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Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Taurus Curve (Updated and bumped)

Taurus is introducing a new handgun intended to be more ergonomic to carry, called the Curve, for obvious reasons (see the photo below). Guns & Ammo gives a brief description and has more photos of the gun.

Guns & Ammo. Supposedly Taurus will offer a left-hand model in the future.

Guns & Ammo. You can see the lands and grooves end before the end of the barrel (the cut-off
on the end reminds me of the slant muzzle compensator on the AKM).
Sighting is done with a built in laser-sight, although the cross on the back of the slide is supposed to function as "iron" sights. It also has two illuminating LEDs. There is a pocket/belt clip that can be mounted on the side for carrying without a holster.

It is an interesting concept for inside the pants carry, and exhibits a willingness to innovate that normally is reserved for Kel-Tek. However, Taurus has a bad reputation when it comes to quality control, and the design is unusual, so it will be interesting to see where this goes.

Update: In response to a reader's comment, here is a photo showing it carried inside the waist band so you can see how it prints:

Source: Guns & Ammo
The shape gives it a square outline, and with something other than skin tight jeans, it may not even show up very much.

By the way, Caleb at Gun Nuts Media really hates the Curve. Did I say that he really hates it. Is it a gimmick or innovation? I don't know. But it attempts to address ergonomic issues, so to me it falls closer to changeable backstraps on a handgun (was that a gimmick or innovation?), than merely adding a different color finish.

Update (11/21/2014): John Boch at Guns Saves Life really hates the Curve as well. His complaints have to do with carrying inside the waistband without a safety, and the lack of iron sights. And he rips on Guns & Ammo for carrying a positive review. In defense of Guns & Ammo, I will note that their article was a "First Look," and the actual review will be published in January. I agree with Boch, though, that most gun magazines try to write a positive review to please advertisers. That's why it is Guns & Ammo and not Consumer Gun Reports.

I'm going to hold off on my judgment until someone actually gets a chance to try one out and report on it. I question the lack of iron sights, but also know that realistically, you only focus on the front sight when under pressure anyway. So, at the distances the gun is intended to be used for, perhaps the cross-hairs on the back of the slide would be enough.

3 comments:

  1. It's too heavy at 14 oz compared to the KelTec P3AT at 8.3 oz (11.1 oz loaded), and a tenth of an inch thicker than the P3AT.

    Even a curved 0.875 inch thick pocket gun is going to print. Maybe the large bulb on the front for the laser sight will make it look like something other than a traditional pistol when it prints.

    Meh.

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  2. Caleb at Gun Nuts makes some valid points, including that maybe Taurus is marketing this gun to women. If the Curve is indeed being marketed to women, then it needs to be available in pink and other colors. My partner has a definite preference for pink firearms.

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    Replies
    1. Caleb does indeed make valid points, but I think he is overly biased because of his dislike of anything Taurus. One of the things I like about this package, and it is probably something that we may see more and more, is the integrated laser and light package. I like the fact that they realize that the light is for identifying a target, not blinding the target (and the shooter). It also represents another step toward recognizing that electronic sights (red dot or laser) have and should be the primary sight, even on a handgun, and iron sights becoming a backup. In this regard, though, I think Taurus would have been better served using a green laser. Red lasers are generally too weak to use bright sunlight.

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