I’ve been around the firearms market for all of my adult life, and it has been refreshing to see some brands turn their ships around. I’ve seen the good and the bad, and even a few ships sink outright. Today we’re looking at one of the happier stories.
Taurus firearms were once considered by many to be more of a bargain product and their performance sometimes left much to be desired. It seems to me that Taurus USA has turned a page. I have now had four new products from the company that have more than met my expectations, and on top of the product improvement, they’ve continued to maintain very affordable price points.
Today I bring you one of them, the Taurus USA GX4 Carry pistol chambered in .380 ACP.
The Taurus USA GX4 follows the same pattern as several other polymer-framed, striker-fired pistols made in their Bainbridge, Georgia facility. Besides the GX4, I have also recently reviewed the GX2 and the TX9 pistols. All of them have some degree of commonality, such as the divorced frame and trigger/sear pack. I expect this helps keep manufacturing costs down and in some cases allows you to change the frame while swapping in the trigger/sear pack.
Additional modularity is incorporated into the GX4 design through an interchangeable grip backstrap, allowing you to customize the feel of the grip. Like the others, the GX4 is optics ready using Taurus’ Optics Ready Option, or T.O.R.O. This allows a drop-in fit for Holosun K-series and similar optics, which I was sure to take advantage of.
There are also some other neat features, including a loaded chamber indicator, an accessory rail for weapon lights, and a 15-round capacity. They make it handy for concealed carry. I was also intrigued by what Taurus left out. There’s no manual safety and even the usual disassembly lever is absent. This makes the frame of the GX4 less obstructed, with fewer things that could potentially snag during the draw.
Lifting the GX4 from its polymer case, I immediately noticed the familiar grip texture I’ve seen on my other Taurus pistols. The grip feels a little square in my hand, something I can remedy to some degree by changing the backstrap. This was easily done by pushing out a pin and lifting the backstrap from the bottom.
The GX4 comes with two 15-round steel magazines made by magazine giant Mec-Gar, which gives me a sense of confidence. Because this pistol is chambered in .380 Auto, there’s a small spacer at the rear of the magazine to keep the cartridges positioned properly.
I decided to mount both a red dot and a weapon light on the GX4. After removing the two screws holding the polymer optics footprint cover, I found a clean spot to mount my Nutrek Optics Blade red dot.
The rear sight had a very slight interference with the red dot housing, which required a tiny bit of Dremeling to allow everything to fit properly. Other red dots will no doubt mount without any issues. I don’t cast that at the feet of either Taurus or Nutrek, sometimes things are a bit different. After that, it mounted perfectly using the two anchor pins in the slide and the included screws.
For carrying in the dark, I would also use the Streamlight TLR-8 light and laser combination. It turned out to be a very good match for the GX4.
All that was left was getting a few boxes of ammunition. For that I grabbed some Winchester, Fiocchi, and PMC ammunition loaded with 90- and 95-grain bullets. This is actually the first .380 I’ve ever owned, so I was interested in the old power discussion and whether those 90- and 95-grain bullets would be enough when it mattered.
My testing of the GX4 involved carrying the pistol daily between various range trips of my own as well as trips with my kids. All of my children grew up shooting the Taurus TX22, which has been a home run of a product, so when they see another Taurus they tend to assume it will be much the same.
I got used to the grip of the GX4 pretty quickly. That squaredness I mentioned initially didn’t seem to affect my shooting or my opinion of the gun. I initially thought I’d prefer the GX4 in 9mm rather than .380, and the jury is still out on that one. But one thing is for sure: my kids and wife all found this GX4 much easier to operate than compact 9mm pistols with their stiff(er) recoil springs. The GX4’s spring is surprisingly soft and easy to rack.
The trigger safety is simple and effective and the trigger feel overall is good. It has predictable breaks without too many jumps or bumps in the pull. Shooting with my red dot also gave me a great sight picture without losing use of the factory sights.
I found that with a full magazine, you need to make sure the magazine is well seated. It fell out on us more than once when we hadn’t fully seated it.
We had no malfunctions during testing of the Taurus GX4. The only concern I had was that ejection seemed a little weak, with the brass sometimes landing almost right at our feet. Regardless of where the brass landed, the pistol never skipped a beat.
Disassembling the Taurus GX4 requires either a tool or some improvisation. Since there’s no takedown lever, you’ll need a screwdriver or something similar to rotate the takedown cam on the right side of the gun. It’s not a big deal, but it is something worth noting.
I also noticed that the pistol incorporates a magazine safety, locking out the trigger unless a magazine is seated. I understand some folks like this type of safety feature, but I’d rather not have it. To each their own.
Like any gun, a good CCW pistol needs to hit where you aim, and I didn’t have any trouble hitting my targets. Typical groups from 10 yards averaged around 2 to 3 inches. Nothing that will win any competitions, but certainly suitable for the purposes for which this pistol is intended.
The factory iron sights on the GX4 are adjustable for both elevation and windage. The rear sight is serrated to reduce reflection, while the front sight uses a simple white dot.
I already mentioned the convertible grip of the GX4, but there’s also an undercut trigger guard. There’s also a single finger rib on the front, and the entire grip area has a nice texture with a sort of sandpaper feel to it. The GX4 feels good in my hand.
The magazine release is fairly small and low profile, but I had no trouble finding and pressing it during reloads. I actually like this because it helps prevent accidentally releasing the magazine while carrying or manipulating the pistol. Releasing the slide was a touch stiffer than I expected, but it wasn’t bad.
The loaded chamber indicator is another useful feature. It sits on top of the slide where it can be seen and felt, providing another indicator that there’s a cartridge in the chamber.
Given all its features, it seems crazy that you can get into a Taurus GX4 pistol for about $270. That feels like a very good buy to me. It shoots well, cycles without issue, and is just plain fun to shoot. The 9mm version will cost you a little more, but I am quite happy with the price-to-performance ratio of the Taurus GX4.
The list of things I liked about the GX4 is long. The price is extremely affordable, I had no malfunctions during testing, the grip is configurable, and the controls are simplified. The 15-round capacity is another big plus, as are the optics-ready slide, loaded chamber indicator, and adjustable sights.
There are a couple of things I wasn’t quite as fond of. The first was the fitment of my particular red dot, which required a small amount of modification around the rear sight. I’m also not a huge fan of the magazine safety, although that’s certainly more of a personal preference than a fault with the pistol.
When compared to other similar pistols like the Smith & Wesson Bodyguard 2.0 or Ruger LCP MAX, the GX4 has gives them some serious competition. It’s significantly less expensive than some of the other options, including the Bodyguard 2.0 and GLOCK 42, while being very comparable in price to the LCP MAX. However, the GX4 offers considerably more capacity than those smaller .380 pistols and I like the look of the GX4 better than the LCP by a wide margin.
The Taurus GX4 .380 offers a step up in capacity over many of the compact .380 ACP pistols on the market. It also shoots and handles well, while allowing smaller-framed shooters or those with hand strength issues an easily operated option. The pistol’s mild recoil makes it particularly easy to shoot, and that was something my family noticed almost immediately.
It’s also just plain fun to shoot, which is something I always appreciate.
Specifications: Taurus GX4 Carry 380 Auto Pistol
Caliber: .380 ACP
Capacity: 15+1 rounds (two 15-round mags included)
Barrel Length: 3.70 inches
Overall Length: 6.56 inches
Width: 1.0 inch
Height: 5.16 inches
Weight: 21 oz. empty
Backstraps: 3 interchangeable
Trigger Flat-faced, serrated
Optic Cut: T.O.R.O., Holosun K-series footprint
MSRP $359.99 (about $270 retail)