Taurus bought up Beretta's factory and tooling and started making the PT92, a copy of the Beretta 92.

I think S&W and Taurus each have a common parent company, but they aren't using the same tooling or designs.

No, Taurus bought the Beretta factory in Brazil.

Taurus was owned by the parent Company of S&W during the early '70s, in the late '70s Taurus became it's own Company again.

Here's Taurus' take on the situation...

Click

Regardless of what equipment they use, that is not what the problem is, with Taurus. They are completely capable of building a quality firearm, and do build a lot of them.

The problem, in the past, has been their quality control standards. They have let too many guns that should have been rejected get out into the marketplace. While many do recognize that they do build some good guns, a lot of experienced 'gun people' just won't roll the dice and take a chance on getting one that was made on a bad day.

They use quite a few MIM parts, as do a lot of gun manufacturers, and that is fine, as long as their QC standards are very high. But, if their equipment malfunctions, they may run off a pile of substandard parts, before they catch the malfunction. They have to either be willing to take the loss incurred by pulling all the affected guns back, or continue selling them cheaper than their competitors, and take the short-term profit. In the past, it seems they have chosen the latter, occasionally.

Interesting, thanks guys!

"Thus, the two companies became "sisters". Smith & Wesson never owned Taurus. They were both independent companies." Taurus website

Thanks for the link Kev