Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Governor at the range. My video of what ammo works best.

Can't forget archery only bubba, ATV bubba, or beer drinking bubba.

I once had a Thunder 5, similar concept.

It went down the road.

DF

I've been around a Taurus Judge enough to know it's a silly concept. A regular revolver will take shot capsules for snakes, so there's really no advantage to the shotgun/revolver.

Another issue which I have yet to see addressed regarding shotgun revolvers is the lack of adjustable sights. If you decided to use one for hunting you are pretty much SOL if your loads don't shoot to POA. A full framed handgun that sucks for hunting, yet has a sight system normally found on concealed carry revolvers...which it's not worth a crap for either because it's huge.

I'm not real sure what the shotgun/revolver is good for, other than separating Bubba from his money.

I've owned two Judges and a Governor. The Governor is the correct execution of the concept the Judge popularized. I've shot them extensively as some of the posters on this thread know.

The bottom-line on the Judge is that the ones I've owned are unreliable when fired double action. In fact, Hickok was mentioned and I think I've probably shot them more extensively than he has. IIRC he did little, if any shooting double action. I own single actions and obviously they will not shoot without being cocked. If I own a double action though, I expect it to shoot properly both single and double action. To me, there is no reason to argue further about patterning, 45 Colt accuracy, etc. I want a double action to shoot double action.

The Governor is a more versatile gun in some respects, than the Judge. If you want a gun with 45 auto capability the Governor is for you. I don't really care about that and I'd really rather have the 3" chambers of the Judge than the Governor's 2 1/2" chambers and the 45 auto capability. But that's how it is. The Governor is fairly light and is easier packing to me, than my 44 Mag. Mountain Gun. I have a DeSantis for the Judge I no longer own and it is a sweet holster, but it wasn't made when I got the Governor. I bought like the third Governor I ever saw. I've got a custom-made holster for mine.

The Governor's accuracy with 45 Colt's is adequate as is the patterning with most self-defense loads as long as the range is close up. The Governor is surprisingly light too. The recoil is not bad as long as the 45 Colt loads are cowboy or standard. I would not shoot hot loads in this gun as they are not recommended. The Governor also shades the Taurus on capacity, carrying six shots rather than five, as was noted.

I like the Governor and don't trust the Judge. As an aside, I don't trust the Tracker either. They are a cute gun and one I wanted until I've heard the exact same stories from owners that I experienced with the Judge.

I've been shooting rats when I bushhog with .357 shot capsules loaded with #8 shot. It often takes 2 shots for each rat if they are big ones...and often there will be more than one rat. I've used a short double 12 gauge and a single shot 20 gauge before but it takes to long to get them in action from a tractor and they are a bit of overkill. You can call me Bubba cause I'm dying to try a Governor for this...

I'd probably take this setup, over a shotvolver

I had never liked the concept of the Judge before one of my ponds, which is not far from the house and which the kids frequently walk around, became infested with snakes one year. I shot a few with my Smith .44 MG and the shotshells just shredded the bastards. However, when I went to get some more they were very expensive. Seeing an opportunity, I bought a Judge which I'd previously thought was fugly. I admit to falling in love with the gun. For about a year I carried and shot the thing more than any other gun that I have. I further admit that some here loved flaming it and I was constantly shooting and patterning it to prove them wrong, sometimes with success and other times not so much. One day it struck me that if I really was to use it for self defense, I should be shooting it as I would for that, in double action. I don't think many Judge users fire theirs double action because the problems I had were duplicated across two guns. There are many versions of the Judge and maybe others with different versions don't have these problems. I won't say mine were an anomaly however, since several fixes for these problems exist on the Judge site and also I talked to a gun dealer whose son had identical problems and who had the same ones with his Tracker. I tried a couple of the fixes and they improved reliability but not to an acceptable level.

IMO the Judge could do what it is supposed to if Taurus would just be more careful in their manufacturing and qc processes. Then they'd have the Governor.

Nice Randall and fabulous holster. I bought my wife a Walker. She always loved one I had and traded off. So a couple of years back I spied a nice one and got it for her. She's also got a Colt Navy reissue.



Folks here are probably tired of this pic but I like posting it. Apologies in advance for the re-re-post.

You shot a pig in the head from the 4yd line and it died? While I don't make a habit of shooting pigs at 10', I'm going to go out on a limb and say a .40, .45, 9mm, .357, .224, or just about any other caliber bullet would have also resulted in a very dead pig.




Because there is no benefit to it. If I'm shooting something at 10yds I want the benefit of an expanding HP or the penetration of a hard cast. A .36 caliber ball going that speed is not an advantage.


Travis

Yeah. Let me run out and buy a .410 handgun for all those intruders that warrant deadly force and hide in front of the wall that separates us from my son's room so that I can not penetrate the wall for fear of hitting my son.

This is obviously a niche that needed filling in the handgun world.


Travis

I'm not understanding the reasoning in ammo being too expensive for one gun, so buying an entire gun to replace it? The money spent on a Taurus Judge would buy a lifetime worth of snake loads for a 44 mag.

I've seen the double action issues on a couple of other Taurus revolvers; the problem is certainly not limited to the Judge.
Taurus = Crap.

I don't see the benefit to it. I don't understand why you wouldn't just want a .250gr. Keith (as an example) hitting that target, as opposed to some .36 cal balls.



Travis

I want a Governor or Judge in 12 ga 3.5 inch

The pig shot with the ridiculous handgun tells me a lot.

For one, when butchering hogs, one doesn't want to kill them outright, you're only looking to stun the hog so you can hang them, slit their throats, and bleed them out. When their hearts are still pumping it acts sorta like a sump pump, and does a much better job of bleeding them out than if they are dead...which results in nasty pork.

For another, a 22 LR or even a short will do the job. I've killed several pigs outright with skull shots from a 22 LR at <10ft, so that must mean it's an awesome self defense weapon?

I worked for a Meat Packing company in the killing room when i was a teen and i killed 90 % of the Sausage Hogs and Beef Cattle with a Remington Single Shot 22 with Shorts , Bang Flop.

Yea,yea...You know everything. Bla,bla,bla... I cant tell if you are just confrontational or just stupid.

One 380fmj might not be the most effective tool but when 4 are shot simultaneously in a 2-3" area extrapolates its effectiveness considerably.

You either get it or you dont. You obviously are not in the market for one so give it up and stop wasting bandwidth.
The shotpistol is alot like giving a Bic lighter to a caveman. 8 out of 10 will see its usefulness but there will always be those 2 caveman that will scratch their ass with the lighter as they rub two sticks together.




Watch what Hickok45 says about the Shotpistol (and this is with a lower quality Judge).....

The irony of Smith & Wesson copying Taurus makes me smile......

That's a very poor analogy because a Bic lighter would make fire more efficiently than two sticks.



Travis

In the old days, a .36 caliber round ball settled many an argument but also caused quite a few lingering deaths. When well-placed, it worked reasonably well. However, they were also running 1000fps and therein lies a substantial difference between an 1851 Navy and a .410 with a barrel shorter than its cylinder. Especially if that .410 is firing hardened shot. Percussion guns use softer swaged balls and usually expand at least a little bit. That, coupled with their velocity makes them far more effective than any .410 scatterpistol. No amount of wishful thinking is going to change that.



Sad but very true.

My take on this thread is, you either like the concept of a handgun that fires shot shells or you don't