Taurus G3 Review

Previously, Taurus didn’t offer any current duty gun size on the market. Considering the success of the Taurus G2C, many people considered the Taurus G3 a powerhouse when it was finally released.

Taurus’ last duty gun size product was the Taurus 24-7. It did not have a good reputation for reliability, so it didn’t perform well on the market.

You’ve likely heard of the Taurus G2C, which is a popular gun on the US market due to its large number of features for a very low budget price.

The Taurus G3 is a continuation of the Taurus G2C lineup.

Taurus designed the G3 to fit more of a duty gun/large carry gun roll.

It’s unclear as of right now whether Taurus meant for this gun to be a budget offering for foreign police departments or if it was designed primarily for the US market.

It’s very unlikely that any police department or agency on the US market would adopt the Taurus G3 just due to the budget price and Glock, Sig, and Smith and Wesson offering such great and solid options at similar prices when bought in large law enforcement quantities.

Taurus manufactures the gun in Brazil like they do most of their other offerings despite having a new factory here in the United States.

Role

For most, the Taurus G3 will be a self-defense-style firearm. Due to its large size, many will relegate this gun to a home defense or truck gun.

Despite the large size, it’s still possible for most people to carry this gun. It will require the right Taurus G3 holster.

AIWB is really concealable for the right body type. If you have a narrow waist size then this gun isn’t going to be the best carry option for you.

For reference, the model pictured has a 32-inch waist.

Features

The Taurus G3 is a 15-round gun with a flush fit magazine.

I’d put its size somewhere between a Glock 17 and Glock 19. It includes an additional 17-round mag that includes a sleeve on the bottom to prevent over-insertion.

It also makes your grip more natural if your grip extends past the gun’s grip with the 15-round magazine.

A company called Promag makes aftermarket extended mags for this gun or for the G2C series that will fit the Taurus G3.

However, I would hesitate before purchasing them, due to Promag’s questionable reliability.

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The Taurus G3 has a slightly beveled mag well that is pretty typical for a gun in this class.

It is, by no means, difficult to reload the magazine into the Taurus G3.

At the same time, you’re not going to get any aid inserting the magazine into a massive mag well that a gun like the Glock Gen 5 MOS has.

Ergonomics/Grip

Ergonomically the Taurus G3 is a very comfortable gun for the price point. There are a few areas, like the undercut under the grip, that could cause some complaints.

This gun will definitely give you a Glock knuckle if you shoot it enough.

Well, maybe it becomes Taurus knuckle since you’re shooting a Taurus.

Modularity

There are no replaceable backstrap options on this gun, so the size of the grip you get is the size of the grip you get. There’s no option to change it.

The good news is the grip itself is quite well-rounded, so it feels good in the hand.

The area around the tang of the grip underneath the back of the slide is very well rounded and comfortable as well.

Shooters with large to small hands will not have any issue with this gun.

There are guns out there like the Walther PPQ that can be uncomfortable in that area for some shooters and impact the knuckle of their thumb.

But you will not have this issue with the Taurus G3.

Texturing

The frame of the Taurus G3 is fairly slick, but there is intermittent texturing on the front strap, the backstrap, and two places on each side panel of the gun.

The texturing itself is fairly aggressive. And I have a feeling if you shot this gun a lot it would wear out overtime.

But for the round counts and the way most shooters will use this weapon, it will be more than sufficient. It offers a very good texture and allows you to get a solid grip on the gun.

The frame itself has two index points that sit in front of the takedown levers. They give you a good place to index your shooting finger when you’re gripping the gun.

You could also index your thumb there as well although it might mess up your support hand grip.

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Overall, the grip is good for a gun at this price point.

It won’t leave you walking away impressed compared to some of the more ergonomic options out there, but it does feel good in the hand.

If you can grip a Glock 19, the Taurus G3 will give you enough space to grip the gun and then some.

This gun has a much higher bore axis than, say, a Glock 19, and just due to the design.

You do not get as much length as other guns of this size from the bottom of the trigger undercut to the bottom of the grip. So, one thing you’re going to want to note is a slightly smaller gun like a Glock 19 will give you the same amount of grip.

This gun is similar to the Sig P320 series in that aspect.

Sights

The sights on the Taurus G3 are nothing special.

They are basic plastic sights. The front attaches via a screw from the inside of the slide similar to a Glock design.

The rear sight is dovetailed in and also attaches via a screw. It looks like it’s adjustable via windage on the rear via a set screw in the middle of the site.

These site cuts are proprietary Taurus site cuts, so you won’t be able to take advantage of options from other companies like Glock or Sig. When Taurus designed the Taurus G3c, they added Glock sight cuts.

It would have been nice if they had done the same thing with the G3.

The sights themselves are hard plastic and, frankly, at first glance, you really can’t tell the difference between metal and plastic sights. But I took my pocket knife and scraped it slightly. They are definitely plastic.

It’s a standard three-dot sight that is what you would expect on a gun at this price point.

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I wouldn’t say I’m disappointed in the sights, but I would like to see some metal sights in place of these plastic ones.

It’s hard to justify adding aftermarket sights on a gun at this price point.

Taurus G3 Red Dot

At this time, there is no provision to mount a red dot on the Taurus G3.

But unlike its predecessor the Taurus G2C, the Taurus G3 doesn’t have a loaded chamber indicator built into the rear of the slide.

It has an index hole that could be called a loaded chamber indicator, but there is no physical loaded chamber indicator on the rear of the slide.

So, it would be much easier to mill for a red dot than the older Taurus variants.

Rumor has it, Taurus is working on an optics compatible version of the Taurus G3. When I was at a Shot Show 2020, I saw one of the Taurus G3 or G2C guns with a milled in red dot.

That gun was in a display case and not on the public floor.

It was also with other limited-edition Taurus guns. And those guns looked like they were made up completely for marketing purposes.

Controls

Safety

The Taurus G3 features a right-hand only thumb safety that sits on the left side of the gun’s frame much like the Taurus G2C.

It sits in roughly the same position as a Colt 1911 safety. If you want, you can ride your thumb on top of the safety after disengaging it. The safety itself is a little low profile for my taste.

I wish it had an ambi option, as I think that would make it friendlier to the person carrying it. However, it does feature a drop safety at the front, so I wouldn’t have an issue carrying this gun with the safety lever off.

But I would always practice using it as if the safety lever were on.

If you’re a left-handed shooter, I wouldn’t suggest using this gun for carrying, home defense or any type of defensive situation due to that safety. I don’t have enough faith that the safety could not be pushed back on.

It does feel fairly secure.

But re-engaging the safety is too easy, making your weapon inoperable and hard to get the safety off in a life-or-death scenario.

Magazine Release

The magazine release on the Taurus G3 is easy for me to reach at six foot tall with average size hands.

If you’re smaller than that, you might have issues reaching the magazine release without breaking the grip, which is pretty standard on most firearms of this size.

The magazine release itself is fairly sharp on the edges and not the most comfortable in the world. But again, remember we’re looking at a $250 firearm.

For $250, I don’t think you can expect much more than that.

The magazine does release very positively when you press. It is a little smaller than I’d like.

But if it were a little bit larger, it would be easier to press and those sharp edges wouldn’t come into play as much.

Slide Stop

The slide stop/slide release on the Taurus G3 is similar to the safety on the Taurus G3. It has a low profile and is really only set up for right-handed shooters.

Even with the safety in the way, it’s low profile so I can still reach the slide stop with my thumb over the safety.

Most other shooters will be able to do the same thing even with smaller hands.

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Now if you’re a left-handed shooter, this will not work for you at all.

You’ll have to rack the slide. It’s too far back that you will not be able to use your trigger finger to press it down as you may on some guns. It doesn’t take a lot of pressure to drop the slide on the Taurus G3 using the slide release.

It’s fairly well designed. It has a good angle.

If you want to lock the slide back, it’s easy to get up under it to press it up when you’re pulling the slide to the rear to lock it into the notch.

Overall Ergonomics

Overall, the ergonomics of the gun are good for the price point. Everything I’m taking into account with this gun always goes back to the price point.

If this were a $500 gun, I’m not sure I would be that happy with it.

But at the sub $300 price point, you really can’t beat the overall package that it offers.

The gun feels good in the hand. All the controls are easy to reach if you’re a right-handed shooter. I do wish the gun was more ambi. I think I would feel better carrying the gun if it had at least an ambi safety.

Slide

Ergonomics of the slide are fine as well; it has front and rear cocking serrations.

The front cocking serrations are deep enough to be effective. You can get a good grip on the gun, but I wish they extended more to the rear just to give you more space where you could potentially grab the front of the slide without having to get as close to the muzzle of the gun.

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Now, the rear serrations take the same shape and form as the front serrations, but they offer a little more traction as they extend further up the slide.

These serrations aren’t great or fantastic, but they work well enough.

I don’t think you’ll have any problem using them in any environment.

Trigger

The trigger on the Taurus G3 is very similar to its predecessor the Taurus G2C in that it has a restrike capability. So, this gun is a striker-fired trigger that is technically a double-action single-action trigger.

But there is no decocking mechanism on the gun.

So, you’re pretty much always going to run the trigger in single-action-only mode.

Restrike

The re-strike double-action portion of the trigger is very handy for dry fire.

But there are some potential downsides to it as well. Personally, I think it’s just a more complicated trigger system that really isn’t needed.

I think the re-strike capability is a dubious marketing ploy on Taurus’s part.

The chance of you having a round of ammo that the primer does not ignite on the first round is very low in a centerfire pistol.

If this were a rimfire pistol, that would be a great feature, but in a centerfire, it’s unlikely.

Now let’s take a look at the trigger pull itself.

So, if you’re carrying the gun with the safety on or with the safety off, with a round chambered you’re going to feel some light springy take up as you disengage the drop safety on the trigger itself.

The weight of the trigger is slowly going to build, then you’ll get to a wall.

Once you get to that wall, you’re going to feel just a little bit of creep and then a really springy and plasticky feeling break.

The break is fairly like this, so it’s not a bad trigger it just doesn’t feel like most other guns will.

It’s going to feel somewhat similar to a lighter trigger on a staple gun.

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It has a fairly light reset that bounces back just slightly in front of that wall. And then once you hit the wall, you have just the slightest bit of creep with a plasticky break again.

Like I said, it’s a basic trigger.

But let’s go over the restrike trigger since it’s there as a feature.

The restrike trigger has a heavy springy feel until you get to an area where you start to feel a little bit of creep towards the end of the motion of the trigger.

Then once you feel that creep, you’re going to feel even more creep before the trigger finally breaks.

It’s a really creepy break to the rear. But at the same time, this trigger is not as heavy as you would expect for a double-action trigger.

It’s nowhere near as heavy as what you would expect to feel on a CZ 75, a Beretta, a Sig, or any other standard double action single action hammer-fired gun.

Maintenance

As far as maintaining the gun, it’s quite easy to field strip.

The gun takes down just like a Glock with a takedown lever on each side or takedown bar that sits right above the middle of the trigger guard.

You just pull down each side of that lever and the slide comes right off, as long as the striker has been decocked.

You will have to pull the trigger to disassemble this gun. It breaks down into a slide barrel captured recoil spring in the frame, so you can easily clean off all those components then re-lube them for use.

Aesthetics

Aesthetically, this gun is not bad in my opinion.

It looks more attractive than the compact Taurus G2C series. Part of the reason is just the scale of the gun. With the width of the gun, everything seems more proportional to this gun. The safety is not out of place, the trigger is fine.

Overall, the gun just doesn’t look bad.

However, I will say the color of the gun might affect its aesthetics. I personally have the gray frame with a black slide, and I think that works very well.

The black version is also attractive. And the stainless-steel slides they offer in some frame colors can also be attractive.

Overall, this is one of the more attractive guns that Taurus makes in their budget line.

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The stippling or the texturing on the frame goes really well and just kind of fits the overall flair of the gun.

It doesn’t look high-end by any means, but it doesn’t look cheap either. This looks like a solid, mid-end offering from an aesthetic standpoint.

Shooting

Shooting the Taurus G3 is probably like you’d expect. It doesn’t have a ton of recoil, but it’s not a smooth shooting gun either.

It tracks reasonably well and considering the price point, I really can’t complain.

Don’t expect it to shoot as well as a $500 pistol, but for the money, it’s hard to beat. Let us know what you think about the Taurus G3 in the comments.

Related Articles

• Taurus G3 Holster
• Taurus G2c Review
• CZ Scorpion Micro Review
• Taurus G3c Review
• Taurus G3c Holster
• Taurus G3XL Holster

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This is an opinion piece, but I always aim to eliminate bias. Look, we’ve all read them before. Gun reviews that claim to be helpful, but they’re really thinly veiled hit pieces trying to get you to buy something before you’ve even started your research. Or, even worse, a review put together by a content writer who has never even held a gun. 

I’ve trained with some of the best in the business to learn various shooting styles and ideologies to better serve our customers. I’ve purchased guns of all price points, calibers, and action types to build the best products for the market. I want you to walk away knowing you have the information you need to make a sound purchasing decision.