Taurus GX4 Review

In this Taurus GX4 review, we’re going to cover all the tiny details that matter when picking a gun for concealed carry or general self-defense use.

Taurus introduced the GX4 to compete with guns like the SIG Sauer P365 and Springfield Armory Hellcat. For years, Taurus has been selling the G2C, which has been a very popular firearm, but with the introduction of the SIG P365, it started losing market share.

This was surprising to many considering the Taurus G2C is roughly half the price of a P365.

Taurus has been making strides in the US market to improve its reputation.

In years past, the company has been known for spotty quality control and a lackluster fit and finish.

They’ve recently been working to improve this, first and foremost with the brand new Taurus G3C and the Taurus G3 having a slightly improved finish over their previous G2C series.

The Taurus TX22, in turn, has been praised by almost everyone as a highly reliable .22-caliber semiautomatic pistol. For any of those familiar with .22 semiautomatic pistols, you know this is not an easy feat to achieve.

Will Taurus continue this path of improvement with the GX4? Let’s find out in our Taurus GX4 review.

Role-Based Off Size

This gun is primarily designed for concealed carry.

I can’t see somebody carrying this gun for duty use or competition, and if they are using it for duty, it’s most likely a backup firearm. I can see it being utilized in that role.

The vast majority of the people reading this Taurus GX4 review are looking at this gun for concealed carry.

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There are multiple areas where you can carry a concealed firearm. Each one of these positions has its up-and downsides.

IWB Carry

Carrying the Taurus GX4 in the IWB style is going to be relatively easy for most people. It’s a small, rather slim gun.

The slim profile is going to be the most crucial factor when it comes to concealment.

With the 11-round grip, the grip itself is also relatively short.

You can add a longer extended magazine, which will be a little bit harder to conceal, but you’re going to gain some other benefits that we’ll discuss later.

IWB carry is a good choice for the GX4.

Appendix IWB Carry 

Appendix IWB carry is a subset of IWB carry that provides a little more concealment for most users and makes the gun easier to reach.

There are some downsides, though. First, you need a holster that is expressly set up for this style of carrying to be as effective for most users.

The Taurus GX4 has a relatively short profile, meaning the length of the slide and the gun overall is not that long.

While this may seem like a good idea for appendix carry at first, the reality is that it’s not.

The reason for this is when you have a short gun and an appendix carry, you likely want the grip high enough that you can easily reach it and get it out of the holster without spending all day trying to dig deep inside your waistband to access the grip of the firearm.

A short slide means this gun will be sitting up higher on your waistline, and a lot of the gun’s weight will be sitting above the beltline.

This weight comes from the top half of the slide, as well as the fully loaded magazine.

Tip Out

This is going to cause the gun to want to tip out away from your body.

If you have a little bit of a belly, it’s going to push that gun further out, and then gravity is going to do its work as well, forcing the muzzle of the gun to tip back into your groin.

This can become uncomfortable over time. A longer holster helps distribute this pressure, but there are ways around that.

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Do you have a holster that has proper rounding? That will help quite a bit, as well as a holster with a wedge.

I think a wedge to the back of the holster will make it a lot more comfortable than a holster without a wedge when you’re carrying it in an appendix position. Does this rule apply to everyone?

No, but it does apply to at least 98 percent of people.

There are always exceptions to every rule, but it’s still a good one to follow for the vast majority of people.

OWB Carry

The Taurus GX4 can work for OWB carry, and it’s a pretty good option if you want a slim, small gun.

However, you’re going to want to make sure you have an OWB holster that’s designed to fit very close to the body, which likely means a pancake-style holster.

Paddle holsters and the sort will not be suitable for concealment, and you would need a considerable cover garment to conceal the firearm effectively.

Can it be done?

Most certainly, but you’re not going to have as much room for margin of error as you would with a properly-designed OWB holster.

Pocket Carry 

Pocket-carrying the Taurus GX4 is possible, but it’s probably not going to be the best option for most people. I’m six feet tall and wear straight-cut jeans.

This gun will be a little bit large for somebody of my build wearing regular-sized clothes. (I also weigh 175 pounds, if that gives you more of a reference.)

If you wear much larger baggy pants and you’re a more significant individual, then pocket carry with a Taurus GX4 might be more suitable.

Features 

This gun has an 11-round capacity with its flushed-cut mag, but Taurus also sells 13-round magazines that will extend the grip slightly and give you a little better grip on the firearm, at least if you have medium-to-larger hands.

On the other hand, if you have tiny hands, you might be able to get a fantastic grip with the standard flush-fit magazine alone.

Magwell

The mag well on the Taurus GX4 has no actual angle in the interior, but that’s not a big deal considering your hand will likely extend down past the bottom of the grip and act as a funnel to get the rounds into the gun. Your hand essentially becomes the mag well for the firearm.

Despite my hands extending down below the grip, the design prevents the magazine from dropping free. 

Usually with guns like the Hellcat or SIG P365, my grip will block the magazine from dropping free, whereas I have not noticed this issue with the GX4.

The magazine comes out whenever I go to drop the magazine itself.

But if somebody has just slightly larger hands than myself, I can see how that could be an issue.

Another feature on the magazine well are two indentations right on the sides of the grip.

These indentations are designed to help you strip out the magazine if you have a malfunction that requires you to do so.

One of my complaints in this Taurus GX4 review is going to be the magazine baseplate itself.

The base plate of the magazine is very slick on the side, so despite the gun having these indentations to help you, they don’t help as much as you would like because the magazine itself has a slick baseplate.

If it had a little more texturing, it would be much easier to rip the magazine free.

Grip/Ergonomics

Ergonomics are somewhat misunderstood when it comes to firearms.

Most people think a gun should feel good in your hand, and while feeling good in your hand is always good, what you want is a gun that allows you to control it very well. If a gun feels great in your hand but the ergonomics don’t allow for reasonable control, that’s not a good thing.

If a gun doesn’t feel that good in your hand but allows you to get excellent control, that is preferable.

Ideally, we want the best of both worlds: a gun that feels great in hand and allows for superior control.

General feel

Overall, the Taurus GX4 does feel good to hold.

I really can’t complain about the shape of the tang. It allows me to get an excellent high grip, and nothing is discomforting about it. Also, it has a decent distance from the backstrap to the front strap, which means I get a lot of control.

I could see this being an issue if you have tiny hands, but this gun has excellent ergonomics for people with average-to-larger hands. 

The grip itself reminds me of a mini version of the CZ P-10 C.

There is a lovely tall undercut at the front of the gun and the beavertail design combined with the undercut forces you to grip the gun very high.

A higher grip means you’re going to have more control over the firearm, and the GX4 is one of the only guns I’ve seen in this size class to force the hand time with a grip like this.

It’s an excellent design on Taurus’ part.

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Backstraps

The Taurus GX4 is unique because it is the only gun in this category with removable backstraps.

The gun comes with both a small and a large option.

I currently have the small installed on my GX4 and I find it just fine for my use. That said, if you want slightly more grip, you can install a backstrap.

One thing I do find somewhat disappointing is that there is no way to change the trigger reach.

If I could add a little bit of extra distance for the trigger reach, I would. That said, this gun is still worlds above other guns in its class regarding this feature, as they offer no adjustable back traps at all.

Beavertail 

We touched on the beavertail earlier, and while this gun doesn’t have an exact tail, it does have a nice, deep tang.

Deep tangs can sometimes be an issue if you draw your gun by putting your thumb over the rear sight and then let your grip fall into place once the gun is out of the holster. That can cause your grip to be inconsistent when drawing with that method.

That said, I cannot find that issue on the Taurus GX4. 

Texturing

One of my personal highlights of this Taurus GX4 review is going to be the texture.

This gun has a sandpaper-like texture 360 degrees around the grip. This texturing is very reminiscent of the texturing on the SIG P365 and the Springfield Hellcat.

It does a great job of providing you with a good grip, but it’s not ultra-aggressive in a way that will cause you discomfort.

If you have very calloused or even very soft, well-manicured hands, this texturing will work.

It’s just an excellent all-around texture.

Sights

The sights on the Taurus GX4 are pretty darn decent.

I like the sight picture they offer.

It has a white front site and then a blackout rear with serrations. These sights are shallow profiles, but they get the job done. It’s a square notch-and-post design and it’s immaculate. It’s everything you need and nothing you don’t.

The sights themselves are both metal, which is a nice feature as well.

If I were to carry this gun, I would likely replace the front side with either a night sight or a fully blacked-out front.

Aftermarket

A nice feature about the Taurus GX4 is that, like the Taurus G3C, it accepts Glock sights.

While this may not sound like a big deal to some, it’s a huge deal if you want to replace the sights on the gun. There are tons of Glock options out there and you’re going to be able to find a set of sights you like for the Taurus GX4.

I think this was an excellent move on Taurus’ part. Adding Glock sight cuts gives Taurus some points in this review.

Red-dot options

Currently, Taurus does not have an optics-ready version, but I expect that their Toro version will be released in a couple of months after they’ve gotten some sales under their belt and built a reputation for this firearm.

Controls

Controls are just as necessary as the ergonomics of the firearm and the grip, as being able to reach and safely operate the controls means you’ll be able to work the firearm effectively.

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Mag release

The magazine release on the Taurus GX4 is pretty standard.

It is reversible and positioned so I can reach it without having to break my grip. I really can’t complain about the placement of the magazine release, and it’ll work well for people regardless of hand size.

For example, I’ve got an extra half-inch on my thumb where I could reach the magazine release on the Taurus GX4.

The only situation I can see becoming an issue is if somebody has enormous hands and they might have to break their grip to reach the magazine release since it sits a little far back.

Slide Stop

The slide stop on the Taurus GX4 surprised me.

This is one of the slickest slide stops I have seen on a gun in quite some time. When I say slick, I don’t mean that it’s hard to reach or grab. I mean that it’s an excellent design.

This slide stop has a shallow profile. It sits very close to the frame and slide of the gun, yet it’s still easy to drop or press up to lock back the slide manually.

The lock itself is made of plastic attached to sheet metal, and while that’s a downside to many, that means that the finish is not going to wear off since it’s only plastic.

Usually, you’ll see slide stops look like crap on most guns, including MMPs, Glocks, Tauruses, and almost any brand out there.

The oils in your fingers seem just to tear those things apart when it comes to finish, so they get a shiny-looking, seamless look very fast.

You don’t have to worry about this with the slide stop on the Taurus GX4, and as I said before, it’s straightforward to reach and use. 

This is one of the most effortless slides I’ve been able to drop.

The one downside of this design is it would have been nice to see them make this ambient. It’s such a low profile that I feel they could have quickly done this.

That said, it’s not a deal-breaker for me as a right-handed shooter.

But if you’re a left-handed shooter, this is something you might be disappointed about. That being said, none of its competitors have that same feature either.

Slide Taurus GX4 Review

The slide on the gun is very reminiscent of the SIG Sauer P365. It has a good strong finish, and the slide serrations themselves are not super aggressive, but they seem to be bold enough.

Taurus did an excellent job of designing slide serrations that work and are effective but don’t feel sharp or like they’re going to cut you.

Some slide serrations can feel just a little bit too aggressive, while others don’t feel aggressive enough.

These seem to be at that perfect sweet spot and I just really like the design.

The slide itself appears to have some weight in the recoil spring.

That said, I do find it very easy to rack the slide on this gun. It’s not as easy as the Smith and Wesson 380 Shield, but it’s still easier than other guns like the Hellcat.

Overall Ergonomics

Overall, the ergonomics of the Taurus GX4 are perfect.

The controls are easy to reach, and the gun’s grip lends itself to practical controlled shooting. I really can’t say anything negative about those aspects of the gun so far.

But, honestly, this gun has surprised me. I did not expect to be giving a Taurus this positive review at this point.

I expected there would be more downsides when it came to this firearm, but I’m just not seeing them.

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Taurus GX4 Review Trigger

The trigger on the Taurus GX4 is surprisingly good. Most of you are probably familiar with the triggers on the Taurus G2C and G3 series.

Those triggers are not quite the same as this one.

Those have restrike capability, which I’m sure some wanted on this gun. But once you feel the trigger on the Taurus GX4, you’re not going to be disappointed.

When we start with the trigger pull, we go in, and we feel just a little bit of light take-up.

Then we hit a wall. That wall almost immediately goes to a clean, relatively light break. 

From there, there’s a relatively long reset that resets right at that wall and, again, has that clean break.

This trigger is clean.

That’s the only way to describe it. If you like a hard break in a firearm, you’re going to want this trigger.

That said, if you’re a fan of the rolling break, you’re not going to love this trigger but you’re going to respect it. It doesn’t have a super hard wall due to the light pull weight.

This, again, is another high point of the Taurus GX4 review, and Taurus did an excellent job with this trigger.

I think it’s going to be the ultimate compromise between a very stiff trigger like the Springfield Armory Hellcat or a mushy, rolling trigger like the SIG P365.

Aftermarket

When writing this Taurus GX4 review, this gun has only been out a few weeks. So there hasn’t been much aftermarket build-up for this gun.

As we mentioned earlier, you do have the ability to use Glock sights with your firearm. Which already gives it a leg up over most firearms on the market.

That said, I do expect the aftermarket to embrace this gun fully. 

This gun is also at a slightly higher price point than the G2C and G3C series. That means that more people who buy this gun are likely willing to spend a little more money on upgrades.

Due to this, I fully expect a large aftermarket to develop for the Taurus GX4. But at this time, it just isn’t there.

Maintenance Taurus GX4 Review

Maintaining the Taurus GX4 is a little bit different than most other firearms.

That’s mostly going to be due to the take-down method. To take down the Taurus GX4, you’ll need to lock back the slide.

Then make sure the magazine is removed, and check that the gun is completely unloaded with nothing in the chamber.

Once you’ve made sure of that, you’ll have to turn to the right side of the gun and see a take-down pin that needs to be rotated counterclockwise with a flathead screwdriver. 

The fact that you need a flathead screwdriver to disassemble this gun is a significant downside. That said, from a holster-maker standpoint, I love it because it makes the weapon a lot lower-profile.

It’s one less thing that I have to deal with when it comes to designing the holster.

Realistically, how often do you clean your gun when you don’t have tools available? Not that often. So while this is a negative mark I can give in this Taurus GX4 review.

It’s not that big of a deal in reality.

You’ll just have to decide whether or not this makes sense for you.

Aesthetics

Aesthetically, this gun is not that bad. The group itself looks a little bit funny to me, but the shape of the trigger shoe and the serrations and style of the slide look perfect.

This gun isn’t a timeless beauty by any means, but the look fits this modern era that we live in. 

Will this be a gun that you can’t wait to pass down to your grandkids because of what a classic, beautiful firearm it is? No. But is it a decent-looking carry piece?

Yes.

The texturing and styling of the firearm make complete sense. I don’t have any complaints about the looks of this gun.

If this gun was twice the price then I might have some, but considering where this gun fits in, I think it’s an excellent-looking firearm for its price point.

Shooting

Shooting the Taurus GX4 is somewhat like what you’d expect. It’s a smaller gun, so it does have a lot of recoil.

That said, the gun recoils quite nicely for its size. You expect these smaller guns to have a certain amount of recoil, and the Taurus GX4 is no exception.

That said, it is still very controllable and on par with guns like the SIG P365 and the Springfield Armory Hellcat.

It’s easy to keep this gun relatively flat, and my pinky sits right on the bottom of the magazine baseplate. I can get half my pinky on this gun when shooting it, and that makes a big difference in recall control.

When I get the 13-round magazines, I’m sure that the Taurus GX4 will become a lot more controllable than just the standard 11-round magazines.

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I am surprised by how well this gun shoots. It has good sights that are easy to pick up.

You could easily switch out the front sight for a better option and still have a fantastic sight picture without spending a lot of money. Also, the trigger on this gun is excellent for what it is.

My only complaint is that the reset might be a little bit longer for some shooters.

That said, I fully let out my trigger when I’m resetting the firearm, so it’s not an issue for me, and most firearms instructors will tell you that is the proper way to shoot.

Final Thoughts Taurus GX4 Review

I really can’t tell you how much I like this gun. I never thought I would be considering getting a Taurus for a concealed carry, but this GX4 might just become my concealed carry gun.

Would it make my concealed carry gun daily?

No. The gun is just a little bit small, and I prefer carrying larger firearms, but this gun could fill the niche of a smaller firearm when I need it. 

This gun came in right around $350 at my local shop.

After-tax, this gun is a fantastic value. I would put the quality on par with guns like the SigP365 and the Springfield Hellcat. Those guns do have better sights.

In every other aspect, these guns seem to be about equal.

For the price point, the Taurus is really hard to ignore.

I’m not the type of person that will skimp on a hundred bucks if it means getting a better gun. But if I had these three guns side-by-side, I’m not sure which one would win out.

The Taurus is just that good even at its $350 price point.

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