Gimmick that appeals to the novice, but is pretty worthless to the experienced shooter. There IS no outdoor use for the thing, well, snakes if you can't shoot well enough to hit a snakes head at 10 feet with a .22 and you're un-naturally paranoid of one of God's creations and just can't step around it.
i never understood this fear of snakes thing. If one comes in my yard, a garden hoe will rid my yard of it. Out on my land, my snake boots are good protection. It's the unseen ones I worry about. If I can see it, it's not a problem.
As far as self defense goes, the .410 out of a short barrel is not that impressive. If you get all shot on a target, well, it's like getting shot with 5 rounds from a Colt .31 pocket revolver. I guess that's powerful enough, but I'd much rather hit with ONE .38 special or .45 ACP or .357 Magnum or .40 S&W or, 9x19 or whatever service caliber you wanna name as your favorite. Heck, if you can haul around one of these things concealed, you can conceal a M29 Smith in .44 magnum, Harry Callahan's favorite.
So, well, I've never ever thought I needed one of these things. I have a .45 Colt/.410 barrel I sorta like on my Contender along with other barrels for other duties. I have a .22 barrel that's killer on squirrel, a .30-30 that's killer on deer and hog. The .410/.45 colt is kinda sorta worthless except that the barrel IS choked, actually has some useful range unlike the Judge, and is kinda fun to knock around with out on my place. I've taken out grackles with it just for fun, shot a rabbit at 17 yards on the run with it once. That was cool, sorta made me feel like Wild Bill.
When I actually am bird or rabbit hunting, though, I'll pick my 20 or 12 gauge every time.
I shot at a squirrel once at 25 yards with my Contender, tight as it patterns with that choke, the squirrel scampered off laughing at me. The pattern simply wasn't tight enough at 25 yards to not leave a squirrel sized hole in it. I knew that from the pattern board, but shot anyway hoping for that golden BB. I'd have had the last laugh with my .22 barrel installed, I assure you. Now, the Judge has 1/4 the range of that contender, no choke and shorter barrel, yet I hear guys waxing on about how this gun is such a great survival tool affield. Something tells me they're never tried to hunt with it.
I really don't know WHAT the things are good for except sales figures for Taurus. The Judge probably outsells all other of their revolvers combined! I see guys chatting about 'em in gun stores or at shows swooning over how great one of 'em would be....for what, i have yet to determine, but Taurus does seem to get a lot of interest with the things. What's even stranger, the Thunder Five has been out for YEARS and never created much interest at all let alone THIS much interest.
Go figure.