I find myself more and more interested in these. They can be bought brand-new for under $400 for the blued, fixed-sight version, and, it's essentially the same gun as a Beretta Model 92 (with some upgrades). For those who weren't aware, back in the '70s, Brazil decided, like our military, to equip its military with the Beretta 92, and Beretta set up a factory in Brazil to build the handguns. After they'd finished fulfilling the order, Beretta sold the factory and tooling to Taurus, who continued building the guns, using the same machines and tooling. Taurus implemented some changes, such as a drop-forged frame, and moved the thumb safety to the frame (a location I prefer), as well as adding decocker functionality to the thumb safety lever.
I realize that Taurus hasn't necessarily had a top-notch rep as a gun maker, due to some issues with some of their other guns. But this particular model, being, essentially, a re-badged (and improved) Beretta 92, doesn't seem to have any QC or functionality issues.
Everything I've heard about these has been positive, including from some friends who have them or have had them in the past. In fact, in the TTAG article I posted below, he claims the trigger on his is actually better than the Beretta he tested, and that it was more accurate than the Beretta 92 he tested (and if you look down into the comments section, he posts a follow-up to his original test, dated May 2017, in which he tested another off-the-shelf Taurus PT-92, and shot some groups which AVERAGED 2.5" at 25 yards from an improvised rest.
If you've held one, you know this is a huge and overbuilt gun to be a 9mm (of course it's also available in .40 S&W). So, probably not a great choice for CCW. But a nice choice for a car/truck gun, home defense/nightstand weapon, or, of course, target shooting.
And, it's also notable for not using the very common Browning tilting-barrel action, as used by almost every handgun on the market today. It uses the rotating barrel operating system, a la Walther P-38. I don't own any handguns that use this system, which makes it interesting to me. And, of course, it looks cool with the open-top slide.
Taurus PT-92 WIKI entry
The Truth About Guns Review (Very Good Article)
Taurus PT-92 Article, Shooting Illustrated
Hickok45 Review:
So, for $378 delivered, I'm interested!
I realize that Taurus hasn't necessarily had a top-notch rep as a gun maker, due to some issues with some of their other guns. But this particular model, being, essentially, a re-badged (and improved) Beretta 92, doesn't seem to have any QC or functionality issues.
Everything I've heard about these has been positive, including from some friends who have them or have had them in the past. In fact, in the TTAG article I posted below, he claims the trigger on his is actually better than the Beretta he tested, and that it was more accurate than the Beretta 92 he tested (and if you look down into the comments section, he posts a follow-up to his original test, dated May 2017, in which he tested another off-the-shelf Taurus PT-92, and shot some groups which AVERAGED 2.5" at 25 yards from an improvised rest.
If you've held one, you know this is a huge and overbuilt gun to be a 9mm (of course it's also available in .40 S&W). So, probably not a great choice for CCW. But a nice choice for a car/truck gun, home defense/nightstand weapon, or, of course, target shooting.
And, it's also notable for not using the very common Browning tilting-barrel action, as used by almost every handgun on the market today. It uses the rotating barrel operating system, a la Walther P-38. I don't own any handguns that use this system, which makes it interesting to me. And, of course, it looks cool with the open-top slide.
Taurus PT-92 WIKI entry
The Truth About Guns Review (Very Good Article)
Taurus PT-92 Article, Shooting Illustrated
Hickok45 Review:
So, for $378 delivered, I'm interested!