Ever since the gun leaked onto the internet a few weeks ago, the Taurus Spectrum has been a topic of conversation in many online gun forums. People have speculated about the new pistols and weighed in on what they thought of Taurus in general. Now that the SHOT Show is here, I took some time to visit the Taurus booth and find out a little more about these new guns.

I was able to meet with one of the engineers that helped bring this new gun to market. In a (relatively) concise way, this is what I learned:

• The Spectrum is the first Taurus gun designed by a US-based team. All prior guns, including the ones made (at least in part) in the USA, were developed by the home office in Brazil. As the rep explained, the difference is profound as all of the team are actual shooters with a wealth of experience with other companies like SIG SAUER, FN and Remington.
• The Spectrum is not replacing the TCP. Both guns will remain in the company’s line up.
• This is a striker-fired, true DAO pistol. There is no pre-cocking, etc.
• The guns feel very good in my hand. Much better than a LCP, TCP or P-3AT.
• The screw head on the right side of the pistol is not a gun lock, but the take down switch. A dime or screwdriver turns it 45˚ and the slide assembly then comes right off. There are no small pins to wiggle back in place as is common for many small handguns.
• Yes, a slightly larger 9mm version could be made using the same general design.
• Right now, there are dozens of color combinations. Simple black guns are available, as are more exotic color combinations. Many will be available to all dealers, while some will be limited runs made for specific distributors who order them. Pricing for the standard colors is about $290 with the limited edition colors having a slightly higher MSRP of $305.
• Taurus has and continues to work with holster makers for these pistols. As of Tuesday morning, Taurus already had production holsters from four different companies in its booth with several more expected shortly.

Last, and perhaps most importantly, the folks at Taurus I spoke with were all very knowledgable about their products and seemed genuinely excited to be working for the company. Several company representatives acknowledged the company’s reputation is less than stellar due to a variety of problems in the past. However, all of them emphasized that things have dramatically changed within the company and they hope to earn the public’s trust and business going forward.