[Dargo]

I have one of the 'hard to get' 3" stainless Magnum Taurus Judge pistols. I've fired exactly 5 shots with it and I'm going to list it on GunBroker either later today or tomorrow. Even with the 3" magnum .410 loads, I see this pistol as being nearly useless as a self defense weapon. It took "0" or heavier loads to penetrate a heavy winter coat. Even being a so called "magnum" load, smaller sized pellets did not penetrate the old winter coat I used as a test target over a 1/4" piece of plywood. Only the 3" slug penetrated the coat and the 1/4" piece of plywood.

This pistol would likely be useful if you were shooting snakes at nearly point blank range but you could pretty well forget taking any other game with it unless you're into stalking finches or something similar. I see the "standard" sized Judge as particularly useless based on seeing what little damage the 3" magnum did. After buying this pistol and shooting it, I have to say that it falls into the 'good idea' but just doesn't get the job done category.