The Taurus made “Judge,” for those of you who haven’t heard of it, is a revolver capable of shooting both 45 Long Colt and 410 shotgun (2-1/2”) ammo without any conversion.  It just seems that in order to do so the pistol would need some rather high tolerances.  Is there anybody out there who owns or has fired this revolver and can give me some feedback on its reliability and accuracy?  Thanks.

Saw a couple magazine writeups about them, IIRC they thought they were alright as a toy but not much else.  If you have all kinds of guns already and want a novelty item I would buy one if it suits you.  If not, by all means buy a .357, .44mag or .45 colt revolver and shoot rat shot out of it for shizz and giggles.  A 2.5"+ cylinder is what kills it for me, that and I have no need for a .410 handgun.

i have 3 taurus revolvers and i got to tell you.  that judge is one fugly gun.  i say buy a regular revolver and have it over with.  the judge, in my opinion is a waste of your hard earned money.  if you want a shotgun, buy a shotgun.  if you want a revolver, buy a revolver.  if you buy the judge i think you would be disappointed.  again my opinion.  

I own one and think it's pretty cool. I would think if the frame can take the 45LC then 410 wouldn't pose a problem. I have the short barreled model and it's a riot to shoot. I wouldn't carry it or anything because it's shaped so crazy but it's an interesting little odd ball. At 20 feet the 3 shot buck shot spreads out about 6". There was one shot in the middle and one on each side about 3" from the middle. Made kind of a W pattern. The bird shot spread to about a 15" group at the same range.  You don't really have to aim all that much it just kinda peppers what ever is in front of the gun. LOL. I think it is ideal as a suvival gun. One you could take into the woods and use for all sorts of things. 45LC can kill most medium sized animals  out of a short barrel in a pinch, and the bird shot would definitely knock a bird out of a tree. If you could get near enough you could kill a turkey with buck shot or a 45LC. And I believe you could even kill fish with it in shallow water though I've yet to try. I keep it in my truck packed with a variety of ammo just as a survival tool. It wouldn't stop anything big like a bear but it would be handy in the field I think. If you like it, find it neat, or just want it for it's oddness, I'd say get it. It's fun to shoot and it gets attention at the range. And 410 is dirt cheap to play with. Rat shot ain't gonna bring you the range of use that 410 can in it's various configurations.

Go to the Taurus website and check out the video about the Judge. It tells more about it and shows it in use. It's not really my cup of tea, but for the use they show in the video, I would sure as hell hate to be on the receiving end of one.

http://www.taurususa.com/video/taurus-videos.cfm

Yeah, saw the video the other day and it's NASTY!

i think its kinda cool.id buy one.i own several wheel guns already.the judge would be a nice addision to my safe,.

It's an interesting piece of machinery, but as Jeff Cooper used to say, "What's it for?"  It's chambered for the .45 Colt, which is a fine, useful cartridge.  But by making the gun substantially larger, it can also fire a weaker cartridge!  Oh goody?  The .410 is much less desirable than the .45 Colt when bad people are trying to kill you.  (The .410 slug, for example, weighs 88 grains, vs. 255 for the .45 Colt.)  So, the only purposes for the .410 chambering are (1) to eradicate rural pests like mice and rats, and (2) to satisfy an engineering challenge.  (I'm not sure I have those in the correct order.)

If you want to shoot birdshot in a revolver, a .44 Magnum will do that, with CCI shotshells.  The .44 Magnum is at least equal to the .45 Colt for hunting, and with .44 Special, at least equal to the .45 Colt for self-defense, all in a handier package.

The rifling in the Judge's barrel is intentionally very shallow; otherwise, birdshot would gum up the rifling and blow the patterns.  The CCI .44 shotshell solves that by putting the shot in a plastic capsule, which the .410 payload lacks.  Because of the shallow rifling, accuracy with the .45 Colt is marginal, and because of the extraordinarily long jump from the case mouth to the forcing cone, keyholing is likely.

S&W Model 29 is a better choice.

IIRC, one of the articles I read said it DID keyhole in testing .  Unless I had more good guns than I knew what to do with and plenty of money for novelty toys, I would pass on this one.

I saw one in a local shop and had to give it the once over.  Sort of like petting an ugly dog, you don't want to, but you feel sorry for the poor thing.
After handling one, I think they should collect all of them and melt them down to make steel 7.62X39 casings so the price of Wolf  would come down a bit.  That is where the Judge revolvers would be most useful.


Don't get pissy, it's just an opinion.

I have three words about the Taurus Judge revolver.

"Why Waste Money?"

Quoted: It's an interesting piece of machinery, but as Jeff Cooper used to say, "What's it for?"  It's chambered for the .45 Colt, which is a fine, useful cartridge.  But by making the gun substantially larger, it can also fire a weaker cartridge!  Oh goody?  The .410 is much less desirable than the .45 Colt when bad people are trying to kill you.  (The .410 slug, for example, weighs 88 grains, vs. 255 for the .45 Colt.)  So, the only purposes for the .410 chambering are (1) to eradicate rural pests like mice and rats, and (2) to satisfy an engineering challenge.  (I'm not sure I have those in the correct order.) If you want to shoot birdshot in a revolver, a .44 Magnum will do that, with CCI shotshells.  The .44 Magnum is at least equal to the .45 Colt for hunting, and with .44 Special, at least equal to the .45 Colt for self-defense, all in a handier package. The rifling in the Judge's barrel is intentionally very shallow; otherwise, birdshot would gum up the rifling and blow the patterns.  The CCI .44 shotshell solves that by putting the shot in a plastic capsule, which the .410 payload lacks.  Because of the shallow rifling, accuracy with the .45 Colt is marginal, and because of the extraordinarily long jump from the case mouth to the forcing cone, keyholing is likely. S&W Model 29 is a better choice.

The 410 and 45 Colt operate at nearly identical pressure, and the shot capsules for revolver and autoloader cartridges break apart at the moment of firing. In fact, if you load your own like I do, you have to be fairly careful when seating them into the case to keep from breaking them. They also hold less shot.

That being said, the Judge is a multi purpose gun. It does a couple of jobs adequately, but none very well. From the pattern and group tests I've seen written up, the shotshells aren't useful beyond about 5 yards, and at 25 yards it grouped pretty poorly with 45 colt loads, like 4-6 inches. The crappy accuracy with the 45 colt loads is probably due to the bullet having to travel about an inch before getting to the cylinder throat, at which time it is no longer parallel to the bore. The testing with the shotshells indicated that the rifling was disrupting the pattern, IOW, it was throwing the shot charge low and to the side.

Well, I own 6 taurus trackers with zero issues so far (for all those taurs haters) but I agree with the others. Spend the money on a .357 or .44mag, the latter a better choice, and buy the CCI bird shot to take care of small critters.