I fell in love when I was 18. Back then, about 95 years ago, I was dating a guy who from time to time would get together with his brother. They’d gather up a couple shotguns, rifles and handguns and head out to a place in the country to target practice. Being the dutiful girlfriend, I tagged along at first. Till they let me shoot. Then I went because I wanted my turn as well. I was fortunate, they were all for it. Didn’t matter who the gun belonged to, if I wanted to try it, they handed it over. That’s how I came to shoot a Taurus for the first time. I loved how it felt in my hand, I loved how I could shoot it, and the results I got. Taurus, my first love……

That love has stayed true lo these many years. The first handgun I ever bought of my own was a Taurus .357 stainless. A teammate of mine spent a lot of time at a gunshop and when I was trying to make that big step forward of buying my first handgun he acted as a sounding board for me, a matchmaker of sorts. He must have been very good at it, I still have “Maggie”.

As time went by, others came to join her. My favorites were from what was jokingly called “The Vogel Line”. A line of blue (almost black, so dark was the bluing) with pearl grips and gold triggers. The pistols came with the loaded chamber indicator. Sweet guns, they shoot very nicely. Like many women, I’m not immune to pretty in handguns, horses and dogs.

I began to hear rumors of Taurus standards going downhill a few years ago. But I didn’t believe it, not TAURUS!

Then I got a Taurus TCP, in pink no less. I guess I just felt I really should have a least one pink gun. Especially since the one I found was a sort of pink flamingo pink. Pink flamingo pink and hot pink are the best. I know some women think pink guns for girls are silly. I look at it like this, if a pink gun will encourage a woman to take up shooting and consider carrying for self-defense. Awesome. I already did. I am secure enough in myself that if I want a pink gun, I’ll get it. If I don’t I won’t. I have nothing to prove. But the Taurus TCP was my first bad experience. It came with the lifetime warranty, luckily for me. It’s been to the factory for repair three times for the magazine release. Which is again wonky, but I won’t send it back again. I understand the Taurus warranty now is only for a year.

That lead to me looking for a new carry gun. I got a Taurus Spectrum. It’s a .380 that fits my hand wonderfully. It’s easy to hide, shoots very nice and this one came with a laser already mounted on it. It was brand new in the box. Love……ah.

Until a couple weeks ago. I was at the barn doing chores and a possum came up out of the floor. I didn’t have my shotgun with me, but I did have the Spectrum. I shot the possum and finished chores. My horse is such a hoot. I shot once and he stopped eating, I ran around to the other side to get another shot because it’s a possum, like liberal snowflakes they act like they are dying when they aren’t. I shot again and my horse must have thought, “eh, it’s Mom she’s got this taken care of”, and he went back to eating.

Later that night I cleaned the Spectrum. It has a recoil spring that has been possessed by the spirits of the Demoncratic party. It is dang near impossible to get back in. The end of the spring isn’t tightly coiled like every other recoil spring I’ve ever seen, it’s loose like the rest of the spring. Which means when you try to put the recoil rod back in, the end of the spring crawls out the hole for the recoil rod. To my everlasting embarrassment, I will admit after 30 minutes of trying to put this gun back together my thumb slipped and the recoil spring recoiled itself and launched itself into the hinterlands of my parlour and has not been seen again. And I mean after some serious looking. As in cushions out of the couch, in the potted plants and flashlight looking. Ok, I’ll call Taurus and buy another one.

So the next day coffee at hand, I call Taurus. I finally get a live human on the phone and explain the dilemma. She comments that there is definitely a trick to getting that recoil spring in she’s heard. Yes, they’ll send me another one. When they are back in stock. WHAT?? When will that be? They don’t know, but they do get shipments every month. Will it be in the next month’s shipment? They don’t know. Basically they have no clue when recoil springs will be available.

I took the slide, barrel and recoil rod to the hardware store and bought three possible springs to try, since launching a spring in the store didn’t appeal to me. The best choice spring managed to fire two rounds before it wouldn’t fully load cartridge number 3 in the chamber. So, no success on replacement from the hardware store yet. I may try again though next time I can get up that way to shop.

But here’s my thoughts. I’m blessed, I have other guns I can carry. But what about the poor single woman, maybe a single Mom with kids that only has one carry gun and it’s a Taurus Spectrum. Now she is left defenseless because a gun marketed for concealed carry is an expensive paperweight. Great contours, but still, a paperweight for an indefinite amount of time. This is something I actually think is irresponsible. You know the gun is a P.I.T.A. to put back together. You say there’s a “trick” to reassembling it? How’s about you do what you used to do? Make great guns that don’t require a “trick” to reassemble? Second, parts? You are selling a concealed carry gun for which required parts are not available? It’s not like I wanted green grips, it won’t shoot without the dang spring.

When the nice lady told me “no clue” on the spring, the second thing that went through my mind was “Oh, so this is what it’s like when the government starts to control the gun parts that can come into the country. You may have the gun, but it can be rendered useless in about a two second spring launch”.

And that was when I came to the decision it was time to break up. Yes, it’s hard after so many years, but perhaps in time I will find another brand I love as much as I used to love Taurus. But it will take a heck of a gun to win my heart this time around. Just don’t say Glock, while I loved Gunny, I shoot like crap with those. Nor would I be inclined to lock it up under my bed. But that’s just me.