Hmm…this can open up a deliciously diabolical philosophical debate: it’s the end of the world and you can only grab one of two guns – either a HiPoint 9mm carbine or the Taurus AR.
I can literally jump into my email and order, right this moment, at least three different American-made AR’s for less than $600 ea. Even when you drift into MSRP country, you can still get a decent AR for less than $750. Taurus is going to have to price their product significantly below that if they want to capture any share of the AR market, IMO.
And, according to this source, the MSRP is $1200. Madness.
My experience with Taurus has been almost nil. Taurus is, to me, one of those guns you buy only if you literally have no other option. (Or you want a disposable gun to leave someplace where it might get lost/stolen/destroyed.) I had a buddy with one of their Beretta 92 clones and it was a decent enough gun, but with trade in Berettas going for around $350 these days why bother South American quality control and non-standard magazines?
Oh, thats right…I’m one of those ‘yuppie survivalists’ who can’t grasp the real issues the way ‘us working men’ do. Hey, if ‘yuppie’ means I’m willing to make the sacrifices to buy quality gear the first time around, so be it. There’s a solution to not being able to afford ‘yuppie survivalist’ gear – either earn more money or spend less money elsewhere.
Thus far I haven’t seen any of these Taurus AR’s floating around, and my vendors don’t show them at the moment, but it will be interesting to see how they are received. The AR market is already pretty saturated, and unless you’re bringing something new to the table it is going to be hard, I would think, to draw any appreciable market share unless you have a radically different pricing schedule.
The AR market is such right now that you can buy two brand-name AR carbines for what you’d pay for one of those Taurii at MSRP. The only reason to spend more than a grand on an AR these days is if it has some really sweet options on it…match triggers, special furniture, high-end scope and mount, etc, etc. Right now, though, you can get rack-grade M4geries all day long for less money than I’ve seen them go for in a long time.
I saw a picture floating around Facebook (Tam’s page, maybe?) of the “staking” on the bolt carriers. It was kind of a an effort at displacing metal, I guess. For $1200? Shameful. If those are their show guns, I shudder to think of what’s coming off the line.
If I could find a $600-ish 1:7 twist AR that checked all the basic boxes (chrome/melonite, not a Taurus, etc.) I’d have to get out the plastic, but I can’t help but think BCM is going to start coming down in price too….
I think Taurus best ‘his their stride’ when making clones. As you said, the 92 knock-off is a very decent pistol. Suspect an ar knock-off might be a decent firearm as well, although not a ‘better deal’ than ruger’s $500 AR-556. My only exposure to Taurus is via Rossi (M92), which was (and is) a phenomenal value.
I’m not an ‘AR guy’, but if I were, I’d probably go with a big name like Ruger, S&W, etc. As Taurus’ national government (Brazil) swirls around the toilet bowl, I’m surprised they’d want to open any new product lines while actively being looted.
Taurus is trying to sell a $1,200 AR, that is laughable. You can get a Colt 692le in the 850-900 range.
I have some experience with Taurus revolvers. It is 2/3 positive. One older (late 90’s) .22 revolver has an issue with the extractor not grabbing all the spent casings.
The centerfire revolvers I’ve used work just fine. One of my clan owns a 6″ Taurus model 66 that’s roughly a S&W clone. It is by far the most accurate handgun I have ever shot. Like scary accurate. Better than Colt or Smith wheel guns.
They are a price point gun. They make some lemons but even if their lemon rate is 5x Smiths they still make 95 decent guns against the 5 bad ones. I probably would not buy one today but well I make Ruger/ Smith money now.
I always go withb names I can trust…Taurus isn’t one of them…I’m sure they still put lead down range but for the price point you mentioned I would go for a tried and true brand…
I’d spend more than $1k on a gun, if it’s one that I may some day stake my life on.
A Knights Armament Co. AR can run over 3x that, but it has proven 20,000 round no-failure reliability without cleaning. That’s the sort of confidence I want to have in my rifle when it’s TEOTWAWKI.
Give me one KAC over three Tauruses (Tauri?) any day.
The Taurus business model was to buy cast off S&W tooling and build in Brazil with cheap labor and cheap metal. As Zero said, probably good enough for a throw down gun but for a few dollars more I can go with US built. Ruger even warranties their guns bought on the used market, and I have hit gallon milk jugs at 200 yds with a GP100.
it will be interesting to see the sales figures and reviews
I love my Taurus PT1911 and .22 pump. The 1911 is the most natural pointing, and accurate 1911 that I have shot. I have let guy’s at work shoot it, and 3 of them traded .45s of different makes for Taurus 1911s. It came from the factory set up for competition for less than $600.00 and this was when Obama first came in and the prices had skyrocketed and you could not get any 1911 for less then $1200.00.
Zero
I have a Taurus 92 Stainless. Quality is very good, basically it is my nightime bedside and bathroom gun ( why I choose stainless ) . It is heavy but that aids accuracy.
I have a Taurus .44 mag tracker revolver, 4 inch that came ported in stainless. More of a deer hunting gun when I feel the need to challenge myself. In WI most deer are shot at under 100 yards. The quality again is very good. Over 500 rounds of my stiff hand loads and nary an issue.
And lastly I have a Taurus Curve .380 with integral laser/light combo. Main reason is it easily slips into the pocket and is hardly noticeable at all. Easy to carry anywhere. Granted .380 is not the best defensive round, but it is better than nothing.
Now I also own a SIG 220, 2 S&W M&P, Ruger SR .45, Series 70 Modified Colt 1911, so I am no Taurus freak or heavy advocate. They just happened to have some models that fit certain niches I wanted, for a decent price.
But yeah a 1200.00 AR? Huh? Do,these guys do marketing surveys, or study price points currently seen on AR’s? Apparently not very well.
They failed with their 9mm carbine,,price on that higher than the Berreta CX Storm.
So maybe Taurus is not the best stuff out there, but I don’t think they are the worst.
Oh, I dont think theyre the worst. I reserve that for stuff like the imported Philippine revolvers and that sorta thing. Taurus is just, in my opinion, no ones first choice. I think very few people look at a catalog of guns, flip past the Smiths, Rugers, and Glocks, and say “What I really want is one of those Tauruses…”
I look at this and to Springfield’s Saint and wonder… why? One could make the case that these designs were really meant to premier under a different WH election but with the market as flooded as it is, with the prices dropping to what they are, this make no real sense to me. If the tooling was done and then the AR market dropped, I guess you try to recoupe the manufacturing costs somehow but these markers both missed the window to introduce “new” AR designs IMO. I mean I dropped some coin on a Sig556 pistol last year and I just saw a full length Sig550 (7.62) for the same price last month, yes I kicked myself.
Good point. Maybe they predicted Hillary winning the election and thinking that under her, like Obama, they could sell big quantities of their AR’s. Trump wins and crap, what do we do with all these guns!?
I bought a five-shot .38 Special Taurus 85 SS Ultralite for concealed carry (easier concealment in the summertime for a small-framed guy like me), since their price point was great when compared to the others on the market. Shot a buttload of rounds through it (range, not real life) and I’m impressed…it’s not going to bag me a deer at 100 yards, but for up close and personal self-defense, it’ll do. Just my 2 cents.