Can You Shoot 410 Out Of 45long Colt Barrel

Here Come da Judge: Taurus .45 Colt/.410 Bore Revolvers

By Chuck Hawks

Taurus Judge revolver. Illustration courtesy of Taurus International.

I have been asked to do a full reviewof Taurus .45/.410 revolvers for Guns andShooting Online, but declined. I simply refuse to waste that much of mytime and effort on a product that I already know is inherently incapable ofdelivering acceptable results. However, in response to popular demand, I agreedto do this abbreviated article.

The idea is that you can, but it's not safe, especially if the shotgun has any form of choke in it, farmers used to load a 45 colt in a.410 to put down cattle and horses, but that's a while ago and it's not safe to do, especially with the new loads and bullets they're coming out with in.45 caliber, they do make special rifle/shotguns and handguns that can handle.45 colt ammo and.410 shells. Check out www.hr1891.com and look at NEF's Barrel Exchange Program. You can get a.45 Colt /.410 barrel fitted to your son's gun, although it might not shoot.410's worth a damn! (IMO) I had an NEF 'Survivor'.45C/.410, but wasn't impressed with its performance when shooting 3' #6's in the.410 and got rid of it.

At present, Taurus is offering six models of .45 Colt/.410 boreshotshell combination revolvers, if you count different finishes (blue orstainless) as separate models as Taurus does. Note that these are not 'convertible'revolvers supplied with two cylinders; these Taurus revolvers fire both .45 Coltcartridges and .410 shotshells from the same cylinder. The variations include'Tracker' models with 6' barrels in blue and stainless steel,similar models with 3' barrels in blue or stainless steel and an'ultra-light' version (at 22 ounces empty, not really) with a 3'barrel built on an aluminum alloy frame. These five models are all chamberedfor 2-1/2', .410 shotshells.

The sixth model, named the 'Judge,' seems to havegenerated the most interest. It is a stainless steel version with a 3'barrel and a cylinder lengthened to accept 3' .410 shotshells. Taurusincorrectly identifies the 3', .410 shotgun shell as a 'Magnum'on their web site, but in reality it is simply a 'high brass,' not amagnum, load. Here are some basic specifications for the 3' chamber Judge:

Model - 4510TKR-3SSMAG
Caliber - .45 Colt and .410/3' shotshell
Capacity - 5
Frame size - Medium
Barrel length - 3'
Finish - Matte stainless steel
Weight - 36.8 ounces
Length - 9.5'
2008 MSRP - $608

All of these Taurus revolvers are supplied with a fiberoptic front sight and a rudimentary fixed rear sight consisting of a squaregroove cut into the top of the frame. The rubber handgrips are Taurus'Ribber' type to help moderate the considerable recoil, especially ofthe Ultra-Light version.

Can You Shoot 410 Out Of 45 Long Colt Barrel Shotgun

Taurus double action revolvers have traditionally been builton what is essentially a copy of S&W lock work, which is faint praise atbest. The cylinder swings out to the left for loading/unloading in the usualmanner and rotates counter-clockwise (out of the frame) when operated. Their DAtrigger pulls average an unacceptable 12 pounds or so, but their SA triggerpulls are usually quite good at about three pounds. Unfortunately, a good SA trigger pullachieves little in a revolver that is inherently inaccurate.

These are basically five-shot, double action revolverschambered for the venerable .45 Long Colt (LC) cartridge. However, thecylinders of the five standard models have been lengthened to also accommodate2-1/2' .410 bore shotshells. This results in a cylinder that measures2.690' in length and a frame window to match. The cylinder of the 'Magnum'.410 Judge has been lengthened to an incredible 3.190' in order to accept3' long .410 shotshells. Because of their dual-purpose mission, the sixgroove, right hand twist rifling in Taurus .45/.410 revolvers' barrels isintentionally cut shallow to minimize the inevitable disruption of .410shot loads, which does not bode well for accuracy with conventional bullets.

The cylinder in a .45 Colt Peacemaker revolver, which is properlysized to the cartridge, measures 1.609' long. That means that a .45 Coltbullet fired in a 2-1/2' chamber Taurus has to jump over an inch of additional free space just toreach the forcing cone. Fired in a 3' chamber Judge, that same bullet hasto jump an additional 1.5' of space to reach the revolver's forcing cone! Expect the 3'-chambered Judge to be even less accurate than the model with the 2-1/2' chamber owned by W.W. Stowe.

The bottom line is that, while Taurus revolvers in generalhave earned a reputation for mediocre accuracy, these .45/.410 revolvers havelowered the bar. One author, writing for a respected gun magazine,praised the Judge to the skies (naturally, since print magazines never publish an unfavorable review of anadvertiser's product), but admitted that it would barelykeep its bullets on a humanoid silhouette target at 25 yards! Considering thatpractically any Colt or Ruger .45 LC revolver will average 2-3' groups atthat range with factory loaded ammo and no tuning whatsoever, the Judge'saccuracy as a .45 LC revolver is simply unacceptable.

Naturally, firing a .410 shotshell in a revolver with a 3'rifled barrel is not likely to produce very satisfactory results. Thesame writer mentioned in the paragraph above patterned the 3' Judge with 11/16ounce, #4 and #6 .410 shot loads and reported very few pellets outside of an18' circle--at five yards! Pardon me, but .410 shotshells are customarily patterned at 30 yards. These arethe kind of deceptive shenanigans required to produce a favorable review of theJudge revolver. Here at Guns and Shooting Online, we try toavoid such deceptions, which is why I declined to do a full review of the Taurus Judge revolver.

Guns and Shooting Online reader W.W. Stowe kindly wrote to me to pass along his test results shooting his 3' barrel, 2-1/2' chamber, Judge revolver. At 25 yards, shooting a four 000 buckshot .410 shell, it will keep all four buckshot somewhere on an 18'x24' target board. At 16.6 yards (50 feet) it will keep a cylinder load of .45 Colt bullets on a paper plate (a 9' circle). Needless to say, the latter is totally unacceptable accuracy for a revolver. I want my revolvers, even snubbies, to (at least) put five bullet holes in a 4' circle at our standard test distance of 25 yards.

Can You Shoot 410 Out Of 45 Long Colt Barrel Ammo

My advice to anyone looking for a .45 LC revolver is tobuy a Colt or a Ruger. If you want a .410, a number of good shotguns are sochambered. The Taurus Judge is a 'one size fits all' approach tobeing both and, consequently, is unsatisfactory as either.