[Mychael]

I've owned my 2nd hand PT99 AFS for some months now. I got it at a good price and consider it to be a good first gun.
It did take me awhile to get it dialled in for accuracy and it did have the hinge pin break on the rear sight but otherwise it's been faultless.

However here in Australia the Taurus pistol is still in the minority. I only know of two other people that own them and they are very happy with their guns and compete regularly with them.

Whenever gun choices come up in discussion on the Aussie forums the general consensus seems to be they are "rubbish, unreliable, break easily etc". Sometimes this comes from an experienced person who says he's owned several in the past and had to fix many more broken ones and a lot of the time it comes from others saying "well I heard" etc, etc. So nobody makes the leap and buys or tries one.

I have no regrets buying mine and so far so good it's been a great gun for the price, the negative comments don't effect my enjoyment of my gun, I know it works but just wonder there still seems to be so much bad press around about them and why not many are willing to give them a try.

 

[Mychael]

Too many also go on heresay instead of trying something themselves. Once a story starts it's hard to kill.
I try explaining that I've had no issues with my gun (and it's well used before I got it) but I just get shouted down by the naysayers, their loss I guess.

Aussie shooters seem to be a pretty conservative lot when it comes to handguns, not many willing to step and test the waters. To be fair though guns cost us more over here so I guess that's a reason for them to be hesitant to try something different.

 

[Mychael]

I thought it was illegal to own a gun in Australia...... mate? (yeah..... I said it.)

Really !!! Where on earth do you get that from? We cannot have pump action shotguns or semi-auto rifles or shotguns (unless a professional hunter or farmer/primary producer) and we can have handguns.
I personally own 5 handguns and a 12ga U/O shotgun. Not interested in rifle shooting.

 

[Mychael]

Do you get to keep them in your home or do they have to stay at your gun club like I've read on here in England? I to had heard there was an out right ban on them.
/QUOTE]

Yes mate, all at home. We have storage rules/requirements. Cannot store ammunition in the same safe as the firearm, handguns must be in a steel safe "not easily peneratable" whatever that means but generally accepted to be 5mm thick.
For handgun ownership you have to be an active member of a recognised club and attend a minimum of 10 shoots per year, there's a table to calculate how many shoots you have to attend if you own more then one handgun of different calibres.
We don't take handgun ownership for granted, there are police checks, safety courses and such things that you have to do. None of it's really hard, at worst it's tedious and takes time but filters out the wannabes who just want to own a gun and leaves the enthusiastic and genuine shooters.

 

[Mychael]

Excuse my misinformed ignorance. I guess I only heard about the long guns so I assumed that included pistols as well. Enjoy your Taurus!

All good mate, not having a go at you. Statistics say we've actually got more guns now then there were before the buyback, more shooters coming into the sport and more owners having multiple firearms.
We are more broken into two camps, hunters and sports/target shooters. Though there is overlap with some doing both you'll find a lot only doing one thing.

We have youth shoots where young people are introduced into the sport, women shooters (though it's still really more a "blokey" pastime) my wife is a shooter and owns her own revolver.

There is ISSF matches IPSC and Western (Cowboy) matches though I don't think we have the quick draw comps you guys have. That's just handgun stuff, then there's the usual clay target matches, precision rifle shoots, there's collector shoots and military rifle (though not what you guys probably have) more vintage/classic bolt action stuff.

Home/self defense is not a legitimate reason for gun ownership here and it's something that gets dragged up every so often on our own shooting forums with (I'm guessing) maybe a 50/50 ratio of for and against. My perception is that there are much fewer in favour of concelled carry over here.

 

[Mychael]

Taurus has a lifetime warranty, but is there a Taurus repair center in Australia? If not, shipping your pistol off for repair could be expensive.
.

I've established that the much vaunted Taurus lifetime warrenty does not extend to Australia, we just get 12 months like any other gun brand.
There's not a dedicated Taurus repair centre as such. There are agent/importers who bring in stock and parts but wont deal direct with the public so in the event I ever need parts or repair I have to take it to a gunsmith and they are a bit thin on the ground down my way.

 

[Mychael]

It's not just an Australian problem, brand snobs are universal!

Glad you like the Taurus. It sucks about the "normal" warranty though.

Yeah, not getting a lifetime warrenty was a bit of a downer, though not a deal breaker. I'm getting to like the gun more and more as I use it.
Though having said that it's taken me longer to get it dialled in, I used to use a club CZ75 and worn though it was I could get respectable scores with it, moving to my own Taurus my scores fell badly and I'm only now starting to get them back up to where I was before.

 

[Mychael]

Maybe I'm just an optimist, but I say all that means is you have an excuse to shoot more!

There is that to it, we go shooting about 3 times a week on average as we both own rimfires as well.
I was thinking of trying thinner grips on my Taurus as I don't have particularly large hands. Anyone know if there are thinner grips available?

Not sure if my gun has stock grips or not, they are checkered timber ones.