Originally Posted by FreeMe
Originally Posted by ColeYounger
Have you ever shot anything bigger than a hot 45 Colt? I have, but it had been awhile and I've never shot a .454. It sounds like you just don't like the bigger revolvers, both in scale and power. I can relate...
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Yep

I've played with the .454 just enough to know I don't think it's worth the pain on my end in a gun worth carrying. Anything light enough to be worth carrying is uncomfortable (for me, at least) to shoot. Anything heavy enough to be comfortable to shoot, and I might as well carry a rifle. I find that playing with guns that are uncomfortable to shoot is not conducive to good and consistent accuracy.

I used to hunt big game with a .308 Winchester single-shot handgun. It compared in recoil pretty well with, say, a scoped 6" 629 .44 mag with hunting loads. I found that although I could make good groups with it at 300yds with a good rest and known distance, I rarely had either in the field. All said and done, I might as well be carrying said 629 on a hunt - since my effective range is generally no less than with the "handrifle".

Although the only big game I ever took with a handgun was with that .308, I have known plenty of guys to take game up to heavy bull elk with no troubles using .44mag and .45 Colt revolvers. If I were to resume handgun hunting for big game, it would be with something on the order of the 629 I described - not a Judge or even any X-frame revolver. If I were carrying for defense against man or animal, it would either be something even more portable than that or it would be a long gun.

So - you guys who are intrigued by the Judge and it's ilk are free to like 'em with no judgement from me, since IMO you need no justification for buying one other than finding it interesting if even only for a while. But I still find them peculiar and unsuited for anything practical in my estimation.

Possible upside to the Judge-type revolvers might be if it causes the ammo makers to increase production of .410 enough to lower the price. wink

Cole - I appreciate your willingness to post your report and take the heat. grin
I've had a lot of 45 Colts and 44 Mags over the years. I used to play with hotloading the Colt up to levels that I wouldn't post. That was back when Seyfried had first started writing in-earnest for Guns and Ammo. I can remember him advocating heat-treated cast bullets in the hot 45 and such. I used to read all his articles. I've owned several Blackhawks in 45, one Bisley and a Colt New Frontier. Too many .44 Mags to recount. I even played with hot-loading the 44-40 in a couple of Super Blackhawks and a New Frontier.

When the 454 came out IIRC, there were none available except in the Freedom Arms and briefly, North American Arms revolvers. So you could do that or get a custom one made up. Probably about the same expense and they were expensive. I would have liked to have had one but as they became cheaper due to other people manufacturing them or used ones on the market, I just kinda lost interest.

The recoil on this is eye-opening. I don't have a problem with the 45 Colt or the 44 Mag. although I don't shoot the latter with full-power loads for "fun". The Raging Judge isn't fun to shoot with the 454 and in 45 Colt is so heavy that I find it detracts from offhand shooting with 45 Colt loads. Doc Rocket mentioned putting it on a rest. It would be interesting in 45 Colt and painful in 454 Casull.

Around here you never saw 45 Colt ammo at Walmart. Now you do. One day it dawned on me that it was because of the Judge. So there is the easier availability of a round that could never quite make it to "real popular" status that now has because of these guns.

The Judge is a different gun that is fun to shoot but not as versatile as its bigger bro. I thought some might find my experiences with the gun interesting since not much is out on the internet about it other than You Tubes. Last time I looked, Gun Blast hadn't done anything on it.