[Florida Cracker]

Put a few hundred FMJ rounds through my PT-145 without a hiccup.

Graduated to JHP . . . first and second round nosedives into the feedramp on every magazine.

Tried Remington JHP (100 value-pack from Walmart); Winchester Silvertip; Remington Golden Saber. Same results with all.

I had really had my confidence in the PT-145 built up; now it has disappeared.

I suppose I will have to send the gun back to Taurus . . . bummer.

Any thoughts or suggestions? Snide comments?

Thanks.

 

[GerbilWarrior]

first and second round nosedives into the feedramp on every magazine

Try a couple of things for fun....after a thorough cleaning and polishing of the feed ramp, and some oil in the proper spots...(also take your mags apart, and clean thoroughly, and maybe spray just a little silicone on the mag lips)

1) Try loading your mags with only seven cartridges, and see what happens.

2) Buy a new mag, and see what happens.

Sounds like a mag problem to me.

 

[Florida Cracker]

GerbilWarrior,

I've already attempted all you suggested, with the exception of new magazines.

Yes they will feed fine with only seven cartridges . . . but I bought a 10+1 pistol.

A new magazine will cost about the same as a trip to Miami, so unless it heals itself soon, I suppose that is what will happen.

The early PT-145s were known for this problem, but it seems that most folks (except yours truly) are not plagued with it any longer.

Thanks for the response.

 

[bigghoss]

load your mags to full capacity and let them sit for a week or two. I've had mags in the past where the spring pressure was a bit much and afterwards they work fine. and I was shooting FMJ's!

 

[Florida Cracker]

Bigghoss,

Patience is a virtue . . . that I sometimes lack, but I think that you may well be right.

I suppose it won't hurt to wait a couple of weeks more, though I have already had the magazines fully loaded for about two weeks.

I hate the idea of packing up my PT145 and sending it off to Miami . . . so I'll wait a bit and then let y'all know what happens.

I'm sure it is at least partially magazine related. I have the problem with both magazines, but there may be an issue with something else as well.

Thanks.

 

[9x19]

Mine ran fine right out the box with CCI Blazer 200 JHPs... now, I'll have to try some others to see if I have any feeding issues, although I really like the Blazer ammo! ;D

 

[Z400ACDC]

My gun dealer said that Taurus has had some problems with soft springs in the mags. He had mine replaced. Try cleaning the mags and stretch the springs just a little.

 

[Florida Cracker]

Don't know, Z400ACDC, seems to me that the springs might be too stiff, if anything.

At this point I'm seriously thinking of just sending the gun and the magazines to Miami . . . and hoping that they will sort it out.

I really want this gun to be a reliable CC gun. I will attempt to make it so. Hopefully one trip to Miami will be enough.

My Keltec P3AT had to make a trip to Cocoa, before it became my primary CC gun. I guess it's just in my genes.

Thanks.

 

[Cimarron]

I would love to know the "repair rate" for Taurus. One would have to know how many guns were produced in a given period of time, and what percentage of those guns came back. I would also be curious as to how Taurus' repair rate compared with S&W, Springfield, Ke-Tec, etc.

 

[Qwiks draw]

Taurus' PR department would or should have that info. One catch. The PR people are a advertisement firm. If they were made aware of the "bad rap" Taurus gets on the web at times, Taurus might just put up some numbers. Even ballpark figures that were real would be nice.

 

[Florida Cracker]

OK, y'all, my PT-145 is on its way to Miami. I'll let you know what happens.

I really want it to work. If it did, it would be just what I'm looking for . . . and so many other folks seems to be happy with it!

 

[Antibubba]

Magazine spring, magazine spring, magazine spring. Tell tale was that it would feed with 7 rounds but not 10.

 

[Florida Cracker]

And do you have a suggested fix, Antibubba?

The pistol (and hence, the magazines) was new.

Should I:

- Buy new magazines and HOPE they are better than the new ones that came with the pistol?

- Attempt to modify the new magazines so that they will operate as they should?

I really don't know, this time I opted to send it all back to Taurus and hope they can sort it out.

Of course, I suppose that will cost me shipping, but if it is fixed I will be satisfied. If not, that will be another matter.

Greg

 

[Steelheart]

Magazine spring, magazine spring, magazine spring. Tell tale was that it would feed with 7 rounds but not 10.

Sorry that I didn't spot this thread earlier, I don't always make it into the Semi-Auto section during the work week.

I'd suggest getting some Wolf extra power magazine springs. I haven't heard of any times that a mag had too much power (assuming that the mag spring was correct for the application) unless there was a different issue with the gun that needed to be repaired and the mag issue showed up first.

But I have seen new mag springs crap out within a couple of weeks. They were Colt 10mm mags for a 1911 many years ago, then again my 45acp 1911 Colt mag sucked too so... And yes, that was the last Colt mag I got. YMMV

Yes, you would have had to order the springs but it would likely have been faster than shipping the gun to Miami, which could have been done later regardless. And you would have had spare springs (of doubious reliability) sitting around for spares.

Steelheart

 

[Florida Cracker]

Thanks, Steelheart,

Looks like Wolf does not have springs for the PT145 magazines yet.

At least I could not find them on this site:
http://www.gunsprings.com/

Anyway, its good information to have and I will keep my eyes open for their availability.

 

[Steelheart]

You might have call them for the appropriate spring. Off hand I'm not sure who else uses a metal body double stack 45acp that handles 10 rounds. And I'm not sure if a mag spring for a 9/40 would work.

Springfield's new 45acp Compact XD, maybe some of the Para Ordance stuff, Smith likely had something, Glocks are a plastic mag body so I'm not sure it they would work, CZ/Eaa's Witness I think had a double stack 45.

But regardless I'd call them and see what they would recommend. Most places have people in customer service who know the product line.

Steelheart

 

[Florida Cracker]

Steelheart,

At this point I have already sent the pistol back to Miami, so pending that outcome I will call about a Wolf spring if that becomes necessary.

Thanks again, this may well be the only solution -- at some point.

Greg

 

[Steelheart]

I spotted that you had already shipped your gun to Miami but still responded so that if another member is having the same or a similar issue the info is there for them as well.

Hopefully no one will run into this type of an issue with a new gun but you never know if they guy making the mag springs partied too hard the night before and the steel isn't made right.


Florida Cracker, please let us know what you find out from Taurus. It will be interesting what they say they did and if they actually fixed the problem.

Steelheart

 

[Florida Cracker]

Steelheart,

I think I've been pegged a "basher", as I have not been terribly pleased with Taurus.

After my pistol was returned from Taurus (something like 10 weeks), I could see that they had obviously worked on the feed ramp. Tooling marks were visible that were not buffed out!

I test fired the pistol and it was greatly improved, but not 100%. I ended up buffing the feed ramp myself and it improved even more, but there was an occasional failure to feed -- usually caused by premature slide lock.

I sent the gun back to Taurus again, and after another 10-12 weeks it was returned. It was dirty, but about like firing 10-12 rounds, certainly not as many as 50. They claimed to find no problems.

I have fluffed and buffed and done all I can. I now have the pistol running pretty good. An occasional premature slide lock -- averaging about once every 100 rounds. All this requires is hitting the slide lock to feed the round at the top of the magazine.

I do like the PT-145. In fact -- call me crazy if you will -- I have decided to make it my primary carry for an upcoming vacation trip.

Concerning the premature slide lock, I am certain that I am not inadvertently hitting the lever. I have started to ever so carefully sand the slide lock where it protrudes in the magazine well. I'm pretty certain that the problem occurs when a round feeding from the magazine hits the protrusion and locks the slide. This same thing will occur with 1911s on occasion. The slide lock occurs most often with FMJs, I don't think I've had this happen with a more tapered JHP.

Unless things go terribly wrong, I will continue to tweak my PT-145 and will continue to carry it. I really like the pistol.

I DO NOT like Taurus customer service and repair . . . I will keep my PT-145, but I will not buy another Taurus.

Greg

 

[Cimarron]

Obviously no one would blame you if you choose to sell the gun, but you have chosen to work with it and that is admirable. I appreciate your observation made without emotion. Thanks for the follow-up