Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Smith and Wesson Governor: First Look

You probably only want the Gunblast review, which is the first link, IIRC. I think it is the one with 4 shot. I'm not sure it will hold a pattern with birdshot out that far. I don't think the Judge has a very tight pattern at that distance. They have their limitations. It might though. At twenty feet, I think it will be touch-and-go if the Judge is any indicator.

I got a chance to wring the Governor out a bit today.

Six shots of 45 Colt 255 grain Super X LRN from 5 paces.



Same stuff from 10 paces.



20 paces. I couldn't see where the first shot hit, then I saw the second and got on target.



6 shots of 200 grain LSWC handloads from 5 paces. These are 45 ACP.



2 shots of Federal 410 Personal Defense 0000 Buck at 5 paces. First shot partially off target. Second shot much better.



Winchester PDX1 Defender 410.



The Governor.

[img]http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m8/kiddglock/000_0794.jpg[/img]

Moon clips with 200 grain SWC 45 ACP.

[img]http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m8/kiddglock/000_0801.jpg[/img]

Zombie ammo. Just in case.

[img]http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m8/kiddglock/000_0809.jpg[/img]

Very nice! The S&W Governor's fit and finish are much better than the Taurus Judge. I was at a gun show last Sunday in Cape Girardeau and was able to examine both weapons. I may replace my Glock 20 with the Governor as my bedside weapon. Load it up with some .410 Tungsten hand loads and it would rock anyone's world.

Not my cup of tea...give me a 3" 629.

I'm not trying to tell anybody what to do, but I'd have to run some exhaustive tests before relying purely on any .410, even the most badasssed buckshot loads, for my defensive ammo. 45 Colt then 410 would seem an excellent choice.

Prices on the Judge are all over the map right now. Generally speaking, the Governor is only about $100 more. At today's values, I don't think anybody with much disposable income at all could justify NOT buying the Governor. The only drawback I see is the lack of 3" capability. That may not be as much of a drawback as it first seems because IME, the Judge 3" does better with the 2 1/2" shells.

I've got a 4" Smith and Wesson 629 Mountain Gun. Thus far, I'd rather have this for anything short of packing in dangerous bear country or the like.

I apologize for not having tested any birdshot from the gun yet. I actually shot some odd-sized #5 Remington from my Judge today and it just shredded what was left of the bad guy target that I'd already shot up. The problem is that I'd gotten quite a bit of 2 1/2" stuff cause for awhile it didn't seem like I was encountering what I wanted in 3". Well, in testing the Judge and such, it was getting shot up and I built up a pretty good supply of 3" stuff when it became available to me, since I prefer 3" in a gun that takes it. So I started trying to shoot up all the 2 1/2" stuff then. Now that I've got the Governor I need the 2 1/2" but could not find ANY birdshot in that chambering. I'll try to remember and get some and wring it out and dig the post up and post the results.

I put the 1/3 moon clips someplace in the garage and couldn't find them, but the full moon clips are very hard to utilize. Hard to get the 45 ACP into them and thus far, impossible to get the shells out.

I have a 4" SW 625 in .45 Colt. Would be nice to have that same cylinder size with mod for .45 ACP in moon clips.

Possible we could get SW to listen?

Those are great groups, but I was relieved to see that the handsome lad moved away after the first 6 shots.

Midway sells 1/3 moon clips. I have about 20 left over from a Smith 325 I sold, which I will gladly mail to you if you send me a PM.

That's mighty nice of you Cheyenne. I appreciate the offer. I'm loaded up on stripper clips now though after another member that I'd credit here but won't since I don't have his permission, sent me some. Thanks again to both you and he!

We are about flooded out here. I'm lucky that we live on a hill. The shootin' range is right down in an old garden area that has pretty loose soil...so it really gets soaked. We haven't really had much let-up in the rain for about three or four days anyway, but if we had, it's still too soaked down there to shoot much.

I loaded up on .410 because I had a request for testing of birdshot. I just haven't been able to get out to shoot it. I found #9's and #8 1/2's which I hadn't seen before in .410. I believe I've got some #6's and #4's too along with a bit more Buckshot and stuff to shoot when it dries up.

Looking forward to the bird/lighter shot testing when you have time. Thanks!

JCM

I think the Governor would be absolutely devastating if one were to handload .410 shot shells with #4 Tungsten shot. That's what I plan for mine.

I don't even like 410's in shotguns or the T/C, and so eventhough I have no problem with Taurus, and love revolvers, I will stick with my 625 5" 460 Rowland and my own speer capsul shot loads for any pistol shot work I need to do.

But if that Taurus 28 Guage pistol ever crosses my path, then I am spending the cash pronto.

Wow! This is strange. I was gonna have to page back looking for this thread because I wanted to add some pics I took of birdshot patterns from this revolver. Thanks for pulling it up.



All of these are 2 1/2". The above is Remington STS Premier Target #9 shot from 5 paces. Supposedly this stuff is 1250 fps from a shotgun. I think this is easily minute-of-serpent. All of these were shot double action to check for functioning. Functioning was perfect.

Please pardon the big holes. I couldn't resist playing around with my Springfield Loaded 45 auto before doing the shotshells. Figured y'all could sort it out.



The above was the same load shot from 10 paces. It would probably do for a snake but there are some holes in the pattern. It was getting dark and the pics didn't come through too well. I would much rather shoot the snake up closer than this.



This is Remington Express Long Range #6 shot.

As you can see, this would be better for some dude's face than for a snake. I'd much rather have the 9 shot. As late as it was getting and the way the 9 shot spread at 10 paces, I only did the 6 shot from 5 paces. That's what this is of.



Here's some Hornady Critical Defense 45 Colt from about 20 yards.

Wish I had a bench set up out there with a rest. I'd like to have a little shed over the bench with a concrete floor and just leave it set up all the time.

Greedy. concrete floors, air conditioning...my, my, my.

I saw a Governor in a gunshop yesterday. It was an interesting piece, and although I didn't handle it, I was of the opinion that it appeared to be a more refined pistol than the Judge. Which is to say it looked better to my eye.

Yep. No surprise the rounds "went off". It is a S&W, after all.

It'll be interesting to see if you get any kind of accuracy with 45 ACP in this gun, given the obvious problem that the bullets aren't even close to the chamber throats when they leave the case... I'm looking forward to your full range report with some target pix when you get around to it.

BTW, it's good to see you're pursuing your jones for the 45/410 revolver market segment with true zeal, CY!!! Looks like you're having some fun with it. Good on yer, mate!

It does look like it spread a lot at 10 paces/30 feet. It "might" work for rats if they ran to the side that had already been bushhogged...but if they run into the thick stuff on the opposite side it would be tougher.

5 paces/15 feet looks good and a lot of the shots would be at that range, just past the front of the tractor. Might have to look into on of the Gov's to ride "shotgun".

FYI...currently using a Double Defense 12 gauge...it works very well but is slow to remove from a rack and get into action on a running rat.

Thanks for testing!

Holes in the pattern?

Looks like more hole than pattern.

There was still a pattern at 10 yards, but it had widened considerably. It's difficult to see the holes in those pics. I should have used a different target. Those splatter type targets are my favorites, but are more expensive, especially when you are demonstrating one shot and then moving on. If you don't move on to the next demonstration, it's easy to get distracted and run out of time. I worked yesterday until near dark and then shot. It got dark on me.