About the Judge and Governor

[ptoemmes]

Been reading a lot about these lately and am curious about something.

In either revolver (but maybe even more so in a Raging Judge 3" chamber), when you chamber and fire any of the permissible center fire cartridges the bullet is gonna travel (quite) a bit in the "smooth bore" of the remaining chamber and then "smack" into the rifled barrel.

Obvious they work - as to how well they work over what distance is a matter of debate I suppose.

But I am curious what happens as the bullet makes the transition from smooth bore to rifled.

For shotshells, I wonder if the casing/wadding attempts to keep the shotshell components together during barrel transit though I have read the shotshell loads do tend to exit with a "spin".

An idiot like me would think that's gotta be hard on the chamber end of the barrel.

Pete

PS
All limitations aside - I carry a P45 for SD - any comparative experience for even opinions on the Governor and the Raging Judge Magnum 3X3 are welcome.

[joshh]

cant help you too much with the questions about the bullet engaging the rifling but what i can say is my buddy bought a governor a few months ago and to fire metallic cartridge rounds in it you have to use an adapter. he just shoots the .410 thru it anyway and its more of a toy. we have only been able to shoot indoors when we have gone out with the revolvers so no idea about how much damage these things can do to a big threat with the .410. some say its not good for self defense, while others say its great for it. all pretty much agree its the best snake gun out there. when the weather breaks we plan on putting the governor and some defense rounds through the paces to see what works best and whether or not we'd trust the .410 for self defense. i will say that i wouldnt carry one myself but would love to get a longer barrel version to use for fun at the range and as a bonus keep at the cottage for a nightstand gun that the wife could use too.

[Bawanna]

My son came home with the Governor from our gun show yesterday. I was surprised it shoots 45 acp. I knew that shot 45 Colt and 410. His only takes 2 1/2" shot shells so we'll need to get some, all I had was 3".

It requires moon clips, (provided) for 45 ACP but the Colt drops in normally.

There has to be a lot of free bore before bullet hits the rifling but they have been doing it for some time. I haven't looked at it that closely to see what the barrel rifling looks like. I know it's intimidating as heck on the business end of that thing.

[chrish]

hickock45 did a shooting review of the judge recently, might want to check it out. pretty much performed as expected w/ .410 shells of various sizes. in the end, didn't leave me with warm fuzzies about having one around for any kind of defensive use.

in my mind, and maybe it's just me, but the purpose of that type of firearm would be home defense, close quarters, with a desire not to penetrate walls. to do that, you have to go with some type of .410 shell, not the .45. from his video, you'd be hard pressed to punch thru any amount of heavy clothing using .410.

to each his own, but i'll stick w/ a standard handgun and if i find a need/desire for a shotgun later, i'll get a real shotgun.

[Bawanna]

I envision it more as a woods gun especially when in snake country. I think it would be good on Mr. Surveyors tool belt when out in the toolies.
Thumbing through a Cheaper Than Dirt catalog I noticed they had 410 handgun ammo with #4 BB's. That might ruin your day or certainly have a profound effect on a bad guys attitude.
I'm with you, I'll stick to conventional handguns and the old side by side.

[JFootin]

All revolvers have a "forcing cone" between the cylinder and the rifled barrel. I haven't been curious enough about a design that has worked for a couple of hundred years to take a closer look at one. But the name implies that it is somewhat conically shaped to catch that bullet like a catcher's mit, center it and force it into the barrel rifling in a precise manner. It works pretty good, even with just a 1 7/8" barrel.

[jeepster09]

I had a choke installed in my Judge Public Defender. Nice tight groups.


http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/vv276/jeepster09/IMG_0491.jpg


http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/vv276/jeepster09/IMG_0579.jpg

[JFootin]

I had a choke installed in my Judge Public Defender. Nice tight groups.

Do you use the 4# buck rounds? A tight group of those should do the job on a perp. Beautiful gun! :wof:

[Tinman507]

I honestly don't think Jeepster has any ugly guns. Every one is gorgeous.

[Bawanna]

I honestly don't think Jeepster has any ugly guns. Every one is gorgeous.

I'm beginning to think you are correct. I haven't heard of a new gun yet that he didn't get a makeover on before the trigger was pulled the first time.

Very very tasteful. Always remember, life is too short to tolerate an ugly gun.

[Scoundrel]

I have the 2.5" Judge, and it seems reasonably accurate with 45 long colt. I think the limiting factor in its accuracy is me.

Hickock45's video laid to rest any concerns about accuracy using the 45 long colt.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRlry5KH6I0

He calls the 00 Buckshot a "pretty serious round". Penetrates a 55-gallon drum.

He also starts shooting the 000 buckshot at 22:00 and calls it "pretty impressive" and "sweet". Those have 4 pellets in a round, each one about as big as a .380 bullet. My judge spreads these to about 6 inches at 25 feet (mostly a vertical spread).

So it's kind of like having a .380 with a 20 round magazine, which fires four of them in a 6-inch group each time you pull the trigger. Doesn't take up a lot of room in the bedroom either, like a "real" shotgun would.

It's a big sucker, which is going to intimidate the hell out of a BG.

[jeepster09]

Do you use the 4# buck rounds? A tight group of those should do the job on a perp. Beautiful gun! :wof:


Yes, #4 for all my shotguns! :53:

[chrish]

Hickock did have a few things to say as mentioned above that would lead you to feel it was a pretty nasty pistol to run into the business end of... But then again, so would my Walther p22 in the middle of the night with a magazine emptied in a couple seconds into the receiving BG. And I'm not suggesting that the judge isn't as effective as a. 22, obviously not. But the point is that once you go to. 38 balls or a. 45 round, you are back to handgun wall pentration. The only real advantage is 4 38 balls vs 1. But again, I'd rather empty my P9...just sayin'