I've never shot one.

If you were to shoot a .410 shotshell, like a #6, out of a Judge, what would the recoil compare to?

.44 mag, possibly?

It's comfortable. I haven't shot a wide enough range of pistols to be able to draw a comparison, but it's FAR less than a .357 or .44 mag.

I'd say it's roughly comparable to a glock .40, but that's pretty meaningless.

I'd say it's a fun gun to shoot. I burned through a box of #4 shot with mine trying to hit hand-thrown clay pigeons and was none the worse for wear.

That said, I've just picked up a box of CorBon .45 colt JHP 200 gr. +P... haven't shot any of those yet. It will be interesting to compare the kick of those things as compared the .410.

I will say this... the .410 loads are for very close range only, or as something to maybe slow someone down while you get to the .45s (or maybe buckshot) further into the cylinder. The spread on the .410 is WIDE with small shot.

I have this gun for home defense. In the five rounds loaded, the first two are .410 #4s, and the last three are .45 colt.

My thinking is that if I need to use this gun as intended, I'll blow throw all five rounds and use the first two to get the snake in the sights and the last three to finish the job (assuming that for some reason I couldn't get to my shotgun first).

I'm about to buy a new semi-auto pistol for concealed carry and home defense, and when that happens I'll move the judge to my vehicle... seems like the perfect gun for carrying in the car.

An additional data point: I don't have any problem firing .410 through mine single-handed. Taurus did a good job with the grip, and it's a heavy gun that manages the recoil well.

Thanks. That was exactly the kinda comparison I was looking for.

And I am looking at this as a beater snake gun.

TechDiver +1

NW80 has one and last year I fired a handfull of shells through it at a cactus (it was heading right for me). It was definitely less of a recoil than shooting my 1911. Like someoone else said, about like shooting a .40 S&W.

If I was getting one as a snake gun to carry hip-holstered on a ranch or something, I'd probably opt for the longer barrel (I think it's 4-inch).

As I said, shooting small shot through this the spread is W-I-D-E. The rifled barrel seems to exacerbate this somewhat. By wide, I'm talking about probably a 2-3 foot spread at less than 10 feet with small shot and the short barrel.

You could sure mess up a snake like that, so it would work well from a few to several paces away, but you'd have to be pretty careful if you'd shooting at something a foot from your leg to keep from blowing your toes off.

I know there's a lot of talk about this gun, most of it not too complimentary as a home defense weapon, but I really like it. I think it would be an awesome snake gun, and as an "oh $#!+ weapon to keep in the nightstand, I think I could tear someone a new one with it pretty easily...

and as mentioned, it's fun to shoot.

Federal makes a self defense load for this kind of gun.

^
^
^
^
Federal actually makes two personal protection rounds for the Judge. One is a #4 shot and the other is 000 buckshot