“Quality is never an accident.”  – John Ruskin


Fortress Staff Instructor Chuck Skaggs was teaching at a local indoor range recently where a revolver disintegrated a few bays over from him.

His notes are as follows:

“The story, as best as I could gather, was that a husband and wife had just finished the transfer paperwork in the adjoined shop, then walked on to the range to try out their new purchase.  They unboxed their factory new Taurus revolver, loaded the cylinders with name brand factory ammunition, and the first trigger press resulted in the barrel breaking away from the firearm on ignition. [Pictured below]

Improper torque? Metallurgy issue? Machined incorrectly? Doesn’t matter – it’s par for the course with Taurus.

No one was injured.

I was able to snap the picture, but did not involve myself the discussion between the customers and the shop, so I have no idea what the eventual outcome was.”

Lesson:

Taurus has a well-earned reputation for poor quality. Many consumers opt to purchase their products because of the low price point, however, if you are one of us and serious about practicing, that savings will be lost when your gun prematurely breaks. Training time will be wasted, as well as the hours required to work through a return and warranty process.

Guns are simple machines – they will all break. But, we can reduce much wailing and gnashing of teeth by sticking with manufacturers known for their attention to quality control and customer service; companies that produce reliable products which the most serious of end users trust their lives on.

Taurus is not one of them.

“The bitterness of poor quality is remembered long after the sweetness of low price has faded from memory” – Aldo Gucci