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In its latest flyer, Bass Pro Shops advertises a Taurus PT709 for $289.99. However, it looks different than the PT709 on the Taurus website. The one that BPS has for sale has a slight indentation in the grip right behind the trigger. The one on the Taurus website has the indentation farther back on the grip, right in the middle. I contacted Taurus and they have no explanation for it. Does anyone know if this was the previous model PT709 that BPS has for sale as a clearance item? I contacted BPS about it (via e-mail), but they want me to give them my phone number so they can talk to me about it, which I won't do.

Help!

Crash

Apparently there was an older model that was made that way.

http://www.taurususa.com/product-detail ... umbseries=

Pawpaw wrote:Apparently there was an older model that was made that way.

http://www.taurususa.com/product-detail ... umbseries=

Pawpaw,


Thanks. Do you know if the new 709 has any advantages over the old one?

Crash

Sorry, I don't know anything about Taurus firearms. I just put my Google-fu to work.

Pawpaw wrote:Sorry, I don't know anything about Taurus firearms. I just put my Google-fu to work.

Funny--I called Taurus and their rep claimed not to know anything about a previous model. I suspect he didn't know much about any of the models, past or present--he was just a "phone-answerer."

Crash

Dunno. I just went to the Taurus USA website, typed "709" into the search box and there it was.

They shoot decent, if you don't mind a pistol that comes with one magazine and where a duplicate magazine is not only real hard to find but way too pricey when you do find one.

I looked at the photo on Bass Pro and I wonder if this is a fake or a prototype photo. I have a 709 and I've seen a bunch and none have had a cutout on the grip or white filled lettering and mine from several years ago is identical to what is shown on the Taurus website.

What it DOES look like is a PT738 with 709 written on it and a ambi safety added. I think the Bass Pro marketing people were playing with Photoshop and got carried away.

PT709? I like mine way better than the Keltec PF9 I bought.
The Keltec PF9 I took to the range once and put back in the box.

Dressed my PT709 up with Advantage Tactical Sights for 1-handed operation (racking slide 1-handed to clear jams/reload etc) & faster sight picture
http://www.advantagetactical.com/handgu ... -ats-sight
Far left (bottom) pistol in this photo is PT709, Glocks 26,19,XD45 are the others


Looks like Bass Pro took the pistol facing left photo and flipped it so right side safety/groove appears on left, In photography we used to do that by putting a negative in upside down/backwards to print on the paper

Although a Taurus PT709 may not be the first pistol on everyone's "gotta have it"
list, IIRC, the PT709 was subjected to a very high round count of testing and
performed for many thousands of rounds without failure.

I don't know if it was Taurus, or an outside entity who conducted this stress test.

If anyone can post that link, go for it.

SIA

Pawpaw wrote:Dunno. I just went to the Taurus USA website, typed "709" into the search box and there it was.

True, the Taurus website shows the latest 709, but if you notice, the indentation is back in the middle of the grip, not just behind the trigger as shown on the weblink you sent me.

Waco1959 wrote:I looked at the photo on Bass Pro and I wonder if this is a fake or a prototype photo. I have a 709 and I've seen a bunch and none have had a cutout on the grip or white filled lettering and mine from several years ago is identical to what is shown on the Taurus website.

What it DOES look like is a PT738 with 709 written on it and a ambi safety added. I think the Bass Pro marketing people were playing with Photoshop and got carried away.

Waco1959,

Might well be the case. I've found many companies' websites that had errors on them.

Crash

surprise_i'm_armed wrote:Although a Taurus PT709 may not be the first pistol on everyone's "gotta have it"
list, IIRC, the PT709 was subjected to a very high round count of testing and
performed for many thousands of rounds without failure.

I don't know if it was Taurus, or an outside entity who conducted this stress test.

If anyone can post that link, go for it.

SIA

709 was my first pistol. It would double feed like it was going out of style. Started out as a good shooter for probably the first 500 rounds or so. Made two round trips to Taurus to be "fixed" and after that it went on the sale block. It would malfunction on 1-2 rounds per 7 round mag. Multiple mags showed the same problems, which was annoying considering how much and how long it took to get a second mag.

Now that it's gone, I see new mags everywhere, so I think they got their supply chain fixed. I also think mine was a one off, I never really hear of people having problems with them. Mine must have had a bad ejector that they wouldnt replace -- it never really said what they did when it went back, all I could see was a new barrel.

When I was researching before I bought mine a few years ago I recall finding on Taurus forums that there was indeed an older model that had reliability issues. Taurus subsequently issued, quietly, a generation two that addressed these issues.

Mine is the "new" model and it's been flawless with everything I've fed it and I carry it from time to time. I've run into quite a few people that have a 709 and like it a lot which cannot be said about every Taurus handgun.

The Bass Pro price is shockingly decent too considering I paid $299 at Academy for it. I did manage to find a spare mag at Academy not that long ago for $28.

I'm glad to see a report on here about the Advantage Tactical sights because I've wanted to ditch the stock ones for awhile.

The early models had a slightly different muzzle and only two pins connecting metal to plastic. Later model had four pins and slight change in muzzle. The trigger bar is different also and I believe the safety mechanism is a bit different. I had an early model SS, but swap it for a 4-pin blued/black with a customer that was having rust problems with blued and wanted SS. There have been some changes in the slide stampings (letters, logo, numbers). My EDC is a 740 Slim.

I picked up some of the 740 extended mags when they were available last year (6+1 std. extd. 8+1) and converted some (use case for 709 and guts from 740 extended) to use in the 709 that took it from 7+1 to 9+1. Mags for 709 seem to readily available these days. Great little gun.

The picture shown in the Bass brochure appears to be a mix of their Slim and 738 with thumb notch in wrong location. The following link is a comparison torture test Guns & Ammo did on single stack small pistols.

http://www.gunsandammo.com/handguns/com ... -shootout/