I've read several reviews and then it was featured on American Rifleman Television. This looks like a winner for a backup gun. I just haven't talked to anyone who has actually owned one yet. Love my PT745.
I have one and am very happy with it. I have only taken it to the range twice. I want to shoot it a little more before I decide to use it as a carry gun. It is picky about what ammo it likes. Doesn't like WWB at all. I have had a lot of FTE's. Blazer Brass isn't as bad as WWB but a few issues. It did great with Winchester SXZ. Very well with Golden Sabers which is my choice for carry ammo anyway. Did well with S&B's too. Great with my own hand loads. It seems to me that the hotter loads are good and the cheap ammo isn't a match with The Slim. I might try to hand load 50 rounds at a very low charge and see how it does. The hand loads I used were loaded on the hot side. I'm going to take her out a few more times before I carry her. I might break down and buy 100-150 rounds of Golden Sabers and really test her out. It will be a pricy test but to test out the tool carried to protect my life I view it as a good investment.
All in all I am very happy with my purchase. It just doesn't eject weak loads well. Maybe some more break in time will help.
Thanks for the reply. I saw in the reviews that it has a double spring, recoil spring like my 745 and my XD40. That probably puts a damper on the recoil of the small pistol so it might need hotter loads to operate it effectively.
Would you say its small enough for a pocket gun like a Kel-Tec P9? With it's features I think it should have the P9 beat all to pieces but I haven't seen the two side, but side (haven't seen the 709 at all, they keep getting sold before I see them) but the Kel-Tec has a long, heavy trigger and a pretty stout recoil. How is the trigger pull, by the way. I see that is has a different style trigger than my 745. You have my curiosity up!! Thanks again for the info.
I've had one for about 2 months, and I carry it pretty much all the time. I've posted about it on here before. I've shot a little bit of +p through it and its snappy, but tolerable. It's not bad at all with the normal practice loads running through it.
As far as size goes, it's a little big for a pocket gun. I usually carry it in my waistband in a crossbreed holster. I have an uncle mikes pocket holster too, but in jeans it snug, and if I needed it I couldn't draw quickly. In looser fitting shorts though putting it in a front pocket would be just fine.
The 709 has a lot of take up in the trigger, but once you get used to where the reset point is it is actually nice and crisp probably right around 5 or 6#.
Keep mine on my side all the time,Great little gun. Got about 800 rounds through it now and have had only a couple of FTE'S . Still waiting for the 9 round magazines they are supposed to come out with.
Thanks for the reply. I saw in the reviews that it has a double spring, recoil spring like my 745 and my XD40. That probably puts a damper on the recoil of the small pistol so it might need hotter loads to operate it effectively.
Would you say its small enough for a pocket gun like a Kel-Tec P9? With it's features I think it should have the P9 beat all to pieces but I haven't seen the two side, but side (haven't seen the 709 at all, they keep getting sold before I see them) but the Kel-Tec has a long, heavy trigger and a pretty stout recoil. How is the trigger pull, by the way. I see that is has a different style trigger than my 745. You have my curiosity up!! Thanks again for the info.
Dave
I have a Kel-Tec P3AT that I like a lot. I also was shooting my Slim next to a guy who had a P9 at the range. He was asking about the Slim because he wasn't sure which he wanted when he bought his P9. He also liked the Slim. I let him shoot a few magazines through mine and he loved it. We talked a while and traded phone numbers. I got a call 4 days later from him saying he sold the P9 and picked up a Slim. He said the Kel-Tec kicked a lot harder than the Slim.
That being said, I love my P3AT but I do agree with him. It kicks. It is a pocket gun not a range gun. I have a permanent scar on my hand to remind me why a P3AT was not designed to shoot 250 rounds in one day. Great little pocket gun. I will carry it all day and forget it's there but it is not a range/target/fun gun to shoot.
I like my Slim a lot and my Kel-Tec as well. If you were going to get the Kel-Tec I might suggest the P3AT over the P9 though. If you are going to give up comfort and ability to shoot many rounds in a day why not go for the smaller, easier to conceal gun? If you want it to serve as a CCW and a range toy go for the slim. Very comfortable to shoot.
Since you mentioned your XD .40 I'll add that my .40 Subcompact XD is my favorite carry gun. That comes out with me more than any gun I own.
I have a 709,I have a couple of posts here about it.So far I've shot about 350 times with absolutely no problems of any kind.I love it.It will be my main carry gun depending on where I'm going.Either that or my glock 19.The trigger has a lot of slack but once you get to the breaking point it breaks easy with no overtravel.Once you get used to it it is great.You have to go nearly all the way back but it resets really fast.It is no trouble to do double taps.As far as recoil,I find that there is very little.It seems like it recoils about the same as my glock 19.To me its a very pleasant gun to shoot and I'm not a big guy.I'm only about 5ft 6 and 150 lbs.One thing I have noticed is that the mags don't drop free you have to pull them out.Maybe they will loosen up a little after shooting it more.All in all I like it a lot. sj
with about 300 rounds total through it. It's a great little pistol and nice and compact--and I've had some mixed luck with Tauruses but this one is doing fine. One thing about Taurus is they've made some innovative guns with the price being right, but in my experience have sometimes had some quality control issues (as well as molasses-slow customer service--but the guns DO come back fixed and work fine from then on if there's a problem).
I've only shot the WWB/S+B target rounds through it and about 50 rounds of the Federal LE 115gr +P+ HP. Not a hiccup so far and it seems to like the Federals for defensive work--reasonably accurate and no FTF.
One thing which did happen is it appears the inside "glock" -like safety on the trigger is intermittent--when dry fire testing it seems sometimes not to completely block the trigger if it's brought back without depressing the inside safety lever. Not a problem if careful (NEVER let anything get inside the trigger guard of a glock-like trigger because the inner portion can just as easily get depressed), and I use the manual safety which blocks the entire trigger assembly anyway. Just personally wouldn't ever carry it without the manual safety engaged (it does have a nice trigger pull and I think Glock missed the boat by not making this pistol before Taurus did).
Carries well in a Uncle Mikes' size zero most places a snub .38 would. Good pocket pistol (in holster, of course).
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God gives us free will; the statist tries to take it away
I've been carrying mine daily for about 2 months, and it's showing a bit of holster wear. I carry it IWB and in a pocket holster, as well as practice with it at the range, so it has been in an out a lot. It isn't the prettiest gun I own, but the wear does give it some character.
The one annoying thing is the way the slide wears on the top of the barrel block. Everything functions fine, but that is an ugly mark, and it appears to be common.
I have a PT709 SS for CCW and after over 200 rounds, not a single FTE or FTF. (I've used Blazers, WWB, Fiocchi, and Speer Gold Dot... not a single problem.) Even my Glock 23 is not that reliable after several hundred rounds, still breaking it in. (I think that polishing they do on the feedramp on the Slim is a big plus.)
I did discover a problem during cleaning last night, the recoil spring was snapped. It has a double coil and the larger one was in two pieces. Interestingly enough, it functioned fine at the range and I didn't notice when it happened. Hopefully they can simply mail a new one out and I won't have to send the gun back to them.
Shooting impressions:
It has a narrow grip, which is what I wanted in a 9mm CCW. I looked at both the Kel-Tec PF9 and the Slim and IMHO, the Slim is well worth the little extra money. The trigger does have a long pull, but not as long as the Kel-Tec I understand. I have long fingers and after 100 + rounds with the Slim, my finger is ready for a rest. With no FTEs, it has proven to be a very reliable auto right out of the box. (except for that recoil spring mentioned above, which I think is an anomaly since I've found no one else with a similar problem.) It comes with two 7 round steel mags. If you find yourself in a situation that needs more than 14-15 rounds, it is a very bad day.
Sights: The 3-dot sights are pretty good for a gun of this size, but I would hope night sights will be available for it sometime in the future. I found them difficult to see on our dimly lit indoor range, but I think they're better than the Kel-Tec sights. Plus, the rear sight is adjustable in both windage and elevation.
Take Down Notes: Very "Glock-like" so if you're used to that simple method, this is very much the same technique. Clear weapon, Move slide back a bit, pull trigger, pull up on take down lever, and push slide off frame. Simple. One note, if you did not fully unlock the built-in Taurus locking mechanism (counter-clockwise with the hex key), you may find (like me) that the slide will move back and appear to be unlocked, but you will not be able to move it forward off the frame to fully disassemble it.
Bottom Line: In spite of the recoil spring that broke, this is an awesome CCW gun. Has the potency, accuracy, and capacity for a decent CCW.
I never could get the elevation to adjust,it was shooting about 5" low at 15 yds.I called taurus and asked them to send me another rear sight.They said they won't send them out I had to send my whole gun to them and they would fix it.That was the second time I called them.The first time the guy said sure send in the sight and they would send me another one.Well a month went by,so I called the the second time.They need to get their act together.I can replace the sight myself,but according to them they have to do it.They have already had my sight for a month,now they want my gun too.I will have to send it in cause its no good like this.Their lifetime warranty sucks.I'll have to wait and see how long it is till I get my gun back.Oh well,for this past month I've been working on my point shooting.sj
I never could get the elevation to adjust,it was shooting about 5" low at 15 yds.I called taurus and asked them to send me another rear sight.They said they won't send them out I had to send my whole gun to them and they would fix it.That was the second time I called them.The first time the guy said sure send in the sight and they would send me another one.Well a month went by,so I called the the second time.They need to get their act together.I can replace the sight myself,but according to them they have to do it.They have already had my sight for a month,now they want my gun too.I will have to send it in cause its no good like this.Their lifetime warranty sucks.I'll have to wait and see how long it is till I get my gun back.Oh well,for this past month I've been working on my point shooting.sj
I have the same problem, 5-6 inches low at 15 yards. When I called they told me they would send a new rear sight, but they were back ordered for 6-8 weeks. This was just 2 weeks ago. I found another guy with the same problem on a forum who states that his rear sight just does not have enough elevation adjustment. He said when you reach the max elevation adjustment and give it one more click adjustment the sight noticeably pots down to the the the orighinal lowest adjustment. Mine does this too. I hope this is a deffect in my sight and a new one will not have the same problem. Please email me back if you got your new one yet and tell me if it cured your problem.
If they came up with a set of night sights that were fixed and right on at 15-20 yards,they would sell the heck out of them.I know I would buy a set.sj
I have had a PT709 it for a few months. I love it. It is well balanced and fits my big hands fine, especially for a compact. Haven't had a FTF in a couple of boxed of mixed stuff. It does kick a bit more than your usual 9mm, because it is so light. It will fit in your pocket, but it is a bit big for a pocket gun. Wearing it concealed in a good holster, you will forget it's there. Overall I really like it.
I have a PT709 
