Taurus G3 9mm: First Look

Here’s a first look review of the new Taurus G3. Many preppers are searching for a reliable, inexpensive, lightweight and accurate self-defense gun. At first glance, does the Taurus G3 fit that bill? 

Let’s find out.

The New Taurus

The Taurus G3 is the full-sized followup to the wildly successful Taurus G2 polymer framed compact pistol. The G3 is slightly larger and has a higher capacity magazine, as well as a longer barrel.

The flush fitting G3 magazine holds 15 rounds, and the firearm comes with an extended 17-round magazine complete with spacer. Of course, for states with 10-round magazine limits, the firearm ships with two of those instead.

In The Box

The Taurus G3 comes in a cardboard box which contains the firearm, a nice manual, a lifetime-warranty card, a 15-round magazine, a 17-round magazine and a gun lock. One thing that it is surprisingly missing (surprising since it is included in the .22 TX) is a speed loader.

PRO TIP: If you have Glock speed loader, they work just fine on the Taurus magazines.

Although Taurus has opened manufacturing facilities in the USA, the G3 is made in Brazil.

Fit, Finish and Apparent Quality

I’ll admit, I’ve never been a Taurus fan, as the company has had a somewhat iffy reputation in past years for quality. Having said that, in recent years Taurus has made great strides in improving their quality and they now offer a lifetime guarantee for their guns. 

Early this year, I impulse-purchased a Taurus TX .22LR after I had felt how good it fit my hand when missing around in a gun store. I’ve put over 10,000 rounds downrange with that gun, and it has functioned flawlessly. It is made in America, at the new Taurus factory, but that gun’s performance has earned Taurus some “benefit of the doubt” going forward.

The G3 has excellent fit, finish and ergonomics. The polymer frame fits both Spice and my hands well, and the gun operates smoothly.

One thing that I always worry about on inexpensive guns is magazine quality, but the G3 magazines are made by Mec-Gar in Italy, and they are top-of-the-line stuff. 

Grips are ergonomic and the texturing makes them both comfortable and easy to control. The slide has aggressive grips both front and back,

Shooting

Perhaps the best part of this gun is how well it shoots. Not surprisingly a modern polymer striker-fired gun shoots well.

The trigger is especially excellent, with a very short, crisp pull. Unlike most guns, however, if the trigger does fire, it can still be pulled again to strike that particular round a second time. Reset is crisp and short. 

Reliability in early testing

This is a “first look” since I’ve run less than 400 rounds through this gun so far, but it’s long enough to see if any quirks have appeared.

So far I have tested the gun with Federal Brass, Federal Aluminum, Blazer Brass all in round-nose full metal jacket and Liberty Defense hollow points.

Both spice and I have run the gun, and there have only been a few “hiccups” thus far.

1. Spice’s first time loading the gun she pressed the magazine into the weapon like she does with her Glock 19. The first round jammed going into battery, and it failed to go into battery one more time in those 5 shots (we test with 5 shots). Additionally the slide didn’t hold open. This was within the first 50 rounds run through the gun, and I suspect it was caused by the gun being tight and her not being forceful in popping the magazine in.
2. Spice’s second situation happened after she pounded the magazine in good on her next firing. Following the last shot, the bolt didn’t hold open. 
3. The other “problem” she had is the gun “delayed” going into battery once and she had to nudge the back of the slide. All of these “issues” happened while shooting Federal Aluminum. She shot about 30 rounds through the gun total.
4. I had no misfires or problems during my firing of the gun.

Ease of disassembly and cleaning

One huge factor, to me, for firearms ownership and use is that a gun must be easy to clean. The G3 is nearly identical in cleaning process as a Glock. The method of field stripping the weapon is virtually identical.

After unloading the gun, you pull down on two “Glock like” take down switches, you remove the slide. The slide comes off as does the guide rod, spring and barrel, just like a Glock. The biggest difference is that the spring is much heavier than found in a Glock, and the guide rod is metal in the G3 instead of the Glock’s polymer rod.

Value so far

The Taurus G3 is available all over at $250 at the time of this writing, which puts it very much in the low-end of the full-size 15+ round capacity self defense firearm.

I’ve got to do a lot more testing but so far I am impressed. 

A Federal Aluminum round about to be chambered.

The notch at the back of the ejection hole shows that this gun is loaded and a round is chambered and ready to shoot.