Vern Humphrey said:
Me, I'd stuff a shot load or two in my usual carry gun.
Agreed. And to you guys who need to carry an extra gun dedicated entirely to the killing of snakes, where do you live?
Because I don't ever want to move there...
Back to the topic at hand, depending on price I could see this as a viable SD gun.
Things in its favor:
1. It seems that the company has actually put some R&D into making this work. Looking at their test results on patterning, I think that with a 2.5" 000 buck load it would be effective as a close range defensive gun. According to PTK's research, at least some rounds fired from a short barrel .410 pistol have enough steam to ensure adequate penetration.
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=583903
2. It looks to be overly heavy as a carry gun, but I don't see actual specs. It's possible that with the short barrel and the large chambers in that cylinder, it won't end up being any heavier than an L or N frame S&W.
As I said, I don't think I'd buy it at this point in time. Maybe if my finances were unlimited and I just wanted to blast at stuff for fun with a .410 pistol I would, but as of now I'm not convinced it does anything better than the guns I already have at my disposal. But I don't think it would be ineffective in the hands of someone who knows what they're doing as far as load selection and sticking within the limitations of the gun.
And a great many of the complaints I have heard about the Judge haven't been due to the .410 cartridge, they've been because of Taurus' lack of quality control. So if you take the quality issues out of the equation...