Taurus PT Millennium fires when dropped?
A woman claims that she was shot when she dropped her gun and it fired:
Judy Price says the Taurus PT Millennium gun has a big glitch.
Now, she wants to spread her story to warn others and get the gun off the market.
She said the gun shot her when she accidentally dropped it, and she knows of five other similar instances.
On Nov. 24, 2009, Judy said the gun fell from its holster when she took off her sweatshirt.
I’m usually skeptical of such claims because so many like to blame gear for use error. I still advise letting dropped guns fall. Be interesting to know more about the other cases where this supposedly happened.
December 12th, 2011 at 10:55 am
The Taurus PT Millenium series has other problems.
I carried and shot a used, but newer generation PT-145 (.45 ACP) in competition for a while. Until I switched to reloads and it would light strike and fail to fire 2-3 times per match. Another club member bought a PT-111 (the 9mm) NEW and it light struck factory ammo.
I’ve come to feel that Taurus has a lifetime warranty because their guns need it. Any firearm offering “second strike” capabilities as a FEATURE should be treated with caution. Its an admission that they know it might not go bang every time.
Its not a bad gun, but for the money you’d be better off saving up a little more money and getting a Glock or XD instead of a Millenium.
December 12th, 2011 at 11:14 am
Fell out when taking off a sweatshirt? Lady, you need a new holster. Try spending in the double digits on the next one.
December 12th, 2011 at 11:14 am
Google “Steve Malloy”.
You do not need to have a finger on the trigger to have a firearm discharge. Eez gon, eez not safe.
December 12th, 2011 at 11:17 am
Crap. Guns can be fired when dropped on the hammer. The firing pin is the hardest part of the gun and it might shear through your eighteen safety devices and reach the cartridge.
Cartridges can be fired when hit hard enough with a hammer. Wadda? You don’t want your gun to fire? Throw away your ammunition.
December 12th, 2011 at 12:06 pm
Actually, I think the “second strike” “feature” on the Millenium Pro series is simply a leftover from the original DAO design. They added single action but did the minimum changes necessary to the design to do so. If you look, the single action sear is essentially an added bit behind the original double action mechanism, and they just left the rest alone.
Personally, I’ve never had any light strikes with my PT-145, though I admit I haven’t put as many rounds through it as I would like.
More on topic: Having looked at the internals of my PT-145, I don’t see how simply dropping it could compromise the firing pin block unless there’s a preexisting mechanical failure or a manufacturing defect. The transfer bar manipulates the block, and the transfer bar is locked in place by the trigger safety. Releasing the trigger safety by impact alone would require the inertia to be in the wrong direction to move either the block or the transfer bar enough to allow the striker to hit the primer, even if it did slip off the sear from the drop. I also believe that the trigger safety is balanced in such a way that a simple drop would not cause it to release at all, and the firing pin block spring is strong enough that inertia from a mere drop should not be capable of overcoming the force of the spring.
I have to lean towards skepticism, unless a mechanical defect is found.
December 12th, 2011 at 12:16 pm
Also, if you value your sanity, don’t read the comments at the linked article. I swear I was facepalming for about 90% of them, especially the “No civilian needs one in the chamber” comments.
December 12th, 2011 at 1:58 pm
@Jake – Good to hear. The PT145 is a good gun otherwise, but the misfires were murdering my match scores. Even with a new FP spring it still had issues. Interested in buying another one with a good Galco holster and 3 mags? 😀
December 12th, 2011 at 2:07 pm
@Freiheit: Heh. 🙂 If I had money, I might be interested in the mags and holster, but I hear that particular pistol might have issues with light strikes for some reason. 😛
December 12th, 2011 at 3:20 pm
Nothing like reading articles from your home turf. My first question would be, is the gun stock, or have any modifications been made?
@Jake, i had to do a facepalm for not taking your advice and reading the comments anyway. This one with reply was a gem:
Clark_Nova: Early Glocks were well known for accidental discharges before they fixed the safety
Davedm5: I was known for the same early on.
Badum-cha!
December 12th, 2011 at 3:58 pm
I know of two cases in which the hammer on a Charter Arms revolver fell when nothing was touching the trigger. In neither case was the piece jarred or dropped. In one of the incidents I was holding the thing in my hand (empty and pointing in a safe direction, of course). I won’t have one of the things.
December 12th, 2011 at 4:07 pm
After personally seeing more than a handful of extreme failures (one being the trigger BROKE OFF), I will never own a Taurus semi-auto in any shape or form.
December 12th, 2011 at 5:04 pm
There was a Rule 5 violation by an idiot cop recently who decided to carry Plaxico style while off duty.
He’s actually being charged since he discharged the weapon in the middle of the mall. Initially the chief attempted to justify it, I think that blew up in his face though.
Can guns go off due to actual mechanical failure? Yes. The odds of that happening are unbelievably rare, and more often than not the actual cause is the equivalent to PEBKAC. If you carry a modern semi-auto and it fires when dropped on the hammer. Check it for push off. The sear should not activate by pushing the hammer or dropping it on it from normal heights. I would be more willing to believe it would go off hammer down except most firing pins in modern semi-auto pistols are inertial firing pins specifically for the case of being dropped on the hammer.
Bottom line is, a standard stock firearm that is unaltered from the manufacturers specifications should not have any of these problems. If Joe Bob goes and does his own trigger mod, then there could be problems. If you want to monkey with a trigger either become a trained gunsmith(playing in your garage doesn’t count) or take it to a competent gunsmith.
December 13th, 2011 at 8:58 am
Jake beat me to it, but I was going to discuss the internals of the Taurus Millenium, and why this story is unlikely. Additionally, I have carried a PT-111 Pro for almost 4 years with a round count near 10 grand. It’s a solid and reliable pistol. Never a light strike. Would love to say failure free, but there were definitely some early on. Those were all admittedly user errors however, not the fault of the weapon. I have since learned to love and trust Taurus and now own around 6 of them. Great guns…
December 13th, 2011 at 11:50 am
I’ll admit to the same here. My PT-145 is very sensitive to limp-wristing, and it was also the first semi-auto I ever owned. Revolvers don’t care if you’ve got a good firm grip or not, and that can cause issues when first transitioning to semi-autos. Plus, I understand that short slide .45’s are notorious for that anyway.