Taurus patents curved handgun (courtesy.uspto.gov)TTAG reader GM admits, “I am a nerd and like to look at the USPO website. I came across this patent for a Body Contoured Handgun [Click here to read]. It looks like the future from Taurus may be a little warped.” Roger that. 

 

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58 COMMENTS

    • Looking at the drawings, it appears to use a straight, single-column mag, probably so they don’t have to worry about manufacturing or feed issues in a similarly curved magazine body. However, that means you’ll be carrying the frame width of a double-column pistol (although pleasingly curved), and only getting the mag capacity of a single-column design. So, strike one.

      What this will do to point-shooting, when your hand no longer has the straight grip frame to index from, will not be good, in my opinion. Strike two.

      Looks like they also adopted the old S&W .380 side-latching magazine retention system, where you have to squeeze twin latches (one on each side of the grip frame) with an abnormal amount of force to get the mag out.

      Strike, three. Yer out!

  2. interesting new and innovative ideas like this are rarely a bad thing( even if they don’t work out).

    • Innovative products are great as long as you are not the early adopter. Let somebody else do the beta testing.

  3. If Taurus wants to make a gun contoured to my body, it’s gonna be shaped like a soup bowl.

  4. So, have they actually made any of these yet. Looks like a good selling point for CC. Might be a little weird at the range though. I’d like to see one.

  5. If it doesn’t disassemble on the first shot, ok. Knowing how Taurus’s qc is, I’ll pass

    • Taurus has their stuff together now. They have had for the past couple year. I don’t always buy new, but when I do, It’s Taurus. Their Post 2010-ish models are good. Their 80’s and 90’s models are good. And the only ones you see for sale used are the crap ones. Their 1911s run great. Their Beretta knock offs are better than the real deal if you ask me. Their revolvers are top notch. And finding a rare model (like Raging Hornet, Tracker with 12 inch barrel, or a 909/940/911) always ends well and shows that their R&D dept. is competent and edgy, if not well liked. Taurus needs to be more competitive if they want to go anywhere, but their products are not to be dismissed.

      • What I disliked about Taurus wasn’t the quality so much as it was the customer service. Have they fixed that issue?

        • Last year I bought some parts to rehab an oldish .44 revolver, and was shocked by how good their customer service was over the phone. A neighbor sent his Taurus 1911 in for factory repair and reported being very pleased – though I don’t remember why he needed to do it in the first place.

        • Yes the CS has had a complete reboot as far as service. Ordering parts for your firearms is slowly getting better starting with the TCP models and now the .22 and .25 polys.Hopefully as more lines get made in the USA the parts problem will take care of itself.

      • +1 I am a big Taurus fan. I started in the late 80’s with a PT92. Back then the price was $359 brand new in blue. I later replaced it with a stainless deluxe shooter’s kit. Late 80’s into the early 90’s I picked up a .38 snub nose on stainless, .357 snub in blue, and lastly a stainless .45 PT945. All have served me well, and have worked great with zero issues. Lifetime warranty is a plus.

        My only deviation away from Taurus was a Sig .380 P238 – I could have gone Taurus but the local firearm store had a great price on the Sig along with a factory laser included.

        Taurus seems like to brand to hate on by gun snobs.

        • By your description, you haven’t bought any of their products in about 20 years.

          You were lucky enough to miss most of the reasons most of us are not Taurus fans, by buying guns built during Taurus’ “golden age”, where all they were doing is copies and minor modifications of existing successful designs. I have seen, used, and friends have owned most of the guns you listed, and they are the best Taurii, by far.

          Buy a few made in the last decade, shoot them for a while, and then get back to me.

        • Bought a few from the last decade. I have a tracker in .357, a 24/7g2 in 40, and a tcp. All run fine. My only complaint is that the 24/7 really needs better sights, but third party products will appear soon , hopefully, to fix that. Otherwise, all have served well, and I’m completely satisfied with their performance.

  7. I don’t think this is for carry purposes. Looking at the drawings, it appears to fit the shape of your hand better than a straight grip. I didn’t read, only looked at the drawings but it looks like a natural hand fit to me.

    • It’s designed to contour to the body while carrying, so it has a slight convex curve to it. It’s an interesting design. Appears to be 5-6 shot capacity, very short barrel. This might be a good CC weapon.

      • And the body contour will require right- and left-handed versions, right? Will they choose to leave our southpaw brethren out in the wind, or force them to carry crossdraw?

        Tune in next week to find out!

        7 to 10 percent of the market is left-handed, I believe…

        • Yep, about 10% of us are lefties. They’ll probably charge more for the LH version. *sigh*

  8. For those that are asking, yes this is already in production. The new revolver they have out with the window is already using this shape.

    • The Taurus “View” .38 Special revolver has a grip that is subtly contoured to favor right-side carry and handling. It’s tiny, weighs next to nothing and hurts on both ends.

      • Warped to the left, carries little weight, and is nasty at both ends?

        That’s what you get when you name your handgun after a daytime lefty-prog talk show…

  9. Interesting. Avante Garde. Could be either a belly gun, a pocket pistol, or for three o’clock, by the looks of it. Good that they included their own custom holster retention holster, although my first impression was that it was OWB. I didn’t read through all the specs: is that a flashlight or a laser at the front?

  12. I don’t like that it’s bent off-axis. That will add a torque moment to the recoil vector, and just thinking about it makes my stomach hurt.

    • “I was checkin’ the specs on the end line for the… rotary… girder… I’m retarded.”

  14. Cheap way to do this:

    -take plastic pistol (XDM, Glock, etc.)
    -put a piece of rebar under the pistol
    -Heat in oven for as long as needed

    • add last point:

      -Congratulations! You have now created a single bullet gun that no magazine will fit or work with properly…. a true wet dream for all gun-regulators out there! Give one as a gift to your favorite gun-regulation proponent today, and watch the smile grow on his face! It’s enough to melt hearts.

      😉

  17. I have no problem with Taurus. I’ve had several and they all ran great. I’ve also had a Keltec PF 9 & a Hi-Point. Both were POS. When your Glock blows up, your Ruger & S&W are recalled and Caraval (?) is yanked from the market let me know who makes a perfect pistol. I NEVER used Taurus customer service so I can’t comment. Forgot to mention Springfield recall. I’ve only been at this a few years so forgive me for missing some. I think the contour gun is interesting but doubt Taurus will sell any. Anyone know if they’ve sold any Views?

    • None of my Glocks have blown up, all my Rugers are tanks, and my one S&W never malfunctioned, not once…

      However, the Taurus pistols had light strikes and stove pipes every other mag.

      And what the hell is a Caraval?

      • It’s either a gun made from ice cream cake or he meant the Caracal, the post-Glock, post-Steyr, Bubitz contraption that didn’t take kindly to being dropped or returned to the owner.

  20. By doing this they have made it impossible to be carried by a lefty. As a lefty, I give a big wet razzberry to Taurus.

  24. Interesting lookin gun. It’s a great lil novelty (WWII Liberator pistol, German WWII corner shot, & WWI periscoped sniper rifle) but like those listed I don’t see it bein a top seller just a neat lil novelty to put in a case and talk about.

  25. Yeah – I am sure that magazines for that gun are going to be cheap, reliable, not prone to damage, and easy to come by.

  26. Steve; im not a gun snob, I have multiple hi-points, that I love to shoot, that doesn’t chage the fact that the first time I shot a new pt22 with cci sv, it field stripped itself. I called Taurus, who immediately blamed the ammo, then blamed me and my grip. Once I got the gun back, it did the same thing, with cci sv (different batch) and sent it back again and I got of 2 rounds, cci sv (its all I shoot) then went full-auto for the rest of the mag. And at least otber companies have the balls to issue recalls, instead of (not) fixing guns as they trickle in. Ive also had a model 66 and a 608, both locked up. Both sent back 2 times and are still locked up f^ck Taurus, if other companies can put out a good handgun, why cant Taurus? It isn’t 1985 anymore, Taurus can no longer make 2 good guns in a row.

  27. And all my Taurus’ have been perfect. That’s 4. Not against anything you own hell child. They have ALL had problems & recalls. BTW I meant Caracal – an RF favorite. And it’s my choice what I choose to own.

  30. Oh cool!,yet another model from Taurus.I like their handguns and own a few but, just another model that you wont be able to get a spare mag for or,if you have an issue with the gun it will be on a trip to Miami for an extended vacation.maybe they should just stick to the models that they have and concentrate on that.as it is its hard to find mags for my 709 luckily I got a few early in the game.I hope Mr. Kressler reads TTAG!.

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