richc
NES Member
We brought our new Taurus Judge - Public Defender model to the range last night. For those not familiar with this model it is a five shot DA revolver with a 2.5" cylinder that is designed to shoot either .45 Long Colt or .410 shotgun loads. Yes... that is right... a revolver that shoots shotgun loads.
Why did I buy it??? Well I am a fan of novelty types of firearms. The exotic or unusual get my attention. Recently I bought an NAA mini revolver in 22 WMR and a Springfield Scout M6... you get the picture.
This new model from Taurus is in response to folks that wanted to better conceal a Taurus Judge. It has a smaller barrel of 2". The grip is smaller as well. It is also relatively light at 22 ounces unloaded. I was a little concerned about the recoil, actually.
So I put up a paper target at 7 yards and loaded two Federal Premium Personal Defense .410 2-1/2" 000 Buckshot that contains 4 Pellets. Federal designed this ammo specifically for handgun applications. The pellets are approximately the size of .38 slugs. The box says muzzle velocity is 1200 fps, but I wonder about that out of a 2" revolver. Honestly it felt weird loading shotgun loads into a revolver.
So I aimed at the paper targets and let it rip. The recoil was strong but manageable. It reminded me of a .44 Magnum recoil. The first two shots were a couple inches high if my aim, but all four slugs were on paper and in a 3-4" group. This group size was repeated many times.
My son and a friend at the range were also shooting it. One interesting thing happened. Every time we shot it we started laughing. You know one of those laughs that comes from some inner place that you just don't understand. We were having fun!
So we put a 10" metal plate at 55 feet and took some shots. I missed a couple until I figured out I had to aim at about 6 o'clock on the plate. Then you would hear the distinct sound of multiple pellets hitting the plate. I could not tell you how many, but you could see multiple impacts. I was really thrilled at that level of accuracy. Each of us took turns at the metal plate and once we got a good site picture we could hit the plate at will.
So I am really enjoying this new toy!
There are a few downsides that I'll share. I have not figured out the problem yet but the cylinder had trouble locking up a couple times. It feels like the rim of the .410 shotgun shells is pushing the cylinder far enough away from the firing pin area of the revolver to make locking up a problem. I need to investigate that more.
The other thing is the hammer. As a DA revolver you can cock the hammer and shoot with far less trigger pull. Well someone at Taurus decided to bob the hammer and it is hard to cock. It requires a good deal of pressure and there is just not much room to put your thumb on the hammer. My son went home missing some skin on his thumb...
Anyway... I do like this pistol. I think it is small enough to CCW. Whether or not that is a good idea I don't know. Would I rather carry this or a Sig 226 with a preban high cap mag? Good question.
But there is just something about a revolver shooting shotgun shells that, well, makes me and my shooting partners laugh!!!
Cheers,
Rich
Why did I buy it??? Well I am a fan of novelty types of firearms. The exotic or unusual get my attention. Recently I bought an NAA mini revolver in 22 WMR and a Springfield Scout M6... you get the picture.
This new model from Taurus is in response to folks that wanted to better conceal a Taurus Judge. It has a smaller barrel of 2". The grip is smaller as well. It is also relatively light at 22 ounces unloaded. I was a little concerned about the recoil, actually.
So I put up a paper target at 7 yards and loaded two Federal Premium Personal Defense .410 2-1/2" 000 Buckshot that contains 4 Pellets. Federal designed this ammo specifically for handgun applications. The pellets are approximately the size of .38 slugs. The box says muzzle velocity is 1200 fps, but I wonder about that out of a 2" revolver. Honestly it felt weird loading shotgun loads into a revolver.
So I aimed at the paper targets and let it rip. The recoil was strong but manageable. It reminded me of a .44 Magnum recoil. The first two shots were a couple inches high if my aim, but all four slugs were on paper and in a 3-4" group. This group size was repeated many times.
My son and a friend at the range were also shooting it. One interesting thing happened. Every time we shot it we started laughing. You know one of those laughs that comes from some inner place that you just don't understand. We were having fun!
So we put a 10" metal plate at 55 feet and took some shots. I missed a couple until I figured out I had to aim at about 6 o'clock on the plate. Then you would hear the distinct sound of multiple pellets hitting the plate. I could not tell you how many, but you could see multiple impacts. I was really thrilled at that level of accuracy. Each of us took turns at the metal plate and once we got a good site picture we could hit the plate at will.
So I am really enjoying this new toy!
There are a few downsides that I'll share. I have not figured out the problem yet but the cylinder had trouble locking up a couple times. It feels like the rim of the .410 shotgun shells is pushing the cylinder far enough away from the firing pin area of the revolver to make locking up a problem. I need to investigate that more.
The other thing is the hammer. As a DA revolver you can cock the hammer and shoot with far less trigger pull. Well someone at Taurus decided to bob the hammer and it is hard to cock. It requires a good deal of pressure and there is just not much room to put your thumb on the hammer. My son went home missing some skin on his thumb...
Anyway... I do like this pistol. I think it is small enough to CCW. Whether or not that is a good idea I don't know. Would I rather carry this or a Sig 226 with a preban high cap mag? Good question.
But there is just something about a revolver shooting shotgun shells that, well, makes me and my shooting partners laugh!!!
Cheers,
Rich
![[smile]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/001.gif "Smile [smile]")
