Handguns

The new PT 24/7 OSS version was originally designed and built as a .45 ACP to exceed all requirements originally set forth in 2005 by the U.S. Special Operations Command for an intended procurement of a new military .45 ACP service pistol. It was subsequently adapted for .40 S&W and 9mm as well, following an announcement of an expanded all-service Joint Combat Pistol system trial. When those trials were postponed in 2006, Taurus decided to sell this next-generation service design to the civilian and law enforcement markets.

The 24/7 OSS combines more features than is offered by any other semiauto pistol on the market, and it has an entirely new trigger mechanism that completely eliminates two of the longest-standing problems with double-action and double-action-only pistol design. When you take up the slack in the new Taurus PT 24/7 OSS pistol trigger, you've got a first-shot pull that's as short and quick as a standard single-action Government Model 1911. And for every following shot, the trigger returns to the same fast, short-pull position. No more long, mushy trigger pulls on the first shot then transitioning to a short pull on the second shot, as is the case with conventional double-action autoloaders.

Moreover, if the gun fails to fire, the 24/7 OSS mechanism automatically and instantly resets to a conventional double-action long-pull position and allows you to pull the trigger again--just like a double-action revolver--without needing to manually manipulate the slide. Essentially, it's a single-action pistol that becomes a double action in an emergency.

Most failures to fire with today's quality guns and ammo are caused by residue buildup that can impede full chambering or slow the firing pin. In more than 80 percent of such situations, the first firing-pin strike resolves the situation by fully seating the round or clearing the firing-pin channel, and the second hit fires the gun--without the need to jack in a new cartridge. If it's a bad cartridge and you do have to work the 24/7 OSS slide by hand to chamber a fresh round, the action automatically resets to the original short-pull single-action trigger mode.

The 24/7 design originated with the Taurus line of striker-fired, compact, polymer-frame double-action 9mm Millennium pistols, which debuted in 1998. When I first got my hands on one, I was immediately struck by its shootable feel, its short-stroke repeat-strike trigger (which few other double-action-only pistols offered) and by the fact that the gun had a cocked-and-locked-type manual safety (which no other double-action-only pistol had).

A couple of years later, while visiting the Taurus manufacturing plant in Brazil, I got to handle prototypes of a full-size version of the Millennium design that would soon be introduced as the original 24/7. They impressed me equally.

On the vast majority of double-action-only pistols there are no manual safety mechanisms. The 24/7 has one, which you can choose to use or not use. Ditto with the Taurus Safety System on the right side of the slide that can key-lock the slide and action and make the gun unable to fire.

Other features common to the 24/7 pistols also found on the OSS are a loaded-chamber indicator, internal trigger safety, Heinie combat sights, molded-in equipment rail, reversible magazine release and ergonomic grip design.

The ambidextrous thumb safety on the 24/7 also locks both the trigger and the slide, and there is also an internal striker block. Plus, on the OSS model, if you push the thumb safety upward above the "safe" position (requiring a positive click), it decocks the striker, returning the trigger mechanism to a long-pull conventional double-action mode.