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Taurus TCP .380 review

5K views 7 replies 6 participants last post by  mcseal 
#1 ·
Well, I've been eyeing the TCP for a while and liked the size, feel and trigger a lot. Finally picked one up new and took it to the range yesterday. I was a bit disappointed overall for several reasons.

I'm not a Taurus basher, I've owned many and still own a couple and have never had a bad one despite all the bad press they tend to get on the boards. I'd say I'm really a bit of a Taurus fan overall.

With that said, this one I suspect, is not going to make the cut. I cleaned the gun thoroughly and oiled it with CLP. Easy take down and no issues visible on inspection. Started with some Aquilla 95 gr ball ammo and it ran just fine for several mags. Then I loaded up the Remington Golden Sabers I intended to carry in my new bug gun. Again, flawless....well, for the first mag.

This is where the wheels fell off. I began to get failures to go into battery. A tap on the back of the slide and it was running again, briefly. The longer I shot the worse the problems became. Then a failure to eject locked things up. It was a struggle to get the spent casing out and get going again. When I did the failures to chamber became worse. By the time I finished up it was pretty much a 50% failure rate.

Granted, this was the first experience and some guns need a break-in period, especially poly guns. Perhaps the gun just doesn't like to run dirty, perhaps it'll improve with more time and breaking in. Perhaps it's a crappy gun. I brought it home and cleaned it up again. Inspection didn't show any obvious issues. I intend to run several more boxes of ball through it before trying JHP's again.

I'll bring a few options for diet next time in case it's just ammo picky. Maybe it'll like Hornady or Federal better. If I discover it's only reliable with ball, I'll try the PowerBalls that tend to feed in anything that digests ball. That stuff is pricey but for just a reliability test and enough to carry that might be the answer. If I find the failures continue, this little gun I really like for pocket carry as a back up will have to find a new home.

I'm breaking out the Dremmel with the buffing wheel and I have some stainless polish to slick up the feed ramp but it looks pretty good already. I doubt that's the issue. Another thing, I noticed I'd worn a blister on the knuckle of my thumb after getting home from the range. Extended shooting with this little thing is not a lot of fun and the sights, if you can call them sights, are pretty much useless. I know that's common with a pocket gun but my old eyes would like a little more there.

Stopped at Walgreens and picked up some neon orange nail polish. I'll dab some on that front sight before I head out with it again. I'll let you know how round two goes. It might be a while. I'm not anxious to shoot it again. At least until the blister heals. I hope I can report problems solved but if not you'll hear that too.
 
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#2 ·
I am a huge taurus hater but perhaps you should (as you said) give it a few more shots. However I doubt it will fix your problem, try calling them and complaining with luck they will next day air it out to "fix" it.

Do keep in mind that the smaller pocket pistols aren't designed to be comfortable when shot and instead focus on weight safety and concealability. So your blister could be something that you need to just toughen up on.

Thanks for the review.
 
#3 ·
I bought one of these last fall for my CC pretty sweet ran a box of the blazer brass through it without a hiccup then I used the hornady critical defense same thing no prob. Except when I tried to eject a live round (hornady) it would hang on the front of the slide ejection port. I took a small chainsaw file an cut a radius to the inside of the slide maybe .001 put on a little blue paste so far runs good. Maybe I lucked up I don't know.
 
#4 ·
Update on my TCP experience. I took it out for round two and the only defense ammo I had to test was the same Remington Golden Saber 102 grain. Again, I had FTF issues so I called Taurus CS. The hold time was less than 10 minutes so not bad. The first question the CS Rep had was if I was using Remington ammo. Apparently these little guns are picky about ammo and Remington is the main culprit. He asked me to try another brand, any other brand basically. I'll be trying some Speer Gold Dot or Hornady Critical Duty of Critical Defense, whichever I can find. The .380 ammo is pretty scarce right now. Will follow up again after I give that a try.

Taurus is sending me a new magazine as well as a trouble shooting measure to be sure that's not the issue. So far I'm impressed with their CS Dept. That's a pleasant surprise after reading many posts to the contrary on here. They said they'll send me a free shipping label to ship it back for repair or replacement if I continue to have issues. Pretty amazing service so far on a $200. pistol.
 
#5 ·
I have an OLD Taurus revolver that I love so I was inclinded to like their stuff, however the TCP is an exception.

In three mags I had three feed failures, (it wasn't my gun, belongs to my SIL), decided I would look elsewhere for a pocket pistol right then and there.

BTW, we were shooting Win White Box 95 grn FMJs, I was under the impresion that just about any 380 Auto liked those.
 
#6 ·
Small gun, light weight....easy to limp wrist that gun. Is it possible you were just wimping out a tad on the grip and flinching a bit? The blister could have had you easing up a bit. If you don't get a firm grip and lock that wrist, you can have all sorts of eject probs.
 
#7 ·
I'd say that's an astute observation if I hadn't been shooting all my life. Small light guns are prone to limp wrist. I'm 6'2", 190lbs and a handgun shooter for over 30 years. If I'm limp wristing it, you'll need to tote a good ransom rest or vice with you in that pocket holster. Might print a little.
 
#8 ·
I had one, it fed reliably but I couldn't stand not having real sights. I traded it on a Kahr CM9 that I like much better. It is small enough for pocket carry (just barely) and has real sights, more power. I can shoot palm size groups to 15yds and it has never failed to feed.

I know for the range a TCP is meant for the sights are adequate, but I was using it as a solo carry pistol not as a back-up. I feel more comfortable with the Kahr.
 
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