Our recent series of articles on submachine guns and semi-auto carbines that have come out from ForjasTaurus during the past few years comes to an end with the .40 S&W CTT40C, apparently still in production and in service with some State LE agencies, including those of Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul, and Santa Catarina.  Its designation comes from Carabina Tática Taurus 40 Compacta (Taurus Tactical Carbine 40 Compact), but it is, essentially, an SMT40 submachine gun firing in the semi-auto mode, only. So, the “Tactical” features the same dimensions (barrel length, 200mm – 6 grooves, RH twist, 1:420mm pitch; max overall length, 760mm; length with stock folded, 470mm; sight radius, 270mm) and weighs 3.3kg with an empty magazine. Other design details, common to the subgun variant, will be shown in the many captioned photos that follow in this closing assessment.

The Rio de Janeiro operator is PMERJ (Military Police), which in April, 2016, started receiving  the first examples of a reported batch of about 900 guns that were acquired in exchange for a similar number of CT30 .30M1 carbines that had been returned to the manufacturer years earlier after showing  operation malfunctions. Service introduction of the CTT40C was gradual, involving mainly PPC (Community Police) stations in Rio and some Metropolitan areas. The weapon has also been made legal for use by the local CACs (Caçadores, Atiradores, Colecionadores, or Hunters, Shooters, Collectors), but reports of confirmed sales are hard to come by.

Also hard to obtain are hard facts behind a number of reported problems with the CTT40C in service, including those generated by too-short magazine lips that apparently do not fully support the rounds in their way to the feed ramp, thus making cartridges “fly” uncontrolled into the chamber. The weapon’s flash hider attachment to the barrel muzzle has been reported as “weak”, that accessory having fallen off (or actually broken from, in one recorded incident) the gun in a number of occasions. Complaints have also emerged from the lack of rigidity of the three-position adjustable stock, leading to it coming out of the selected setting at unexpected moments. Neither the operators nor Taurus were available to comment.

The Taurus CTT40C carbine with stock folded to the right side is 470mm long.

Closer view of a PMERJ weapon showing the ambidextrous fire selector lever (here in “S”), and the bolt release button, which is also duplicated on the opposite side. The chamber remains open after the last shot is fired.

The massive front sight structure is mounted on the full-length Picattiny rail, while the non-reciprocating charging handle is also well forward. It can be easily set for use on either side.

Equally very big is the rear sight (here in the open-U, 50-meter setting). Note the rear sling attachment points mounted on the rail.

The gun swung open for basic maintenance, showing the bolt/recoil spring assembly detached.

But beware! The bolt assembly can, in fact, be inadvertently inserted (bottom photo) in an inverted position and the gun fully closed! Hmmmm…

The 30-round magazines are of the two-position feed type, but complaints have come from the fact that their too-short lips occasionally generate chamber feeding problems. Training rounds seen here are CBC-made EOPP full-jacketed flat-points (180grains, 302m/s muzzle velocity), but service ammo is generally the EXPO Gold Hex hollow point (155-grain bullet, 367m/s muzzle velocity) of the same manufacturer.

Author giving the CTT40C a (for the record, uneventful) try at the range. That front grip integral with the magazine well is a magnet for the supporting hand…

Rio de Janeiro (top) and Santa Catarina State military police officers training with CTT40Cs.

BREAKING (LITERALLY!) UPDATE:

As mentioned in the article, flash hider failures have been reported in CTT40C carbines in use by Rio de Janeiro’s Military Police, either by unscrewing and getting wobbly (eventually, lost) or actually breaking from the muzzle. This happened to the gun shown in photo after having reportedly fired 8,876 rounds, the sixth such incident recorded in PMERJ. Others are reported to have had the flash hider broken off after about 4,000 rounds fired. Photo and info reached TFB from anonymous sources.

NEW UPDATE:

A most unusual firing incident involving the very similarTaurus SMT40 submachine gun is shown in this video that has just reached TFB. A weapon from the inventory of Brazil’s PRF – Polícia Rodoviária Federal (Federal Highway Police), with the fire selector set for “1” (semi-auto), displays the unwanted characteristic of consistently firing both when the trigger is pulled back and released forward. How about that?

As usual, higher-res pix available: https://imgur.com/a/pSGnU