Taurus G3 Tactical 9mm Pistol Review: A Bull for the 21st-Century

Taurus has been diversifying its line of affordable and rugged 9mm G3 series pistols for the past few years, and the new G3 Tactical comes across its name honestly.

Introduced at the NRA Annual Meetings in Houston earlier this summer, the G3 Tactical is based on the standard full-sized and optics-ready G3 TORO but includes an extended threaded barrel, 17+1 capacity magazines, a Patriot Brown Cerakote slide, and FDE frame. What that translates to is a pistol that can do a lot right out of the bag, while keeping (well) inside the $500 range.

Table of Contents

Intro
Function
Specs
Shooting & Accuracy
Pros & Cons
Final Thoughts

Intro

Taurus has really been diversifying its wallet-friendly third generation of double-stack polymer-framed pistols over the past couple of years and, as such, has delivered the regular G3, the compact G3C, the crossover G3X, and the interesting G3XL as well as optics-ready TORO variants of the same. With lots of holes punched across all those variants, one thing Taurus was lacking in the bullpen was a platform to hang everything you could want on it, which brings us to the new G3 Tactical.

Taurus G3 Tactical 9mm Pistol — Clad in a Patriot Brown Cerakote slide over an FDE polymer frame, the G3 Tactical is set off by black surface controls, sights, and barrel. (All photos: Chris Eger/Guns.com)

Taurus G3 Tactical 9mm Pistol compared to Glock 19X — Running some 7.76 inches long overall with a height of 5.38 inches, and a width of 1.2 inches, we found about the best match dimensionally for the G3 Tactical to guns we had floating around to be the **Glock 19X**, which comes in at 7.44x5.47x1.3 inches in those same metrics. However, it should be noted that the Taurus is both suppressor and optics-ready, whereas the more expensive Glock is not.

Function

The takedown process on the G3 Tactical is the same as on other pistols of the series – or for anyone familiar with a Glock or Glock clone. Simply take the unloaded pistol – sans any ammo, brass, or magazines – draw the slide back about 1/8 of an inch, pull the assembly latch down, release the slide, release the assembly latch, then pull and release the trigger, freeing up the slide from the frame.

Taurus G3 Tactical 9mm Pistol sights — The blacked-out steel sights are taller than normal, ideal for co-witnessing through a slide-mounted micro red/green dot optic or over the diameter of a suppressor. The serrated rear sight is drift adjustable. The dovetail cut is a Glock pattern, making them compatible with a ton of aftermarket sights

Taurus G3 Tactical 9mm Pistol TORO plates — When it comes to MRDs, the G3 Tactical uses the four-plate Taurus TORO system that includes footprints that work with Docter, Venom, FastFire (plate 1), Trijicon RMR, Holosun 407c/507c (plate 2), C-More STS2 (plate 3), and Leupold Deltapoint Pro (plate 4) optics. You get all four plates along with three different sets of screws, which is refreshing as some pistol makers these days will only give you a coupon for one plate. About the only thing the TORO system won't fit right out of the bag is an ACRO or Steiner MPS.

Taurus G3 Tactical 9mm Pistol mags — The G3 Tactical ships with two 17-round steel-bodied mags that include witness holes in the rear and a grip sleeve to make them marry up to the bottom of the pistol's magazine well. Spoiler alert: 17-round Mec-Gar-made SIG P226 mags also fit and work in the G3 Tactical, a phenomenon we have noticed in the past with P228/229 and P226 mags on the G3C, G3X, and G3XL.

Taurus G3 Tactical 9mm Pistol grip — The magazine well-to-magazine base-pad fitment yields a scallop that allows the user to better strip away a stuck mag in the event of some sort of ammo-based malfunction.

Taurus G3 Tactical 9mm Pistol ergo — The six pads on the grip provide a 360-degree texture. The texture itself is about middle of the road for the market. In other words, we have seen some pistols out there that use a more aggressive texture while there are others with a slicker feel to them. The G3 Tactical falls about right in the middle of the crowd in this metric. As with the rest of the G3 series, the grip module does not allow for swappable palm swells. But then again, does anyone use those?

Taurus G3 Tactical 9mm Pistol with WMLs — The accessory rail runs across the last 2 inches of the frame covering most of the 2.5-inch span from the forward edge of the trigger guard to the nose of the slide. We had several weapon-mounted lights around that all fit the rail and worked fine including a Streamlight TLR-7A (500 lumens), a SIG Foxtrot2 (580 lumens), and an InForce Wild2 (1,000 lumens). For the record, the Foxtrot2 was the closest to being optimal length.

Taurus G3 Tactical 9mm Pistol bag — The whole shebang comes in an oversized FDE carrying case that, not gonna lie, is pretty sweet. It has slots for mags, a suppressor (if you want to carry it with the gun), and all the other goodies. This is a big step up from the plain orange and white cardboard boxes Taurus ships the rest of their G3s in.

Taurus Rebate — **Don't forget, all Taurus G2, G3, and GX4 series pistols have a rebate through January 15, 2023!**

Specs

Here are the specs on the 9mm G3 Tactical:

Barrel Length: 4.50 inches
Overall Length: 7.76 inches
Overall Height: 5.38 inches
Overall Width: 1.20 inches
Overall Weight: 25.80 ounces (Unloaded)
Safety: Striker block, trigger safety, visual loaded chamber indicator (no manual safety)
Magazine Capacity: 17+1

Shooting & Accuracy

Let us talk triggers here for a second. The G3 series uses an interesting trigger pack that includes a re-strike capability that allows the user to pull the trigger again to re-strike a primer that failed to ignite, something you don't see in a lot of striker-fired pistols. Taurus describes the G3 series trigger as a "2-stage flat-faced trigger designed to provide a light take-up with a distinct wall, crisp break and short reset capabilities."

To be honest with you, while it is no competition race gun trigger, it is functional. We found our test gun to break at about 5 pounds after a deep take-up and to have a short reset for a factory striker-fired trigger. While acceptable, if you are going to run a "tactical" pistol, the trigger is kind of bush league, and it would have been nice to see Taurus upgrade that aspect of the experience to match the performance promised by the rest of the pistol.

Check out that trigger pull on the range:

When it comes to testing dependability, we fired a mix of 500 rounds through the G3 Tactical unsuppressed. This consisted primarily of American Eagle FMJ and Syntech 115-grain loads as well as 124-grain JHPs from Federal and Speer, augmented by Wolf 9mm steel case. No malfunctions were encountered.

When it comes to suppressed use, we attached a modular SilencerCo Octane 36M can on a Charlie mount and ran 100 rounds of Syntech 115-grain TSJs with a listed velocity of 1130 fps and had no problem with the standard-weight recoil spring.

See below.

However, when switching to a milder Federal 147-grain subsonic FMJ FP, with a listed 1,000 fps velo, we found reliable cycling more haphazard while using the standard green recoil spring – short strokes, short ejection, etc. as the slide ran sluggish. This problem disappeared by swapping to the blue-coated spring that you are supposed to run it with while using a suppressor. Looks like Taurus included it for a reason.

Target — Accuracy was acceptable for a practical-use pistol.

Pros & Cons

Some pros and cons for you to consider before adding it to your own collection:

Pros:

Fits almost any optic with four different adapter plates
Includes two different springs for use with suppressors
Uses 17+1 round mags
Steel suppressor-height sights in a common dovetail
Suppressor-ready
Has a good foundation with the previous G3 line
Dependable
Ships in likely the nicest gun bag in its price range

Cons:

The trigger could be better (but it has a restrike capability)

Final Thoughts

In short, the Taurus G3 Tactical is probably the most versatile in the G3 lineup, delivering a feature-rich handgun that can be used for almost any application spanning light competition, everyday carry, home defense, or just poking holes in paper. Plus, with a price of around $500 (also, keep in mind Taurus is running a rebate on all G2, G3, and GX4 series pistols through Jan. 15, 2023), it is hard to find a gun that offers the same features and commonality. It is cool that Taurus is stretching its legs and running in different fields.

They are really starting to shine.