By Mike Schoby
When I was in college we coveted all guns but gravitated to those that would work with our beer budget. Back then, the market was flooded with SKSs. They were covered in Cosmoline and reeked of a Chinese warehouse. They were bought from 50-gallon barrels, where two dozen or more were rammed in muzzle first. The general deal was a hundred bucks, and you would get a sealed pack of steel-case Chi-com ammo if you could negotiate and the dealer was feeling generous.
For handguns, police trade in Smith and Wesson Model 10s that could be had for like $120 bucks. If an auto was more your style, the Russian rip-off of German PPK perfection called the Makarov was about a buck and a half. My buddies and I bought them all like scrap iron…by weight. Why? Because even on a college kid’s budget, there was always a place for multiple inexpensive, but well-made, reliable guns.
One in the truck, another in a Jon boat, one in your fishing vest or tackle box, one in the pannier of your motorcycle, one at the hunting cabin, one buried in a prepper tube, the list goes on. But the point is, if a gun is affordable enough, why only have one?
This was my thought when I was introduced to the new Taurus GX2. It’s nothing fancy. It’s a polymer frame, striker-fired 9mm that holds 13 rounds with a standard magazine and 15 rounds with an extended one. Looking the gun over, it was a bit uninspiring—the sights were adjustable but rudimentary, however, they were industry standard dovetail cuts so you could upgrade to high-quality aftermarket sights like those from XS. It had a hinged trigger safety, as well as a side manual safety, something many gun owners want, even if I am not one of them. It did have a pic rail, which is a nice addition for a light. But, in short there’s nothing that raised eyebrows. The Taurus USA President Bret Vorhees said, “Yeah, we are targeting a retail price of $250.” That made me raise an eyebrow.
When I was in college, minimum wage was $4.25 an hour, and we considered SKSs, Makorovs, and Model 10s a steal at a little over a hundred bucks. Federal minimum wage is now almost double that, and in many states, it is triple or quadruple that. The GX2 is roughly double but is much more feature packed than Model 10s or Makarovs. It doesn’t take a mathematician to realize, adjusting for inflation, that the Taurus is well under a hundred bucks back in my college days and a far better gun.
But the GX2 had to work, be accurate, and reliable to be useful. Affordable is only valuable if these criteria are met. If not, it is just a cheap piece of shit you wouldn’t ever want to trust your life to. Like everything Taurus does, under Bret’s guidance, they understand this and are willing to put their guns to the test. So, Ron Dan President of FE and I went out to the fabled Gunsite in Prescott, AZ (side note: if you haven’t been to Gunsite, book a class, the course and instructors are phenomenal) to shoot these guns firsthand.
Over the course of two days, we ran the GX2 in the heat, dust, rain, and sand on flat ranges as well as complex courses and shoot houses. The gun was darn accurate, the trigger was fine, the sights held up, and overall, it was a good shooting experience. In all, we probably put 500 rounds of ammo through each of the 15 test guns (multiple other shooters were testing them as well). I didn’t have a single hiccup, nor did I see one, except a rare magazine flaw. When doing reload drills, magazines were being dumped in the dust and sand repeatedly. If enough dirt accumulated in them, the magazine follower would stick in the body. Problematic for sure, but something that is easily rectified.
Paying attention to the small things, Bret delayed the launch of this pistol until the magazine issues were resolved to his satisfaction, and the company made sure the guns would run in the harshest of conditions.
The gun is now out. I received a production model instead of a prototype; it runs well. It is accurate and now fully reliable. And the gun is a hell of a buy for what amounts to about a half a week’s work for those in entry-level jobs.You are not going to impress anyone with your state-of-the-art multi-thousand-dollar safe queen, but it is fine for carry and is far better than what I had to choose from back in the day.
The only addition I would make is selling them in “chub packs.” Four or five for a grand in one box? Sign me up. I still would like to keep a matching gun in a car, boat, camper, and fishing vest.
Cost: $250
Pro: Well-made, reliable self-defense handgun on a beer budget
Con: Functional not bragging features
