Taurus Curve, if you weren’t around in 2015, you might think I’m talking about a Ford car. The Taurus Curve was, in fact, a Taurus subcompact, pocket pistol-sized .380 back when those were still popular. The years 2014 and 2015 were wild for Taurus. They released a few oddball guns, including the famed View, a specially modified Model 85. We also got the Curve in that time frame.
The Curve was first somewhat secretly shown to gun media folks at SHOT 2014, but it was nearly a year before an official announcement was made. The Curve appeared to be a modified variant of the Taurus TCP, a lightweight .380 pocket pistol. The modifications were extensive, and they produced what I think is an innovative gun. It’s a design with a few interesting features that are often overlooked.
Innovation is often conflated with good. Sometimes the idea is innovative, and the execution is not. That’s exactly what we have here with the Curve. The idea to create a deep concealment gun with a bevy of modern features wasn’t a bad one; it just wasn’t properly executed.
What’s the Curve
Curve describes it aptly. They took a TCP style .380 ACP and curved the frame to better fit the body. It’s curved to be carried on the right-hand side in a strongside IWB configuration. The idea is that the gun’s design will mate better with the natural curves of your body. This only works when it’s carried without a holster which Taurus admittedly set you up for.
The gun comes with a clip on the side of the Curve, which is removable if you so choose. It also comes with a MIC trigger guard cover. This device has a string attached that you tie to your belt, so when drawn, the MIC is pulled off by the action of drawing the gun.
It’s a neat idea. It does have a few flaws. Primarily the gun only works for righties. I believe Taurus promised a left-handed version, but it was never produced. The other downside is that it did create an awkward grip.
The Good(ish) Ideas of the Curve
It’s tough to say everything about the Curve was a good idea. However, I fully give Taurus credit for their out-of-the-box thinking with the Curve. The Curved design is a neat idea that does lend itself well to very deep concealed carry. However, it doesn’t allow for tuckable carry, which is often a deep concealment must-have.
My favorite idea was to integrate a light and laser into the gun. Integration of these products might be the future of handgun design, as well as the integration of topics. While that might be a long way away, the Curve came with a light and laser built into the frame. While that was a cool idea, both were very weak. The light is only 25 lumens, and it works at point blank and not much further.
Taurus also trimmed off everything that could snag on the draw. We’ve seen SIG do the same with the P365 SAS, but the Curve arguably did it first. While the SAS idea has been around for a long time, the Curve was the first to take it to an extreme and ditch the sights, slide releases, and magazine releases.
The Bad Ideas
The bad ideas include the lack of sight. The laser works indoors, but too much light will wash it out. The rear of the gun has this little section of white ones that are supposed to act as sights, but it kind of sucks. It’s tough to shoot accurately at any range. The magazine release is a pinch-type design at the bottom of the mag, similar to the subcompact S&W Sigma of old. It reduces the need for a button but is also easy to accidentally bump.
The DAO trigger was silly because it could accidentally short-stroke and not properly reset. It was easy to do because the trigger has two tactile and audible clicks as it resets.
Also, the controls for the light and laser weren’t great. Taurus designed it so that when drawn from the MIC, the MIC hits the laser and light control and activates it on the draw. It can be programmed to use just light, just laser, or nothing. I don’t think it’s always wise to activate the light and laser on the draw. Activating it manually is also a hassle, and the button sucks.
At the Range
As mentioned, the gun is tough to shoot accurately. My best results were the laser on a target in the shadow. Once zeroed, that was fine. Trying to use the rear drawn-on sights was difficult and resulted in crazy inconsistency from my hands.
Recoil is what you exact from a .380 Pocket pistol. That recoil and the magazine placement caused the mag to come loose twice. I’m also gripping hard to hold on, which doesn’t help.
The biggest issue is reliability. The Curve is extremely ammo picky. It only seems to like brass-cased FMjs. Hollowpoints were a no-go for me, but to be fair, I only tried the one brand I had. I got a ton of failures to feed with hollow points. With the FMJs, I got a single stovepipe in the 150 rounds I fired.
Ultimately it’s easy to see why the Curve faltered and why it wasn’t meant to be. Taurus might have been ahead of the Curve (pun intended), but the poor gun ultimately faltered. Can it make a comeback? Maybe, but they would have to make some serious changes.
