that good to begin with, they wouldn't have that many warranty return issues. I never hear anyone complaining on here about sig or S+W or any of the other manufacturer's warranty service, only Taurus. Wonder why?


I absolutely agree with you! I ended up sending the revolver back using Fed Ex at a cost of $40. One reason that I didn't go through the expense of getting the replacement is that I had no confidence the replacement would be any better.


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## PT111Pro (Nov 15, 2014)

goldwing said:


> They
> Are
> Un-
> Reliable
> ...


Yes and be glad that you don't get one of the 100 000 Glocks that had the 40 S&W problems like the police in Austria and any given customer buying that Glock in 40 S&W, or the 10 000 slide problems that the France police had with their SigSauer 2022 or the 10 000 slide problems that the German police had with their HK P30.

That is not an argument against Taurus. It's an argument about gun manufacturers that solver their manufacturing problems on the back of the customers and is not only limited to Taurus Firearms.


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## PT111Pro (Nov 15, 2014)

> RK3369
> Taurus has a bad rap for service work.


I agree. 
When I needed the recoil spring the first told me I have to send it in. The second wanna sell me the spring and send it by mail. 
Turning out I got that spring Assembly by mail for 20.99 Dollar.
It looks like you just have to keep calling them until you got the answer you would like.


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