What causes this jam?

[E150GT]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like it's jammed on the barrel hood and not the ejection port.

I used to have the same problem with my 24/7, then I started using grease on the locking lugs of the barrel instead of oil. Turns out the oil I was using migrated quite quickly, and the nearly dry lugs didn't allow the barrel to pivot down in time to get out of the way of the loaded round. My personal grease recommendation is Slide Glide Lite.

If that doesn't solve the problem it probably needs a trip to Miami for some attention.

Edit: Forgot to ask, how many round have you fired from this gun? Have you had any issues ejecting fired brass? When you brought it home new, how (details please) did you clean it? New Taurus guns often have problems because of the protective goo they drown them in for the trip from Brazil. If you didn't use a bunch (often an entire can) of gun scrubber (synthetic safe!) to clean out all the goo then it can cause all kinds of problems.

do you grease just the barrel or do you grease the slide too? My gun had just a little oil on it. No goo, but it was made in the U.S.

[couzin]

Annoyed is correct - you should use the failure drill of ejecting the magazine then racking the slide to clear a dud/jam/unfired round (opinions differ on turning upside down, canting slightly to see if the weapon is clear through the ejection port, or just seeing the round fall from the magazine well); reinsert magazine and get back to business. It is safer and that is a stress practice drill anyway. If you reinsert the round you have pictured as your 'problem' - you run the risk of possible misfire or overpressure because the bullet is being pressed into the casing (check the overall length against rounds that have never been loaded).

[cheezit]

if you do a youtube search for tap, rack and roll you will find soem stuff on proper clearing of jams.
imp this is one of the better ones.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJaQvV6q-D8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[gigag04]

You see in your second photo above where it says "Taurus"? Well there's your problem right there ....

Wait...I think you're actually on to something here.

[bdickens]

I used to have the same problem with my 24/7, then I started using grease on the locking lugs of the barrel instead of oil. Turns out the oil I was using migrated quite quickly, and the nearly dry lugs didn't allow the barrel to pivot down in time to get out of the way of the loaded round. My personal grease recommendation is Slide Glide Lite.

Thus illustrating why you should follow the maufacturer's reccomendations for lubrication. Engineers usually specify specific types of lubricants for specific applications for a reason.

The Taurus manual doesn't say to use grease, nor does it mention that you should lubricate the locking lugs. In fact, the manual doesn't give any information about how to clean or lubricate the gun, except to say you should remove oil from the chamber before firing. The manual doesn't give any recommendations about what kind of oil to use either.

I had sent the gun to Taurus TWICE to have the problem fixed, to no avail. I didn't figure the problem out until I noticed the barrel having a tough time pivoting during a dry fire practice session. I re-oiled and the problem went away for a little while. After a little troubleshooting I figured out the source of the problem, and the solution. Taurus, and their engineers, had nothing to do with the solution.

Some manufacturers do give specific reccomendations.

[E150GT]

You see in your second photo above where it says "Taurus"? Well there's your problem right there ....

Wait...I think you're actually on to something here.

Well, I had high hopes for this pistol, as my millenium pro is an excellent gun. I am going to call Taurus and see what they say. Its not that big of a deal as its a back up to a back up gun, so I dont really carry it all that often. I was going to though. If nothing can get resolved, I will write it off as FAIL and move on.

[TEX]

Smyna pretty much got it right I think. Most guns are designed to eject empty brass and sometimes with a live round it is just a tad longer or the hollow point wider than expected, it will hang up on the forward inside portion of the ejection port. If cycling the slide forcefully, as when clearing a failure to fire, the extra speed is sometimes enough to get the loaded round out (slide usually goes back further and a lead nose with copper jacket can give a little or get pushed down inthe case). As far as the physics of the ejection cycle changing due to the greater weight of a loaded round, I don't think that is as much a cause as ejection port clearance and slide speed - no one hand ejects a round with the same force (read speed) that the gun does when firing. As Smyna said, relieving a little on the inside radius where the nose of the bullet is catching, may cure the problem. It looks like you have a stainless slide so having to refinish where you grind or remove should not be an issue. I once had a 9mm auto that would hand eject live defensive ammo just fine, but would try to hang up with the slightly longer ball ammo. Sort of the same thing some think is going on here. I like the idea of the Taurus 380 slim, but I am waiting on the titanium slide model. I know it will be a bear to shoot, but it should be really lite to carry on occasions where every ounce matters.

Stay Safe - TEX

[jimlongley]

OK, I don't have one of those, but I noticed a similar problem with my .32NAA Guardian. The Guardian also has an extractor but no real ejector. If you open the slide with no magazine in place and the gun held upright the round drops down the magazine well. A magazine must be in place for the round to eject properly.

I wonder if something similar is happening here.

[dcphoto]

do you grease just the barrel or do you grease the slide too? My gun had just a little oil on it. No goo, but it was made in the U.S.

You need to grease in between the "legs" that stick out underneath the chamber. Those are the locking lugs, and the gap between them is where the takedown pin goes. The barrel pivots about the takedown pin, and without lube in that spot it will not move smoothly.

[ACP Shooter]

I shoot a PT145 regularly and when I bought it I had a failure like your pics with both clips, called Taurus and they said send in the clips and
they'll send out a new pair, saying there was a problem with a production run , they also gave me the option of sending one at a time so I wouldnt be without one. their cust svc is tops with me
I got two clips in about 3 weeks and have since put about 600 round thru my PT145 without a failure. I used a variety of loads in the 600
mainly fmj's from factory loads, home reloads and even +P JHPs without a failure one.
I definitely think your problem is the magazines.
Good Luck
Steve

plastic mailed 07-01-10