# I need a little info...



## rickpaul (Jan 10, 2013)

Hi, I have a chance at buyin a Tarus judge, it`s a pistol that shoots a .45 long colt an .410 shells, does anyone have any experience with this pistol? Thanks a lot....rick


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## Dutch 106 (Feb 12, 2008)

Its a silly design on the face of it a huge revolver cylinder so you can shoot a miniscule shot shell. or a much shorter cartridge(45 colt an excellent round in and off itself) The over size cylinder weights too much to make it work well. IMNSHO if you want a toy and can afford it, have fun. If you intend it for some serious purpose save your money and buy something more sensible. Again my opinion, I'd rather have a 9shot 9mm smith and Wesson revolver (and I hate 9mm) than a sorta short barreled shotgun with rifling in the barrel so the shot go all over the place (piss poor engineering in my again not so humble opinion) . So see if they will let you shoot it and then very carefully give it back, unless you really fall in love with the silly thing, of course. Have fun, be safe.


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## Marthas_minis (Jan 28, 2014)

I have one. It's my personal home defense weapon & what I carry when I am moseying about my land alone. Pretty much all purpose, for me.

I didn't like revolvers because of the usual kick with higher caliber. I was turned onto the Judge while picking out my 9mm semi-auto. I'm pretty petite & have average strength so it was a challenge for me to find a semi-auto with a slide I could pull back comfortably & easily. I can pull most back, it was more of an awkwardness issue. 

The salesman commented that his wife had the same problem and that he had bought her a Judge. I initially dismissed it, being a revolver, until I found out that it shoots 410 as well. 
I ended up buying a used one that was my local gun shop owner's personal carry. 

I love it. Doesn't feel like it's going to kick my teeth in when shooting 410 and although it has more recoil with the 45 long, it's not bad. Mine has a nice, cushy rubberized grip & the longer barrel that absorbs the recoil. 

And I find it pretty accurate when target shooting. Well, 410... You just aim in the general direction & you'll hit what you are shooting, obviously. 

I don't find it too heavy at all. It is heavy, don't get me wrong. I won't be shooting it one-handed unless I absolutely have to but it's not caused any issues for me. So far I've only had to use it on snakes (we have Timber Rattlers & copperheads around here) and it's been perfect.


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## rickpaul (Jan 10, 2013)

Thanks y`all, this one does have a 6 or 61/2 in barrel, seems like it should have good distance.........


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

Seeing as that you are in LA and snakes are common , I think you might have the one actual use i could come up with for a judge , the ability to shoot bird shot at snakes easily 

other than that , I feel it is a gimmick gun 

there is nothing else a judge can do that another gun doesn't already do better


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## Cornhusker (Mar 20, 2003)

I've got a polymer "Public Defender" and I've shot the longer barrel versions.
Bird shot will spread fast, but as you get into 4 and 6 shot, it tightens up.
They work great with buckshot, usually 4 pellets.
I haven't tried slugs, but I'm betting they hit hard.
Like they said before, it won't do anything something else won't do better, but they are a lot of fun and with the right ammo, very effective.


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## k9 (Feb 6, 2008)

My cousins wife has one, she likes it..... Arizona snakes.


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## Cornhusker (Mar 20, 2003)

I agree with the heavier gun kicks less, but at my age, I'm built to absorb recoil more than lugging a heavy gun around


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## palm farmer (Jan 3, 2014)

I have shot the raging judge.....not for me


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## brownegg (Jan 5, 2006)

If it's in your vehicle, it would work well for someone that stuck their head in the window that neede to go away...otherwise...I'd also pass, unless you don't have any gun.


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## oth47 (Jan 11, 2008)

I had one with 6" barrel,it was a hoot to shoot.I never shot a living critter with it,but it might make a small game getter if you can find the right distance.I think a lot of folks are down on it just because.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

I would like to see some targets , shot at 21 , 30 50 and 75 feet 

what does the pattern look like with different loads 

some penetration tests , nothing fancy , some milk jugs are fine , if you shoot them with buck shot form 21 feet what happens 

load up and compare to 45 long colt , how do they differe

shoot a pattern of shat at a few feet like your shooting a snake , shoot some snakes if you can at a few feet with #8 how does it do 

make a believer out of me , I dare you


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## Zapthycat (Jan 7, 2014)

It's a reliable pistol. It can be adapted for different situations, with different ammo. Slugs or .45LC for defense? deadly. Snake shot, bird shot, varmints... 

Sure, I'd rather have a 12 gauge for home defense. Sure, I'd rather have a small gun for everyday carry. Sure, there are better guns for other situations. This is a jack of all trades.

I'd say it's worth it. That's just me.


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## Ohio Rusty (Jan 18, 2008)

I was thinking of getting the judge with the long barrel and having the rifling milled out making it a smoothbore. I think the shot pattern would hold together longer/better. The issue is the shot is spread quickly outward by the centrifical spinning force making wide patterns at short distances. A smoothbore centerfire pistol would be great. You can have a smoothbore pistol in a muzzleloader and that is legal but it's only one shot. 

If the legal issue is the rifled barrel .... I don't know why they can't make one with straight rifling down the barrel so the shot isn't spinning. It would be a rifled barrel and legal ..... there is no law that says how fast or slow twist a rifled pistol barrel needs to be. A straight rifled barrel with a .45 long colt slug at 50 yards or less wouldn't affect the accuracy anyway ....
Most of us can't hit a bullseye everytime with a pistol at 50 yards anyway ....
Ohio Rusty ><>

To move 2 megabytes of data on the internet, approximately one pound of coal is used.


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## Cornhusker (Mar 20, 2003)

Here's some different loads at different ranges with the Judge
[YOUTUBE]qRlry5KH6I0[/YOUTUBE]


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

I looked at one seriously for my wife as a snake gun... I looked at the standard, and the Ultra-light version.. 

Although the Ultra-light is a lot less weight, it's still realistically too much gun for too little of a shell (410), I find it to be a cool toy.. not something I'd want to seriously carry... It's just too fat, and too long.. I found a 1911 to be a more realistic carry... but I will say,, even though a 1911 is probably my favorite hand gun, I still can't get myself into the habit of carrying it often.. just too big and too heavy... 

What we ended up with for a snake gun is a S&W Bodyguard, and we load it with 38 shot shells... they do just as good on snakes as a 410 will.

Now if you really want a 45LC/410 gun, I'd take a close look at a Bond Arms 45/410 Derringer.. I'm seriously contemplating buying one in 45ACP... a decent pocket gun that packs a punch..BTW, the barrels on the Bond are swappable... Extra barrels sell for around $125 each.. I'd probably end up getting an extra barrel for eaxh handgun caliber I have..


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

Here's a Bond 45LC/410


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

thank you husker for the video 

the pattern was even bigger and weaker than i had been thinking 

so my assessment is 7 1/2 , 6 , 4 are flesh wound only with the greater possibility of not even making it through a winter coat maximum effective range 9 feet to even make sure you hit the snake and not spread the pattern all around the snake 

the buckshot would be viable for use out to about 21 feet the bigger buck is better , but penetration is going to be very questionable 

the Winchester 3 wafer with pellets looked promising but when it wouldn't punch one side of a barrel almost any center fire defence pistol punches both sides of a barrel even a 22 goes through the first side 

45 lc i was surprised he got that much accuracy from them with that huge jump to the rifling I wonder how bad it is leading the forcing cone 

my opinion is not a bad snake gun with some #6 under 10 feet big package even for that 

if you need a primary open carry snake gun sure still kind of big but hey you can occationaly shoot 45lc out of it and have a half way decent hand gun in a huge package 

but if you wanted a carry gun and were planing to use shot , I will go there and say you would be better served with a 22lr 10 shot revolver like the LCR22 why cause it is all about penetration and carry package size 

you have 3 types of bad guys , the presence of a gun is enough , the shot of a gun is enough , and only adequate loss of blood , bone breakage , or central nerve damage will stop them. with the shot not even penetrating duct work at 3 yards any attacker is going to be on you in under a second with at worst a flesh wound that there is little chance they will even get weak or pass out from before they have plenty of time to kill you even with bare hands and no weapon.

with a 22 if you can poke both lungs , the bad guy might just suffocate before he suffocates you and in a small package your more likely to have it on you 


if the judge is your , primary carry or home defense gun you might want to stock up on 45lc I just don't see where the 410 has the penetration and the pattern opens really fast with the rifled barrel.

a 45acp revolver in a nice little short package would be a much better choice if you can hold on to it other wise 38 , 357 , 9mm ,327 all seem like better choices in a much easier to carry package as a carry gun

balisticaly a 45lc in the under 12,000 psi factory loadings are almost identical to 19000psi 45acp same size and weight bullet moving the same speed


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## Cornhusker (Mar 20, 2003)

This is the one I carry in the vehicle for snakes in the summer
http://www.comanchepistols.com/








Or this one
http://www.comanchepistols.com/


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

husker , how is the pattern with the choke tube at the end of the barrel, seems like it might be better than the fully rifled barrel


if the ATF could get their act together and process paper work in a reasonable time or if they could just drop the cockamamy BS laws about smooth bore pistols , come on man it is a 5 dollar tax stamp for a AOW what a waste of my time


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## Cornhusker (Mar 20, 2003)

GREENCOUNTYPETE said:


> husker , how is the pattern with the choke tube at the end of the barrel, seems like it might be better than the fully rifled barrel
> 
> 
> if the ATF could get their act together and process paper work in a reasonable time or if they could just drop the cockamamy BS laws about smooth bore pistols , come on man it is a 5 dollar tax stamp for a AOW what a waste of my time


It really tightens up the pattern
Using 8 or 9 shot isn't the way to go with these. Use heavier shot and they are hard hitting


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

if you watched the video you noticed that even #4 shot only got a pellet or 2 through the duct work only one side , well i shot some duct work with a pellet rifle for comparison , a cheap spring gun gave better penetration about half would go through , that said i have a hard time with anything but a good neck shot killing a squirrel with that pellet gun 

if you thought 32 S&W (probably the most anemic round around )was a pathetic man stopper , the 410 pistol with #7 1/2 , #6 or #4 shot is worse you would be lucky to get through a heavy winter coat at 3 yards


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

Here ya go.. here's the 38 shot shells I use... 

Hit the 2 minute mark.. He shoots through a sweat shirt, two pizza boxes and into a gallon of OJ... the gallon jug of juice has holes in both sides.. 

I've fired off a couple of these shells, and they will go through a 29/32nd's sheet of ply...

Yes, they do spread a whole lot, especially out of a snub barrel, but I have no doubt they are a great snake stopper. That is the only reason I bought them.. 

My wife don't like snakes, and with all the copperheads we have, she wanted a snake gun.. so this was our solution, and so far, it appears to work great. The only snake I had a chance at got so scared of getting shot he slithered away before I could get drawn on him...

[YOUTUBE]_21_ntAvMwM[/YOUTUBE]

I'm still gonna end up with one of those Bond Arms though.. I've read a lot of good things about them for being a small pocket gun... I've got no interest in it for the 410, but since I've got a lot of 45 auto, and 9mm, I'm thinking it would be nice when I don't want to carry a full sized gun.


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## Marthas_minis (Jan 28, 2014)

The way I view the Judge is I can do 2 rounds of the 410 defensive rounds w/ 3 discs followed by a 45L. 

I don't care how good a shot someone is when they are alert & awake, it's different if you are woken up suddenly in the middle of the night. 
I am a pretty darn good shot but if I am woken up in the middle of the night, bleary eyed with adrenaline pumping & I have to shoot; I don't want to miss. 

Since it's difficult to recreate the scenario to become accustomed to it under those conditions; I can honestly say there's a good chance I could miss. I also don't want to have to handle a shot gun or use a weapon that could penetrate walls.

For me, the Judge fills those requirements. I keep the 2 410's followed by the 45L. That's 2 chest shots & a head shot. That is assuming someone makes it to my bedroom. But the Judge is what I feel most comfortable with by my side at night.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

Marthas_minis said:


> The way I view the Judge is I can do 2 rounds of the 410 defensive rounds w/ 3 discs followed by a 45L.
> 
> I don't care how good a shot someone is when they are alert & awake, it's different if you are woken up suddenly in the middle of the night.
> I am a pretty darn good shot but if I am woken up in the middle of the night, bleary eyed with adrenaline pumping & I have to shoot; I don't want to miss.
> ...


have you measured from your bed to your door , and then the length of the hall , then go tot he range and pattern the gun at those distances , I think you will have to aim more than you think with the 3 disc and shot personal defense shells


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## palm farmer (Jan 3, 2014)

Night time, I'd rather have a carbine or shotgun than a handgun only


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