Problem with TAURUS 650 CIA, advice welcomed

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coyote killa

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This will be a long thread, so you have been warned. On 12-24-10 I purchased a Taurus model 650 CIA .357 magnum revolver. The first trip to the range I started out with .38 special rounds and after 2 shots the cylinder would no longer turn. I unloaded and tried again. The same result occurred. I tried .38 special Federal and Remington ammo. I then tried Federal .38 special + P and Federal .357 magnum ammo. The same thing happened with all 4 rounds. The cylinder would lock up. I tried all 4 ammo's in my Ruger SP101 and my S&W model 640. They all performed flawlessly.

I phoned Taurus and informed them of the problem. They asked what kind of ammo I was using and generally seemed like they were trying to determine that it was my fault. Eventually they asked me to send it in for warranty repair. They refused to send a call tag and made me pay for the shipping. I sent the gun in, it was returned and it still had the exact same problem. I phoned and informed Taurus and was treated fairly rudely by a woman who informed me that they had test fired it according to her records and that it must be the ammo I was using. I asked if it was possible that they send me a new gun, and she said to send it back for repair. I refused. I then went to the dealer where I purchased it and explained the situation. He said he would send it back and asked me to write a letter with whatever it was that I wanted. I composed a letter asking them to REPLACE the gun and to refund the shipping charges that I felt I should not have had to incur on a brand new gun. I also sent an email to the Taurus CEO complaining of the situation. I never received a reply. A few weeks later my dealer phoned to tell me the gun had been returned. When I opened the box, there was the same gun with a new repair tag stating that it had been repaired. There was no reply to my letter and obviously they had not done what I asked. I noticed that in the process of repairing it, that they had scratched the firearm and chipped the blueing where they had removed a punch pin. I took it to the range, loaded some bullets and ....... the cylinder would not close. I tried 4 brands of ammo altogether 2 being .38 special one being .38 special+P and one being .357 magnum. The cylinder would not close when the bullets were loaded.

So now to the advice part. I don't want this POS and I'd like to get a new firearm and my money refunded for the 1st repairs shipping charges. I want to get a new gun because I can trade it for the full purchase price and get a S&W by paying the difference. Given my experience with Taurus customer service thus far, I'm pretty certain they are going to offer to send a call tag and "repair" it again. I'm going to go to my dealer on Monday and show him the "repair" and see if he can do something. If that fails, I'm going to contact the PA State Attorney Generals Office consumer complaints division and see if they can mediate a solution. If I have to I'll sue them. I was wondering if anyone here has ever had a situation this insane happen and if they have ever sued a gun manufacturer. Is it possible to sue a manufacturer in a State small claims court? The way I see it they have had 3 chances. The 1st chance was when they sent the firearm out to be sold initially. The 2nd and 3rd chances were the 2 "repairs" they made. I'm done with them and want to teach them a lesson. Any advice based on experience would be much appreciated.
 
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You've got a pretty good case for a Small Claims Court complaint....You will need to create a chronological narrative and get a written statement from your local gun dealer about his involvement, as well as his evaluation, and file the complaint against

Rossi Firearms, Inc
16175 NW 49 Avenue.
Miami, FL 33014

Since Rossi and Taurus are now the same company....

I don't know what your filing fees are in PA, but here they are $64, plus the service fee (usually @25) for the Sheriff's Office...

I have a friend that bought a Taurus 92 (Beretta 92FS clone) that had a bent barrel... It would shoot way to the left of where the sights indicated and it took him two years for Taurus to send him a new barrel (drop in item)...
 
A while back I made the mistake of buying a Rossi single shot 22-250 what a pos, I could never get it to group any better than 3 inches at 100 yds on a good day. Sent it back to the center in Florida with a letter stateing my issues and they returned it to me saying I should clean my guns. The gun was fully cleaned when I shipped it to them ,both powder solvent and bore tech elim. for the copper. IMHO Rossi = C---.
 
I'm going to be a jerk here and say I think a snowball can last a long time in [beeep] if you put a little hat on it. You can file in small claims, no-one will show up nor will anyone from taurus acknowledge the receipt of lawsuit, so it will go nowhere.

Your basic complaint should read short form, IMO, just "Bought a taurus, what should I do?" What makes taurus a BAD manufacturer isn't their ability to turn out a decent product,because they can, it's their inability to on average turn out an average product. If they could do that, they're as good as your average gun maker. Until then, they're on my list of do not buys.

Send it back again, you'll get it back with the same problem. Try to trade it in on a better firearm. Skip the s&w, and buy a ruger black or redhawk.

I had a keltec subcompact that went back twice with a laundry list of problems and returned with broken parts replaced, but the exact same problems. In the end I used it as a trade piece on a lever gun and a lesson that I'll never buy keltec again.

Your dealer isn't going to be much of a help, most I know of have a return policy that expires as soon as you leave the store. But if he's a smith, there's a chance he can correctly bore the cylinder. Reading the description of the problem, I'm laying odds on a shallow bore being the problem.
 
And taurus buying rossi... that's a lot like buying a pinto made by Yugo. It's not going to end well.
 
Other than Kimber...all Ive owned in over 42 years has been S&W's. If I were pushed into a gunfight and had only a Taurus to defend myself with....I'd use a long stick instead!!!!!
 
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Originally Posted By: coyote killa I purchased a Taurus


I think I found your problem.
rolleyes.gif
 
The cylinder will turn if you pull the trigger when the gun is unloaded. Previously it would not turn much when it was loaded. If they could just get it in the middle.
 
This revolver is the biggest pos I've ever had my mitts on. I understand that sometimes lemons can slip through, but this gun has been sent back TWICE for repair. The customer service and repair center is a joke. They should be ashamed of themselves. I'll definitely never purchase anything manufactured by them again.
 
A previous poster may be right when he said it was short-chambered. Cartridges may not be going in deeply enough to keep from dragging their heads on the rear face of the frame opening.
 
Thanks for posting this thread. I was getting ready to buy a Taurus 44 mag. I won't be doing that now.
 
You're welcome. Part of the reason for this thread was as a warning. I'd hate to have anyone else have to go through this.
 
I'm waiting to talk with my dealer to see if he can phone them and get them to do the right thing. If that fails the next step is the PA State Attorney Generals office of consumer complaints. If they are unable to resolve it, I'll escalate. I spoke with an ex girlfriend who is an attorney yesterday who is looking into suing if necessary. I'm pretty pissed at Taurus.
 
I don't know what is wrong exactly. Right now, the 2nd "repair" they made has actually made the problem worse. I can't even close the loaded cylinder now. Previously I could and could occasionally get off a shot or two.

Something I just noticed looking over my 2 "service department" invoices from them is that in the 18 day period between my 1st and 2nd repair, if I go by the service order numbers, it would appear that Taurus performed 5831 repairs. That works out to 323 per day. Perhaps that fact has something to do with the level of quality in their "service department".
 
Taurus doesn't have a good reputation when it comes to CS. What you are going through is par for the course when dealing with them.
 
After having this problem, I've discovered that there is quite a bit of uproar against Taurus. To be perfectly frank, I own 3 other Taurus pistols, all 9 mm Beretta clones, that have never malfunctioned. I have never used them heavily however. My brother in law has a Taurus revolver that so far has been okay. I had always heard they were iffy, but my experience with them had been uneventful. I was one of the people guilty of thinking that they had a lifetime warranty, so if anything would happen, it would be covered. This experience has forever changed the way I look at them. It is quite frankly unbelievable to think that someone who is licensed to manufacture firearms can put out product like this and be okay with it.
 
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