I remember when Taurus released the first Judge, at least 17 years ago. Many of us in the gun writing world marveled at its ability to shoot .45 Colt and/or .410 bore shells. The Judge has seen a few iterations throughout the years, and remains popular on the home-defense circuit (my elderly uncle proudly owns one), but this year’s release of the Judge Home Defender is by far my favorite.
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Believe it or not, even with its overall 19.5-inch length this gun is considered a “handgun.” You wouldn’t hold it like a handgun, though. If you did, you’d likely shoot the ground. Unloaded, it weighs 58.6 ounces. (Do the math; almost 3-1/2 pounds.)
You hold the gun similar to how you’d hold a Remington Tac-13, but up higher so that you can can look through a red dot optic that you’ve attached to the Picatinny rail. You can shoot it without an optic, but it doesn’t come with any sights. Without an optic, I still hit a human-sized target where it mattered at 50 feet (the farthest distance across a room in my home), but I preferred using a sight.
There’s another rail under the handguard, so you can attach a light or even, a laser.
Here are the specs ones that make this gun a good one:
But What About the Trigger Pull?
What about the trigger pull? It’s not bad, not bad at all. Supposedly, most defensive revolvers are built with trigger pulls of around 12 pounds when firing double-action. Using an electronic trigger-pull gauge, the average double-action trigger pull on this Judge measured 10 pounds 13.3 ounces, and the average single-action pull measured 7 pounds 10.0 ounces. I had absolutely no problem pulling the trigger, as it was smooth with no stacking. You can fire the gun single-action by manually cocking the hammer.
But What About the Ammo?
Because of this gun, the ammo world has responded with personal defense .410 shells. You can buy .45 Colt personal defense ammo all day long, or if you’re lucky like I am, your hubby handloads it.
Fortunately, my local gun store had a few boxes of Winchester’s PDX1 410 Defender (costs about $25 for 10, so don’t be too shocked). This ammo consists of four plated Defense Disc projectiles and 16 pellets of plated BB shot. And, oh my, the results when I used the ammo against a silhouette target looked quite lethal.
As I mentioned earlier, I shot several rounds of .45 Colt and then, the entire box (10) of .410 at a humanoid target at 50 feet. I would have no problem using this gun for home defense, based on the results.
Also, the hubs and I decided to see if we could hit the swinging metal targets on our range, located at 100 yards, with the .45 Colt ammo. Boom. No problem and we didn’t have to adjust the dot much – just up a little bit on the center of the target. But the interesting thing was, since these were soft-shooting target loads, we could see each bullet through the spotting scope as the bullet arced and slowed way down on its way downrange. You could actually see the bullet hit the target.
I can see this gun coming out when friends and family come over for a Sunday Gun-day. I also can see this gun going on my must-have list, because I don’t want to send this one back.
Taurus Judge Home Defender: MSRP – $729.
Publisher/Editor Barbara Baird is a freelance writer in hunting, shooting and outdoor markets. Her bylines are found at several top hunting and shooting publications. She also is a travel writer, and you can follow her at https://www.ozarkian.com. View all posts by Barbara Baird
