Taurus Judge firing problems

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V1ROT8

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Purchased the Judge Public Defender 2.5" for Christmas. First time shooting and shooting various 410 rounds. After approx. 30 rounds the Judge locked up. Hammer could not be pulled all the way to cock. Trigger could not be pulled. No amount of manipulation with cylinder seemed to work. Did my new Judge break or am I missing something?
 
I'm hoping you can at least open the cylinder in order to unload it. I would call Taurus come Monday morning, they should have FedEx come get it. You should have it back fixed within a week, that's been my experience anyway.

Sorry that's much help with answering your question, but at least it's a solution.
 
This happened with my .44. The forcing cone and the cylinder heat up after a few shots, the metals expand, and then they produce friction with the lead/powder residue, making it lock until cooled again.

New firearms will be picked up by Taurus at their expense through FedEx, as was mentioned. I got mine back in 3 business days. Call customer service, get a pickup time, and politely write a complete description of the problem. If you can see the scores in the residue, leave the weapon unloaded and dirty when you send it in so they can see the issue. (They returned my firearm cleaned, as well.)
 
Did a shell back up and seize the cylinder? This is common with certain 410 ammo. Push the offending one towards the front of the cylinder with a small screw driver, and don't use that specific brand/type again. This is worst when using metal cased shotshells (either the long brass 410 ones, or homebrew from 444 Marlin cases).
 
We sell a lot of Taurus Judge models, and send a lot of them back to the factory. I view them as a "novelty gun" and nothing to be used for serious shooting. There are much better guns out there for shooting both .45 colt and 410 gauge shotgun shells.

I like the circuit judge, because it's a lightweight rifle/shotgun combo, but as far as a pistol is concerned, I'd pick one caliber or the other and go from there.

Taurus does have excellent customer service, but that's usually a sign that they have to fix a lot of their guns... which goes to the quality control of the company. Better quality control could stop a lot of these problems, but "as long as the customer is eventually satisfied" seems to be their standard. Personally, I like "rare" customer service... where the gun works as advertised and then it's a rare occurrence when one breaks.

WT
 
Probably a cylinder gap issue as mentioned above. Seems pretty common with Taurus, I had a model 94 that did that and I won't buy another.
 
I view them as a "novelty gun" and nothing to be used for serious shooting
Click to expand...

Define "serious shooting". To me "serious shooting" is for people who shoot is competitions, military & leo, and similar. Everything else is just fun, which a novelty gun is great for.

Taurus and S&W do advertise these as Self Defense guns, which they should not. But I do think they have a place in the shooting world. I don't know if actual figures exist, but I would be willing to bet a VERY HIGH % of all ammo shot is for fun.
 
Out of the last 4 new S&W revolvers I bought, 3 of them had serious issues and had to be returned for service.

Out of the last 4 new Taurus revolvers I bought, 1 had issues and required service.

All new guns should be suspected until they are proven reliable. The Judge is no different, a good copy loaded with 45 colts is not a bad carry gun.
 
Sorry for your troubles. That really sucks.

I have heard that this is a common problem though, since the internals of all Taurus revolvers are made from popsicle sticks.

My buddy's wife was loading their Judge, and the cylinder fell off of the gun right before my eyes. :eek: I'll never trust one.

That being said,

All new guns should be suspected until they are proven reliable.
Click to expand...

This is absolutely true, no matter the brand. I just trust some more than others.
 
Taurus is why I will not buy a Judge. I'm eyeing the Governor, and hoping Ruger comes out with the Senator.
 
Well I work in sales and we have sold about 40 taurus revolvers last year with about 20 of them coming back for your same reasons. So even though it may not make you feel any better, it is a common problem. Now this is covered under taurus lifetime warranty, so while its an inconvenience to be without your gun, it will be free for you. Sorry I hope I helped.
 
And, yet, I've never had a single failure with any of the Taurus guns I've owned.
 
Thanks to everyone for your help. When these firearms are returned to Taurus and they correct the problem.....do you find that the fix....stays fixed?
 
I have had no problems with Taurus pistols, and I have quite a few. But the revolver's, I have one, and my brother in law has one, and both are poorly built. Sloppy lock up, poor timing, and the barrel on his was way off alignment.
 
Generally speaking they fix the problem, the majority of issues took place within the past two or three years. Taurus has been pumping so many guns out thay there is some issues in quality control which is where their problems come from, but they do appear to be on the upward slope,hope this helps
 
Last week I received my Judge back from Taurus. Took it out yesterday and and shot a total of 30 rounds of 410 ammo. Winchester and Federal self defense rounds.
Very pleased with how things worked. No problems what so ever. No lock ups, went bang every time.
Very pleased.
 
I bought a PD ultra light about a mounth ago, took it to the range once had lock up problems and the overall fit and finish sucked so I traded it. :eek:
 
Taurus' Updated Policy

I bought a 6.5" SS Judge 2 months ago. It started acting up last week. I found the problem by reading this post. Thought I'd update: Taurus now requires the owner to send them the gun by FedEx Air or UPS Air, they don't pay for that. Also, the return time is now 6 weeks, not shorter as it seemed to be 2 years ago. Same problem, cylinder not advancing to next bullet, cylinder not releasing, etc.
 
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