In the U.S., consumers think of Taurus as a producer of affordable handguns. However, Taurus is a company that has secured military and police contracts in South America and around the world with its handguns, rifles and submachine guns. Like all companies, it’s looking to increase market share. Toward that end, the new TX9 has been positioned as Taurus’ flagship model.
Previously, Taurus offered the TS9 for that role. The TS9 was the issued sidearm for Brazilian special forces, not to mention other Brazilian military and police agencies. Taurus engineers took design cues from the successful TX22 pistol introduced in Guns & Ammo’s May 2019 issue, which became that year’s “Handgun of the Year.” Initially, the TX9 will be offered in three versions: full-size (F), compact (C) and subcompact (SC).
A quick note for those familiar with the TX22. The TX9 looks almost exactly like it, sharing the same stylish looks and ergonomics. The TX22 has a decent trigger pull and a slide that’s easy to rack — even for a rimfire pistol. Internally, the striker-fire TX9 has a slightly different trigger system and a traditional dual-spring recoil system, meaning that it’s no easier or harder to rack than the typical striker-fire 9mm pistol.
Something for Everyone
The full-size TX9F has a 41/2-inch barrel and is fed by 17-round magazines. The compact TX9C has a 4-inch barrel and includes 15-round magazines. The sub-compact TX9SC sports a barrel shortened to 3.4 inches, and holds 13 rounds of 9mm. Two magazines are included with each version, and yes, if you live somewhere you can feel the government’s boot on the back of your neck, Taurus offers neutered versions with 10-round magazines.
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The full-size TX9 — labeled “TX9F” on the box, is the largest of the models initially offered. It’s already a big, duty-size pistol. Interestingly, in the owner’s manual, Taurus listed a fourth size, the “TX Long Slide,” which has the same grip frame and magazine capacity as the TX9F, but with a 5-inch barrel. I predict that this model will be marketed toward the competition scene. The owner’s manual also indicates there will be models with manual safeties, in case that feature is important to you.
The TX9F is 7.7-inches long, 5.45-inches tall — with a standard magazine in place — and 1.28-inches wide. It weighed 24.8 ounces according to my digital scale. Since this section describes dimensions, I think I should mention that Taurus didn’t do what most pistol manufacturers do, i.e., making the grip as flat as possible. Instead, there are gentle palm swells on either side that fill your hand. This won’t affect reach to the trigger for most users, but it made the grip feel different for me — and better.
TX pistols use what Taurus calls “industry standard” sight cuts. (It’s poor form to put another gun company’s name in the marketing materials.) Translated to common speech, it just means the TX9 has Glock-pattern sights. The good news is that if you want to personalize the TX9 with your preferred set of sights, replacements are easy to find. Taurus’ sights are steel, the front being secured from underneath by a screw and having a white dot. The rear sight is a trendy all-black notch that’s serrated and dovetailed to the slide. Being dovetailed means that it’s drift-adjustable for windage, if necessary to zero a load.
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The steel slide looks a lot like the slide of Taurus’ TX22, which was deliberate. It has clean uncluttered lines, but with functional serrations front and back. Slide serrations are wide and flat-bottomed, and nicely aggressive. Then, consider the rough nitride finished matte-black slide. The finish helps with gripping the slide. While the finish may appear understated, I would rather have a rough finish that’s easy to grip than a smooth, shiny slide that slips like a wet bar of soap. The barrel is also stainless and given a DLC coating.
Feature-Rich
The TX9 continues the Taurus Optic Ready Option (T.O.R.O.) slide-cut system. It includes four different steel plates to mount your preferred optic to the slide. It uses the same plates Taurus developed for its G-series pistols, so availability isn’t an issue. To keep pricing down as shockingly low as it is — $438 — the TX9 doesn’t ship with any optic plates, but you can order them from shoptaurus.com. They cost $20. A kit with all four plates plus screws is offered at $50. Guns & Ammo’s sample TX9F was equipped with a Swampfox Sentinel II red-dot sight ($279, swampfoxoptics.com).
A lot of companies are putting textured areas on frames to rest our support-hand thumb or idle trigger finger. With the TX pistols, Taurus went one step further. On either side of the frame — so southpaws aren’t left out — there is a rectangular inset with that texture. I found that you can use the bottom of that inset contour as a ledge for the support-hand thumb. It’s a minor detail, but I really noticed its benefit when shooting the TX9. It added a noticeable amount of control. There is a single, subdued finger groove on the front of the frame, too.
Each TX9 ships with four backstraps: large, medium (installed), small and extra-small. They are marked on the inside. There is quite a difference in size between the extra-small and large. The latter has a big hump under the heel. I like this because with some pistols, it’s hard to see or feel the difference in sizes between the various backstraps. That said, I wish at least one of these backstraps added material under the web of the hand, changing the reach to the trigger.
The frame on the pistol isn’t actually the “frame.” It is just a grip module. Like many new pistol designs, the serialized part of the TX9 is a stainless-steel chassis inside the grip module. That means you can swap out modules quickly and easily without needing additional paperwork. You’ll find the serial number of the chassis visible through a window at the back of the grip module, just below the slide. As I write this, the TX9 hasn’t been announced, but at some point — probably soon — Taurus is expected to offer replacement grip modules in different sizes and — if I had to bet — colors.
There are no instructions in the owner’s manual on how to remove the chassis. You just need to remove the takedown lever, then lift the chassis up and out from the front. The spring and spring cup for the slide-stop wants to move out of place, complicating re-insertion or sending the spring airborne. (Ask me how I know!) At least two of the pins holding parts in the chassis aren’t under much spring pressure, and they like to slide out the sides when you’re not looking. Unless you’re feeling adventurous, I’d wait until Taurus releases official instructions.
An Inside Look
I love my job. One of the reasons as to why is behind-the-scenes access. Often, I get to go eyes-on and hands-on with prototypes of guns months or years before they’re introduced. With the TX9, I heard whispers of it a few months before I even saw one. Gun Tech Editor Richard Nance and I got to handle and shoot some not-quite-production models when filming segments for Guns & Ammo TV. They were basically as seen here, except we were told the trigger systems were still in development and needed a little tweaking. We were told Taurus’ trigger spec called for a 51/2-pound trigger pull. Both Rich and I stuttered a little when we fired those guns because the triggers’ take-up was inconsistent. Once we learned to power through the take-up, we didn’t experience any problems.
True to the promise, I am satisfied to report that the trigger pull in the production TX9 is better. Sure, it’s not quite as light as my TX22, but it’s good. The trigger pull on G&A’s TX9F sample was tested at 5 pounds, 12 ounces, on my trigger gauge. That’s somewhat typical for a striker-fire duty pistol, but the TX9 exhibited a smooth, light take-up, and decently crisp let-off. Comparing each model, the trigger of the TX9C was 51/2 pounds. The trigger pull on the TX9SC was 61/4 pounds. They all produced a similar feel.
The Compact
The TX9C compact isn’t much smaller than the full-size gun. The barrel is half-an-inch shorter, so the frame rail has three slots instead of four. The pistol is the same width. The interesting thing is at the rear. If you look at the full-size gun, the backstrap bulges rearward in the middle of the grip, then narrows down toward the butt of the gun. Backstraps on the smaller guns don’t change those lines, which means on the C and SC models that narrowing part of the backstrap is mostly missing. The same medium backstraps on the shorter model make the grips feel bigger, providing the gun a slightly more aggressive angle in the hand — which I like.
Most adults should be able to get all their fingers on the grip of the compact. Hence, I suspect that this will be the most popular version of the TX9 because the grip of the subcompact TX9SC is only a quarter-inch shorter than the compact while sacrificing two rounds of capacity. Note the shorter barrel of the SC, and the one-slot frame rail. You’ll notice these features more than you’ll get from the shorter grip. Between the F and the SC, there’s 1.1 inches of barrel length difference, but only .56-inch difference in height.
At the Range
At the range, I shot all three models of the TX9 side-by-side-by-side, but I used the TX9C to do my accuracy testing. There was a difference in felt recoil between them, but it was incremental — small, not big. Even the shortest grip of the TX9SC offers great ergonomics and texture, but I could just barely get all my fingers around it. The shooting session was enjoyable, not a painful struggle.
The TX9 is a working version of a rimfire auto that’s a lot of fun to shoot. During my initial range test, I put eight different hollowpoints through three guns to check reliability, plus three different FMJ loads. I didn’t experience a single problem then or later. These guns run. Fit and finish between the three appear similar, too. It is a crowded playing field out there, and the TX9 must compete against a lot of other quality 9mms. It may succeed by being the most modern version of a modular pistol with all the features most will ask for, but it comes at a price that’s lower than most. Best of all, the TX9 is a great complement to your TX22.
Taurus TX9
- Type: Recoil operated, striker fire, semiautomatic
- Cartridge: 9mm
- Capacity: 17+1 rds. (F); 15+1 rds. (C); 13+1 rds. (SC)
- Barrel: 4.5 in. (F); 4 in. (C); 3.4 in. (SC)
- Length: 7.7 in. (F); 7.2 in. (C); 6.6 in. (SC)
- Height: 5.5 in. (F); 5.2 in. (C); 4.9 in. (SC)
- Width: 1.28 in.
- Weight: 24.8 oz. (F); 23.5 oz. (C); 21.1 oz. (SC)
- Finish: Nitride and DLC (steel)
- Slide: Alloy steel
- Grip: Polymer, textured
- Sights: Steel, white dot (front), serrated notch (rear); T.O.R.O. optic system
- Trigger: 5 lbs., 12 oz. (tested)
- Safety: Trigger lever, striker drop safety
- Accessories: Two magazines, four backstraps, cable lock, lockable hardcase
- MSRP: $438
- Manufacturer: Taurus, 229-515-8464, taurususa.com
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