Taurus’ excellent G3c compact is now available without a thumb safety, which some concealed-carry gun owners prefer.
January 18, 2022
By J. Scott Rupp
I reviewed the Taurus G3c more than a year ago and really liked it—although as I wrote at the time, I don’t care for manual thumb safeties on striker-fired carry guns. While Taurus was wise to come out with a thumb-safety version first because many people want this feature, the company just announced a model without the thumb safety for folks who don’t.
Aside from that change, the gun remains the same. Its three supplied magazines provide 12+1 firepower (10+1 for restrictive states) in a package sized right for concealed carry. It is 6.3 inches overall length, 5.1 inches high and a width of 1.2 inches. At just 22 ounces unloaded, it’s a breeze to carry all day.
The alloy steel slide is treated to a Tenifer finish, which is both wear- and corrosion-resistant. It features front and rear cocking serrations that are just aggressive enough for sure slide manipulation. The operational control parts are Teflon-coated.
The sights are steel. That’s a good thing, as is the design. The serrated rear has no dots to distract you from the white-dot front. The relationship between the G3c’s rear sight notch and the front post is just right in terms of width, and it results in a clear and fast-to-acquire sight picture. The rear-sight dovetail is cut to accept a wide range of aftermarket sights if you want to change the setup.
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The rear sight is serrated and has no dots to distract from the white-dot front. It’s set in a dovetail and accepts popular aftermarket sights. The grip portion of the frame has a subtle palm swell, dish-out for your thumb and a slight beavertail, and it features panels of aggressive stippling. There are also dished-out “memory pads” on either side to help both righties and lefties properly index their trigger finger when not on target and provides a tactile reference for placing the support-hand thumb in a thumb-forward grip. Underneath you’ll find a single-slot accessory rail.
The front of the trigger guard is squared off but not serrated. The rear of the guard features a slight undercut that helps attain a high grip on the gun.
The G3c’s 12-round magazines have a small scallop on the base pad to give your fingers extra room to grip a magazine should you have to strip out a stubborn one due to dirt or grit. The magazines are easy to load to capacity, and they have bright yellow followers.
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The trigger has a flat face, and the pull has a half-inch of low-resistance take-up before finishing with a fairly crisp break. The specs say it’s a six-pound trigger, but my sample was closer to four, which is a good thing. There’s a little bit of creep in the actual break and some overtravel.
The trigger also has a second-strike capability in case of a misfiring round of ammo. The restrike pull feels much like a double-action revolver pull but is significantly lighter than that at around 5.5 pounds and very manageable.
Like I said, I really like the G3c, and this new version without manual safety is right up my alley. And at a suggested retail price of just $340, that’ll likely be true for a lot of gun owners.
The grip has aggressive serrations to keep the gun anchored in your hand, and a cutout in the 12-round magazine’s base plate provides extra purchase to strip out a magazine that might be fouled due to grit.