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Taurus
USA is one of the most progressive and innovative gun
companies in existence. At the 2002
SHOT Show in Las Vegas, Taurus displayed a great variety
of new and interesting firearms. One that really piqued my
interest was their stainless Tracker revolver chambered for the
.45 ACP cartridge. There have been other .45 ACP revolvers on
the market for years, but they are built on large frames, while
Taurus builds theirs on a compact frame, resulting in a handier,
more packable package. As these new Trackers were not in
production at the time of the SHOT Show, I had to wait a few
months to get a production gun for testing.
A
few weeks ago the new Taurus finally arrived, and I have been
shooting and fondling the revolver as often as possible since
ripping it from its packaging.
The .45 Tracker is available with
a choice of a two, four, or six and one-half inch barrel, the
one sent to me being the latter. The satin finished stainless
steel and black grips result in a good looking, business-like
revolver. The barrel is heavy and ported, with horizontal vents
machined above the bore on either side of the front sight.
The heavy barrel, combined with the compact frame size, results
in a muzzle heavy feel that points naturally. The ports are
there to help tame the recoil from heavy loads. The ejector rod
is well protected within a recess in the barrel’s underlug.
The black rubber grips have raised horizontal ribs to help
cushion felt recoil. Taurus calls these their "Ribber"
grips.
The sights are fully adjustable and well defined,
with a bright orange insert on the rear face of the front sight, and a
white outline on the rear face of the rear sight.
The hammer
incorporates the Taurus locking system. This action locking
device is there if needed, but otherwise unobtrusive for those
who choose not to disable their firearm.
The
heart of the .45 ACP Tracker is the five shot full moon clips
used to hold the cartridges in place for ejection. The ACP
cartridges can be loaded and fired without the moon clips, but
will not be ejected by the ejector rod. With the moon clips, all
cartridges are ejected at once, and reloading only requires the
insertion of another loaded clip. This is about the fastest way
to reload and fire a double action revolver. It is like a speed
loader that you leave in the gun. What differs the Taurus moon
clips from previous designs is the small slot that is cut
between the cartridges on the clip. This slot makes loading and
unloading the cartridges and empty cases from the clip much
easier than with other moon clips. It allows the clip to flex
just enough between cases to allow easy insertion and removal.
It is a good feature, and should be adopted by other moon clip
manufacturers. The single action and double action trigger pulls
measured just under four pounds, and eight and one-half pounds,
respectively. The single action pull was nice and crisp,
and the double action was smooth and steady, as they should be.
For
testing the .45 Tracker, I gathered a variety of factory and
hand loaded ammunition ranging from target wadcutters to heavy
cast bullets and high performance hollow points. All group
testing was done at a range of 25 yards, using a wrist-supported
position. While all ammo performed admirably in the Tracker, the
best groups were fired using Cor-Bon
Pow-R-Ball high performance loads. These Pow-R-Balls
consistently grouped into a one inch cluster for five shots.
While Cor-Bon designed these to work in an autoloader and give
great terminal performance, they performed as target grade ammo
in this Taurus revolver. The excellent sights, combined with the
crisp trigger pull, made shooting for accuracy a pleasure.
Double action offhand plinking was equally rewarding, due to the
smoothness of the action and the muzzle-heavy feel of the six
and one-half inch heavy barrel. The gun as tested weighed just
over 40 ounces. Felt recoil was very manageable even with the
heaviest loads tested. There were no failures to fire, and
ejection was smooth and positive. The gun came supplied with
five of the moon clips, and all held up well during many loading
and unloading cycles. Again, I really came to appreciate that
little slot cut between cartridges when loading and
unloading the clips.
The
.45 ACP Tracker is a fun gun to shoot, and properly loaded would
make a good hunting revolver for medium sized game such as
whitetail deer. It is well balanced, relatively compact and very
accurate. As a defense revolver for the home, it is close
to ideal. It is powerful, controllable, and with preloaded moon
clips, quickly reloaded. I like it.
Check
out the entire line of Trackers and other Taurus firearms online
at www.taurususa.com
Jeff
Quinn
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Click pictures for a larger version.
Taurus' .45 ACP Tracker DA revolver, shown with some of
the ammunition used for testing. The Tracker performed
admirably using a wide variety of ammunition.
The Tracker .45 ACP uses Taurus' proprietary moon clip
design, resulting in very quick reloads. The Taurus moon clip
design is unique in using small slots between cartridges;
these slots are a very effective aid in loading the clips.
Taurus' moon clip system allows the rimless .45 ACP
cases to be unloaded using the gun's ejector system. .45 ACP
ammunition can be loaded and fired in the Tracker without
using the clips, but the cases are not ejected with the
ejector rod.
The Tracker .45 features Taurus' porting system for
recoil reduction and quick target reacquisition. Coupled with
the full-underlug barrel, Taurus' barrel porting system makes
for a very soft-shooting revolver with even the heaviest .45
ACP loads.
Recoil of the .45 ACP is further managed by Taurus'
"Ribber" grips. These soft rubber grips feature deep
horizontal grooves that give nicely soft and controllable
purchase for the hand. The grips also feature a superb ergonomic
shape that very effectively reduces shooter fatigue.
For those who have need of such a device, the hammer incorporates Taurus' locking system.
Taurus' locking system is one of the most effective and
unobtrusive yet developed.
The Tracker .45 features a very nice rear sight that is
fully-adjustable for windage and elevation. This well-designed
rear sight, coupled with a ramp front sight with orange insert
as shown above, is an effective aid to accuracy.
Speaking of accuracy, the Author is a true believer in
the philosophy that only accurate guns are interesting, and
the Taurus Tracker .45 is certainly interesting. The Tracker
shot very well with a wide variety of ammunition, but really
liked Cor-Bon's superb Pow-R-Ball high-performance loads,
consistently turning out 1" five-shot groups at 25 yards.
The Pow-R-Ball's excellent ballistic performance in such an
accurate gun would result in a formidable self-defense
package!
Taurus has become one of the most innovative makers in
today's market, offering fine products and solid craftsmanship
at a reasonable price. Their product line reflects a dynamic
company that reaches out to the past while embracing the
future, and we are great admirers of what they are doing.
Taurus has another winner in their Tracker .45!
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