Speaking of home protection, one of my favorite aspects of the Taurus Public Defender revolver is its general safety. When a revolver is empty, most revolvers are simple to secure, but Taurus has taken safety engagement to the next level with the Taurus safety lock. The safety is activated by turning a key beneath the barrel. Nobody will be in danger if they accidentally flick a button or slip while tucked in a waistline or bouncing about in a bag or handbag.
The Taurus Public Defender will not fire unless the safety is disengaged with the key. This is an excellent safety feature, especially for beginning concealed carry shooters. Another safety feature is the 12 pound double-action trigger pull weight, which prevents accidental discharge when bouncing around in a bag with other loose items.
The Taurus Public Defender is perfect for concealed carry. You won’t be taken off guard with this fantastic revolver by its impressive stopping power and smart and safe construction.
Richard Douglas is an experienced shooter, outdoorsman, and technologist. Scopes Field is his creation and he is the editor. Columnist for publications such as The National Interest, Cheaper Than Dirt, Daily Caller, and others.
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Is it possible to carry a Taurus Judge?
Some consumers simply want a.410 revolver, which leads them to choose the Taurus Judge vs Governor by S&W. Some people ask if you can obtain the same pistol, just better, by not getting the Taurus because Smith and Wesson is such a long-lasting and trusted brand.
The solution? To be honest, it all depends on which one you choose. Regardless of which brand you choose, the pistol will last. Tanks make up the frame and cylinders.
There aren’t enough differences in characteristics to make one plainly superior to the other, so you’ll have to determine which is the best concealed carry revolver for you.
Taurus Judge
For starters, you have a greater variety of options. You can choose between a blue steel or stainless steel base model. The Judge Public Defender is a tiny model with a 2.5-inch barrel instead of the usual 3-inch barrel and a half-inch shaved off the grip for easy concealment.
The Judge Magnum series has a longer cylinder to accommodate 3-inch shells if you want something a little bigger.
There’s also the Raging Judge if nothing short of a genuine hand cannon will do. Because the gun is made for.454 Casull rather than.45 Colt, the Raging Judge beefs up every piece of the gun that can be beefed up. After all, for some folks, even.44 Magnum isn’t enough. The Raging Judge, with its 3-inch barrel, weighs 60 ounces, so you’ll need a big gun belt.
The Taurus Judge’s base dimensions are 9.5 inches long, 1.5 inches broad, and 5.1 inches tall. It weights 29 ounces and can hold 5 2-1/2″ shots. 410 gauge shells or.45 Colt, if desired. A red fiber optic front sight is worn by all models. The Raging Judge features a raised rear sight (part of the frame), while the Public Defender has low-profile rear sights.
Because this is a double-action revolver, trigger pull will be an issue for all you plastic amazing fans. You’ll have to tactical cowboy up as well, because the double-action pull will be between 8 and 10 pounds (depending on the gun) and the single-action pull will be around 4 pounds.
The Judge or Magnum Judge starts at $589, the Public Defender at $509, and the Raging Judge at $1,089 MSRP.
Smith and Wesson Governor
Smith and Wesson’s version of the Judge is the Governor. Why should S&W, which is undoubtedly the gold standard by which other revolvers are measured (forgive the pun), not produce their own version?
The Smith and Wesson Governor, on the other hand, has far fewer possibilities. There are two options: scandium alloy with a black PVD finish (with or without Crimson Trace grips) or stainless steel. The stainless type has a black ramp, while the scandium frame models include a tritium night sight at the front. The top strap on all models has a notch for the back sight.
There is no magnum version because all versions have a 2.5-inch barrel and only chamber 2-1/2″ shotshells. This gun doesn’t have any S&W magnums. Certain specifications are consistent across all models. The gun’s dimensions are 8.5 inches long, 5.5 inches tall, and 1.75 inches wide. The scandium variants are under 30 ounces, whereas the stainless steel model is 30.3.
The trigger pull weights are almost the same in both double and single action, about 10 pounds in double action and 4 pounds in single action.
The Governor, on the other hand, has a party piece. Smith & Wesson, being the intelligent folks that they are, machined a 0.025-inch recess into the cylinder. What for? Moon video clips You can use.45 ACP,.45 Colt, and.410 gauge shells in this gun. Because of the larger cylinder, you’ll get six rounds instead of five.
The Governor, on the other hand, is not cheap. The stainless model costs $809, the scandium model costs $869, and the Crimson Trace model costs $1,119.
Taurus Judge vs Governor. Which Is Better?
What’s the difference between Smith and Wesson’s Taurus Judge and Governor? Which is the better option? That depends on a few factors.
The Governor pays a little more attention to the finer points. Though the Taurus has a lighter single-action pull, the trigger will be smoother and will get smoother with experience in double action (it is, after all, a Smith and Wesson). Instead of five shots, you get six. Because not everyone likes the rubber radiator handles on Taurus revolvers, the grips will probably be a little nicer.
Let’s face it, too. The moon clip recessed cylinder is a brilliant idea. Because.410 and.45 Colt aren’t inexpensive, this allows you to do a lot more shooting. Although neither is cheap in comparison to 9mm or.22 LR, it is affordable in comparison to any other.45 caliber round.
The Public Defender model is lighter and easier to carry on a daily basis, at only 27 ounces unloaded. By no means a lightweight, but it’s not too dissimilar to many tiny pistols. It is, however, still massive; it is roughly the size of a Sig P226 but only stores 5 rounds.
As a result, the Judge has lost some weight. The Judge or Public Defender by Taurus is also a little smaller overall, so carrying it will be a little simpler. That is, if you intend to carry it; for most people, the Judge or Governor is primarily a home defense weapon.
You’ll have to make your own decision in the end. Handle them both, shoot them both, and discover which one you like. That is the one to obtain.
Is it possible to defend yourself with a Taurus Judge?
A brand-new box of 3-inch was in his ammo kit.
A 50-round box of.45 ACP and a 410 gauge in 000 buckshot Neither of these are going to hit the Judge.
2 1/2-inch.410 shells will fit in the chambers. The 3-inch version protrudes beyond the cylinder’s end, making it impossible to close.
The.45 Automatic Colt Pistol is a rimless cartridge developed for use in semi-automatic pistols. The.45 ACP is a great man-stopper, but it lacks the strength of the.45 Colt, and it has no rim to keep it from falling completely into the chamber. So it went off to the store to get the right bullets and shells.
I started shooting and testing the Taurus “Judge” after we figured out the ammo issues.
The extended cylinder of this revolver/shotgun accepts five rounds of ammo and is available in blue or stainless steel. The barrel length is 3 or 6 inches, and the front sight is outstanding fiber-optic. The grips are rubber with a unique rib pattern that absorbs recoil. Campbell’s vision was blurry, so he delegated the shooting to me.
We didn’t think that was a fair approximation, so I could have pulled the targets up to approximately 4 feet and created some really stunning holes in the paper.
Instead, we positioned the shotshell targets at around 8 feet, and the buckshot and.45 Colt targets at 10 feet. We also shot a test pattern of No. 4 shot at an 18-foot man-sized target to evaluate what kind of dispersion we received. The design, which I didn’t picture, essentially covered the entire abdomen area of a man-sized silhouette target. At such range and dispersion, I’m not sure the No. 4 shot would penetrate enough to kill, but I wouldn’t want to be the test case.
The No. 4 shot completely entered a turtle’s shell at 35 feet, thus it covered our goal well. I know because I used that shot weight to clear the scoundrels from my pond.
If I were to keep one of these guns for home defense, there is little doubt what I would put in it (and my wife has expressed an interest in one now, so this may well be the case). I’d load it with three 000 buckshot rounds and two No. 4 rounds.
The photographs themselves explain the story. Buckshot effortlessly placed three.36-caliber balls in a circle the size of a man’s head when fired at 10-foot Shoot ‘n C targets with 8- and 10-inch diameters. The No. 4 shot, when tested at 6 and 8 feet, produced such an equally scattered pattern that a shot to a house invader’s head would send a pellet inside every inch of his face, blinding and incapacitating him, if not killing him instantaneously, which is the more likely scenario.
The avowed objective of most people in the deep South is to kill snakes. They’re missing the point, in my opinion: this is a fantastic two-legged snake charmer.
And with this one, all your little girl has to do is point it down the corridor and squeeze the trigger. A miss is quite unlikely.
I liked the Taurus Judge so much that I decided to add it to my personal collection. I am convinced that it is the best gun selection for home defense that I have seen.
And, loaded with a combination of.410 slugs and buckshot, it’d make a great bear hunting partner.
The Southeastern Outdoor Press Association recently named it a book of the year.
Is the Taurus Judge a handgun or a rifle?
The 4410 (no longer produced) and the 4510 were the two model number designations for this handgun (current).
Both model numbers refer to the same revolver, and either 4410 or 4510 will deliver nearly identical results.
After Executive Vice President Bob Morrison learned that judges in high-crime areas of Miami, Florida, were purchasing the revolver for personal defense in their courtrooms, the model designation was changed from 4410 to 4510 to more accurately reflect the revolver’s versatility (.45 Colt + 410 shot “4510”). According to Taurus International, the Judge is their best-selling pistol.
The rifling is shallower than usual, offering single-projectile loads less stability than in comparable pistols while lowering shotshell dispersion.
Taurus created shallow rifling after conducting multiple tests to find rifling that was effective with both types of ammo.
Despite the fact that the Judge was meant to fire shotshells, it does not qualify as a “short-barreled shotgun” under the National Firearms Act of 1934 because of its rifled barrel. The Judge, on the other hand, is classified as a short-barreled shotgun under California state law, which has a broader definition of “short-barreled shotgun,” making it unlawful to own in that state.
