So I went to the local gun shop to buy a Taurus Judge & thought it was going to be a easy 1-2-3 purchase. Suddenly I had a dozen different models, barrel lengths, grips, stainless, blued, titanium... ect. I left gunless, with a headache from looking at so many options.

SO... if I'm just looking for a all around ranch gun to blast a occasional snake, shoot a few soda cans or a gopher, & maybe finish off a wounded hog with a slug type of gun. Is the 2 1/2 inch chamber with a 3" barrel good enough? Or do you go with the 3" chamber & longer barrel which is bigger & front-end heavy?

In shooting birdshot, which one would reach out 25 yards and kill a gopher? Thanks for the responses!

I think you're going to want the longest barrel you can to reach out to 25 yards with birdshot. And even then I'm not sure what your kill rate on gophers would be. JMHO

I think you're going to be very disappointed at 25 yards with whatever

4" barrel with the 3" chamber.

I get decent groups with the 45 LC at 7 yards and with the 3" chamber you can handle any of the 410 shells you manage to find. Death on snakes out to about 10' or so.

I found that the shotshells throw a doughnut pattern after about 10 ft. There's a hole in the middle. I still like it. Really handy. I think 410 slugs are a waste of money. That's what the 45 part is for.

I agree with this. I think anything past about 20ft, and maybe not even that far, and you're not going to be killing much with birdshot.

I have the 2 1/2" chamber with short barrel, I didn't like the looks of the 3" chamber. With #6 shot, it basically hits everything in front of you to about 15 yds. I have the two finger handle, and wish it had a full handle...

I would buy a Smith & Wesson Governor. Six shots instead of 5, better customer support, better fit and finish, comes with a case, and you can shoot cheap 45 ACP ammo as well as the 45 Colt and .410

Never heard of any major issues with Taurus revolvers. And the S&W is about double the price. But if you can afford it, it may very well be a superior gun. Question is: does it matter?

you want the longer barrel 6" Judge

complaints from owners with 3" or shorter of not getting desired pattern out of .410
with stubby barrel

Then you haven't been listening. I really wanted a Taurus 22/22Mag convertible, and when I started researching the gun found out that Taurus revolvers in all shapes and sizes have a horrible track record. Now, I do not remember any specific complaints about the Judge line, but the others were all spoken of very poorly. Also, their customer service was also blasted on many a forum.

Primary use of a Judge...CQB-bash em with it!

Well FWIW, I've got one of their revolvers and one of their autos and they've been flawless. Dad has one of their autos and it's been flawless for him as well. Their revolvers have always had an excellent reputation. I had to use their CS one time due to my own fault and it was fantastic. Much quicker return than I hear about other manufacturers providing. It was 2 weeks between when I stuck the gun in the mail til it was back on my porch and they didn't even charge me.

I hear complaints about them too, usually from folks that have never owned one and want to justify the money they spent on more expensive guns. JMHO - it's worth what you paid for it. I think they make fantastic guns for a great price. I certainly wouldn't spend double for a S&W unless I was independently wealthy.

I was thinking of getting a Judge, but didn't pursue it after borrowing one for a weekend. Nothing wrong with the gun at all - it shot well and did what it was designed to do. I just decided that my existing revolver was good enough for my needs, using snake shot, .38 special or .357 mag as needed.

I'd buy a GP100

well, thanks for all the responses guys. After hearing all the yea's & nay's, and doing some research on you-tube & the net, I think I'll go with Marc Kurths advice and just play around with some CCI shot in my .22 handgun. I really wasn't excited about lugging one of these big, heavy judges around in the first place. And after hearing lack of killing power from you all, pretty much settles it. I can see where they would be a interesting gun to have, only not for me. Thanks for saving me another $500 bucks all you!! Maybe some-day I'll get me one.

You will be very disappointed with shooting birdshot from a judge beyond about 15 feet. Remember, these handguns have rifled barrels and this spins that shot cup just like it would a bullet. This causes tremendous centrifugal force which causes the shot to spread very rapidly. You wil be amazed to see how few birdshot pellets hit anything beyond just a few feet. You'd be better off with a snake charmer ( short barrel .410 shotgun).

I have one with a six inch barrel. I keep it on my night stand loaded with buckshot in 444 marlin cases. At 25 yards all pellets will usually stay in the torso on a target. Loaded with 45 LC it is much better.

Birdshot at 25 is a waste of time. 10 yards maybe.

Both my son and I have Judges. His is a 5 inch, 2 1/2 inch chamber, and mine is a 3 inch barrel with a 2 1/2 inch chamber. His is more accurate and delivers a higher MV, just as we expected. Neither is a 25 yard firearm, but Taurus didn't put them into the market to compete at 25 yards. They are a self-defense, 7 yard "threat stopper." We've shot .410 ammo through them both. I've reloaded #7 1/2 shot for them. We've reloaded and tested just about every weight of .45 caliber bullet in them. Our conclusion is that, at 7 yards or less, they deliver devastating fire power, just as they were designed to do. As the yardage increases, the effectiveness and accuracy drops dramatically with every load we've put through them. If you're looking for an all purpose hand gun, the Judge isn't it. If you're looking for a self-defense weapon for threats that are "up close and personal," it fits perfectly. And, BTW, we've had no failures at all with our Judges and have put literally hundreds of rounds through each of them.

Too heavy to carry. I had one when I lived in East tx and left it in my tackle box. It was great for shooting snakes on the river. Other than shooting someone inside of 10 feet I don't see any other good use for it but that. I sold it to a buddy of mine when I moved back out west. He keeps it in his motorcycle bag.

I wanted a snake gun for the lease and have not been able to find rat shot for anything. Plenty of people will say they seen it somewhere, but never in stock. So my choices were Judge or Revolver and wait for rat shot. I chose the Judge, but went with the poylmer public defender. I wanted it for 10-15ft and under rat shot gun. I have 3 #6 shot in it followed by 2 45lc. When it is home, it has 45lc for defense.

If everything was available and I was not impatient, I would have went 357/38 revolver. But it is snake time, so I have the Judge. Love it so far. Havent seen a snake. HA HA

The ergonomics, at least for my hands, are terrible. Recoil drives the trigger guard into my pointer finger and after a few round it really begins to hurt.

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