The Judge

[Enter your text here.]

Wing Shooting with a Judge

(Well not really)

Taurus’ The Judge: A review

Mike Stritch

There is a niche gun out there and now in a holster near me most of the time. Taurus makes a 5 shot, double and single action revolver chambered for the .410 shot shell and the .45 long colt, not the .45 ACP or .44 magnum. The .45 LC is more or less a cowboy round spitting out 200 to 300 grain lead bullets. They also make one chambered for the .410, .45 long colt and the .454 Casull but that needs wheels and an axle. It comes in various configurations (check out the Taurus website) but barrel length, chamber length and material are the choices. Chamber length is either for the 3” and 2 ½” .410 or, with a shorter cylinder for only the 2 ½” .410 with both also firing the .45 LC. The materials are blue, stainless and polymer. Cost varies depending on the gun shop but generally in the $550 range excluding the Casull version.

It’s aimed at the home defense market with Federal marketing some really interesting defense rounds to include buck shot plus a couple of sharp disks in a .410 load. As a home defense weapon it looks good loaded with .410s. Within 30 feet it’d be absolutely fatal and then you’d only have to replace one panel of wood or sheetrock. It’s not like a bullet going through everything including the next door neighbor’s piano. Although I am a federal agent in my day job, I have mostly lost my home defense concerns except at our remote mountain house where there are bears and tweaker hillbillies. I bought it more as a sidearm for hunting, particularly as a snake gun. When I started hunting with Pintail about seven years ago we were hunting in a gorgeous but snake filled swamp. And he was intrigued by the smells of copperheads and water moccasins. (Sidebar: snake training a dog is done by shooting a snake, letting the dog sniff it and then “bad dog, heal” him off so he associates the snake smell with avoidance and heel.) At that time I owned a S&W .38 Airweight in stainless. I loaded it with the snake shot shells which were #12 shot I think. Trouble was they really didn’t do too well. Thus I figured a .410 pistol would be just the ticket.

And it is. I bought boxes of 3” number 4 & 6 shot. At about 25 feet there is roughly three foot pattern with enough pellets to kill a snake or shoot the face and throat out of an intruder (hope it’s not your son coming in late). Closer up, at the distance where we generally do the snake dance, or start yelling at the dog, it would literally tear a snake’s head off. In a boat on the water at about the same distance you would have the same approximate results. With a .45 LC bullet you could also harvest (with permit) or relocate (in defense of swimming puppy) a gator with a decently placed shot. I think it would also be a good gun to have in a deer stand. There have been many times a fat doe walked out on my right directly below me and a good pistol would have filled my freezer.

I bought a box of self defense bullets from the gun shop just to be nice. Then I went to Wal-Mart to buy .410 loads. Then I went on line to Cabelas to buy quantity, both shot shells and bullets. Performance? Decent 3 foot pattern around 25 feet. With bullets the accuracy at the same distance was OK You can see the sights in the picture. I did not set up as seriously as I do for long guns, simply hung up some paper and walked off about 25 feet. I didn’t settle in with a rest just shot off hand, like I’d do for snakes. Recoil? You really better have a good grip; particularly with 3” .410 loads. It is not as bad as a .44 magnum or a .45 ACP Colt Officer’s Model (cut down 1911, more or less). It’s about on a par with a .357 but doesn’t quite have the “pop” of that round. Further, the pistol is heavy and with the 3” cylinder and 3” barrel there is a good deal of the weight forward of the trigger guard which helps the recoil. The trigger was a little rough but after about 100 rounds it smoothed out a good bit. Double action was a bear, single action much nicer. The .45 LC is a little smoother to shoot but that is some medium pricey shootage. My son bought his girlfriend the polymer Judge in the 2 ½” chamber (well mostly for him) and she is both small and comfortable with the gun. Once you get in the groove it’s a medium pleasant gun to shoot. Wing shooting? Well, with #4 or #2 shot for ducks they’d have to be really close so the wing shooting purpose is more of a fantasy than real, possible but not probable. For dear hunting you’d also need to be pretty close using either a good bullet or .410 buckshot but in .410 there are not many pellets. Concealable? They make a version that is Taurus’ version of “concealable” but that gun would probably also need wheels and it’s about as concealable as a 4” .357 magnum. Summary: good home defense pistol, if you need that. Great snake and critter gun, much better than my S&W .38 with snake loads. Go take a look.