Range Report on The Taurus PT140 Millenium Pro

Verily, I say unto thee…it doth not suck.

After taking the advice of most commenters, I shot a few mags through the pawnshop PT145.

The gun in question is a third-generation Millenium Pro, and as commenter 2nd to One pointed out, the triggers (which was most of the negative comments about the gun) have improved significantly. The SA pull wasn’t bad at all; Very little creep, fairly crisp, but with more takeup than I prefer. Something just bugs me about pulling a trigger for a half inch or more before it even engages the sear.

But hey, it shot well, and felt good in the hand. Noticeable muzzle flip, but not overwhelmingly so.

So, satisfied with the trigger, I cleaned it and took it back to the pawnshop to cogitate a bit on the purchase.

And as it so happens, I saw the exact same guns a few days later, brand new, at Academy Sports for significantly less than the pawnshop wanted. WTF???

So, I wound up purchsing the .40 caliber version of the gun for fifty bucks cheaper than the pawnshop wanted for a used one.

I took it out and shot it today. Before you go to giggling about my shitty groups, keep in mind that, other than 50 rounds a few days ago, this is the first time I’ve even picked up a pistol in almost six years. Plus, I was shooting with a tringer finger that looked like this:

This somewhat blurry cellphone camera photo is an object lesson in what a right index fingertip looks like after it has been shut – and locked – in a truck door for two minutes.

The two minutes was roughly the time spent turning the air blue with foul imprecations, praying to various deities, calling for Mommy and just general craven whimpering…all while doing considerable gymnastics trying to reach my keys, which happened to be zipped up in my backpack…

…in the bed of the truck.

After demonstrating flexibility that would qualify me for a job with Cirque de Soleil, I managed to extract my keys from the backpack, vainly thumb the keyless remote for several seconds before remembering that the lock solenoid on the driver’s side is broken, and finally insert the damned key in the lock and free my pinned finger.

I’ll tell you, by the time I got it loose, I was shaking like a dog shitting roofing tacks.

All this happened Friday before work. The tiny little circled area in the photo is where I drilled an 18 gauge needle through the nail in the ER between calls Friday night, in an effort to drain the hematoma that had my finger turning purple and hard as a rock.

So, now that we’ve established that my trigger finger was only in marginally better shape than Tom Berenger’s in Sniper, and thus firmly established my excuse, let’s look at the targets, shall we?

That’s a standard 25 yard pistol target, although I was shooting at only 15 yards. The uppermost hole is my first shot, with the remaining four in the string grouped a little low and left. The figure eight sights were a little foreign to me, but not hard to get used to. Honestly, the biggest hurdle was finding a way to shoot that didn’t make my trigger finger feel like it was wedged in the truck door again, and I wound up shooting the next 20 rounds squeezing with the middle joint of my trigger finger rather than the fingertip like I’m used to. That was only marginally better, with the added risk of jabbing the sore tip of my index finger against the thumb of my support hand and making me piss my pants in the process.

The final five-shot string – I could only grit it out for 25 total rounds – was this one:

The hole at the bottom of the target is where I pulled the staple loose, by the way, not a bullet strike.

All in all, a high degree of suckitude I am not happy with – me, not the pistol.. That target more resembles what I’d consider a mediocre group at 25 yards, not my best at 15. But considering the fact that it was a brand-new gun straight out of the box, and that I was shooting with a useless trigger finger, I’ll take it.

If I’m still grouping low and left with a healed trigger finger and a few boxes through the gun, I’ll adjust the sights. I can’t help but think that with a couple hundred more rounds and a healed trigger finger, those groups will be much tighter.

Now the only thing left is a decent concealment holster. Any suggestions?