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I am in waiting for my plastic from DPS. I was at the range yesterday doing some plinking with pistols and testing a new deer load with my rifle.

SO... I was shooting my 9mm (don't bash me--that is just what I have), which is the gun I was planning to carry once I get the plastic. It is a Taurus PT-111. The gun has shot great and very reliable until now. I had 2 different types of ammo to shoot. I started having failures to ignite the charge. About once per clip of 10. I changed to my other type of ammo and it happened again. I even got one that failed to fire all together.

I have shot the Springfield XD .45ACP and LOVE IT! You all think I should trade in the 9mm on Lay-Away and pay off the XD over a couple months? I WANT an XD and this is not just an excuse to get one. I don't think it is a good idea to carry a pistol that has had ANY history of failure.

What do you fellas think?

Use/carry the one that you are most comfortable with and the one that fits you best. The other thing is reliability. That is VERY important. I would like to know what caused my pistol to act up. Thats just the way I am. It maybe something very simple to fix. Then again, you may need to send it back to the factory to be repaired.

I agree with Target1911, I too would want to know why the weapon failed to operate reliably.

I also agree with your comment about not carrying a weapon with a history of failure…that is as long as the cause has not been repaired/eliminated.

I personally have no problem with carrying a weapon that has failed in the past as long as the cause has been removed and the weapon has reestablished its reliability.

For example I have a friend whose new 1911 would misfire on 1-2 rounds per magazine. We disassembled it and found some crude in the firing pin channel that appeared to be hampering travel. We cleaned the crud out (turned out to be metal shavings from the machining process) and went back to practicing defensive pistol. The weapon operated reliably for the next ~250 rounds.

We went out again the next month and his 1911 operated flawlessly for two days and a total of ~ 900-1000 rounds…he now carries that weapon daily without concern and in many trips to the practice range it has never hiccupped again.

I have a Berretta 92 that out of the box would not reliably feed from the magazine. It was really a break-in problem and after ~ 100 rounds it was operating flawlessly.

If you want the XD, go for it…but before you sideline your nine it would be advisable to find out why it was acting up. That is unless you just dislike the weapon and even operating flawlessly you still wouldn’t carry it.

You also made the comment “I was shooting my 9mm (don't bash me--that is just what I have)�. I think you’ll find many folks on this forum that hold the “Nine� in high regard. Personally I believe 9mm is a very effective personal defensive round that has proven itself many times in the past…and that comment is coming from a guy who thinks the top of the heap is 45acp out of a John Browning design.

Don’t be ashamed of your nine…I’ve never heard of anyone who was shot with one saying “That didn’t hurt!� or a BG saying “I was going to run, then I noticed it was only a 9mm, so I went ahead and robbed him anyway�.

I used to have a Taurus pt145, same thing as your pt 111, just 45acp and not 9mm. Mine would do the same thing if I was using reloads. I never had a failure to fire with factory rounds. But the reason that I no longer have it is because it would drop the mag while I was shooting, no matter how I held it. I might have been able to get it fixed, but I did not want to take the time.

The problem is probably just a weak spring. Taurus has a lifetime guarantee: http://www.taurususa.com/main/repair-policy.cfm

- Jim

Are you shooting reloads or factory ammo? If it's factory, what brand is it? How old is it?

I don't finance stuff if I don't have to. I would try some other ammo first. If it still does the same thing, send to Taurus for warranty.

I have a Taurus pt24/7pro in 9mm that won't shoot Monarch ammo. CCI or Winchester is fine though.

before I took a beating trading in a pistol to a dealer, I would check a few things out:

1. what do the primers on the "unfired" rounds look like compared to properly cycled casings

2. an obvious question, but is the chamber fully cleaned/polished allowing every round to fully seat and the slide to go to battery

3. as mentioned above. is the firing pin tunnel clean and free of debris. Many handguns are fast tracked out of the factory with machining crud in the firing pin tunnel


Let someone with a bit more knowledge handle the gun and evaluate to conditions before you take a self induced whipping!


just my unprofessional opinions

I agree with surveyor check unfired rounds for hits on primer if they are lighter than fired cases then the firing pin is not striking the primer with enough force.if there is no indentation on the primer the slide may not be fully closed preventing firing pin from striking he primer.