Bond Arms Texas Defender The Texas Defender is similar to the Century 2000 but smaller. It features 3-inch, stainless steel barrels and weighs only 20 ounces. The Texas Defender can feed either.45 Colt rounds or 2½-inch.410 shells, and like all Bond Arms derringers, it has an automatic spent casing extractor, retracting firing pins and a crossbolt safety. Caliber:.410/.45 Colt. This is a single shot pistol chambered in either.45 Long Colt or for the.410 shotshell. The gun is heavy, tipping the scales at almost 3 pounds, which is a far cry from today’s slick polymer.
Can You Shoot 410 Out Of A 45 Long Colt
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.
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 357
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.
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 357Taurus 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.
Can You Shoot 410 Out Of 45 Long Colt Barrel AmmoThe 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.
Can You Shoot 410 Out Of 45 Long Colt Barrel RevolverNaturally, 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 RifleMy 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.
