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Taurus Rifles

5alive25alive2 Member Posts: 2 ✭✭
edited March 2011 in Black Powder and Cowboy Action Shooting
It seems I never get interested in anything until it's near impossible to obtain. Where would one look to find a Taurus Thunderbold rifle in .357... or any other 357 pump gun for that matter. I really don't fancy getting into the 45LC world if I can avoid it.
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Comments

  • 44caliberkid44caliberkid Member Posts: 925 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    You don't want a Taurus Thunderbolt. Most of them have taken up permanent residence in the Taurus Warranty Repair section. All the Colt Lightening repros have been troublesom, just as were the originals. The only other .357 slide action I can think of were the Timberwolf, and it wasn't any good either. Go with a lever if you want a GOOD, RELIABLE .357 rifle.
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  • Mort4570Mort4570 Member Posts: 472 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    MY buddy has one in 45 colt.
    he hates it.
    I hate it.
    anyone who has one hates it.
    Other brands may work ok,Tauri do not.
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  • airmungairmung Member Posts: 579 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    How are the Rossi .357 92 repros?
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  • 44caliberkid44caliberkid Member Posts: 925 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    The Rossi's are pretty decent. They are imported under many different names, such as Puma and EMF. They can benefit from a little gunsmithing to smooth them up, or just wear it in with lots of shooting (more fun). The stained, Brazilian hardwood stocks can be weird colors or just very dark, but if you don't like it you can buy American walnut replacements stocks. I have one in 44-40 that I bought from a cowboy shooter. It already had the action job and is glass smooth, accurate and a ball to shoot.
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  • PA ShootistPA Shootist Member Posts: 691 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    It seems a shame to kick at the Taurus Thunderbolt when it is already down on the ground and gasping, but I have had two in .45 Colt. The premise was intriguing, but the reality was disappointing. The second one was a free replacement from Taurus under warranty; I'll have to say they were good about that, paid the freight both ways, and turned it around in a timely manner. They elected to NOT repair my original purchased rifle; the chamber was cut way out of spec, and fired cases were very much an oval shape, and gas spewed back into the shooter's face with every shot. The cases simply couldn't seal the gases at the chamber, it was so far out of spec. The second is a little better, but not all better, in that regard. Light "cowboy" loads won't obdurate; heavier loads will. Function has otherwise been great, never failing to feed or eject, and goes bang every time. BUT, accuracy is mediocre at best. Worst of all, I must adjust the rear sight all the way possible to one side, and the front sight all the way possible to the other side, to get it to shoot to the sights. It has ended up being very awkward to sight. I believe the barrel is actually bent; I have looked at it carefully and it appears so! I just never bothered to send this one back, always thinking I would get around to it and didn't (shame on me there!).
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  • vulturevulture Member Posts: 12 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I know only about the one Thunderbolt that I own and I really like it, never given me any problems, functions reliably an accuracy is on a par with any lever gun I've ever had including the two I have now. Maybe I just got lucky, but that's my story and I'm sticking with it.
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  • Wolf.Wolf. Member Posts: 2,223 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Look, I know that a LOT of people have Taurus guns and many police employees use them as backup guns, etc., BUT......

    my opinion is that if you are smart.....you will stay as far away from ANYTHING TAURUS as you can get, especially their various entries into the Cowboy Action Shooting market.

    Ditto for Rossi guns. The only Rossi gun that I ever saw that was worth a darn is the gallery .22 pump.

    There are just too many other guns out there that outshine these things with their casual attitude toward problems and their unwillingness to fix those problems.
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  • spasmcreekspasmcreek Member Posts: 37,717 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    used to have a bookmak on a guy in texas? that was the rossi fixit guru...lost it when old computer crashed
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  • BigLoop22BigLoop22 Member Posts: 620 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    spasmcreek,

    Here you go:

    Steve Young, a.k.a. Nate Kiowa Jones:

    www.stevesgunz.com

    He knows the Rossi 92 quite well.[;)]
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  • spasmcreekspasmcreek Member Posts: 37,717 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    bookmarked....THANKS....got a puma legacy in 44 i am going to shorten barrel to 18' but haven't whittled much on internals...done barrel work on revolvers & rifles
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  • Riomouse911Riomouse911 Member Posts: 3,492 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I had a 20" .357 Rossi that looked beautiful... just wouldn't feed anything I fed it in .357 or .38 Spl. Took it to Walker '47 in Fullerton, Ca., their 'smith said they often need action work...Had it done, still wasn't very reliable. (Sold it off and bought a used 336 in .35 Rem. on GB, boy am I glad I did)

    Fail-to-feed are common complaints with the '92's.

    I have Taurus .22 LR 9-shot and .22 Mag 8-shot DA revolvers. Decent camp guns, great for teaching newbies.
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  • Wolf.Wolf. Member Posts: 2,223 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I replied a a couple months ago saying the only good Taurus gun I knew about was their Rossi .22 gallery pump gun, a reproduction of an old Winchester pump.

    Well, although it WORKS, it is clunky and sloppy.

    Just to set the record stgraight. Rossi IS Taurus. They are under the same ownership. Anyone who would trust a Rossi or Taurus with their life or for competition of any kind simply is either unfortunate for not knowing, unwise for not checking before they made such a bad purchase or foolish for going ahead with it after either being warned or finding out on their own. There ARE NO good deals on Taurus or Rossi Guns. They are cheap, sloppy guns with an incredible malfunction rate because of incredibly poor quality control and are only good as paper weights.

    Cowboy shooters......stay away from the Taurus "Gaucho", Taurus' failed entry into the Colt Model 1873 clone market. They failed because of, guess what(?), poor quality/malfunctions.

    As far as the clones of the pump action Colt rifle, such as the Taurus "Thunderbolt", well....a double whammy there. The original rifles suffered from poor design, resulting in misfeeding and jamming and for some reason, today's manufacturers thought they could produce a clone of the gun and it would work today. Wrong. It does not work any better than the original and with Taurus making them, they suffer from the original design and also from the Taurus/Rossi curse of producing, or their unwillingness to produce, quality guns. Stay away from them.
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  • farmer37farmer37 Member Posts: 149 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by Wolf.
    I replied a a couple months ago saying the only good Taurus gun I knew about was their Rossi .22 gallery pump gun, a reproduction of an old Winchester pump.

    Well, although it WORKS, it is clunky and sloppy.

    Just to set the record stgraight. Rossi IS Taurus. They are under the same ownership. Anyone who would trust a Rossi or Taurus with their life or for competition of any kind simply is either unfortunate for not knowing, unwise for not checking before they made such a bad purchase or foolish for going ahead with it after either being warned or finding out on their own. There ARE NO good deals on Taurus or Rossi Guns. They are cheap, sloppy guns with an incredible malfunction rate because of incredibly poor quality control and are only good as paper weights.

    Cowboy shooters......stay away from the Taurus "Gaucho", Taurus' failed entry into the Colt Model 1873 clone market. They failed because of, guess what(?), poor quality/malfunctions.

    As far as the clones of the pump action Colt rifle, such as the Taurus "Thunderbolt", well....a double whammy there. The original rifles suffered from poor design, resulting in misfeeding and jamming and for some reason, today's manufacturers thought they could produce a clone of the gun and it would work today. Wrong. It does not work any better than the original and with Taurus making them, they suffer from the original design and also from the Taurus/Rossi curse of producing, or their unwillingness to produce, quality guns. Stay away from them.
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  • farmer37farmer37 Member Posts: 149 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by airmung
    How are the Rossi .357 92 repros?
    I bought a rossi back when 180 bucks was the going price.The tip broke off the firing pin.The new pin was very tight fitting.I found that the firing pin hole was drilled offset.You could see it with a strong light.I opened up the hole with number drills until the binding was gone.The firing pin broke because it was driven in to a crooked hole.Next problem was that the rear site dove tail was cut wrong.When it was driven to the left enough to center on target it was way off center on the barrel.The chamber was reamed with a dull reamer,All brass shows a smoke stain along with light and heavy loads the left side.Last but not least the butt plate was fitted so tight that there is a small split on the top of the stock.Ive looked at a newer Rossi that has a tight firing pin.There are 8809 rifles between the two rifles.The same flaw may exist in all these rifles.If you have one make sure that the firing pin moves freely in the bolt.Ive seen some ugly wood on Rossi rifles.If you want a 92 replica look for a Browning.
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  • hillbillehillbille Member Posts: 14,388 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by Wolf.
    I replied a a couple months ago saying the only good Taurus gun I knew about was their Rossi .22 gallery pump gun, a reproduction of an old Winchester pump.

    Well, although it WORKS, it is clunky and sloppy.

    Just to set the record stgraight. Rossi IS Taurus. They are under the same ownership. Anyone who would trust a Rossi or Taurus with their life or for competition of any kind simply is either unfortunate for not knowing, unwise for not checking before they made such a bad purchase or foolish for going ahead with it after either being warned or finding out on their own. There ARE NO good deals on Taurus or Rossi Guns. They are cheap, sloppy guns with an incredible malfunction rate because of incredibly poor quality control and are only good as paper weights.

    Cowboy shooters......stay away from the Taurus "Gaucho", Taurus' failed entry into the Colt Model 1873 clone market. They failed because of, guess what(?), poor quality/malfunctions.

    As far as the clones of the pump action Colt rifle, such as the Taurus "Thunderbolt", well....a double whammy there. The original rifles suffered from poor design, resulting in misfeeding and jamming and for some reason, today's manufacturers thought they could produce a clone of the gun and it would work today. Wrong. It does not work any better than the original and with Taurus making them, they suffer from the original design and also from the Taurus/Rossi curse of producing, or their unwillingness to produce, quality guns. Stay away from them.


    maybe I have the only two tauruses that work, I have a pt111 that goes bang every time no jambs and is as acurate as my eyes will let it, I also bought a taurus m92 pump for my grandson, it will shoot all day long no jambs and with open sights is also quite accurate for a plinker or squirrell getter.
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  • spasmcreekspasmcreek Member Posts: 37,717 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    the pump 22s are great
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  • gcurtisgcurtis Member Posts: 5 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have 2 original colt lightnings, one in 38-40 and one in 32-20. Never any trouble, smooth as silk to operate, accurate and fun. Don't know where Wolf got the idea they had trouble.

    I did have a Taurus in 45 LC. Was glad to sell it for a loss.
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  • Litl RoosterLitl Rooster Member Posts: 13 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Taurus had so many problems with the 45 they never got the 357 out on market. Now all said about the quality or performance All makes of these are copy of a poor design Colt produced in 1890, they too had many issues. The problem with owning a Taurus and others you have to operated like you mean it. Problem 2 there are not many Gunsmiths around who know enough about them to take on the challenge. I bought one for my bride several years back. I found a gentleman who knew how to work on them. He slicked it up to feed better. With out wearing your elbow out either. Her's has been used for Black Powder and smokeless loads both. It shoots well at a 100 yards to boot. I understand Pedersolli and another company have released copys of the Colt Thunderer, but I know no one whom uses one. You might re ask the question at CasCity or the Open Range forums
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  • FlyingSnakeFlyingSnake Member Posts: 1 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Uberti makes a fine Lightning rifle in 357 mag. I own several Rossie 92's one in 357 another in 44/40 super weapons, I also own a Ranch hand ( Mares Leg ) in 357 mag. All worke great. Just bought a Unerti Lightning in 357 mag. I also bought a Taurus Tracker in 45 colt. Everything works great.[:)]
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