Anyone else watch Hickok45 on youtube shooting various types of .410 with a 2.5" Taurus Judge. Pretty interesting results, good video by John.
Well, it's pretty much what people have been saying it is--kind of chunky for a 5-round .45 Colt, and it shoots .410 shotshells with a rather wide spread (probably due to the rifling) except for shells designed specifically for it. It's effective, no doubt, and obviously nobody would want to be hit even by birdshot, but it's difficult to evaluate it comparatively as a defensive weapon as extremely short-barreled .410 shothandguns haven't had a long, illustrious history.
I wonder about the real-world penetration capabilities of low-sectional-density shot when fired at relatively low velocities, and the fact that long barrels (usually 18" or longer) are used to achieve the published numbers even on ammo that is specifically designed for the Judge neither encourages realistic expectation among its fans nor discourages the inevitable backlash and reflexive eye-rolling among its detractors. In a nutshell, the jury is still out on the Judge.
Kind of like the Winchester PDX1 with 12 bb's and 3(?) 00 buckshot - or something like that.
The "buckshot" are flattened in order to provide space for the BBs, which as the video confirms reduces their penetration even further, as I had predicted in a previous thread:
http://www.thehighroad.org/showpost.php?p=6698080&postcount=12
The PDX1 load patterns well but definitely makes compromises.
In my opinion, along with .45 Colt hollow-points the best thing that the Judge has going for it is currently Federal's Judge-specific #000 buckshot load (also demonstrated by Hickok45). The question is whether the latter is a superior performer, thereby validating the concept of this revolver, and I think it depends chiefly on whether it can achieve adequate penetration in any given scenario--four projectiles hitting at once is no joke, but penetration is the main key to effectiveness.
