Taurus PT 24/7 PRO LS: a pac-man of a pistol

American Handgunner, March-April, 2007 by Sammy Reese

I am one of the lucky ones--or unlucky ones--depending on how you look at it. I happen to live in very close proximity to the home office of FMG Publications, AKA the "Secret Bat Cave" of American Hand-gunner, American COP and GUNS. My close proximity causes me to drop my submissions at the office rather then mail them in. This can be a good thing (score swag at times) and a not-so-good thing.

Not long ago I stopped by for a congenial visit and after paying tribute to Ginger the Wonder Dog (quality back rub), I cautiously made my way to His Editorship's open door. Roy was on the phone, having a pointed conversation with a writer. He motioned me to take a seat. Without saying a word, he handed me a box labeled "Taurus."

As I started to open the box, Roy stressed a point he was making by banging the phone handset on the desk. Meanwhile, I was looking at the Taurus PT 24/7 PRO LS in 9mm. The 5.25"-barreled big brother to the PRO model.

Roy slammed the handset back into the cradle of his 1942, red, Bell phone. "Idiot thinks I don't know his scam. Never heard so much fast-talking in my life. Connor thinks he's going to Africa on my dime again. I don't think so. The State Department only just quit calling me after his last 'adventure' as he likes to call it. And he thought that elephant-foot chair would make up for it. Bah. Oh yeah, the Taurus. Let me know what you think of it. And don't take too long. Now get out."

Another 9mm pistol? It seemed all the cool stuff went to Clint or Charlie or Dave. Why could it not be some high-speed custom pistol? I didn't want my initial disappointment to show, so I snapped a salute and tread gently over Ginger the Wonder Dog.

Taurus Check-Out

When I got back to my work bench, I picked up the pistol realilzed it felt good in my hand. The ergonomic rubber grip overlay on the polymer frame made it comfortable, and it pointed naturally with a little hint of being nose-heavy. The pistol locked-up tight with no slop. I was pleasantly surprised to see that two 17-round magazines were sent with the pistol, with no LE/Government-use-only stamped on them. The magazines locked in with a positive "click" and the magazine release was easy to reach and to manipulate. The metal body magazines dropped free every time, and that's a plus, unlike the plastic mags in Glocks.

Taurus bills the 24/7 as a single action pistol with the ability to automatically revert to DA for a second strike capability on a hard primer. The pistol is equipped with a manual safety latch (thumb safety), and the internal trigger lock works in combination with the firing pin block to prevent the pistol from being fired unless the trigger is pressed (drop safety). The pistol also has a loaded chamber indicator located just above the extractor. The test pistol, as well as the other 24/7 models, was equipped with Heine straight eight sights.

On the right side of the pistol, in the middle of the rear cocking serrations, you will find the Taurus Security System. I went through about 600 rounds with the test gun, and the lock did not interfere at anytime. The Security System is blended nicely into the slide and does not interfere with the functioning of the pistol. If you don't like a lock on your gun, then don't buy it, but please don't whine about it.

Accurate

After an hour or so of checking out the PRO LS, I packed it up with several different 9mm loads and headed out to the range. After shooting the first magazine I couldn't believe how accurate and easy to shoot the PRO LS was. The extra barrel length combined with the weight of the pistol made the felt-recoil something like shooting a .22. The pistol experienced two stove-pipes during the first 200 rounds. One was with American Eagle 124-gr. ball amino and the other was with Winchester 147-gr. SXT. During the next 400 rounds the pistol was given the name Pac-Man. It gobbled up everything loaded into it.

We shot the pistol at ranges from three to 25 yards. Everyone who volunteered to shoot a gun they did not have to clean, with ammo they did not have to buy--was impressed with the accuracy and lack of felt recoil. We did not bench rest the pistol or use the calipers to measure accuracy. We shot it like it would be run during a "practical" event, as in real life, if you will.

At seven yards, I emptied a full magazine as fast as I could find the front sight with both standard velocity ammo and the hot stuff. The difference in felt recoil was virtually undetectable, and my groups were similar, with all shots ending up in the cardiovascular triangle. Adding the Streamlight TLR-I to the front light rail made the pistol heavier on the front end, but the ease of follow-up shots was well worth it. One of the more talented of the "testers" was able to constantly shoot palm-sized groups at 25 yards. For a duty or a nightstand gun, the accuracy and reliability is top notch.

Yeah, But

As great as the PRO L/S performed, there were a couple of small things I had to contend with. The Heine straight-eight sights were very accurate and the front dot was very visible. I did not care for the single white dot on the rear sight. During some rapid fire sequence, I found my eye getting confused by the dot on the rear. Not a major problem by any means, just a personal eye thing for me and several of the other shooters.