My Long Taurus Story is Over

The story that began in early August of 2015 has come to successful denouement.  The short version: Taurus sent me a replacement and it's no longer a Taurus.

As I wrote last Friday, 

Today at about 5:30, my FFL called and said they had a gun for me.  The situation was all news to them, but it appears tomorrow I'll go up to the Friendly Family Licensee and see what we can work out.  I don't feel much need for another 9mm handgun, but maybe we work something out.

I may as well plug my FFL, our local shooting range with and attached restaurant that serves drinks, Frog Bones Family Shooting Center (no, I get nothing for plugging them - I just think they're a good place).   Saturday in the early afternoon found us talking with the guys at the gun counter, and they were quite receptive.  I told them I had bought the PT-145 as a .45 in an FTF sale and that I'd sent it in when word started getting out Taurus would check the guns and "repair or replace".  I told them that with it being 19 months later, I've done without it for long enough that I just don't care to replace it with a 9mm.  If Taurus had offered a .45 as the replacement, I might - might - have taken that option, but I was more interested in getting another .45 to replace it. After looking at a handful of options, we all agreed it would be best for us to come back when it was less busy, so we went back yesterday. 

Before going to the store, I had checked to see about what the PT-111 goes for online and found Buds has it for $275.  That would add $30 at the local shop: $25 FFL transfer and $5 FDLE background check.  I speculated that I bet that their wholesale price would be around $200 and they'd probably offer me that in trade.  That turned out to be exactly right.  Was it the truth?  I don't know.  I reasoned that if I never took possession of the PT-111, then it would not be a used gun and should sell for more in their store but it's unreasonable to expect they'd offer me more than what they pay wholesale when they buy that model.

So what did the Taurus morph into?  A Springfield Armory XD-s 3.3 in .45ACP.  Naturally, today seemed like a good day to take it for its first drive.  Temps were in the mid to upper 70s and the breeze around 15, so really pleasant in the shaded outdoor range.  I ran 100 rounds of FMJ (Blazer Brass) and 20 JHPs (Remington Ultimate Defense - supposedly optimized for compact handguns) through it.  Zero problems of any kind; no FTF, FTE or anything, which is what I expected.  Here's a quick portrait with Mrs. Graybeard's Sig P238 Equinox. 

I've mentioned having a Taurus Slim, PT-709 9mm, which is one of the reasons I didn't feel the need for another 9mm handgun.  I find the Taurus a bit painful to shoot due to its small width and my arthritis (the fact that compact, single stack 9s can be uncomfortable is not a revelation).  I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to spend quality range time with the XD-s because it's also a single stack, narrow gun.  Before pulling the trigger on the XD-s, so to speak, the sales guys set us up with a demo gun and free range time to test it (we just had to buy a box of their ammo).  The XD-s gives me no troubles at all.  Mrs. Graybeard has similar issues with the 709 and likewise had no discomfort with the 45 ACP XD-s at all.  I'll admit that's a little puzzling, but write it off to better ergonomics.  Perhaps the beavertail safety puts our hands into a better position. 

This is about as good a resolution as I could have hoped for.  It took a long time for the system to resolve the issue, but Taurus supplied me, not the original owner of the gun, with a replacement for it that I was able to use as a trade in for something I'm more comfortable with.  I think some of that delay was due to the settlement issues with the various plaintiffs.  Taurus first told me they were going to replace my gun in November of '15.  The extra year delay appears to have come from the lawyers and various plaintiffs in the class action settlement against Taurus.