I could be a Taurus owner soon.
I hated the crap out of Taurus for every one of their guns I ever had the unpleasantness of using. Never had one fail, but they always had crap trigger pull and bad ergonomics. Bleh. It made me think of a Jennings with a better finish. They all just felt so 'wrong' in my hands.
But I picked up a PT1911AR and fell in love. Kimber for 1/3 the price. All the bells and whistles built-in. Solid and smooth as you can ask for. I love it. Possibly the best gun purchase I have ever made.
She is parked on my belt as we speak.
Brands don't mean anything.
Hey ixtow,
I agree with you.
I have had issues with S&W pistols as well. The S&W quality is now much better.
I was inspecting a Taurus 44 the other day. The cylinder release was not fitted correctly to the frame. If I used a little downward pressure, the cylinder released, if I did not apply downward pressure, the cylinder would not release.
My gunsmith/dealer said that sometimes there are some minor tuning issues that are resolved by him or by Taurus, and quickly.
As I wrote before, I had to send a S&W back to the factory for rework due to poor workmanship.
As for my decision: I am leaning toward the model 629-6 with a six inch barrel. The Taurus 44 is longer, heavier, and nose heavy; however, the 44 has a ported barrel and it is $250 less.
I handload; therefore, for normal plinking or light skinned hunting, the 44 special round will be a comfortable and adequate round. For Wyoming and Montana grizzlies, who choose to attack, I can shoot 1000 foot pound 240 Grain flat point bullets. For Alaska grizz I can up that to 1200 foot pounds. I don't need to shoot the full load magnums regularly.
Bottom line: If the Taurus' barrel was 1 inch shorter and the gun a little lighter, I would jump ALL OVER THE TAURUS! As for the recoil and muzzle flip of the 629-6 without muzzle porting...oh well, I will feed the 629-6 a diet of 450 to 850 foot pound handloads!
markm