Taurus .454/.45/.410 Raging Judge Magnum

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Ranger30-06

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I went into the gun store yesterday to pick up my AR receiver (Yay! Range report coming soon!) and as I was just looking around I saw this monstrosity apparently called the Taurus Raging Judge Magnum. It looked like an X frame on steroids. :uhoh:

The gun chambers all .410 shotshells, .45 LC, and .454 Casull ammunition. When I asked the owner (works the counter) about it, he said he bought this gun to take up into the mountains with him and it was great! He showed me a couple videos on his phone of him shooting fruit and other stuff with it, and I must say, Taurus has finally impressed me. Here you have a gun that can shoot snake loads to bear loads all with one relatively easy to pack gun.

Has anyone of you guys used this particular gun? I think I might want to put this on the wish list, but I can't get over how HUGE this thing was! :what:



As a side note, the owner also told me about how many Judges he has been selling. Some people will come in and just outright ask for it without trying any other guns. He said it is easily one of his top 5 sellers along with Beretta handguns, pump shotguns, and .22's. It just seems a little weird that Taurus out of the blue made this extremely popular handgun that people buy because of versatility alone!
 
My only (yeah, right!) observation on the Taurus Raging Judge Magnum is that when a tool is designed to do a WHOLE BUNCH of things, it's usually at the expense of doing any ONE of those things...extremely well. But my opinion is obviously in the "vast minority" 'cause they sell a BUNCH of those big wheelguns.

(P.S.) I'm not terribly frightened of most fruit, but big, angry bears bother me MUCH more that any big, angry snake. :D
 
Ghost Tracker said:
My only (yeah, right!) observation on the Taurus Raging Judge Magnum is that when a tool is designed to do a WHOLE BUNCH of things, it's usually at the expense of doing any ONE of those things...extremely well. But my opinion is obviously in the "vast minority" 'cause they sell a BUNCH of those big wheelguns.

(P.S.) I'm not terribly frightened of most fruit, but big, angry bears bother me MUCH more that any big, angry snake. :D
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I kind of agree with this, but at the same time the occasional sacrifice for versatility and the sake of simplicity can really be beneficial.


On the side, one of the videos was of him shooting a 4x4 with a .454. It DESTROYED it! I mean NOTHING left! It was pretty cool...
 
Ranger30-06,

Have you shot an X frame .460 Magnum? I'm just curious. I have one with a 5" bbl and it is hands down the most versatile gun I own, and it's a never sell gun for me. I'm guessing you know the capabilities of the gun, but it does give you the ability to plink with .45LC or load it all the way up to grizzly stopping loads in .460.

Unfortunately it will not shoot .410's, but I really don't have any real need to shoot those, but if you really needed a snake load, you can shoot bird shot in .45LC's. Also, the unfortunate part is that this extremely well balanced model isn't in production any more. It fell into a perfect gun for versatility, but not quite perfect for hunting category. Clearly the 8" models would be better for shooting food, but this one suits me well. They are also considerably more expensive than a Taurus, but that isn't an issue for me, since I will not consider owning a Taurus gun. I'm not starting a Taurus knocking kick, I've just had too many first hand bad experiences with Taurus guns.

The entire idea of the Judges doing nothing particularly well seems sound to me. I have several hundred rounds through my .460 and I can honestly say that the .460 shoots all of the .45 cartridges S&W advertises very well. You have to adjust your aim for different power levels of course, but it is consistent and accurate with all loads. I'm just sharing.

Also, the release of these guns was delayed due to the early frames cracking when shooting the .454 Casull, but to be fair, the 460's had some issues when they first came out too. You may want to do some more research on this gun before spending the money. I'm just sharing, and I hope this helps. Good luck in what ever you decide.
 
460Kodiak said:
Ranger30-06,

Have you shot an X frame .460 Magnum? I'm just curious. I have one with a 5" bbl and it is hands down the most versatile gun I own, and it's a never sell gun for me. I'm guessing you know the capabilities of the gun, but it does give you the ability to plink with .45LC or load it all the way up to grizzly stopping loads in .460.

Unfortunately it will not shoot .410's, but I really don't have any real need to shoot those, but if you really needed a snake load, you can shoot bird shot in .45LC's. Also, the unfortunate part is that this extremely well balanced model isn't in production any more. It fell into a perfect gun for versatility, but not quite perfect for hunting category. Clearly the 8" models would be better for shooting food, but this one suits me well. They are also considerably more expensive than a Taurus, but that isn't an issue for me, since I will not consider owning a Taurus gun. I'm not starting a Taurus knocking kick, I've just had too many first hand bad experiences with Taurus guns.

The entire idea of the Judges doing nothing particularly well seems sound to me. I have several hundred rounds through my .460 and I can honestly say that the .460 shoots all of the .45 cartridges S&W advertises very well. You have to adjust your aim for different power levels of course, but it is consistent and accurate with all loads. I'm just sharing.

Also, the release of these guns was delayed due to the early frames cracking when shooting the .454 Casull, but to be fair, the 460's had some issues when they first came out too. You may want to do some more research on this gun before spending the money. I'm just sharing, and I hope this helps. Good luck in what ever you decide.
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Unfortunately, I have not shot a .460. I have held one, fiddled with one, but never got to shoot one. :( I want one of those really bad, but I can't justify spending more on a nice looking revolver than my AR!

I forgot about those .45LC snake loads... I wonder what the difference between shot amounts are...

Accuracy wise, I would think the Judge would loose points there because of the long distance before reaching the rifling... Just a thought.
 
Unfortunately, I have not shot a .460. I have held one, fiddled with one, but never got to shoot one. I want one of those really bad, but I can't justify spending more on a nice looking revolver than my AR!

I forgot about those .45LC snake loads... I wonder what the difference between shot amounts are...

Accuracy wise, I would think the Judge would loose points there because of the long distance before reaching the rifling... Just a thought.
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It's too bad I don't live anywhere near Jersey, or I'd let you shoot mine. Yeah, .460's are expensive. To be fair, you do see a slight reduction in accuracy with .45LC in a 460 for the same long cylinder issue you mentioned, but it isn't that bad. Though, I'm surprised it isn't more so. .454's shoot just fine though, and I can nail a soda pop bottle with the 460 at 50 yards no problem. It's fun too since the soda bottle bursts like you shot it with a rifle. The accuracy with the 460 round is quite amazing. I've heard they shoot nearly flat out to 100 yards, but I've not done any bench shooting to test that. I suspect the shorter bbl on my gun would reduce that distance a bit. It's very obvious that not all the pouder gets burned in a 5" bbl, since you see a fire ball shoot out of the end about 3 to 3.5 feet in front of the muzzle.

If you ever have a chance to rent one, or shoot a friend's, try it out. Try it even if you don't intend to buy one. It is an entirely different kind of handgun experience. I'd estimate that there is 15% to 20% more percieved recoil than on a .454 Casull. I'm sure other's will say less though.

I still need to try out a .500.
 
I'll definitely have to give one a try sometime! I really like the 4 inchers but its well out of my price allowance right now...


The thing that amazed me the most with the Taurus is the sheer size of the thing. A 3.5" cylinder with a 3" barrel and these enormous grips; It was, may I say, incredible!
 
My buddy owns one of these and I shot it yesterday at the range. I must admit, it was fun as heck to shoot. I was impressed with how well it soaked up recoil of .454s. We also used it to shoot a few clays with 410 shells :)

It's an enormous gun, and one that I'd personally never want to drop the cash on, but man, we had a blast with it.
 
the raging judge magnum does have a large awesome factor, but with the 6 inch barrel verison beinga rarity for range reports, id worry about being able to hit much of anything around 20 yards with with the 45/454, and id like the 410 to reach out and touch at least 10-13 yards. Again the 6 in barrel may perform a hell of alot better than the little 2 in barrel, but until i see a few reports id go with a different firearm(as the ranging judge magnums are around $700-750)
 
Speaking for myself, we were easily hitting our targets at 20 yds with .454 out of the 6 inch barrel.
 
Speaking for myself, we were easily hitting our targets at 20 yds with .454 out of the 6 inch barrel.
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how about shotshell patterns? im very intrigued as i think the 6 inch may not be excellent everywhere but at least adequate everywhere
 
I can't speak to the actual patterns of the shotshells. We just fired a bunch at some flying clays for fun. Surprisingly, we did each hit a few when they flew right in front of us
 
Feasability of 460 S&W mag in Taurus Raging Judge

The Taurus Raging Judge Magnum is a 6 shot revolver firing the 454 Casull, 45 LC and 410gauge. The question is can you shoot a 460 S&W mag from this revolver? First of all, 460 will fit up to a point and will stick out of the cylinder by a little less than 7/16". Taurus specifically tapered the cylinder so the round would not fit. The bullet diameters of the 454 and 460 are exactly .452. The case of the 454 is .480 and the case of the 460 is .478, slightly thinner but approx. 7/16" longer. If you honed the cylinder another 7/16" past the lip by approx. .024 or ever slightly less the 460 round will then fit. The chamber pressures for both rounds are approx. the same around 65000 CUP. So theoretically chamber pressures are about the same. Would appreciate feedback with any members who have considered this in the past. I am not advocating that this would be safe but considering the technical specs it seems feasible.
 
lenlynne said:
The Taurus Raging Judge Magnum is a 6 shot revolver firing the 454 Casull, 45 LC and 410gauge. The question is can you shoot a 460 S&W mag from this revolver? First of all, 460 will fit up to a point and will stick out of the cylinder by a little less than 7/16". Taurus specifically tapered the cylinder so the round would not fit. The bullet diameters of the 454 and 460 are exactly .452. The case of the 454 is .480 and the case of the 460 is .478, slightly thinner but approx. 7/16" longer. If you honed the cylinder another 7/16" past the lip by approx. .024 or ever slightly less the 460 round will then fit. The chamber pressures for both rounds are approx. the same around 65000 CUP. So theoretically chamber pressures are about the same. Would appreciate feedback with any members who have considered this in the past. I am not advocating that this would be safe but considering the technical specs it seems feasible.
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Well the .460 puts out 65000 PSI, but the .454 only puts out 60000 PSI. Not a huge difference, but enough to make your gun disappear really quickly. Honestly, I would never try it because a .460 in any gun that isn't initially designed to be chambered in .460 is going to experience a LOT of wear extremely quickly. Just saying.
 
I could agree with that theory. Personally I feel that Taurus was holding off on a marketing strategy in the future to produce a revolver that will fire the 460. Since I own the Taurus I might go ahead and take a chance and just hone 1 cylinder and see what happens. I honestly don't think the gun will blow up but I would check for a stress fracture and this would be the proof of the pudding. Thanks for the input. Also what I really wanted was a S&W 460 ES with the 2 3/4 bbl. Smith stopped production to my understanding several years back and I cannot seem to locate one on the internet. Usually a company will stop production based on demand. Therefore no demand and no production except for MY demand.
 
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lenlynne said:
I could agree with that theory. Personally I feel that Taurus was holding off on a marketing strategy in the future to produce a revolver that will fire the 460. Since I own the Taurus I might go ahead and take a chance and just hone 1 cylinder and see what happens. I honestly don't think the gun will blow up but I would check for a stress fracture and this would be the proof of the pudding. Thanks for the input. Also what I really wanted was a S&W 460 ES with the 2 3/4 bbl. Smith stopped production to my understanding several years back and I cannot seem to locate one on the internet. Usually a company will stop production based on demand. Therefore no demand and no production except for MY demand.
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No offense man, but that's a really easy way to kiss a few fingers goodbye. Have you ever considered selling the Taurus and going to the S&W custom shop to have them build you what you want?

On the side, there is pretty much nothing you can do with a .460 that can't be done with a .454 without moving to a rifle or shotgun. Ruining a $500-$600 gun might just not be worth it...
 
Never heard of the S&W Custom shop. Could you fill me in? One reply I got on another forum was to get the Smith 460 with a bigger barrel ( 5" is the next size up). and they are readily available for sale, and saw the barrel off and reattach the front sight. I didn't think this was practical.
 
First Impressions are awesome. Locks up tight. Sights are ok.
Thing is a monster.

Haven't fired a load yet but I'll jump back on with firing impressions when I do. Might be a while. =)
 
Got those impressions. Thing is awesome. The most entertaining thing I have. Man what a blast to shoot. Pun intended.
 
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