Tanfoglio TA 382: Titan’s successor

TA 382 pistol was introduced in the 1980’s as the successor of Tanfoglio & Sabboti Titan. Under the name Tanfoglio & Sabotti this company exported large numbers of inexpensive auto pistols to the United States in 1950s, one of them being a .25 Auto called the TITAN.

Introduction

The 1968 Gun Control Act stopped this trade and shortly afterwards there was news of an American company being set up to import component parts and assemble them in the United States. This does not seem to have prospered particulary well, and now Tanfoglio (Sabotti have left the concern) have completely rebuilt the Titan into the TA 382 and are marketing it in the United States.

Design

The new pistol followed then-current fashion in having a magazine larger than was previously considered normal during its first production run, but apart form that it is of conventional design, somewhat resembling Beretta from its use of an open-topped slide. The safety catch on the left side of the frame, above the trigger, loscks the trigger. In addition to this there is a magazine safety and a half-cock notch on the hammer.

The frame safety catch also doubles as a stripping catch; when turned to the ‘safe’ position the slide can be pulled back and lifterd off the frame at its rear end, then slid forward to clear the barrel. With the catch in the ‘fire’ position dismantling is impossible.

The sights are roughly what one might expect in this sort of pistol; a blade at the front and fixed notch at the rear, mounted in a block which can be knocked sideways for windage correction when zeroing. Accuracy is likewise average for the class, about four-inch groups at 25 yards. On the whole TA 382 is a reliable and robust workday pistol.

Technical specifications: TA 382