Your opinions on the Taurus PT 709 Slim

For a good cheap small gun, that is still accurate, I'd recommend the 9X18 Makrov A.K.A. "Baby 9" .........shot a deer in the head with one at 30 yards and dropped his ass!

damn your pretty good for a beginner. Seriously.

Looks like you have good control over your trigger pull. That's a major obstacle most have a hard time getting past at first, but you seem to be ok in that category. I notice your shot groupings are going a little south. That's cause you are heeling. ie getting too tense right before you shoot and are anticipating the recoil. SO you naturally nose down a little when firing. that will go away as you get more comfortable shooting and you become more relaxed.

But seriously you are doing great! especially for someone who's only shot with that gun on three outings. Good work there!

reply to post by Mississippi


I looked at a few reviews for that gun, and it looks pretty appealing. I'll keep that in mind next time Im shopping for a new handgun, which should be in a few weeks. Im more than likely...99% chance...that I will purchase my next one at the Bass Pro Shop near me. While at the range last time, I looked at a few handguns, the CZ 83 (.380), sig 2022 (.40), a Stoeger Couger (.40), or maybe a S&W Sigma (.40). Ive also thought about going to a Glock, but those are a big more expensive than the other ones I listed. The reason im problably going up to .40 cal is because my Taurus has a little more recoil than a full size 9mm, and I think im getting a pretty good handle on it. Not sure if I could handle a .45 yet, maybe next year.

reply to post by BASSPLYR


Thanks!

Looks like you have good control over your trigger pull. That's a major obstacle most have a hard time getting past at first, but you seem to be ok in that category.

Ive been practicing my grip and trigger pull handing with snap caps every other day. Ive noticed that I would usually "flinch" after I squeeze to the stiff part of the trigger (not sure what the terminology for this is). In my last 50 rounds target, instead of just going through in all one motion, I would pause for a second once I hit the stiff part and also make sure I dont blink my eyes once I shoot.

I notice your shot groupings are going a little south. That's cause you are heeling. ie getting too tense right before you shoot and are anticipating the recoil. SO you naturally nose down a little when firing. that will go away as you get more comfortable shooting and you become more relaxed.

Haha, that is so true. Even for the 3rd time, I still usually get a bit of anxiety everytime before I pull the trigger. My Taurus also had a bunch of reviews that said it would shoot low left out of the box, but Ive been adjusting my sights so hopefully next time will be better.

Im guessing my 4th time to the range will be this Thursday, so I'll try to remember to take some pictures of my targets again. Also, instead of only going through 100 rounds, Im gonna try to put 150 through it this time.

if you think your mag is stiff now wait till you load a glock mag!! loader requirered. i had a Tarus 92 ,good gun easy to load and shoot ,never jammed once,you can load all 15 rounds in mag by hand.dont get a glock 40 exept in a longslide version, the glock 40's are problematic, glock just bored out the barrel of their 9 to 40 and presto a new gun for the cops that didnt need different holsters or mag carrierers.40 is a intense round compared to 9 or 45,is really slams the slide back way faster, and that is causing problems w glocks.and glock has responded by incresing the mag spring presure, last G40 mag i saw follower was marked with number 10 on it.G22&G23 need more weight on slide ,so get a longslide Glock 40 and you'l really have something.some people have taken Glock 10mm and installed 40 barrel and mags and like it way better than G22 or G23.none of these guns are CC i know but hey FYI. also double colum 9mm mags are all the same design(Browning High Power)and are easily loaded by hand, its the single colum mags that are hard to load.."the man who has one more round in his gun wins the fight"-Erwin Rommel.

This is my taurus. Any ideas why I have metal shavings in my slide?
youtu.be...

reply to post by slapmyface


Mine came with a ton of grease and stuff on the inside, some of what looked like metal shavings, but it turned out just to be some grease or something.

If you have already cleaned it, fired it, cleaned it again, and metal shavings are starting to show up, Im not really sure what exactly the problem would be. My first guess would be something wrong with the slide. Id send it back to Taurus right away. I doubt it would be safe to continue to fire the weapon if metal is being scraped off.

Originally posted by buni11687
reply to post by slapmyface

 

Mine came with a ton of grease and stuff on the inside, some of what looked like metal shavings, but it turned out just to be some grease or something.

If you have already cleaned it, fired it, cleaned it again, and metal shavings are starting to show up, Im not really sure what exactly the problem would be. My first guess would be something wrong with the slide. Id send it back to Taurus right away. I doubt it would be safe to continue to fire the weapon if metal is being scraped off.

edit on 21-6-2012 by buni11687 because: (no reason given)

I sent it back a few min ago. I was just wondering if it was common with the pt640. I decided that if I lose enough metal it would destroy me or the weapon, good call.

reply to post by slapmyface


Im still pretty new to guns, and dont really know much about the pt640. I would of done the same thing though. If my PT 709 Slim started to shave metal off, I'd send it back to Taurus right away.

Well, I went to the range again today. 4th time total. This time I went through 150 rounds of American Eagle 9mm 115 gr.

My first 2 targets had 50 rounds each. The last 2 had 25 rounds each. First 2 were at 13 feet, second 2 were at 15 feet.

My target with the second 50 rounds I believe was my best. (13 feet)



After about 30 or so rounds into my first target, I decided to adjust my sights a little bit. Then I adjusted them after just a few shots into my 2nd target. I think I did pretty well.

Here's all my targets, from left to right, 1st 2nd 3rd 4th.



I dont really like aiming at the last 2. Since my gun is black, it's kind of hard to focus on the sights compared to the white background targets. Or, since it was my first time using those targets, I just need to get used to them.

Now here's the bad part about today. I had 8 failures to extract. The first 5 were within the first 50 rounds, and the other 3 scattered in the rest of the rounds. This really caught me by suprise since I didnt have ANY malfunctions last time I was at the range, and also used the same type of ammo. In some reviews I read, they said they had an extractor problem, so that's what I think is going on with my Taurus. If I get this amount of malfunctions again next week, Im sending it in. Maybe it's still in a breaking in period, but im at around 400 rounds through it in total.

I also decided that my next purchase will more than likely be a Sig 2022, 40 cal. I held it and it fits my hands perfectly. The only thing that im not sure about, is the sights. Instead of a 3 dot sight, it has the white dot on the front sight, but there's only 1 white dot on the back sights (on the bottom, inbetween the left and right back parts of the back sight). Im not sure what the name of those sights are.

If anyone's still keeping up with this thread, Ive been to the range a few more times and I think Ive got a pretty good handle on the Taurus, but I recently got a new Sig 2022 .40 cal.

Im hopefully going to the range in a few days, hopefully even tomorrow, and Im problably going to start a new thread with my review of the Sig 2022.

Your groupings are kicking ass btw. Time to move the target out a few feet further and refine.

Please do a review of the 2022 Sig. My friend works at a gun store and sells them frequently. Says they are great. Let us know with a review.

Also, Your accurracy might be slightly below what it was in the 45 with this new 40. The 40 is much snappier of a round and it will take some getting used to. The recoil on a 45 goes up and back. The 9 and 40 sorta snap to the left at first until you get used to the hotter load.

But all in all you are doing great. Keep it up. Soon you'll be getting long guns too and then the fun will really begin. Also, never underestimate the thrill of a cheap shotgun. They are fun and ammo is pretty cheap.

reply to post by BASSPLYR


I was able to make it to the range today and wow! The sig 2022 is amazing. I'll have a thread with my review on it up later tonight.

ETA - I just posted the review www.abovetopsecret.com...

I've never fired a Sig, but you probably will like it better. I am not a big Tauras fan. I would consider one of their 1911's but that's about it. My brother has a millenium...He had to send it back, firing pin wasn't always striking the primer hard enough to always set it off. Also had more then a few stove pipes. Some of that might have been him, or the ammo...but the gunsmith he took it to said he had seen several.d

For handguns I like Glocks and Rugers....

Welcome to the gun owner club...watch out for ARs...they are addictive..LOL

reply to post by buni11687






There are two guns makers you should never buy. Taurus and Kel-Tec. They are cheap for a reason they suck. Very low quality standards.

reply to post by SrWingCommander

I am not a big Tauras fan. I would consider one of their 1911's but that's about it. My brother has a millenium...He had to send it back, firing pin wasn't always striking the primer hard enough to always set it off.

I dont think I will get another Taurus anytime soon. With the problems Ive had with my 709 Slim listed in this thread, I will wait another year or 2 until I see their quality upped. One thing I do like about Taurus is their lifetime warranty.

My Sig 2022 is amazing. I linked my review in my last post above. For $449, the Sig 2022 is definantly worth it.

Taurus are junk. Not much more to say than that. They only rip off other manufacturers for their designs. Everyone single one I owned back in the day and my friends/family have owned were always junk. They have a terrible reputation on the various firearm enthusiast forums for a very good reason. I'd steer clear.

reply to post by DriCo04


After a little more time with this Taurus.....I pretty much agree with your first sentence, atleast with my PT 709 Slim....

I havent looked at this thread in awhile, but after looking through it and remembering my problems with this thing, in addition to some problems I just had (I'll mention these in next paragraph)....I wouldnt reccomend this gun to save my life.

Here's my latest gripe about this gun.....I can load 4 rounds into the mag (it is a 7 round mag) and they will load...atleast 60% of the time. 5 rounds into the mag, eh.....it's not going to chamber the round. Ive tried keeping my mags loaded for over a week and they still dont chamber after 4.

In addition to that, sometimes the slide wont lock back, It wont lock back even when I press the slide lock lever up, it acts like it even isnt there. No matter how much force I put on it, it just wont lock back. Just the other day, I tried to put as much force as possible into keeping the slide back (and by force, I was pressing as hard as I could), and the slide just said "Nope"...and I got my first slide bite. (not sure if that is actually considered "slide bite" but it hurt like hell)

All in all, I wouldnt reccomend this firearm to anyone. I understand some of these Taurus are "hit and miss" kinds of guns, but I wouldnt go near another one of these in awhile. From my experience with this Taurus and comparing it to the reliabliity of my new (ish) Sig 2022, the Taurus fails miserably. Im going to trade my PT 709 in pretty soon and Im problably going to get either a Glock 17 or 19

You would of been better off getting a PT638 instead. Same calibre, larger frame, higher capacity.