Taurus RPC Review

Meet Taurus USA's first entry into the PDW market

“It’s a what?” I was incredulous, sitting in a meeting room learning about Taurus’ upcoming PDW project.

“A roller delayed compact PDW,” said our head of engineering. “Same style operating system as the MP5, and everyone loves that.” I remember shaking my head and thinking that if we can pull this off, the eventual product was going to sell like hotcakes.

Spoiler alert. We pulled it off, and this thing rips.

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The Vitals

Alright, here are the specs on this thing, straight from Taurus USA:

• 9mm Platform with 32-round capacity

• Full-Length Picatinny Top Rail

• Rear Vertical Picatinny Rail

• M-LOK Handguard

• Fully Ambidextrous Controls

• Crisp Single-Stage Flat-Face Trigger

• Rubber Over Molded AR-15 Compatible Grip

• 4.5” Threaded Barrel

• Three QD Sling Attachment Points

• Quick-Change Barrel System

Other vital information: with the brace attached and no optics or anything it’s under 5lbs unloaded, which is a perfect weight for a gun in this class. My personal gun is set up with an optic, a WML, a muzzle device, and with a fully loaded mag tips the scales at 5 pounds 5 ounces.

Yes but how does it shoot?

It shoots awesome. So, with a normal straight blowback PCC, the bolt has to be super massive and heavy, right? That’s why 9mm PCCs don’t really recoil much softer than a 556 AR. But the roller delay system uses two rollers and a locking tip to keep the bolt in battery while pressure builds, then the gun goes through its cycle of operations. This keeps bolt mass lighter and reduces felt recoil.

Sub 2-second bill drills on a steel target at 10 yards were absolutely trivial with this gun. It’s no slouch in the accuracy department either. Shot from a rest at 25 yards I got a 1.78 inch group from Hornady Critical Defense.

Speaking of shooting it, let’s talk about the elephant, or brace in this room. Obviously, you should follow all federal laws and not shoulder your braces, right? Because this brace is clearly not designed to be shouldered, as clearly indicated by the sling QD attachment point right where your shoulder would go. Obviously you’re meant to put a sling there, and not shoulder this gun. That’s how it’s designed. You could also cheek it, like I’m doing the photo below. Using the brace to establish a cheek-weld then using push-pull on the gun to control the recoil is valid.

So it’s light, it shoots great, it comes with two 32-round magazines, and it’s more affordable than its only competitor in the market without sacrificing reliability. What’s not to like?

What I don’t like

Honestly, the only thing I don’t like is that it’s not a 16 inch PCC with a proper stock, because I tell you what I’d start shooting USPSA PCC and IDPA PCC so fast if I could get a proper carbine version of this. Truthfully I’m still considering it, but navigating the various laws around converting a gun like this to an SBR is a huge pain. Google “922r compliance” if you want to understand.

Now, you’re probably asking what a gun like this is for? I’ll tell you what, it’s for whatever you want it to be for. Range toy, home defense gun, truck gun, this thing will do it. It feeds everything I’ve stuffed into it, including some Golden Saber JHP that had the biggest ogive I’ve ever seen on a projectile. I legitimately was like “no shot these function” and then they ran fine.

The Taurus RPC is available now, it’s 940 bucks MSRP without the brace and 1099 with the brace. Instead of using German Space Magic like the MP5, it uses Brazilian acai magic. And like I said at the top of this post: it fucking rips.