# Seeking opinions



## JJ Grandits (Nov 10, 2002)

I respect the opinions of many of the members here. You definately know more that I do.
I have been thinking about picking up a .22 revolver and decided on the Taurus 992 as it has the capability to switch from .22LR ( a practical round) to .22mag ( an underrated round I love).
As I keep my self on a limited budget I do a great deal of research before buying any gun and have been finding mix reports on the Taurus992. It is either a simple well made, accurate gun or a piece of poorly manufactured junk.
Does anyone here have any practical hands on experience with this particular firearm?
Or any experience with Taurus firearms at all?


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## Seth (Dec 3, 2012)

Had one for years, gave it to my buddy's kid because he was in love with it. Mine shot great, more accurate with .22LR than with Mag. Never had any trouble with it at all. Seth


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

You will find mixed reports on most anything made by Taurus.
I have a 24/7 in 45 caliber. It has some plastic internals and reviews on it are everything from ugly to great.
I bought probably 10 years ago because of price. It is one heck of an accurate gun. In fact it is moreso than any other handgun I own, and I own a few.
I won't buy another Taurus but I'm happy with that one.


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## flewism (Apr 2, 2007)

I had a Taurus revolver 4” barrel in 38/357, for 20 years. It was one of the house self defense guns for a long time. My son has had it for the last few years. My only complaint was I bought the stainless steel version and I didn’t like shooting it in bright sunshine as I aged.


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## Fishindude (May 19, 2015)

Taurus makes a pretty nice revolver. They're not the quality and fit & finish of Smith & Wesson or Colt, but they are fine firearms regardless. The 992 allows you to flip the entire cylinder out, dump it, and load it -vs- the cowboy style pistols where you have to rotate the cylinder ejecting and loading each round individually. I would want this, much faster to load and unload.

Don't think there is much advantage to having both cylinders and there isn't huge performance advantages between those two rounds, .22 LR & .22 mag. Would probably just look for the best 22 LR revolver I could afford and go that route, plus it's cheaper to shoot.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

22lr is .223" and 22mag is .224" you need to find the 22lr ammo it likes but also understand the barrel on a combo gun is oversize for 22lr

if your not shooting bullseye with this nor shooting silhouettes and using it as a utility gun to go woods bumming and shoot a few squirrel

accuracy reports have a lot to do with personal expectation of a pistol my neighbor nice younger guy maybe 28 now , met him at the range one day he was there with a friend of his who was a member. they are shooting a few 45acp handguns and he asks if he can borrow a screw driver to adjust his sights , sure but could I take a few rounds with it first. I dry fire it 3-4 times then insert a mag and lay 4 rounds in the black , I can loan you the screw driver or we can fix your shooting , it isn't the gun.

a little dry fire and we had shrunk his pattern by half and gotten him around the bullseye he had been low left and spraying about a 16 inch pattern. 
his expectation was a pistol was for across the room 15-20 feet and if you could keep on a human torso at that distance it was good.

I get disappointing if I cant hit a 13 inch steel plate at 100 yards with a 4 inch barrel handgun most of the time.

just like people will talk about how excellent a factory ammo is in a review , it has always taken their deer perfectly you try the same ammo and are disappointed it comes no where close to your hand-load for accuracy. his expectation was a softball size group at 75 yards yours was a quarter size group at 100

much of the reviews vary so widely because of expectation.

the other reason that Taurus reviews vary so widely is QA quality assurance the Monday morning and Friday evening guns ship with all the rest.

if you can try it out in the shop , bring some snap caps and dry fire it. is the trigger great or not.

when you buy the smith or Ruger your going to pay about 700-750 where the taurus is about 500.

if you go single action army style side loading gate you can get the Ruger single 10 for around 460-500 there is just that much less machining and parts and fitting in this type of gun.

if it is a range toy yes it is slow to load or unload but as a trap line gun you carry loaded you can reload the spent case after firing and without unloading all the cases 

it is a trade off.

if you are going to be as dedicated to accuracy with a pistol as you are with a rifle the Smith or Ruger a much more of a sure thing. a lot of 22 bullseye guns built on both you can get a trigger job to make single action ounces not pounds and really smooth out that double action pull.

as for 22mag in a handgun they don't perform like they do from a rifle , more velocity than a 22lr but not that much more 

a 32gr stinger 22lr from a 6 inch barrel pistol is around 1300fps 
a 30gr maxi mag v 22mag from a 6 inch barrel is about 1450fps more but no where near the 2250fps it produces in a rifle

the 22lr is 89% of the 22mag from the same pistol barrel

if you prefer 40 gr ammo 

a 40gr Velecitor 22lr is 1180 from a 6 inch barrel pistol 
40 gr maxi mag 22mag 1289 from a 6 inch barrel pistol

the 22lr is 91% of the 22mag

is it worth the extra cost to buy 22 mag at almost double the price for 9% more performance ?

you gain 100 fps , the question is if the bullet was designed to expand at rifle velocities of 1980fps will it just act like an FMJ when 700fps slower


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## Fishindude (May 19, 2015)

GREENCOUNTYPETE said:


> accuracy reports have a lot to do with personal expectation of a pistol my neighbor nice younger guy maybe 28 now , met him at the range one day he was there with a friend of his who was a member. they are shooting a few 45acp handguns and he asks if he can borrow a screw driver to adjust his sights , sure but could I take a few rounds with it first. I dry fire it 3-4 times then insert a mag and lay 4 rounds in the black , I can loan you the screw driver or we can fix your shooting , it isn't the gun.


This hit the nail on the head !
Pistols are hard to shoot accurately and take a whole lot more practice and training that a long gun to get anywhere near proficient. I've spent a lot of time behind pistols and still don't consider myself much of a marksman with one.

I do think .22 LR is probably about the best round to learn with.


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## JJ Grandits (Nov 10, 2002)

Thanks for the advise.
I can't really see myself hunting with this but it may be used as a trail gun. Mostly it will be used for target practice. In my mind that means super glueing a dime to a 4x4, backing up 25' and than start shooting.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

if targets are the game I would take a serious look at a Ruger 22/45 MKIII or MKIV

22lr only , an a fordable gun that does well with targets and can do game as well.
many a bullseye gun are a Ruger MKII MKIII or MKIV

the browning buckmark is also a good choice.
sky is the limit in the Ruger 22 pistols from bone stock , to different upgrades you do yourself to a full on Volquartsen target gun.

after market parts are plentiful.

if your goal is to hit that dime every time at 25 feet there are Ruger 22 target guns that will get to where if you miss . it's you.

out of the box we use the Ruger MKIII 22/45 pistols with Vortex Venom sights to shoot 22 pistol small bore in the county youth shooting sports targets at 40 , 60 , 77 and 100 Meters.

my own personal MKIII 22/45 is very lightly modified to make the trigger a bit better and remove the Magazine disconnect.

it is a great training tool and a lot of fun to shoot


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## Fishindude (May 19, 2015)

I've shot quite a few rabbits with my .22 pistol. 
It's pretty sporty hunting rabbits with a pistol.


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## Cornhusker (Mar 20, 2003)

For a target .22, I'd suggest the S&W Victory .22
Awesome little shooter


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

this is how we like to run the 22/45 it is shown here with the bolt locked back
the optic is a vortex Viper red dot the local youth pistol program runs them almost identical to this. they leave them box stock however.
if your into changing grips this takes 1911 grip panels.
once the magazine disconnect is removed and replaced with a MKII hammer bushing the mags drop free. (8 dollar part)
this setup does a nice job shooting rams at 100 meters yet you can still carry it in a holster.


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## HDRider (Jul 21, 2011)

I have a Taurus .380 and a Ruger .380. I have had the T longer. When I first bought it, it had a problem. Anyone could see it was a design problem. They fixed it great. Had it over 10 years now. Its quality is very comparable to the Ruger


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

Cornhusker said:


> For a target .22, I'd suggest the S&W Victory .22
> Awesome little shooter


i have heard S&W did well with the Victory. it loosk a lot like a hybrid between the Buckmark and the Ruger MK-IV the 22lr pistol prior to the vitory was the S&W22-A it left a few things to be desired , the trigger I found mushy on all that I tried and it had a sacrificial plastic part in the assembly you needed to be prepared to replace when it broke. as well as the mag release being under your middle finger.

I just have not had a chance to try the Victory yet.


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## Cornhusker (Mar 20, 2003)

GREENCOUNTYPETE said:


> i have heard S&W did well with the Victory. it loosk a lot like a hybrid between the Buckmark and the Ruger MK-IV the 22lr pistol prior to the vitory was the S&W22-A it left a few things to be desired , the trigger I found mushy on all that I tried and it had a sacrificial plastic part in the assembly you needed to be prepared to replace when it broke. as well as the mag release being under your middle finger.
> 
> I just have not had a chance to try the Victory yet.


Mine practically shoots itself.


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## JJ Grandits (Nov 10, 2002)

I'm really into a revolver. Just love the simplicity and look.


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## Fishindude (May 19, 2015)

JJ Grandits said:


> I'm really into a revolver. Just love the simplicity and look.


Absolutely !
Get yourself a nice revolver, they never jam and you won't burn thru ammo as fast. 
I'll go back to what I said earlier and suggest getting one where they full cylinder swings out of the frame for loading, rather than anything cowboy style where you have to extract, load and rotate each cylinder individually.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

if you like revolvers by all means get one 

2 things to not kid yourself about however , boils my blood when people say revolvers Never Malfunction they do.

A. the clock work in a S&W revolver is not more simple than the parts in many auto-loaders , there is a lot happening under that side plate and it can and does break. I have a S&W sitting waiting for a new hammer currently , there is a tiny lip at the bottom edge of the hammer if that breaks you are done until you get a new hammer fitted.

B. Revolvers do jam , especially 22lr because they carbon up so much at the front of the cylinder and in the chambers.

we had a Smith 317 at a training I took , nice little J frame 22 we had 3 issues with it repeatedly , the ejector kept coming unscrewed it needed thread locker and a few days to cure but the training was that day. the ejector would bind up and if you carefully screwed it back in then you could swing out the crane again.
the chambers were getting so full of carbon from the fouling it didn't want to accept ammunition , a brush run through the cylinders helped for a while longer. it needed a long soak in solvent and a brass brush and a bunch of cleaning.
the front of the cylinder also was getting thick with carbon.

revolvers may run long without failure but if you treat them like they can run forever and never fail , your setting yourself up for a failure that takes you out of the game.


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## macmad (Dec 22, 2012)

Most any gun is a good gun if you take the time to learn how to shoot it. Don’t settle for just one!


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## JJ Grandits (Nov 10, 2002)

I mentioned the Taurus but also in my list is a Ruger LCR in .357mag and a GP100 with a 6" barrel also in . 357mag.
my daughter carries the LCR at work and loves it.


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## Fishindude (May 19, 2015)

JJ Grandits said:


> I mentioned the Taurus but also in my list is a Ruger LCR in .357mag and a GP100 with a 6" barrel also in . 357mag.
> my daughter carries the LCR at work and loves it.


I own and have shot several .357 mag handguns, not a fan of that caliber. More recoil than I care for in a handgun.
Would much rather shoot a .38 Special or .45 long Colt.


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## outgunu (Sep 14, 2006)

I will Not buy a Taurus again. I have had two and both were lemons. 1st was a 9mm, that would have the mag hanging out whenever i pulled it out of my CCW holster. Sent it back, they said they repaired the mag release only to have the same problem when I carried it again; kind of hard to trust it for CCW after that. 2nd was a 44mag revolver, the 9th round that I shot out of it locked the cylinder up so that it wouldn't turn and I also couldn't open the cylinder to download for shipping back for repair so I had a local gunsmith unfu#* it. Both issues were quality control and design problems. Never again.


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