Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Taurus Judge Revisited...Again

It's been almost a year now since I bought a Judge for a snake gun. I had been like many others who thought the Judge was an answer to a question nobody was asking. After getting one, my mind was changed and I ended up carrying it more than any other pistol during the past year. I also kinda became the default spokesman and advocate for the Judge in the process.

During the past year I've shot mine A LOT. 45 Colts and almost any 410 load imaginable. To summarize: The gun is more accurate with 45's than many on the internet believe and it is less effective than many casual handgunners believe when used with 410 shells. At close range, the Judge could be a viable self-defense gun especially with the specialty .410 loads developed for it and also with 45 Colts. At longer ranges, the patterns become unusable and the groups open up. I've never said the Judge was the best handgun ever made and I've never said it was a worthless POS. The truth lies somewhere in the middle.

Others had issues with Taurus quality control, saying it was less than stellar. I have owned six Taurus guns. All were acceptable to me...I thought. Bear in mind I HATE doing this as the fights over the Judge got pretty heated and like I said, I became its default champion.

I fired the gun a lot over the past months. I had never had any problems other than what I detailed in the review of the Judge I did and a couple of other threads. Most of the work I had done was accuracy work as opposed to combat-type shooting, since people wanted to know mainly about patterns. I had almost always fired it single action. A couple of months ago during one of the periodic flame sessions on the Judge, I decided since I had been carrying it so much I should test its double action capabilities. It would not always ignite primers double-action. Single action, the same primers have always went off. Double-action, even multiple strikes would not ignite them. I cleaned it, lubed it, tried it again and got the same results. I tried different ammo. I tried factory ammo. I tried it with shotgun ammo. All the same, no ignition sometimes.

So I became a member of the Taurus forums. It had happened enough that there was a fix for it. You had to clip about 1 1/2 twists off one of the springs. I did this. I still got misfires. So I got another Judge. Same exact configuration: 3" chamber, 3" barrel, stainless steel. I believe this is called the "Magnum". Same thing. I haven't shot the second Judge extensively, but the same thing. I can't nail down exactly which loads are not firing either. It seems to happen with both shotgun and handgun ammo.

So I spoke with a guy at a gunshow about this. He had a Judge on his table but he also had a Tracker. He said it had happened with his kid's Judge also and with his Tracker in .44 Magnum, as well. His kid had sent it back to Taurus and it had come back with the trigger, the aforementioned spring and IIRC, the flash hole fixed. There was a burr in the latter or something.

So evidently this problem is not new and is not mine alone. The Raging Judge, which I had only briefly, did not exhibit these same problems-but I didn't fire it nearly as extensively.

To summarize the most recent developments: I would not trust a Judge for serious self-defense work without first testing it double-action rather extensively-two hundred rounds of mixed-bag ammo, at least. The problems are fixable, but are of moderate severity, IMO. No worse than many 1911's. That said, I don't like a gun that I have to send back, work on myself, or have a gunsmith work on, to gain reliability.

I'm a strengths and weaknesses type guy when it comes to evaluation and this is a pretty big weakness IMO. Taurus could probably fix it and probably should, seein's how there are so many Judges out there now being relied upon for personal defense. I've been an advocate for the Judge, but now I have to report a significant deficiency. Be advised.

One more thing...I must stress, I had shot the gun extensively up to this point which must have occurred about two months ago (estimating). I just had not even thought to shoot it extensively double-action just to test it. It had always ignited primers on the rare occasion I did shoot it double action. I also watched a lot of videos on the Judge and read about it. Nothing was mentioned. So I had no idea this problem existed. Once I did, I made sure it was not some anomaly. It doesn't seem to be, so in the interests of safety and fairness, I have to report it.

I no longer believe that Taurus has a monopoly on gun issues. I have read (and believe based on personal experience) that about 40% of all guns from all manufacturers are defective from the factory.

I have five Taurus revolvers in my safe now. Two .38's, two .357's, and a .41. My relationship with Taurus goes back twenty years and has only been positive. Never spent one thin dime on repair for any thing with the Taurus stamp on it. Untold thousands of rounds through the .38's and magnums. The .41 is relatively new but no problems to date ( although I did not like the ribber grips and replaced them with a set from Hogue ).

I can honestly say that I would not hesitate to reach for any of them if things got sticky.

Thanks Cole, I do appreciate it. We have had a number of them traded back in for different brands of guns but nobody mentioned the misfire thing (no surprise there).

Hmmm, I have to admit I don't think I've run many (if ANY) shells through my Judge in double-action..

I'll test that little item later today and post back with results..

Good post, sir.. Informative indeed.. Kudos..

No problem. It was sort of difficult due to the heat I'd taken on this issue, but in the end it's all about honesty and safety. I also hate to come off as totally switching to the Governor, but it is what it is. I've still got the Judge and even carried it mowing yesterday. You can be assured though that when I tested the Governor I did quite a bit of double-action shooting, especially when a target was getting shot up pretty good. I intend to do more too.

I confirmed this wasn't just my experience by talking to the guy at the gunshow and also surfing the Taurus forums. I have to wonder how many people have not ever even fired the Judge double-action. It makes me wonder about my other double actions too.

I told you.

Thanks for the info Cole.

Why are you guys shooting your revolvers single action? That's heresy!


Travis

I have a judge public defender and my dad has a governor. I have shot both and I have shot my judge a fair amount....both in single and double action and I have not had any issues with misfire. The only complaint I have has already been mentioned and that's the "ribber" grips....the ribs started to tear on mine as well as being almost too short to get a good grip. I replaced them with Hogue grips and its much better balanced and shoots a lot better.

The governor is awesome....it is larger than my judge, but that is the only complaint. It is a Smith and they are by far the best revolver makers around. I would expect nothing bu perfection from a Smith and that's what they have achieved with this gun. You def pay for it though because they run around $250 more than the judge.

Bottom line, I am very happy with my judge....hasn't failed me yet and it's a fine firearm from a very good company

I don't know enough about the issue to know if it is linked to my particular variant or not. The guy I talked to said his kid's was just like mine. Mine is the 3", 3" in stainless. The Public Defender is smaller. I certainly wouldn't jump to the conclusion that all Judges are like this, but when I have two and they both are, I talk to one guy at a gunshow and he's had the experience on a Tracker plus his son has had the experience with his Judge PLUS there is enough action for a fix to be posted...I have to say something just so somebody doesn't pull the trigger on a bad guy and have a click instead of a boom.

I haven't shot my newest Judge much yet, but I will when I test the Governor with birdshot and I'll be shooting double action. We'll see if the ftf replicates itself and how much.

It's worth saying too that most of the vids on YouTube are shooting the Judge single action, IIRC.

I have practiced with my judge in self defense scenario of drawing and cocking at the same time, I would rather shoot SA anyway if possible

There are few things more wrong than shooting a double action, single action.




Travis

Try double-action with a Single-Six.. It's a 'revolver', isn't it?

Good form, Cole! Thanks for the info.



+1

I shoot my DA revolvers in SA for only three reasons. Load/accuracy testing, hunting, and extreme long-range practice. For everything else, it's DA.

Taurus revolvers...I've owned two.

The first was a model 431 .44spl. It was an excellent and perfectly functioning gun right from the start. Never had to do anything to it. It was accurate, had smooth action and a good trigger. The only reason I sold it was that I heard they were coming out with the same gun in round-butt configuration. They brought out the round-butt .44spl - but it wasn't the same gun. It was a 2" barrel, whereas the 431 was 3". Bad move on my part.

The second, and I still have it, was the model 94 .22lr. It did not function well from the box. But the fixes were minor work that cost less than sending it in to the factory would have. A little trigger work and cylinder gap work (the gap was so tight that carbon-fouling made it drag). Everything else about that 94 is truly great. However - Rimfire Central has plenty of reports regarding problems with the action on various 94's.

So problems with Taurus revolvers are hit & miss, it seems.

I recently had a chance to trade a Ruger SP101 for another Taurus 431. I decided to pass on it because I know the Ruger works 100% of the time, and the other gun - well...it's a Taurus. If I had the cash sitting around to buy it outright, I would have done so - but I'm not giving up a "known quantity" for one that may or may not work.

I still think all of those obese revolvers are peculiar.

Huh?


Travis

I was going by your exact wording.. Now, if you had said, "Why are you guys shooting your Judges single action?"...it would have made perfect sense..

In short, I was poking light fun at the generic word, 'revolvers'..

Did you ever try it with those red snap caps kids use? That way it would be more authentic. Oh and write "TACTICAL" on it somewhere and take pictures of it next to a tough-looking folder.



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