Tag Archives: Taurus

Taurus GX4 Strike Bravo: ‘the Flux Raider we have at home’

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Taurus took its flagship micro 9mm pistol and added a chassis engineered with Strike Industries for seamless brace integration to create something truly interesting.

The Taurus GX4 debuted in 2021 and has been a favorite with consumers. An easy on the wallet micro compact double-stack 9mm that reviewed well and came in at about $300– a good bit less than its competition– Taurus followed up on the hit by introducing optics-ready TORO models, which are direct milled for the Holosun K, as well as larger format Carry series guns with flush-fit 15 round mags.

The original GX4

Now, with the new GX4 Strike Bravo, Taurus takes the GX4 Carry TORO and puts it inside a new chassis and modular grip system co-developed with Strike Industries, specifically engineered to accept the latter’s side-folding FSA Single Stabilizer. Added to the package is a reversible charging handle, a suppressor-ready 3.7-inch extended barrel, and a long MIL-STD-1913 accessory rail for lights and lasers.

Thus:

The GX4 Strike Bravo falls into PDW territory but is NFA-compliant. (Photos: Taurus) 

The Taurus GX4 Strike Bravo,
The overall length of the pistol with its Strike Industries FSA extended and locked into place is 18.38 inches. 
The Taurus GX4 Strike Bravo,
The weight, unloaded and sans optics or accessories, is 34.9 ounces. 
The Taurus GX4 Strike Bravo,
The reversible charging handle comes in handy when it comes to racking the slide due to the rear of the chassis. 
The Taurus GX4 Strike Bravo
It compacts down to about 10 inches, which makes it a tough but not impossible concealed carry piece, and more likely a bag gun. 

Shipping with two GX4 Carry-sized magazines (15 rounds or 10 rounds, depending on state restrictions) the Taurus GX4 Strike Bravo has an MSRP of $795.99.

If you already have a brace with a rear Picatinny interface, the GX4 Strike Bravo is sold without one, with an ask of $606.99.

The Taurus GX4 Strike Bravo
The Taurus GX4 Strike Bravo, in its less spendy but brace-less format. 

Compare that cost to the SIG P365 Legion Flux, which has a $1,199 MAP in its cheapest format, and the $2,500 B&T USW-A1, and you see the value.

In short, Taurus is now offering what could be termed “the USW/Flux we have at home” for a fraction of the price.

The GX what now?

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Taurus has been breaking ground in the tiny double-stack 9mm neighborhood since 2013 when the 12+1 shot capacity G2C hit the market– a pistol that is still one of the best firearms deals for consumers. Then came the updated 13+1 shot G3C in 2020 and the gently smaller 11+1 shot GX4 in 2021.

I liked the GX4 so much that I carried it as my EDC for more than 18 months in extended evaluation. About the only thing I didn’t like about the GX4 was the fact the takedown lever required a tool, such as a flat-head screwdriver or a spent case, to turn and release the slide to field strip.

Well, Taurus has fixed that with the GX2 by adding a takedown lever while upping it to a flush-fit 13+1 capacity and only growing the size incrementally. The end goal seems to be to replace the decade-old G2 series with the new and improved GX2.

And you can expect the price to likely be in the $250 range.

That could be a big win for folks looking to get into a nice entry-level handgun with decent features and reliability. After all, not everyone needs a customized $4K 2011.

More in my column at Guns.com.

Calling Mr. Roscoe

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One interesting new (well, rebooted) gun design that I am looking forward to testing this summer is the Heritage Roscoe.

A salute to the old-school pocket revolvers from the days of Mike Hammer and Philip Marlowe, the cigar-box-worthy .38SPL +P Roscoe looks right out of the mid-20th Century, clad in a deep glossy finish, classic round butt wood grips, fixed sights, and a 5-shot cylinder. Plus, it is available in both 2- and 3-inch models.

Best yet, it has an ask of $350, which should translate to $299-ish at retail.

Heritage, the Taurus subsidiary best known for its affordable single-action rimfire pistols and carbines, has launched the Roscoe line. This comes almost a decade after Taurus sunset its popular Model 85 5-shot small-frame revolver line– upgrading it to the larger 6-shot Model 856– and recalls the company’s history during the old Bangor Punta days (1962-72ish) when it was a sister to S&W and they shared tech.

More in my column at Guns.com.

CANCON ’23: Quiet Suppressor Fest in the Sun

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I trekked to the Georgia coast last weekend to hang out at the fully suppressed range day and gun show that is the fabled CANCON.

Held Veterans Day weekend at the 17 South Rod and Gun Club in sunny Savannah – where the temps hovered in the low 80s in November! – the event is now in its second year. Organized by the fine folks at Recoil with the support of more than 60 industry sponsors including some big players like B&T, Daniel Defense, FN, KAC, Kalashnikov USA, Maxim, PTR, SIG Sauer, SilencerCo, and Staccato, you can bet that it had something for everyone.

Open to the public, a $50 general admission ticket got you on the range for the day for unlimited shooting at every lane with all ammo included, while VIP and Premier tickets got you into the whole weekend including night shoots with both white light and NVGs and a swag bag that included a free suppressor (not a misprint).

While I’ll have several follow-up articles this week diving deeper into some cool new developments in the quiet space that I ferreted out at the show, check out this preview to get a general feel for the event.

Who doesn’t love a suppressed M2 50 cal?

Dead Air was there doing Dead Air stuff. We call dibs on the Spiker.

What’s your pick?

B&T had their Station SIX? (AKA the modern Welrod)

As part of this complete breakfast

Gemtech, one of the oldest names in the suppressor game, was there with lots of goodies all on parent company S&W’s new stuff, including the new FPC folding 9mm carbine.

Kalashnikov USA was out in force with lots of cool guy stuff…

Recently celebrating their 15th anniversary, SiCo did a short run of Titanium Sparrows that sold out in a day. Maybe it will become a regular item. Maybe.

SIG brought lots of stuff Including the MCX line, which the Army is putting through its paces currently for the Next Generation Squad Weapon program.

More in my column at Guns.com.

Peanut Butter Tactical

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Taurus has been diversifying its line of affordable and rugged 9mm G3 series pistols for the past few years and the new G3 Tactical comes across its name honestly.

Introduced at the NRA Annual Meetings in Houston earlier this summer, the G3 Tactical is based on the standard full-sized and optics-ready G3 TORO but includes an extended threaded barrel, 17+1 capacity magazines, a Patriot Brown Cerakote slide, and FDE frame. What that translates to is a pistol that can do a lot right out of the bag, while keeping (well) inside the $500 range.

The G3 linage is unmistakable but when you start looking harder you see all the neat little bonuses such as front and rear slide serrations, suppressor-height co-witness sights, an extended factory-threaded 1/2x28TPI DLC-coated barrel, and top optics plate. The three-slot MIL-STD-1913 accessory rail, memory pads on the frame and 17+1 mags capacity are a nice touch as well.

Of course, to me the scheme looks more like peanut butter, but, hey, it works.

More in my column at Guns.com.

The Sig P365XL via Brazil

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Taurus earlier this year released a stretched slide version of their well-liked G3C, promising full-size pistol performance in a compact package via the new G3XL.

Here’s what I found out.

The 9mm Taurus G3XL carries over the standard model G3’s full-size Tenifer-finished all-steel slide and 4-inch stainless-steel barrel assembly. A crossover concept, it also borrows from the G3C by using its compact grip frame. The resulting G3XL thus has the benefit of the longer sight radius, tending to better accuracy over shorter barrels, while adding a few fps to bullet velocity for increased terminal performance. Meanwhile, the smaller frame allows easier carry than the standard-sized G3.

Of course, the gun’s name is a riff on the Sig Sauer P365XL, and it is roughly the same size, although the Taurus is a good bit less expensive. Heck, both even have a 12+1 magazine capacity. Ironically, the G3XL can even use Sig P229/228/226 mags, which would have been a neat trick that Sig should have thought about. 

It is pretty basic, but it works and costs well under $350.

More in my column at Guns.com.

G3C, G3X, G3XL…what?

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In the past couple of years, Taurus has really upped its 9mm game with a trio of G3 pistol models offering affordable options for everyday carry.

All based on the standard G3 line – the budget gunmaker’s third family of striker-fired polymer-framed pistols following in the wake of the PT111 Millennium and G2 series – the G3C was introduced in 2020, with the “C,” for “compact,” denoting the fact that it was both shorter in length and height than the base model.

Then came the G3X, which was much the same as the G3C but with a fuller grip and larger magazine capacity, and the G3XL, which had the same grip and magazine as the G3C but with a longer slide, offering a better sight radius and more controllability.

For reference:

Left to right, the G3C, G3X, and G3XL. (Chris Eger/Guns.com)

Check out my take on the trio, what makes them different, and why it matters, over in my column on GDC.

Stetching the G3C

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Taurus this week delivered a new installment in its popular and budget-friendly 9mm G3 pistol series, the G3XL.
I got an early look and have been kicking it around for the past couple of weeks.
The crossover design blends the polymer grip frame of the compact G3C, with its standard 12+1 magazine capacity, with the more full-sized 4-inch barrel and slide of the Taurus G3 to create the G3XL. The result is a very concealable handgun that still allows a decent sight radius akin to the one seen on the Glock 19, while just weighing 24 ounces.

With a 3.2-inch barrel, the commonly-encountered G3C is just 6.3-inches overall, putting it right at an inch shorter than the G3XL, and couple of ounces heavier. However, in terms of height and width, the guns are a match for each other, no surprise as the G3XL uses the same grip frame as the G3C.

In the hands, the extra inch of slide/barrel really makes a difference. The G3C, left, G3XL on the right

More in my column at Guns.com. 

Taurus goes…Red Dot?

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For a few months last year, I actively carried and shot the heck out of a Taurus G3C on a T&E review. I was surprised in the fact that the non-frills Brazilian-made gun just flat out worked and digested everything I fed it. Carrying with a DeSantis holster, it felt good and I felt confident with it. So much so that, at the end of the review period, instead of sending it back to Taurus (I had saved all the packing and was fully prepared going into the review to “return to sender) I bought the damned thing.

They ship with 3 12-round mags and are an extremely compact design– that works– which is always a good thing. Price runs between $275-$350 depending on where you find them. 

Now, Taurus just announced they are delivering an optics-ready version to the market, ready right out of the box to carry just about every pistol red dot (Trijicon RMR, Noblex-Docter, Vortex Venom, Burris FastFire, Sightmark Mini, Holosun HS407C, Leupold Delta Point, C-More STS2, Bushnell RXS-250, and TRUGLO TRU-TEC Micro) there is.

The asking price is in the low $400s, which is nice.

New to the Gun Circuit: The Shooting Sports Showcase

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So I am back from a brand-new firearm industry event, this year’s inaugural Shooting Sports Showcase. In a year where SHOT Show was canceled, the SSS was like a breath of fresh air.

The event was put on by the Professional Outdoor Media Association, the Southeastern Outdoor Press Association, and the National Association of Sporting Goods Wholesalers and held at the Civilian Marksmanship Program’s superb 500-acre Talladega Marksmanship Park on Monday.

Like you really need an excuse to hit the CMP Range…

While small compared to SHOT– there were only about 60 exhibitors– you still got to spend lots of quality time with the big boys like HK, Glock, and Sig Sauer, but also with the smaller guys like Sol Invictus, Century, and Taylor’s.

And they all had lots of interesting stuff on hand.

Looking forward to next year’s Showcase already.

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