As a fan of cheap and weird guns, I had to buy the Taurus Curve when I saw it. I can’t remember how much I paid off the top of my head, but it was less than it cost to take my wife out for a good dinner. I bought the Curve as a bit of a joke, thinking it’s an interesting oddity, but maybe, just maybe, the idea isn’t all that bad.
What’s the Taurus Curve?
If you’re unfamiliar with the Taurus Curve, it came out in 2015 and embraced that pocket .380 mindset. The Taurus Curve took things a step further by curving the frame. The idea was to create a micro-sized pistol that could be carried by IWB and conform to the body’s natural curves. Obviously, the design was ambidextrous, but Taurus promised left- and right-handed variants.
As far as I can tell, only right-handed variants were produced. Taurus also reduced every edge and melted every corner to make the gun exceptionally snag-free. They removed external controls. You have a trigger, and that’s it. There is no slide or magazine release. To remove the magazine, pinch the baseplate on both sides and pull it out.
Taurus even ditched traditional sights. Instead, we have the Integrated Bore-Axis sighting system, a white cross on the back of the gun. It also came with an integrated laser and a white light. These are part of the frame.
The white light is pitiful. It might be 40 lumens on a good day, but it can’t light up one side of my closet from the other. The laser is a laser and can be zeroed, but it still has all the problems all visible lasers have.
It’s an oddity.
The gun was largely considered a failure. Not only was the design odd, but it was also frightfully unreliable. I can rarely get through a single magazine without a failure of some type, and the magazine only holds six rounds.
Rethinking the Curve
I shot the Curve a bit, made fun of it, and eventually put it away and forgot about it. I recently cleaned out my safe and ran into that familiar orange box. The plastic box is also curved, which shows the Taurus is committed to the bit.
I never carried the Curve, but it was carry-ready. The gun had a pocket clip installed on the slide and a trigger cover with a lanyard that ties to your belt or belt loop. You didn’t need a holster, and you could still carry the gun safely.
When I first strapped the Curve on, I realized the appeal. Maybe Taurus was spending too much time with KelTec when they created the Curve. I wasn’t just carrying the gun. It felt more like I was wearing it. I realized I wasn’t the first to say that. In fact, Will Dabbs of American Handgunner had the same sentiment. You wore the Curve; you didn’t carry it. I read many reviews from when the gun was released, and the general consensus says it was super easy to carry.
I started experimenting with the Curve and everything my closet could throw at me. It concealed everything I had with ease. Athletic clothes, sweatpants, hell, even pajama pants hid the thing. I’m convinced I could conceal the Curve if I owned a Speedo.
There is smart groundwork here, but it needs a few fixes.
How To Fix It
First, it needs to work. Mine chokes a lot, and that needs to be addressed first. If we can get a Curve that works, we can start there. First, get rid of .380 and rechamber it to .32 ACP. From a barrel this short, the difference between .32 ACP and .380 ACP is minor in all fields except recoil.
It has half the recoil of .380 ACP but still penetrates to the proper depth necessary to reach the vitals. We get at least one extra round in the magazine, and the gun can be smaller and lighter.
Let’s ditch the light and maybe the laser. The laser is completely optional, in my opinion, but I can see why some folks would like it. I would like a set of nubs at the top, at the very least, something like the KelTec P32. It’s small but works well enough. I’m even down to try something like the SIG P365-SAS sights.
Finally, it seems a bit bulkier than necessary. We can make it a little smaller, right? The frame seems very shell-like. This isn’t necessary, but I’d love to see the frame trimmed down a bit.
This would give us a super small, super easy-to-carry gun that’s also easier to shoot and hopefully it’s reliable.
A Curve Ball
The Taurus Curve Gen 2 that I’ve created in my brain could be a capable defensive pistol. It offers us a controllable, lightweight, and super-easy-to-carry gun. It wouldn’t be an everyday carry for me, but a gun I turn to when I need to carry as discreetly as possible.
Will it happen? Probably not. But never say never.
Read the full article here
