[old guy in texas]

Picked up my second Spectrum cheap. I got a $20 off coupon from Academy so I checked their website and a Spectrum(black slide,white frame) was on sale for $139. $20 off and it was $119. Add sales tax and shipping (local store out of stock) and the total was $141. That is still over $100 less than my first Spectrum. Took it home, stripped it, cleaned it, lubed it and took it to the range. Trigger is a smooth 7 pounds, shot to point of aim at 3 and 7 yards, a couple of inches high at 15 yards but well centered.
Took it home and stripped again and found the barrel was filthy after 50 rounds. Gave it a good cleaning and found the bore is rather rough.So I scrubbed it with JB bore cleaner. Some slight improvement. While looking at the muzzle I noted the chamfer was uneven. Since I have chamfering tools from my days of messing with old revolvers I set out to fix it.
It turms out Spectrum slides and barrels are coated with black melonite (what Glock calls Tenifer). That stuff is hard as hand hammered hell. It ruined my chamfering tool and they cost $51 at Brownells. My first Spectrum has the same problem.
Now my quandary is do I say the hell with it and shoot them as is or do I take them to the local machine shop and have them chuck them in a lathe and cut the chamfer with a carbide tip cutter. Yes I know it may cost as much as the gun but things like that just irk me. My kids say I am anal retentive. What say you all-fix it or forget it.

 

[chefduane]

Chunk it and get a Ruger LCP or LCP II. Just sayin'.

 

[Smokewagon]

If it’s as good a shooter as you say, keep it and shoot it. What’s wrong with that?

 

[oldtimer]

At 140 dollars shoot and enjoy.

 

[garyh]

If it shoots OK the way it is , just leave it alone.

 

[silverstring]

I agree with the others, it shoots well, let it be. I know it is hard from one OCD person to another, but often trying to make an inexpensive pistol perfect, will ruin the pistol. I have gone down that road before and it can get costly, when working on some of my customer's firearms. Now a Colt or other high end pistol is another story. I am not a Spectrum fan by any means, so that may be coloring my thoughts. I owned one for a while , but it spent more time in Taurus warranty repair, than it did at my house. Don't assume that the barrel in that spectrum is a high quality steel that will handle re-chamfering, it may twist or loose some strength at the chamfer site.

 

[777Driver]

I agree with the crowd. If it shoots well, leave it alone.
”If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

I also like Chefduane’s reply: “Chuck it, and get a Ruger LCP or LCP-II.”
That’s what I did when my PT-738 crapped out.
Love my LCP-II.

Don’t know what I did, but somehow this “advertise” thing attached to my message.

• ADVERTISE

 

[old guy in texas]

Well, after 24 hours and 6 replies the answer is just shoot the thing. It really is true, you get what you pay for.

 

[osbornk]

I paid $119.99 for mine ($128 out the door), took it home, cleaned and shot it. It shoots fine. I don't know if it has any problems you outline but as Hillary said "What differece does it make?" Nobody will know but you anyway.

 

[Ickthus]

Yea, a Taurus is known for high end quality precision craftsmanship. I'm much the same way. I demand perfection in the way i work and wanting things right with what i have. What i found after years of doing and having things is, nothing stays perfect, shiny and new but if you try to keep it that way you'll have nice things. One more little thing that is just drives me nuts about being like this. If i get something new and it wacked right out off the box or has imperfection, i will never lose it, break it or wear it out. Every time i look at it or use it that ding or imperfect screams at me and laughs daring me "do something".
When i just got out of school good i started working offshore in the Gulf. You had to have a work knife. You would be looked at as not having your personal tools and subject to being run off or not called out on the next job.
Being of this perfection mind set about got me black balled from working off shore.
I got a nice lock blade and broke the tip off the first time i used it off shore. I got so mad i slung it as far out in the gulf as i could. I got in trouble for not having a knife. I got a new one next trip. It fell out of my hand cutting buoy lines. I had no knife and got in trouble. I purchased two knifes for the next trip out. They were cheap pot metal hands with 440 stainless blades. One broke while using it. I had the handle but that good 440 stainless was going out of sight in the water. No big deal, i had a back up. Not more than ten minutes later i sat it down to grab a roll of duck tape and it was kicked overboard. I got in trouble for not having a knife a third time, Not good.
So as soon as i got back onshore i bought a Case lock blade with the good leather belt sheath. The next week i'm helping my brother in law hook up his car trailer. A lights not working. Its a bad ground wire. "Here, use my knife." He does not hand it back to me. He flips it back at me sticking into the wooden deck of the car trailer. SNAP! The tip pops off in the deck. He is a great guy, Feels bad and wants to pay for a new one. I say no, its got a guarantee. I'll mail it off. But inside i'm losing it in my mind. I have to go offshore to work tomorrow. I don't want buy another as money seems to be an issue after being on shore as week. Now everyone will see me using a broken, second hand knife. Its a busted tool. A knife without a tip is not a knife.
Ohh big deal i'll lose it soon anyway. Hey, i won't even have to mail it off. I'll just get a new one.
I used that knife for the next seventeen years i worked of shore.
Sometime you just have to let go and live with life giving you the finger. Just keep telling yourself it's because you're number one.

 

[chefduane]

Yeah, if it shoots fine for you then great. The 738 I had was a jam-o-matic. NOTHING would run in it. Tried everything. I think I just got a lemon. So I traded it at Cabela's for a new LCPII and never looked back. The Ruger has been sold from Day 1 and runs whatever I feed it. I'm kinda' soured on any 380 that comes out of Taurus.

 

[MARINEDIVISIONTWO]

I will take a well functioning firearm any day over a firearm that just looks good but not dependable,JMO .

 

[GhostHorse]

I'd have to see a picture before rendering an opinion.

And Ickthus, that was a great story!

 

[MOONDAWG]

If you'd bought it for bulls-eye or Olympic competition I could see getting your panties in a wad.

But for card table distance social occasions 100% reliability and minute-of-felon accuracy is good enough for me.

 

[Ickthus]

I'd have to see a picture before rendering an opinion.

And Ickthus, that was a great story!

Truth is stranger than fiction. My life is full of truths. Ask anyone, they will tell you. "That strange dude over there tells the truth.

 

[777Driver]

Yeah, if it shoots fine for you then great. The 738 I had was a jam-o-matic. NOTHING would run in it. Tried everything. I think I just got a lemon. So I traded it at Cabela's for a new LCPII and never looked back. The Ruger has been sold from Day 1 and runs whatever I feed it. I'm kinda' soured on any 380 that comes out of Taurus.

I'm with you, Chefduane. My 738 started out jamming on the last round in the magazine every time. After a long break-in period, that included about 1,000 dry cycles while watching TV, it finally started to work the way it was suppose to. Then after only one year, it began to have random FTE's. Soon I couldn't get through one magazine without at least one FTE, and sometimes three. I thought there was something wrong with the extractor. I couldn't send it back to the company at that time because I was getting ready to move.

In the meantime, I bought a Ruger LCP-II. I was amazed at how similar the LCP-II was to the 738. Yet the LCP-II was extremely reliable. It shot anything I fed it, and never had a failure of any kind. When I finally sent my 738 back to Taurus, they said they couldn't repair it and offered me a new Spectrum as replacement. I asked if I could get a new G2C instead, and they approved.

Now I have a G2C to augment my G2 for IWB concealed carry, and a Ruger LCP-II for those times when a small pocket carry is a better option.
I'm happy!

 

[taurustoter]

Chunk it and get a Ruger LCP or LCP II. Just sayin'.

Yeah, I have two of the LCP's. Never got all that excited about the Spectrum.

 

[oldtimer]

Strange my TCP has been excellent from day one. The 10-11 oz firearms need lots of lube and a tight grip especially when new.

 

[NovaTaurus]

My Spectrum is super accurate, the perfect size and it shoots well with no issues. The trigger feels alittle gritty when dry firing, but at the range, I forget about it when putting rounds through it. It is my EDC.

 

[rhugg]

Didn't Clint Eastwood have a movie "For a Few Dollars More" and then "A Fistfull of Dollars"