Taurus GX4 Review (With Pictures)
Introduction
Is the Taurus GX4 The Best Concealed Carry Gun For The Money?
The Taurus GX4 is a very small gun and carries 11+1 rounds of 9mm.
No Taurus GX4 review would be complete without talking about how Taurus positioned this pistol in the market.
It competes directly against the very popular (and expensive) Sig P365.
This handgun category is referred to as High Capacity Micro 9 pistols and they are red hot right now.
What is a High Capacity Micro 9?
Here’s how we define it:
- At least 10 rounds of 9mm capacity.
- As thin as a single stack pistol (about an inch)
- Bonus Points: Red Dot cutout
- Bonus Points: Short height & length and lightweight.
Sig’s P365 is the top dog in this category (it invented the category, after all.)
The Taurus GX4 is competing directly with Sig’s Golden Boy.
The P365 sells for about $499.
The Taurus GX4 sells for about $299
How much market share can the GX4 gobble up?
When you consider the small size and weight of the GX4, it’s sure to be popular.
However, when you consider that it sells for $200 less than the Sig, the GX4 is sure to be a blockbuster for Taurus.
It’s only about 18 ounces.
Plus, it’s less than 6 inches long.
Taurus threw its full weight behind this new pistol with a Lifetime Warranty as well!
Taurus GX4 Specs
Overall Specs
- Cartridge: 9mm
- Capacity: 11+1 rds.
- Barrel length: 3.06 inches
- Overall Length: 5.8 – 6.0 inches (depending on backstrap)
- Height: 4.3 inches
- Width: 1.08 inches
- Weight: 18.5 oz.
- Trigger: 6 lbs.
- MSRP: $393
Taurus GX4 Build Quality
Taurus is obviously trying harder here. There is a very noticeable step up in quality over their last concealed carry (the Taurus G3C).
The polymer grip seems to be finished better. The seams are less noticeable and the stippling is better designed.
The stainless steel chassis is the serialized part of the pistol. This signals their engineering prowess and allows the possibility of swapping out grips the way Sig does.
The slide is carbon steel with a is nitride coating.
The stainless steel barrel is DLC-coated.
Taurus even coated some of the internal parts in Teflon. Taurus isn’t cutting corners anymore.
Takedown requires a flathead screwdriver. While this is inconvenient compared to the levers Sig and Springfield use, it makes the pistol a bit flatter for concealed carry.
The slide catch has a polymer shroud to help prevent accidental releases. Taurus didn’t slap this design together. It’s very apparent that Taurus’ engineering team went through iteration after iteration. They wanted to add every detail they could that signifies build quality and value.
If nothing else, this Taurus GX4 review will confirm that Taurus has built a solid pistol.
Magazines
The GX4 uses steel mags with a polymer base pad and a yellow follower. That colorful follower is an easy way to spot an empty magazine.
It’s an 11+1 capacity magazine that sits flush with the bottom of the grip.
Taurus ships every GX4 with 2 magazines. Woohoo!
Also, 13-round extended mags are available too.
Taurus utilized Mec-Gar’s expertise because they are world-famous for their high-quality Italian-made magazines.
The frame and mag base have a depression that allows you to pull a stuck magazine out of the mag well. Again, Taurus really added lots of details to this pistol.
The magazine release is easy to use as well.
Ease Of Concealment
This could be the most important paragraph of this entire Taurus GX4 review. It’s so tiny!
Look at these Taurus GX4 dimensions! This is the biggest contributor to its incredible ease of concealment.
18.5 ounces.
5.8 inches long.
4.3 inches high.
1.08 inches thick.
An inch thick is the gold standard for how thin you can get a pistol. At 1.08” thick, the GX4 delivers in this category.
At just 5.8” long and 4.3” high, this pistol is about as small as the Sig P365. That’s a big deal.
The GX4 is quite a bit smaller than the last concealed carry pistol that Taurus released (the Taurus G3C).
Also, 18.5 ounces won’t weigh your belt down.
This little heater is about as good as you could possibly ask for if you want a small gun for concealed carry.
The key to ease of concealment is having the best concealment holster.
If you want the best holster ever made for the GX4, look at Clinger Holsters!
Clinger’s Taurus GX4 holsters are the ABSOLUTE best holsters you can get for the GX4.
Of course, they conceal well but the biggest draw is the cushioning!
Clinger Holsters are cushioned for comfort.
Get one today and you’ll really enjoy the Taurus GX4 more.
Taurus GX4 Shooting Impressions
Recoil
Thanks to the low bore axis, this gun is very shootable.
It’s not too snappy and it’s easy to get back on target.
The undercut trigger guard allows a high grip too.
This all adds up to a pleasant shooting experience for how small the Taurus GX4 is.
Sights
The GX4 comes with Steel sights. A Glock pistol costs almost twice as much and can’t even get that part right!
The front sight is a white dot. It also comes with a black, serrated rear sight. The serrations help to keep reflections low.
The sights aren’t proprietary. they can be swapped out with Glock-style sights from brands like Trijicon.
Plus, Taurus offers it in a red dot cutout option. The Taurus GX4 T.O.R.O. is the designation for the red dot option.
Taurus GX4 Trigger
The trigger quality might be the biggest surprise in this entire Taurus GX4 review.
The trigger is a striker-fired single-action mechanism without re-strike capability.
It’s a very nice & crisp trigger with a short take-up and very little creep.
The crisp break coupled with no over-travel and flat trigger shoe makes this one of the best factory triggers you’ll see in a concealed carry gun.
It’s been stated elsewhere that it feels like a high-quality aftermarket trigger and I concur (other than it’s not as light as most aftermarket triggers).
Also, it’s worth noting the very large trigger guard. That large trigger guard allows you to still easily shoot the pistol when you’re wearing gloves.
Taurus GX4 Ergonomics
The controls are easily reachable and the grip is very comfortable.
Also, the stippling is great and abundant (it’s even above the trigger guard where your finger rests)!
You can swap out the backstrap with a pin. This is rare in this pistol category. You usually will only see this on larger, more expensive pistols.
The engineers at Taurus smartly added a reversible mag drop to the design.
The Taurus GX4 has nice slide serrations on the front & back of the slide.
Taurus GX4 Reliability
100% reliability is what we expect to see nowadays.
We rarely see a pistol perform less than 100% anymore. This isn’t the 1990s!
If a concealed carry pistol can’t perform flawlessly, there are plenty of options on the market that can. 98% won’t cut it anymore.
Thankfully, the Taurus GX4 that we have was perfectly flawless in reliability.
It didn’t have a single failure during our testing. We trust it.
Safety
Most people don’t like manual safeties on their concealed carry guns.
Taurus finally released a pistol without the manual safety (it sure took them long enough).
Taurus did incorporate a trigger safety and a firing-pin block to prevent accidental discharges.
A nice safety feature to have is the loaded chamber indicator. Taurus added a witness hole at the top of the chamber to see if there is a cartridge in there.
Taurus GX4 Accuracy
Surprisingly, the GX4 is fairly accurate. I didn’t expect to get such a tight grouping when target shooting with this small gun.
It is plenty accurate for a concealed carry pistol.
Conclusion
Overall Impressions
- It’s small & light.
- It can carry up to 11 + 1 rounds of 9mm.
- It’s red-dot ready.
- It’s accurate and has a good trigger.
- Plus, it’s cheap.
Taurus GX4 Competition
Let’s have a quick look at the other 1-inch thick pistols that carry at least 10 rounds of ammo. That’s what we call the high-capacity micro-compact segment.
- Sig P365 & P365XL
- Glock 43X & Glock 48
- Shield Plus 3” & 4”
- Springfield Hellcat & Hellcat Pro
- Ruger Max-9
I’m sure that others will join this list soon. We should see Walther, FNH, HK, and Beretta join this club at some point.
If you can draw any conclusions from this Taurus GX4 review, it should be that it is a very good buy. Heck, it’s a great buy! Even if it was as expensive as some of the higher-priced competitors, it’d still be a good buy.
Don’t forget to pick up Clinger’s Taurus GX4 holsters to complete your concealed carry loadout!
