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Taurus Spectrum Range Report
Taurus Spectrum Range Report-Update-Post #30
As I mentioned in another thread here (http://www.taurusarmed.net/forums/pt92-other-taurus-pistols/364586-back-taurus-fold-spectrum.html), I recently picked up a new Taurus Spectrum. I finally got a chance to get to the range today for about an hour. Here is my attempt at a brief range report.
I am a member at my nearby outdoor range. Weather conditions were clear and sunny, but a bit breezy. The guns in this report are as follows:
-Brand new Taurus Spectrum (380ACP)
-My wife's nicely broken in Sig P238 (380ACP)
-My trusty KelTec P32 (32ACP) pocket lint collector
The Spectrum was field stripped, cleaned and lubed before ever being fired by me. I also racked the slide ~100 times with the magazine out, and squeezed the trigger ~200 times (without fully firing) in order to help the break in process along, the night before my range trip. I will add that there was quite a bit more machining grit in the gun than I expected, so I am glad I cleaned it first!
The Sig typically resides in the nightstand drawer, and is kept clean and well lubed at all times.
My poor little KelTec........she rides along in my pocket in a DeSantis holster every single day. As a result, there must be a metric TON of pocket lint in every nook and cranny in that gun. Yeah, I blow it out once in a while, but it really is silly....
The Sig and the KelTec are known entities to me.
The Sig has been perfect since the day my wife brought it home, and it is a tack driver. It oughtta be. It cost nearly $700! It also has the distinct advantage (when it comes to target practice) of being single action, so each squeeze of the trigger breaks cleanly and crisply, every. single. time. The night sights are a bit large for my liking, but they work well enough. Ergos are good on this gun, despite it being full of edges, and straight lines.
I purchased the KelTec "used" off GunBroker. It had a few scuffs, but looked to have actually been fired little. No wonder, as 32 ACP isn't the easiest to obtain, and it ain't cheap, either. The gun is miniscule, and as a result ergos work against you if you have anything larger than the smallest of hands. The sights are of the "barely there" variety, and my targets are proof of that. We'll get to that later.
This brings me to the Spectrum. I am not going to beat around the bush here. The Spectrum is easily the most ergonomically comfortable POCKET gun I have ever held. With it's perfect size, smooth edges, and grip that fits my medium sized hands oh-so-well, I kinda fell in love with her, and decided I was taking her home the minute she jumped into my right mitt. I have owned an LCP, and held the LCPII, the Smith Bodyguard, a Seecamp, and a few other small guns (and of course, my KelTec), and for feel (for me), the Taurus wins hands down.
Let's get to the meat of the report, dammit! The shooting (I am going to break this up into two sections. Reliability and accuracy)........
RELIABILITY:
I am just going to say, that I brought the other 2 guns to level set and have SOMETHING to compare the Spectrum to. No other reason, and I won't get into the details of shooting the Sig, because, it is simply the caddy of 380's in terms of recoil absorbtion and accuracy. The gun just works, and has been 100% reliable and accurate since bullet one.
I won't get into the shooting details of the P32 either, other than to say, that despite it being full of pocket lint, the sights being terrible, and the fact that it is so small, that it is hard for me to shoot as accurately as I would like, the gun has gone "bang" every single time I have pulled the trigger. 100% confidence here.
With regard to the reliability of the Spectrum, I am hopeful, but far from being thrilled. In the first magazine through the gun, I got 3 rounds down range before my first malfunction, a failure to feed. After a few failed attempts to feed that round, I removed it and noticed a distinct crease in the nose of the bullet. I removed it from rotation. The next round fed into the chamber, but suffered a light strike, and the primer failed to detonate. A second strike attempt lit her off and down range she went. The other rounds in the mag fired with no drama.
I ran a total of 90 rounds through the Taurus and suffered a total of 4 failures to feed, and 5 light strikes (all light strikes but the first required 3 attempts before they "lit"). The malfunctions DID become fewer as I went through the mags, so I was hopeful my issues were over, but on the last mag, I had the final light strike. Bummer. I'll note that I used 2 different brands of FMJ ammo here.....PPU (94 grain) and Perfecta (95 grain). Ammo selection made no difference. Below is a pic of the typical indentation from the Spectrum's firing pin (PPU on the left, and 2 Perfectas on the right-pic at the bottom).
To me, those firing pin marks are the same as the sights on my KelTec. Barely there.
ACCURACY:
I set the accuracy target up 7 yards away. The target really speaks for itself, but I will add that 5 rounds were fired through each gun, with all bullets hitting the target. No malfunctions were experienced during this "shoot". Oh, and the squares on the target are 1" (pic at the bottom).
Back to the reliability of the Spectrum. I have a few thoughts:
-I will look into doing some polishing of internal parts to address the FTF issue.
-I have a tendency to run my guns really wet. This may not work well for the Spectrum. I'll run it only lightly lubed next time. That may help the light strikes?
-I may have a defective/out of spec firing pin or firing pin spring. I will run 100 more rounds through the gun to ensure it is fully broken in before I contact Taurus for warranty work.
-Taurus may need a redesign of the firing pin/spring. I guess we'll see if this is an issue for other Spectrum owners soon enough. If so, hopefully Taurus makes good with replacement parts.
One final statement here, and I REALLY hope Taurus is listening........The Spectrum is a potential homerun. It COULD steal the majority of the market for pocket 380's, but they need to make sure they get on top of, and fully address any issues (like mine) that are surfacing. I like the gun very, very much, and will buy additional ones, if issues are corrected. Don't blow this, Taurus!
As I mentioned in another thread here (http://www.taurusarmed.net/forums/pt92-other-taurus-pistols/364586-back-taurus-fold-spectrum.html), I recently picked up a new Taurus Spectrum. I finally got a chance to get to the range today for about an hour. Here is my attempt at a brief range report.
I am a member at my nearby outdoor range. Weather conditions were clear and sunny, but a bit breezy. The guns in this report are as follows:
-Brand new Taurus Spectrum (380ACP)
-My wife's nicely broken in Sig P238 (380ACP)
-My trusty KelTec P32 (32ACP) pocket lint collector
The Spectrum was field stripped, cleaned and lubed before ever being fired by me. I also racked the slide ~100 times with the magazine out, and squeezed the trigger ~200 times (without fully firing) in order to help the break in process along, the night before my range trip. I will add that there was quite a bit more machining grit in the gun than I expected, so I am glad I cleaned it first!
The Sig typically resides in the nightstand drawer, and is kept clean and well lubed at all times.
My poor little KelTec........she rides along in my pocket in a DeSantis holster every single day. As a result, there must be a metric TON of pocket lint in every nook and cranny in that gun. Yeah, I blow it out once in a while, but it really is silly....
The Sig and the KelTec are known entities to me.
The Sig has been perfect since the day my wife brought it home, and it is a tack driver. It oughtta be. It cost nearly $700! It also has the distinct advantage (when it comes to target practice) of being single action, so each squeeze of the trigger breaks cleanly and crisply, every. single. time. The night sights are a bit large for my liking, but they work well enough. Ergos are good on this gun, despite it being full of edges, and straight lines.
I purchased the KelTec "used" off GunBroker. It had a few scuffs, but looked to have actually been fired little. No wonder, as 32 ACP isn't the easiest to obtain, and it ain't cheap, either. The gun is miniscule, and as a result ergos work against you if you have anything larger than the smallest of hands. The sights are of the "barely there" variety, and my targets are proof of that. We'll get to that later.
This brings me to the Spectrum. I am not going to beat around the bush here. The Spectrum is easily the most ergonomically comfortable POCKET gun I have ever held. With it's perfect size, smooth edges, and grip that fits my medium sized hands oh-so-well, I kinda fell in love with her, and decided I was taking her home the minute she jumped into my right mitt. I have owned an LCP, and held the LCPII, the Smith Bodyguard, a Seecamp, and a few other small guns (and of course, my KelTec), and for feel (for me), the Taurus wins hands down.
Let's get to the meat of the report, dammit! The shooting (I am going to break this up into two sections. Reliability and accuracy)........
RELIABILITY:
I am just going to say, that I brought the other 2 guns to level set and have SOMETHING to compare the Spectrum to. No other reason, and I won't get into the details of shooting the Sig, because, it is simply the caddy of 380's in terms of recoil absorbtion and accuracy. The gun just works, and has been 100% reliable and accurate since bullet one.
I won't get into the shooting details of the P32 either, other than to say, that despite it being full of pocket lint, the sights being terrible, and the fact that it is so small, that it is hard for me to shoot as accurately as I would like, the gun has gone "bang" every single time I have pulled the trigger. 100% confidence here.
With regard to the reliability of the Spectrum, I am hopeful, but far from being thrilled. In the first magazine through the gun, I got 3 rounds down range before my first malfunction, a failure to feed. After a few failed attempts to feed that round, I removed it and noticed a distinct crease in the nose of the bullet. I removed it from rotation. The next round fed into the chamber, but suffered a light strike, and the primer failed to detonate. A second strike attempt lit her off and down range she went. The other rounds in the mag fired with no drama.
I ran a total of 90 rounds through the Taurus and suffered a total of 4 failures to feed, and 5 light strikes (all light strikes but the first required 3 attempts before they "lit"). The malfunctions DID become fewer as I went through the mags, so I was hopeful my issues were over, but on the last mag, I had the final light strike. Bummer. I'll note that I used 2 different brands of FMJ ammo here.....PPU (94 grain) and Perfecta (95 grain). Ammo selection made no difference. Below is a pic of the typical indentation from the Spectrum's firing pin (PPU on the left, and 2 Perfectas on the right-pic at the bottom).
To me, those firing pin marks are the same as the sights on my KelTec. Barely there.
ACCURACY:
I set the accuracy target up 7 yards away. The target really speaks for itself, but I will add that 5 rounds were fired through each gun, with all bullets hitting the target. No malfunctions were experienced during this "shoot". Oh, and the squares on the target are 1" (pic at the bottom).
Back to the reliability of the Spectrum. I have a few thoughts:
-I will look into doing some polishing of internal parts to address the FTF issue.
-I have a tendency to run my guns really wet. This may not work well for the Spectrum. I'll run it only lightly lubed next time. That may help the light strikes?
-I may have a defective/out of spec firing pin or firing pin spring. I will run 100 more rounds through the gun to ensure it is fully broken in before I contact Taurus for warranty work.
-Taurus may need a redesign of the firing pin/spring. I guess we'll see if this is an issue for other Spectrum owners soon enough. If so, hopefully Taurus makes good with replacement parts.
One final statement here, and I REALLY hope Taurus is listening........The Spectrum is a potential homerun. It COULD steal the majority of the market for pocket 380's, but they need to make sure they get on top of, and fully address any issues (like mine) that are surfacing. I like the gun very, very much, and will buy additional ones, if issues are corrected. Don't blow this, Taurus!
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Great work! This is the first actual review I have been able to find anywhere. Now you need to get this on camera and post to YouTube....
I cleaned the gun thoroughly this evening. I DO think running it so wet was a mistake. It has minimal, but adequate lube now. As a side note, I used a fair amount of Gun Scrubber to clean out the firing pin channel, and alot of dirty cleaner came out, so we'll see what happens. She is ready to go back to the range for another 100 rounds, so I just need to plan that out.
There were a few comments I should have added to my range report:
-Regarding the sights, they are molded into the slide, and are barely adequate. They work, but I sure would like to see some type of improvement from Taurus. As it was, I painted the front sight to aid in target acquisition, as I struggle using all black sights.
-Both the standard and extended (mag is the same, just the base allows an additional round) mags worked flawlessly, and although the extended mag was a bit easier to get full purchase on, the base is so big, it will inhibit concealed carry. I'd go with the standard capacity mag for that.
-Field stripping and cleaning this weapon is ridiculously easy. Take down and assembly is a cakewalk. Excellent job, Taurus, and thank you!
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