The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Handguns => Topic started by: Big Frank on December 18, 2008, 12:17:37 AM
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I got the new American Rifleman yesterday and they had the Taurus Judge I've been waiting to see with 3" chambers. "Judge Magnum". I need to get one and some 5 ball 000 Buck. They're making a lightweight alloy Judge too. "Judge Light." http://www.taurususa.com/products/product-details.cfm?id=638&category=Revolver
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JFrank, The judge will make a great trail gun, car gun, and when on the hunt ;D Being in mountain lion country like I am Da Judge in 3" will be nice to have on the hip.
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I'd love one, but reality is I'm going to have to wait and hope Boho is more pragmatic than his red meat website. My closest Republican rep, Dent, basically said the loons are in full wing. Doesn't mean they'll win, but they are emboldened. i don't think they 'get it' that Obama was a misdirected, misinformed or protest vote for all but the frothing faithful.
I'm not normally a wheel gun fan, but my uncle had a set of shot pistols that were just fun to shoot (not revovler), and the Judge looks to be a neat package.
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My bro-in-law got a Judge for Christmas last year.
Nice gun...feels good and balances well in the hand (IMO). I'd like one myself but want other ones more.
Oh well......
8)
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The Judge is a short barreled shotgun in California, so I'll have to move to another state if I ever decide to get one.
New from B-HO! Laws similar to this coming to a state near you!
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I have 2 Contender barrels that can be sold in 49 states but not on the Left(ist) Coast. A 3" barrel and 5 shots would be more fun than one shot in a 10" or 14" barrel. Unlike some of my guns that are mostly playthings, I could actually carry the Judge concealed. I always liked the idea of the 5-shot .44 Special belly guns and wondered why not make one a .45 Colt? .45/410 is even better. The rifling should give shot loads a good spread. I forgot to mention there are CT lasergrips available for it too. 8)
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It really seems like a great gun. I read somewhere in a review that the rifling was actually detrimental to the shot pattern and not quite enough to stabilize the bullets well. A compromise to both, as the rifling was necessary to make the gun legal.
That confused me, because like I said my uncle had a brace of shot pistols w/o rifling.
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Shot pistols were legal prior to the NFA in 1934. Ithaca made the 12 and 20 ga. double barrel AutoBurglar. A great anti-carjacking pistol back then. 8) Marbles made the over under Game-Getter for hunters. There were others too.
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I take it back. I figured I'd check on something - uncle's pistols look amazingly like Thomson 45LC/.410 - I remembered them looking kinda like 'pirate pistols' - it was over 25 years ago, lol. Those have shallow rifling also.
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I take it back. I figured I'd check on something - uncle's pistols look amazingly like Thomson 45LC/.410 - I remembered them looking kinda like 'pirate pistols' - it was over 25 years ago, lol. Those have shallow rifling also.
I wish I could post pics of my TC Contender. I have a custom 9" barrel with two lugs to screw the long fore-end onto. The barrel extends a fraction of an inch past the fore-end. It looks a lot like a stainless steel Mannlicher rifle, except it's a pistol.
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Frank, is it Stainless for sure ? back in the 80's when I worked there the first time (when they were fighting the Gov about .45/410 pistols) they were making "Armalloy" Contenders and barrels, and they were like .223/5.56, I think Armalloy could use blued barrels but blued could not use Armalloy barrels, I might have it backwards it WAS 20 years ago ;D But there was about .0100 differance between the 2.
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Frank, is it Stainless for sure ? back in the 80's when I worked there the first time (when they were fighting the Gov about .45/410 pistols) they were making "Armalloy" Contenders and barrels, and they were like .223/5.56, I think Armalloy could use blued barrels but blued could not use Armalloy barrels, I might have it backwards it WAS 20 years ago ;D But there was about .0100 differance between the 2.
Yep. It's a stainless frame and all of my barrels are too except the blue .357 MAX that was a closeout. Stainless and blue barrels and frames are interchangeable with each other. Armalloy isn't interchangeable with anything but the custom shop can fix them so they are. My understanding is that it's a plating like hard chrome.
My .45/410 barrels are both internal chokes. The legal problem started with the old external chokes. Somehow THAT made it a sawed off shotgun? ??? I don't get it. My 9" barrel was 14" and it was too heavy, then it was a 12" Hunter but a comp on a .223 pistol is LOUD. I think I made a cop drop her .38 when I shot it. ;D She freaked out and and eveyone looked at me like they thought the gun blew up. :) I wanted the comp gone and they don't cut them down any shorter than 9" so I went for it. It looks great but losing 5" of sight radius means I can't see daylight around the blade anymore. File time. Again. I better not file too much this time.
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Do they make .410 Buck and ball?
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Do they make .410 Buck and ball?
I think the ball would be the same size as the buck shot. It has to fit inside the shot cup. 000 is .36 caliber so it's like all 5 bullets from a .38 cap and ball revolver in one 3" shell.
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Yep. It's a stainless frame and all of my barrels are too except the blue .357 MAX that was a closeout. Stainless and blue barrels and frames are interchangeable with each other. Armalloy isn't interchangeable with anything but the custom shop can fix them so they are. My understanding is that it's a plating like hard chrome.
My .45/410 barrels are both internal chokes. The legal problem started with the old external chokes. Somehow THAT made it a sawed off shotgun? ??? I don't get it. My 9" barrel was 14" and it was too heavy, then it was a 12" Hunter but a comp on a .223 pistol is LOUD. I think I made a cop drop her .38 when I shot it. ;D She freaked out and and eveyone looked at me like they thought the gun blew up. :) I wanted the comp gone and they don't cut them down any shorter than 9" so I went for it. It looks great but losing 5" of sight radius means I can't see daylight around the blade anymore. File time. Again. I better not file too much this time.
Good, Yes, Stainless and Blued mix and match freely.
BATF tried every every angle they could think of to stop the 45/410. For a while the only ones who could get them were people who worked or had friends in the "Barrel Room" and could get one specially made on the side.
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Am a big fan of the Judge...I believe I was the one who said it might be the best car gun ever made. I'm going to extract one of the lightweight ones from Taurus at SHOT, as I made the mistake of sending my T&E one back!
Michael B
PS: I believe Colt did a small run of smoothbore 1917 revolvers for a Phillipines contract way back when...
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Gunblast reviewed both versions:
http://www.gunblast.com/Taurus-Judge.htm
http://www.gunblast.com/Taurus-UltraLiteJudge.htm
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The 3" 000 buck loads give you just over 500 ft/lbs at the muzzle, close to a .357. but it makes 5 holes instead of 1. That's THE defensive load for it IMO. About a 3" spread at 3 yards and 7" at 7 yards.
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Hmmm.
(http://www.civilwar.si.edu/weapons_images/l_lemat.jpg)
I have that from Navy Arms (army model) - the original ultimate vehicle weapon. And yeah, it gets attention at the range. Sometimes too much. ;D
I've got a bullet mold for it, too, makes one conical bullet and two pellets per cast. So when making nine rounds of .44, 18 pellets seems to be implied as the load out for the shot barrel, but I don't recall being able to fit it all in the barrel.
http://www.navyarms.com/html/le_mat_rev.html (http://www.navyarms.com/html/le_mat_rev.html)
Bought it new in '94 for a lot less than the current $895.
What I find funny is I'm generally not a wheel gun guy, but I own this and would love a Judge. Must be the allure of the shot...