Taurus G3c 9mm Review Background

For a very long time, Taurus was a hit-or-miss company. Some guns worked great; some were the Taurus Curve. Sometimes, buying a Taurus was a crapshoot, but that’s changed. In the last couple of years, the brand has reinvigorated itself, brought on some top talent, and begun changing its guns, quality, and reputation among American shooters.

The Taurus G3C led that revolution. It proved to be a dependable carry gun at a great price point. It wasn’t just an upgrade to the G2C but an upgrade to the company. I reviewed the G3C when it was the only member of the G3 family, but now the G3 series encompasses a ton of different guns of all sizes and purposes.

Even the G3C has had a facelift into the TORO series. Taurus uses TORO to designate their optic’s ready guns. The TORO series takes the G3C into the modern realm. The G3C standard can still be a solid budget buy, and you’ll quickly learn the gun was built to be compatible with some of the more common firearms. Taurus G3c 9mm Review

For example, the sights are Glock pattern, which opens you up to a massive world of different sighting systems. The magazines are SIG P226 pattern, so P226/P229 magazines will work. You can find a wide variety of capacities from companies like MEC-GAR, which will provide you with a fairly affordable and reliable magazine option.

This could be just another polymer frame, striker-fired 9mm pistol, but the G3C does things a little differently. The trigger feels like a precocked single-action, which it is. However, it also offers a double-action pull with restrike capability. The gun has its unique size footprint, and it does it all for a fair price.

The Taurus G3C retains an effective trigger system that’s been around since the old 24/7. This trigger system is a single action, with restrike capability. It could be described as a DA/SA gun, but that doesn’t adequately describe it.

Taurus G3c 9mm Review

You cannot manually decock the weapon, and the double-action trigger only comes into play if the single action does not fire the weapon. From a practical perspective, I do like this trigger, and it does offer something different than 99% of the striker-fired guns on the market.

Specs & Pictures

First, here are the specs, both from Taurus and from my measurements…

Taurus G3C Review – OUR TAKE

Now, it’s time to dive into this review and let you know what I really think about how the Taurus G3C 9mm performs.

Taurus G3c 9mm Review

The Blessed, and Cursed Grip

As a dude with XL sized hands, I find most compact guns to be a bit small. I can’t stand a hanging pinky, so the G3C’s larger grip is quite comfortable and does provide me a full-handed grip on the gun. That’s the blessing.

Taurus G3c 9mm Review

Ahh, all these years later, I’m still getting slide bite. I had forgotten about that, but not for long. I still prefer a nice high grip, and if I want the control it offers, I have to take the bite. My friend, who now owns the gun, doesn’t have that issue or my XL-sized mitts. The good news is that once you lose enough skin, you don’t feel it anymore.

The grip texture is very aggressive and separated into panels that cover the entire grip. This includes a bold front and backstrap. When firing, that textured grip provides an easy to hold, and the gun never tries to work its way out of your hand.

The addition of front serrations is excellent. The front serrations are rather short, but the serrations are deep and easy to grip. It makes racking the gun easy enough.

In front of the takedown lever, there are thumb index pockets positioned above the top of the trigger guard. For folks with medium to larger hands, this spot might feel a bit too far forward for the support hand thumb, but I personally didn’t have any issues using it with my XL hands. When gripping the gun, consider how these thumb index pockets align with your hand size and comfort.

Accuracy

In the years since I’ve written this review, I’ve trained extensively, shot a ton, and become a much better shooter overall. Previously, I could hit a man-sized target at 25 yards with the G3C, but now that range has extended to 50 yards on a full-size IPSC target. The sights help a lot in this shooting, but so does the grip, which is long enough to fill my hand. At 25 yards, I can keep a 10-inch gong swinging repeatedly. The gun is more accurate than it has any right to be.

The smaller the gun, the more challenging it can be to shoot and the more skill it requires overall. I’ve learned a lot about shooting and shot a lot, so it seems like the G3C has always been accurate, and it was the Indian, not the arrow. The little gun is perfectly suitable for use at a range beyond what we consider the norm for self-defense. Taurus G3c 9mm Review

The trigger feels average at best. It has too much pre-travel for a single-action trigger, and even the single-action travel is as long as double action. You’ll definitely feel it with your trigger fingeras you work through the pull. The short reset is a plus, but unless you pin the trigger, it doesn’t really make a difference. That longer pull gives more room for errors before the shot breaks.

I do like the sights, especially the rear sight, and appreciate that a budget gun is coming with metal sights. Even Glock doesn’t do that. The only downside is they seem rather small. Also, as I mentioned, the G3C does have aftermarket sights available from Tru-Glo, and these are Glock pattern.

Based on my tests, accuracy is perfectly usable, especially from a practical standpoint. I can make smaller groups with the P365, but from a practical perspective, the gun will put the lead where you want it.

When shooting fast, the trigger isn’t noticeable. I do feel a shorter overall trigger pull would still be better, but a short reset helps. The gun is easy to hang onto, and recoil is far from punishing. Muzzle rise is noticeable, but within ten yards, you can score a 1.5-second failure to stop drills.

Reliability

After many times of going to the range, the G3C ate and ate and ate. After all of that, I had a single issue regarding the magazine failing to feed a round. I had to give the magazine a hearty hit to get the follower to release and the round to rise. I fired 450 rounds with a 150 being Winchester Forged, which is notoriously dry and dirty ammo.

Outside of that one issue with the magazine failing to feed, the gun ran cleanly. Speaking of cleaning, I did not clean the gun and allowed it to get nice and filthy throughout my testing. A mixture of sweat, gunpowder, and a little blood gave it a lovely natural oil to run with!

Far From Fancy

Overall the gun isn’t fancy. It’s not a tuned 1911 where everything just drips and reeks of quality. It’s a plain Jane semi-automatic, striker-fired pistol that goes bang when you need it to. Lots of the parts feel somewhat plasticky, especially the safety. The safety almost feels like an afterthought, like the safety on an imported Tokarev.

Taurus G3c 9mm Review

I do think the gun offers quite a bit of value for the price. The street price seems to be hovering around $259.99. The G3C comes with three 12-round magazines and metal sights. It’s a simple gun that keeps the Taurus tradition of affordability.

After years of inflation and a stagnant economy, the G3C has become cheaper. You could find them for around $259.99 when I wrote the review. Today, I did a cursory search and saw the prices were as low as $219.99 to $229.99. There are some pricier models, but the average price for the standard model has gotten cheaper.

Overall, I would still recommend the G3C. It comes with good sights, three mags, and great reliability. It’s currently one of the best budget options on the market, and it offers a lot of bang for the buck. In 2025, if you need a dirt-cheap gun, I’d probably grab a G3C. I’d snag the TORO model and a decent optic if I had a little spare change. I love optics on my handguns and think the extra cost is worth the investment. So, if you’re interested in seeing what beat this Taurus G3C review.