This article originally appeared in CONCEALMENT Issue 13

The Poor Man’s Everyday Compact 9mm

It cannot be argued that every person has a right to self-defense. Our “Crap Shoot” articles deviate from our normal Ferrari-esque weapons and bring it back down to the fact not everyone is willing or able to drop $500-plus on a self-defense tool. We realize this fact and want to cater for those that have the will to defend, but not necessarily the means.

Enter Taurus, a company most known for a revolver that had sex with a little shotgun and ended up bad at everything. Jokes aside, Taurus has been producing firearms since 1941 and have a wide variety of pistols and revolvers in their product line. To answer today’s call of polymer, compact, double-stacked 9mm pistols, Taurus offers the G2c. With a street price of just at $200, we had to check one out and see if it’s a viable self-defense tool and what our money actually gets us.

The Awesome

Taurus’s quality has always been suspect over the years. With this gun being brand new, we had little reason to worry about the finish and wear. The pistol includes many features rarely found on budget guns, such as adjustable rear sight, accessory rail, 12-round capacity, and it compares favorably against competitors’ weights at 22 ounces, unloaded. The magazine catch is also reversible, and that took Glock years to offer. If manual safeties are your thing, this pistol’s is easily accessed by the thumb and relatively smooth with a positive feel. The magazines are Brazilian and have a smooth uniform finish and release from the frame quickly and with force. The texture on the frame is aggressive, almost too much so for our supple hands, but if extra stippling is your thing this pistol comes with it.

The OK

The trigger on the G2c is rather gritty. With the gun being new, it’s possible the grittiness will wear down over time, but we don’t think the standard owner will be putting that many rounds downrange. The ergonomics on the pistol are not exceptional, but acceptable. The finish is most certainly not on par with more expensive offerings and does show small wear marks more quickly. The size of the gun makes it controllable with self defense ammo and recoil is manageable. For less experienced shooters who don’t have the grip strength to combat recoil, the G2c helps with a pinky extension on the magazine base, for a full grip.

The slide contours are shockingly sexier than the price would indicate

The Awful

We experienced one malfunction in the first 50 rounds of Blazer 115-grain ammunition, in the form of a stovepipe. New guns can be a little finicky out of the box, so we don’t count this as truly “awful.” The next 100 rounds experienced no issues. Accuracy with the G2c is acceptable for man-sized targets at 25 yards with Hornady Critical Defense ammunition and the Blazer plinking ammo. Lastly, the slide release is extremely stiff. We’ve all heard the total tripe that fine motor skills are impaired during high stress, and the slide release shouldn’t be used. Those who espouse that sentiment advocate reaching over the slide and pulling it back is a better option. Well on this pistol it is the only option. The slide release is near impossible to mash down to release the slide.

Conclusion

The Taurus G2c is not a sexy gun — you won’t show it off to friends and brag. The G2c is a cheap self-defense tool that incorporates numerous features found on pricier options. To hit a price point like $195, corners must be cut somewhere. In this case the materials will be rougher and potentially softer. This leads to gun that wears quickly and may not have the life span for a high round count. With a universal holster like the Ultimate Hybrid Technologies, this is a great option for an entry-level, self-defense handgun and should serve the user well as long as they practice. But definitely don’t shoot competitions with it every weekend.

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