[buckhammer]

Hi,
I'm new to the forum. I purchased a new blued Gaucho chambered in .357 with 7.5 inch barrel about two months ago. It is an excellent shooter; dead, dead accurate with a light, crisp, no roll-off trigger. I love it! I've put about 200 rounds (mostly light .38 loads) through it. Of that, I've had 7 failures to fire. Several attemps to fire these cartriges failed. (I put them in my snubie .38 and they all fired, so its not an ammunition issue) Upon inspection, I noted that the firing pin is very lightly striking the primer on most all the rounds. I think it just didn't strike these particular primers hard enough. I've been looking around and have seen some comments on other sites about an issue with the transfer bar being too short and/or incorrectly tapered to properly transfer the hammer energy to the firing pin. I'm concerned about sending the revolver in to Taurusu service because of slow, and sometimes sketchy repair. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[buckhammer]

Thanks.
I've tried CCI, Winchester, and Remington. Also shot my reloads. It doesn't seem to be ammunition picky...at least one FTF on each. The firing pins on both my RG snubie .38, and Gaucho .45 visually protrude further from the block.

 

[buckhammer]

mountainman888 and all,
Thanks very much for all the advice. I determined the problem and fixed it myself in about 30 minutes. Hopefully the following may assist any others with the same issue. First, I'm not a self-proclaimed gunsmith, however, I did grow up (thank God) on a farm around guns (we hunted a lot, still do...). Many years ago early in my career, I did some precise machine work. So I am mechanically inclined, additionally I have an engineering degree (but don't use it in my job...I'm a career military officer). OK, enough about me back to the gun!
The firing pin protruded further in with the hammer held back, trigger pulled, and me pressing the transfer bar as far forward as it would travel with my finger. Since the pin protruded futher this way as opposed to just letting the hammer push it, I figured there had to be something up with the hammer itself. Upon further observation, I noted that while looking straight down at the top of the lowered hammer that it was not quite square against the face of the rest on top of the pistol frame immediately below the rear sight groove. The hammer itself was square in the frame, but the striking face of the hammer at the very top was not squarly MIMed or machined (not sure which). Looking from the top, the left top hammer edge was hitting the pistol frame not allowing the hammer to fall fully forward against the transfer bar. This was verified by a corresponding wear mark on the frame. I took my dremel and very, very slowly with a soft brown stone, I squared the top hammer edge. Standing behind the pistol and looking down at the top, I held the dremel in my left hand and worked the high spot down until it was square to the hammer sides. Don't attempt to hold the dremel over the top of the pistol and work across the hammer left and right...This could end up giving you a concavity in the hammer face. From the side, work the dremel up and down just on the edge as if you were trying to round the top edge off. I took no more than a few thousands off and progressively finish sanded the edge back to a low mirror shine. The tiny area of repair actually blends well with the case hardened look of the hammer. That fixed the problem and now the pin is definately striking the primers deeper more in line with my other wheel guns.
This appears to be a minor quality control issue at Taurus, not necessarily a design issue. I'm happy with all the Taurus pistols I own, although I have seen similar minor quality control issues on some of my other Taurus pistols. So far, this is the only Taurus pistold I have had any functional failures with however. I imagine Taurus repair backlog will go down if they do a better job qc'ing their pistols before shipment.

 

[buckhammer]

Already been out shooting and perfect so far. Also, I put about 20 or so fired rounds (from before the fix) back into the pistol and dry fired again on those primers. I've closely examined the primers and all are consistently impacted deeper. I'm about 99% sure that was the fix but will be out again this weekend to shoot. I guess I better put at least another 200 rounds through it to be sure, darn!

 

[buckhammer]

I see you have a Kel-Tec P11 9mm. Do you like it? I'm thinking of getting one for concealed carry. How is the recoil since its so light.

 

[buckhammer]

Sounds Great. Thanks for the feedback and pics! I have a Bersa Thunder 380CC that I plan to carry when I get my cc license (hopefully should be back in 8 weeks). It's a great shooter but a little heavy...I carry it sometimes when I'm out on my hunt lease. I'm still considering the Kel-Tec, I like a lot of things about it, particularly since its made right here in the good ole USA.

 

[buckhammer]

Thanks for the info. Crimson Trace is making a laser for some Kel-Tecs so I expect they may come out with something for this pistol also.

 

[buckhammer]

Paulrabe78,
I went out and picked up a Kel Tec PF9. Haven't shot it yet but looking forward to it. It is so much lighter than my Bersa 380cc.

 

[buckhammer]

Took it back to the range last week and put about 100 rounds through it. Funtions flawlessly. Seems like a good fix.