Analysis of Taurus 738 problem
At least on TFB, the Taurus 738 TCP has been controversial with my blog post about it generating over 220 comments about it. Many owners have experienced problems. One reader, Nilo, did an analysis of what he thinks is the cause of the last-round hold-open problem.
Nilo says …
> I have purchased this gun and like many I have a few issues with it.
> I did a close analysis of my gun and have come to few conclusions.
> Anyone with basic knowledge of mechanics would probably agree with me that there is a design issue with this gun.
> The issue I have experienced, along with many others, is regarding the slide not locking open after last round. A basic review of the gun and the components that provide this feature showed that this issued is caused by the design of the slide catcher and the magazine follower.
> Once the last round is loaded to the chamber, the stopper is supposed to catch the follower and keep pushing it up against the slide, causing the slide to lock open after the last shot is fired.
> Because Taurus wanted to make a very thin grip on this gun, the magazine had to be thin and the follower doesn’t have enough area to properly hold the slide stopper.
> Photos are better than thousand words, so here we go.
Photos are after the jump …
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I have owned several mini 380s from Colt Mustang to this Taurus PT738. I don't recall in over 30 years of LEO experience a problem that I had with this Taurus today. I disassembled the Taurus as directed in the onwer's manual. I cleaned the gun and went to put it back together. As I pulled the slide to the rear to lock the slide the slide became wedged and locked in place, I mean locked as in it felt like it was welded to the frame. After doing everything I thought could dislodge the slide it had not budged. This after some 2 hours of trying to get the slide to move I had no luck. I finally had to take a rubber mallet and gently tap the barrel back until it popped up into the firing position. At this point I was able to remove the slide off the frame. I can find no explanation for this or why this happened. If anyone else has experienced this please let me know and how you corrected the lockup. Thanks and have a wonderful holiday season for 2011.
J. Cole
I purchased a PT738, first time fireing I had two problems, fireing pin would not cock properly preventing the gun from firwing the second round, second probledm ejector would not eject the spent shell, jamming the gun with the next round. Called Taurus Inc. reply was cna't do much about it now, their computers are down and no way of tracking the weapon. Very poor customer support, last Taurus product I will ever buy.
MK