I went to Fisherman's in Oregon City today and picked up a Taurus M94 stainless steel 22LR revolver with a 4" barrel. I will share my experience and opinion of this gun with any who are interested.
I put about 300 rounds thru the gun with zero malfunctions or failures to fire. This gun does NOT like CCI Mini Mag ammo, however; accuracy was poor and the fired casings were so "sticky" that I had to push the front of the ejector rod into the leg of a picnic table in order to force the brass out. After 100 rounds of Mini Mags I switched over to Federal bulk-pack 36 gr copper plated HP's and the difference was amazing. I could easily eject these casings with nothing but light thumb pressure on the ejector rod, and accuracy was much improved. The action of the gun was noticeably smoother to me after it had "broken in" with around 200 total rounds.
I am not fond of the trigger. The SA trigger pull is OK, but the DA pull is very heavy and gritty. Like the rest of the action, it did seem to smooth out a bit after 200 rounds or so. Overall, the workmanship on the gun seemed to be pretty good, with tight lockup and a nice finish. No, it isnt a Colt Python, but it isnt a Lorcin either. Its a solid, stainless steel gun with good grips and decent ergonomics.
The sights are adjustable for windage and elevation, and once the gun had "broken in" a bit I was able to get fairly decent groups (about an inch--see photo) off of a sandbag at 10 yards using the Federal ammo. At 50 yards, I was able to hit my 3" pendulum target about 1/3 of the time. The limiting factor here is my eyesight, not the gun. The orange front sight blade is a bit too wide for truly precision shooting, but its good enough for its intended purpose.
In terms of "fun factor" this gun is off the charts. It holds 9 rounds, so it can keep up pretty darn well with a semi-auto with a 10 rd magazine in terms of rate of fire, especially when you consider that you dont have to spend time loading magazines. And while I did not experience any "dud" rounds, its a lot easier to deal with misfires in a revolver than it is in a semi-auto. I was able to keep a pop can dancing all over the range using rapid double-action fire, and then get the gun emptied and reloaded again in a lot less time then it would take to refill a 10 round mag.
I cant think of a better gun to teach a new shooter on. You have the inherent safety and simplicity of a revolver, the mild manners and economy of a .22 rimfire, and the "bangbangbang" fun factor of a gun with 9 rd capacity without any jams or hiccups. And while it would certainly NOT be my first (or 2nd or 3rd or even 4th) choice for self-defense, if it were loaded up with 9 CCI Stinger HP's it could certainly make a good account of itself if the shooter did his part.
I havent been doing much shooting lately due to the high cost of ammo. This little gun just changed all that. I think its worth every penny of the $339 I spent on it.
I put about 300 rounds thru the gun with zero malfunctions or failures to fire. This gun does NOT like CCI Mini Mag ammo, however; accuracy was poor and the fired casings were so "sticky" that I had to push the front of the ejector rod into the leg of a picnic table in order to force the brass out. After 100 rounds of Mini Mags I switched over to Federal bulk-pack 36 gr copper plated HP's and the difference was amazing. I could easily eject these casings with nothing but light thumb pressure on the ejector rod, and accuracy was much improved. The action of the gun was noticeably smoother to me after it had "broken in" with around 200 total rounds.
I am not fond of the trigger. The SA trigger pull is OK, but the DA pull is very heavy and gritty. Like the rest of the action, it did seem to smooth out a bit after 200 rounds or so. Overall, the workmanship on the gun seemed to be pretty good, with tight lockup and a nice finish. No, it isnt a Colt Python, but it isnt a Lorcin either. Its a solid, stainless steel gun with good grips and decent ergonomics.
The sights are adjustable for windage and elevation, and once the gun had "broken in" a bit I was able to get fairly decent groups (about an inch--see photo) off of a sandbag at 10 yards using the Federal ammo. At 50 yards, I was able to hit my 3" pendulum target about 1/3 of the time. The limiting factor here is my eyesight, not the gun. The orange front sight blade is a bit too wide for truly precision shooting, but its good enough for its intended purpose.
In terms of "fun factor" this gun is off the charts. It holds 9 rounds, so it can keep up pretty darn well with a semi-auto with a 10 rd magazine in terms of rate of fire, especially when you consider that you dont have to spend time loading magazines. And while I did not experience any "dud" rounds, its a lot easier to deal with misfires in a revolver than it is in a semi-auto. I was able to keep a pop can dancing all over the range using rapid double-action fire, and then get the gun emptied and reloaded again in a lot less time then it would take to refill a 10 round mag.
I cant think of a better gun to teach a new shooter on. You have the inherent safety and simplicity of a revolver, the mild manners and economy of a .22 rimfire, and the "bangbangbang" fun factor of a gun with 9 rd capacity without any jams or hiccups. And while it would certainly NOT be my first (or 2nd or 3rd or even 4th) choice for self-defense, if it were loaded up with 9 CCI Stinger HP's it could certainly make a good account of itself if the shooter did his part.
I havent been doing much shooting lately due to the high cost of ammo. This little gun just changed all that. I think its worth every penny of the $339 I spent on it.
