The Judge

[leolb1]

I offend wondered what rd would be put first in line to fire, in the Judge?
I mean you can shoot 45colt, 410 slug and #4 buck......so do you mix them or go for one type in all clyinders? What do most people do?

[Fine Figure of a Man]

What?

[mdcmn7]

Are you talking about a Taurus Judge?




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[Pahoo]

Owners that I know and their aren't that many, "carry" .410, 2-1/2 and #6 shot. They will shoot .45LC at the range. I don't know for sure if they carry both. ......

Might add that two of them, are women. .....

Be Safe !!!!

[Targa]

My dad has his Governor loaded with Winchester PDX1 desfense shells for home defense. They certainly feel substantial at the range.

[Cheapshooter]

Taurus Judge PD Poly next to the seat in my truck. First three up, Federal Premium 410 Handgun 000 buck followed by two Winchester Supreme bonded 225 gr. HP 45 Colt.
3 pulls of the trigger = a dozen 35 caliber projectiles at 380acp velocity followed with two big hp bullets if needed.
Carjacker's nightmare!!!

[Real Gun]

The Judge is a shotgun, so I load it that way. There is only enough rifling to take it out of the illegal short-barrel shotgun class. If there is a desire to shoot 45 Colt, full or in part, it does well enough at close range.

[TruthTellers]

Personally, I wouldn't carry .410 for any sort of social work outside the house for liability purposes. One stray buckshot could kill a baby or worse, a Syrian refugee's baby. I'd stick to .45 Colt, it's not that inaccurate even from a Public Defender.

For home defense, Federal 000 Buck all night and day.

EDIT: As for mixing up the cylinder with different ammo like birdshot, buckshot, .45 Colt, slugs, etc. I think that's something that's only worth doing if you're out in the wilderness and are unsure what you might encounter and you don't want to be fumbling taking rounds out of the chamber to replace them with something else.

For defense in civilization, you're best sticking with the same thing in every chamber for consistency sake. You don't want to have a situation where a coked up dude attacks you with a knife and you pump his beer gut full of birdshot.

[kozak6]

Federal 000 buck in all cylinders makes the most sense. It offers a useful pattern and sufficient penetration. Almost every other load is awful. Just about everything else spreads too much and/or doesn't offer enough penetration. Some of Hornady's loads might be decent, but that's about it.

I don't think staging loads is useful. If you need to use your pistol for defense, things are going to happen real fast. You aren't going to be able to call a time out just so you can choose the most effective load for that particular circumstance (which is probably 000 buck anyways). Also, once adrenaline starts flowing, you are going to lose track of what's next in the cylinder. I'd also imagine there's something to be said for predictable performance every time you pull the trigger.

For wilderness use, maybe you can risk having a couple birdshot shells first. Maybe.

I think if you intend to fire any significant quantity of .45 LC through it, you would be better served with a dedicated .45 cal revolver.

[Cosmodragoon]

Real Gun wrote:

The Judge is a shotgun, so I load it that way. There is only enough rifling to take it out of the illegal short-barrel shotgun class...

kozak6 wrote:

I think if you intend to fire any significant quantity of .45 LC through it, you would be better served with a dedicated .45 cal revolver.

I think this is the right way to look at these. As per choice of shell, there are some decent YouTube videos that show how different loads act, at least when fired at inanimate targets. It looks like just about any of them would be fine for unarmored human assailants at bad-breath range. For more versatility, I'd go with heaviest buckshot you can find. As Kozak explains, there probably isn't much reason to carry a diverse cylinder in an EDC situation; providing you don't spend a lot of time around snakes.

[Real Gun]

I wouldn't emphasize penetration using shot. The whole idea is to discourage without necessarily killing someone. How could it be otherwise...wrong gun? I also would not rule out having a good spread with shot, in my case #4 buck. It's a shotgun, so let it function like one, or pick a different gun.

[scottycoyote]

i dont know if this is still an issue with these guns....i bought a judge when they first came out thinking it would be the perfect hiking gun.....45lc for black bear or other predators and 410 to shoot small game with should you get lost/stranded.

well my gun shot 45lc terribly....lots of keyholes and just not the kind of accuracy i like but i could live with it, until i shot some 410 shells. I guess where the shells expanded after being shot or whatever, but it locked the cylinder up tight and took quite a bit of fiddling to get it open and the shells out....definitely not something youd want to have to deal with in a self defense situation involving a reload.

[TruthTellers]

I have a question Judge related, so I figure I'll ask it here.

Between shooting the 2-3/4" Federal 000 Buck with 4 pellets and the 3" shells that fire 5 000 pellets, how much more recoil is there and is the extra pellet worth it?

Also, does the extra amount of birdshot in the 3 inch shells make a noticeable difference over 2.5 inch? Say I'm shooting at a snake that really wants to make me its dinner, will the extra shot in the larger shell make a difference or does the rifling and the short barrel of the Judge still spin the shot so much it becomes irrelevant.

[Hal]

Judge, regular revolver or semi auto......it doesn't really matter now does it?
Playing mix and match with ammunition seldom, if ever, plays out well in the real world.

Find something that works in all 6 chambers and go with that.

[Cosmodragoon]

well my gun shot 45lc terribly....lots of keyholes and just not the kind of accuracy i like but i could live with it...

Take a look at the forcing cone. Unlike normal revolvers, these tend to open pretty wide. (So much so that in the .22 Circuit Judge, you can literally drop a shell casing down into the barrel.) Supposedly, it helps promote function or longevity (or something) with shot. For me, it was just a solid reason not to buy one of the .357 or .22 carbine versions.

[kraigwy]

My wife has a Judge.

Her first, and really her only shot is #6 shot 410 shells, Twice last summer she used it to dispatch a rattler while mowing the lawn. She got it for snake defense while horse back riding and it works quite well for that.

However its not her self defense/carry revolver. She uses a J frame for that.

Only 45 LC rounds we used was mostly me just playing with it.

Its a good little gun for her purposes, but its too big and she's too small to conceal it.

[Cheapshooter]

well my gun shot 45lc terribly....lots of keyholes and just not the kind of accuracy i like but i could live with it, until i shot some 410 shells. I guess where the shells expanded after being shot or whatever, but it locked the cylinder up tight and took quite a bit of fiddling to get it open and the shells out....definitely not something youd want to have to deal with in a self defense situation involving a reload.

Not sure about your accuracy issue. What distance were you shooting? At ten yards my 2" barreled Public Defender Poly is quite acceptable.
As for shot shells, I did recently have a problem with WW SuperX backing primers out, locking the cylinder. After shooting many more rounds of Federal Handgun 410, Remington, and even Winchester PDX1 I determined it yo be ammo related.
Most likely since you had an early Judge it was less problem with the gun when shooting shot shells. More an ammo related problem corrected now by handgun specific ammo

[buck460XVR]

Regardless of what firearm one uses for SD/HD, the choice of ammo should be determined by what shoots the best from that particular firearm when shot by the person that intends to use it. Period. No amount of internet logic is going to change that. Shoot a variety of ammo until you finds something that shoots accurately and dependably from YOUR Judge when you shoot it. Lotta ammo out there now designed specifically for .45/.410 revolvers. Lotta ammo out there for .45 colt and .410. As for whether or not to alternate specific ammo, you need to consider the scenarios where you most likely will use the firearm and then determine what ammo is most appropriate for that. I don't know why one would have a .45/.410 revolver if they were going to use .45 colt in it all the time. IMHO, @ SD distances, I see no difference between a .410 slug and .45 colt rounds. So I'd load the gun with ammo intended for a .410 revolver, either boutique style multi-projectile ammo specific for these types of firearms or .410 shotshells.

[Mike Irwin]

Doesn't matter, as long as it's a shell loaded with plastic explosive enough to blow the Judge to hell where it belongs.

Nope. Not a fan.

Of any of these "shotgun pistols."

[peggysue]

Lot of Judges sold to a lot of people for many many many years. Good snake gun.

[Don P]

The whole idea is to discourage without necessarily killing someone

My intent if I have to draw and shoot is to stop the threat and not be concerned about discouraging and not killing.

[Randall_Guy]

This is a Judge/Governor question somewhat pertaining to the original post.

Has anyone tried to load a 45LC or 454 Casull case with a 45LC powder load
(e.g. 9gr of Unique) then a thin wad then some shot then seat a .451 or so
bullet? I realize that Winchester has .410 PDX loads with 3 discs and 12 BBs,
but I want a 200gr 45 bullet followed by the shot.

Downsides? Suggestions?

[shootbrownelk]

I agree with Peggy Sue. I use my Judge for snakes. Shot a bunch while antelope and deer hunting around rocky areas when the Rattlers are migrating. #7 1/2's are good snake medicine.

[5thShock]

"...The whole idea is to discourage without necessarily killing someone."

This is not done with deadly weapons. The state of Florida, for one, does not allow punishing, torturing or discouraging with deadly force.

[jimbob86]

The Judge is a shotgun, so I load it that way. There is only enough rifling to take it out of the illegal short-barrel shotgun class. If there is a desire to shoot 45 Colt, full or in part, it does well enough at close range.

I've shot one loaded with birdshot....... target was a cardboard box an appliance came in ..... say 2 1/2 foot by 3 1/2 foot per side. At under 20 feet, there was a bare spot in the pattern at least a foot in diameter, and some of the pellets missed the box entirely ...... even for snakes, it would be a pee-poor tool...... unless your plan is to bum-rush jake, in which case, I'd feel comfortable in sayin' you have a bad plan.......

I've never been a fan of these things, and would ..... well...... I won't go further into the whys of that..... I've already said all I'm going to on the whys of that.....