As many here know I own a regular Judge and shoot it and carry it often. Since the "Raging" version of the Judge came out, I have wanted to get ahold of one and wring it out. They are not easy to find and I've seen less than half a dozen of them. Some of them are six shot .454 Casull's but some are seven shot 45 Colts, as opposed to the regular Judge being a five shot.

The new Raging model is actually a completely different gun. The frame is considerably bigger than the Judge's and I've already told about the greater capacity. Like the Judge, it is a .410 rifled pistol which handles cartridges too. Unlike its smaller brother, this pistol doesn't come in a 2 1/2" chambered version. All are 3" chambers and the barrel lengths are 3" or 6 1/2". Finishes are Blued carbon steel or Stainless.

My particular example is a Blued 3" barreled model. For those who are familiar with fairly recent cinema, the Judge looks pretty similar to the revolver in the movie Hellboy. So much so that images from the movie with that gun in it will pull up anytime you do an internet search. Basically the Raging Judge is an elongated frame gun similar to the X frame Smith and Wessons. Mine is the .454 Casull version. With it you can shoot 454 Casull, 45 Colt, 45 Schofield, 410 2 1/2" and 410 3" shells.





First shots out of the gun were 300 grain Hornady .454 open tips. This was my first time ever shooting the big Casull magnum, even though it's been out for years now. I did this the day I got it.




Ten shots from 45 Colt 250 grain Cowboy loads. Looks like I was a bit to the right with the first group. This is seven yards offhand, no type of rest. Then the last five were double-action.



300 Grainers, as in the first pic. About twenty yards away offhand, no rest.



250 Grain Hornady 454's from closer in overlaid with some buckshot and birdshot.



300 Grain Magtech FMC from about 15 yards overlaid with Federal #4 high brass 3" .410.

[img]http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m8/kiddglock/000_0780.jpg[/img]

225 grain Winchester JHP personal defense loads, double action overlaid with Remington #5 high brass.

[img]http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m8/kiddglock/000_0779-Copy.jpg[/img]


Obviously I'm not very experienced with the Casull. My impression is that the Raging Judge is more accurate with handgun ammo than the Judge is. It is about the same with birdshot. IMO it leaves something to be desired as you move farther away. I took a couple of shots close-in, at snake distance, and the birdshot should work fine, especially if you use 6's or above, for serpents. I took a few shots with Federal 000 buckshot and it should be fine at typical gunfight distances.

The worst thing about this gun is that the chambers are tight. With certain Federal .410 ammo, it was difficult to push the shotshells in although I accomplished it without forcing them too much. Extraction with these was sticky. Either these or the Remington 5's were difficult to rotate the cylinder, double-action with, for some reason. If you cocked the hammer and shot single action, it was fine, but double action was difficult.

Appearance is fine with a nice, deep blue. Fit and finish is good. I'm not an experienced .454 shooter, but the grips seemed to soak up the recoil pretty good. I haven't had to make a trip to the hospital yet. So far, so good. It's a heavy gun weighing over 5 lbs. I made some comment to the family when I brought it out from the gun dealer, about it weighing like "6 lbs.", thinking I was exaggerating. I think the longer barreled version actually does weigh over 6 lbs.

Recoil ranges from downright mild with Cowboy Colt loads to pretty savage with 454's. In between are the 45 self defense loads and the 410's. I would recommend the fairly heavy 45 Colt JHP's or Open Tips for self defense. Possibly alternate them with some buckshot if it makes you feel better. I'd use Federal Judge specific 2 1/2 inchers.

Overall, I think there might be 75 yard deer hunting accuracy there, but I haven't tried it on a rest. It is so big, you about need a rest for longer ranges. I think it is adequate for self-defense but you need to be strong enough to manipulate it, which is no mean feat. With the right shotshells, extraction isn't bad, but with the wrong ones, it gets hinky. Like the Judge, you need to see where your shot is going before relying on the shotshells for self-defense. The buckshot rounds seem much more powerful than any birdshot. Using the 2 1/2" shotshells seem to mitigate any extraction problems. Winchester high brass birdshot of either length, slides right in.

There are my first impressions of the new Raging Judge. It has its strengths and weaknesses, just like any other gun.

Seems pretty versatile. I used to have a .44 Mag barrel for my TC Contender handgun that had a screw in insert for shot loads that was supposed to nullify the rifling effect for use with shot loads. It guess they had survival application in mind. Shortly after I bought it, the ATF outlawed the insert. Said it made it into a sawed off shotgun. Good old ATF, ey?

I like the looks of that Raging Judge with the snubbie barrel. Good luck with it.

I would really like to get my hnads on one of these with the 6.5 bbl and play with backboring and other choke techniques. Maybe a removeable choke tube with straight rifling to stop the spinning action of any shot charges. That said, looks like yours is doing pretty good as it is, so long as the range is relatively short.

Thanks for the pics and report. I don't have a jdge, but am not a judge hater like some. I just wish they had issued it with some kind of removeable choke tube like T/C does on thier 410 Contenders. then, there is the old "Paradox" rifleing system that a gunsmith freind of mine is resurecting in some Ruger Blackhawks.

Cool report Cole, but you aren't supposed to shoot the red guy, he is the hostage!

Thanks, but no thanks.


Travis

He was a collaborator.

I caught that, too.

I owned a 5lb handgun once. I sold it when I realized that for another pound or less I could gain a couple hundred yards of effective range.

+1......... To both posts

The Raging seris guns with the dual lockup tend to be some of the most accurate revolvers made. I'll put a Taurus Raging Bull up against anything in the accuracy department; including a lot of custom guns.

I wouldn't the ones that I shot weren't that accurate and they chrono'ed a bit slow.. All 3 of them

I have tried a few Ruger SA revolvers in .45 Colt. They can be hot-rodded to hit as hard as anyone needs in a hunting handgun for this continent. They also seem to group pretty well with CCI shot loads - better than those that come in other calibers. They weigh 40oz.

I haven't shot one, the the 4" S$W 625 weighs about 42oz. Not currently available new, but I'm sure that Taurus makes something comparable.

Just sayin'.

BTW - I'm not just dissing the Judge here. I have the same dislike for the mega S$W revolvers - including the X-frames. I find them all to be....peculiar.

I think a handgun oughta be "handy". When they get that big, X-frames, Judges, etc. they aren't "handy" any longer. I'll pass them by, without any hesitation.

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.

Basically my thoughts on handgun hunting are that just about any handgun save for stuff like the Bison 45-70's or Contenders in rifle calibers, are way inferior to even "marginal" calibers like the 30-30. That said, I believe it was Maj. Douglass Wesson that took all that game, the biggest in the world such as Polar Bears, with a .357. So a .44 Mag. or hot 45 Colt would probably work for anything you wanted to hunt, which in my case would just be hog-size or so. But, a .454 would be mo-betta.

The .454 out of this gun is pretty vicious and I haven't even looked up different factory loads, but I'm guessing Buffalo Bore or others put out some much heavier or harder-hitting ones than these 300's I've got. This gun may only be 3" but it is a BIG, massive piece. 45 Colt Cowboy loads are like .38 Special target loads in an Officer's Model Colt.

Anyway, I know I can concentrate better and shoot this thing much better if I practice a bit. I haven't decided if I want to though. If I was going to Alaska after bear with a rifle, this might make a great backup, but I have no plans to do that.

I like some things about it and don't like others. Shooting a regular Judge afterwards is...nothing. I don't know, maybe it would be good to keep it around just to shoot once in awhile for comparison so the .44 Mag. and hot 45 Colt's feel wimpy.

I think I've put in three sessions with it in .454 and with the other two it really got me in the wrist, elbow and shoulder, especially that night and the next day. I'm not sore today though.

The .45 Auto in plus P is all the recoil from a handgun I want to handle today. The .44 mag is the most powerful handgun I've ever shot. I figure if I couldn't kill it with that I'd get a rifle.

How is a 454 "mo-betta"?? I have shot shot a lot of game with a 45 Colt in fact my longest kills are with the 45 Colt and a Ruger Bisley

In fact I took this Caribou with a Ruger Bisley in 45 Colt shooting a 310 grain LFN @ 1240 FPS. I killed this one at approximately 150 yards



My longest take with a revolver was altered 218 yards and that was a hog also shot with a Ruger Bisley in 45 Colt. The load was a 325 grain LFN @ 1375 FPS. Both kills were immediate


I strongly dissagree with this statement of yours as well "Basically my thoughts on handgun hunting are that just about any handgun save for stuff like the Bison 45-70's or Contenders in rifle calibers, are way inferior to even "marginal" calibers like the 30-30".
A big bore revolver properly loaded is a hell of a hammer on game. In fact if I had only 1 shot to stop a charging Grizz at bad breath distance I would rather have 1 of my big bores revolvers than my 338.

Yes I have used one on VERY LARGE GAME and speak from experience and not conjecture

lol I wondered how long you could stand it. Okay.

It's more powerful, or do you disagree? You think a hot-loaded 45 Colt is superior to a .454 for very big game, such as Grizzly. Okay, I've never shot one and you have. If I ever go to shoot a Grizzly I'll bear in mind that jwp said a 45 Colt was better than a .454 Casull.

You disagree that those are my thoughts? lol I have to say that you're wrong, they're indeed my thoughts.

Okay, so we've established that you'd rather have a 45 Colt than a .454 Casull. It's safe to extrapolate that you'd rather have the 45 Colt than a .480 or .500 too, right? Or is there something wrong with the .454 that I haven't heard of? Dude, if you'd rather have a 45 Colt to use on hogs or whitetails, than a 30-30 carbine, be my guest. I don't purport to be a handgun hunter on the order that you are. Again, those are my thoughts.

There you go again, Cole. These handguns (save for those Taurus monstrosities) aren't giving anything up to rifles. This moose wasn't feeling like I had used an inferior firearm on it (.500 Linebaugh loaded with 500 grain LFNs at a whopping 1,100 fps).



I too prefer the .45 Colt to the .454. The additional speed generally doesn't buy you anything more than more muzzle blast, recoil, and the potential for crimp pull. No thanks.

Cole, I have 7 454's 6 are FA-83's and the other is a custom RH. The point is the 454 and the 45 Colt shoot the same bullet and yes the 454 can shoot it faster. Once one starts taking game and shooting completely through them (exiting) with a more sedate cartridge and dropping them at the shot there is no more to be gained. I have shot completely through (exited) 1000 pound Bison with a 325 grain LFN flat point hard cast shot from a 45 Colt 6" barrel and blew snow into the air on the off side. I have also done the same thing with the 454

Now you tell me how is it "mo betta"????

IME it ain't it is simply more of the same, nothing wrong with a 454 and neither is there anything wrong with a 45 Colt

Post up the game that you have taken with one



Now to apply to the red portion of your post. That is how you interepted my post? Sad really sad if that is indeed how you took it

There are lots of things that are sad in life my friend, one of them being your continued nitwism.

What was Bullwinkle guilty of anyway? Did y'all give him a trial before you dropped the trap? lol

There are lots of things that are sad in life my friend, one of them being your continued nitwism. [/quote]


Persistent aggressive ignorance

Bristoe would say something like, "you're et up with the nitwit-itus".

I guess I don't understand the purpose of the Raging Judge. It seems too heavy and ungainly to pack in bear country, or for snake duty. Yet it's too short barreled and the sights suck for hunting use. Seems like a compromise on all fronts. Just my opinion.

You are spot on. The Judge/Raging Judges does many things, none of them well

When Whitworth and jwp post about their handgun loads, my hand starts to hurt.

Helluva moose Whitworth! Nice work.


Travis

An opinion shared by many...


Travis

Thanks, Travis!

Yea, you're really scaring the watermelons now. The only thing missing is the word "tactical".

So it was your typical Taurus POS?

No he's not "spot on" except in your world where many details are missed/ignored/not understood/et al



It is available in a longer barrel.

A 5 pound or more firearm that shoots a 410 shot at 600 to 700 FPS and doesn't pattern that well is not a great option for those with experience. A 45 Colt Bisely that is capable of hitting a pop can at over 100 yards and weighs much less with a six shot cylinder is a better option to most

Let's not even mention the Taurus quality or should I say lack there of

+ 1 jwp

The Raging Judge has yet to make its mark, but the Judge is the best selling revolver in the United States right now. Good or bad, like it or hate it, there it is.

Please inform us on what the Raging Judge does well.

Most that buy handguns are not good with them and has little to no field experience with the terminal performance of a handgun

No one ever stated that they didn't sell well, but that doesn't make them a great or even good idea

Not around here. Sales of them have tanked worse than piston AR's. Not only that, but most of them were bought by customers who weren't gun people.

Nationally, you may be right. I haven't seen the numbers so I won't speak to them.

Locally, I know they sold well when they were introduced. The "smaller" (it's all relative with the Judge) Circuit Judge or whatever the damn thing was called, sold very well for a bit.

That said, it was almost a fad and I don't see them moving much anymore.

A pard has one and it's fun to play with at the range. I wouldn't want to be a burglar at "house range" if he was home, but what weapon won't handle that chore? It's not for me, but if it gets people buying guns and armed I'm all for it.

George

Gotta agree George.

They don't do a thing for me but like you said, if it gets people armed it is a good thing.

Shame that a range report on a gun had to turn into a bashing contest.

Thanks again for the report & pictures Cole.

The main problem with the Raging Judge is its price. While you could use the argument for the standard Judge that it's relatively a bargain for those without a lot of money, not so with the RJ. For the same price (or less), you could buy just about any .44Mag or .45LC that Ruger makes and they'd all be better guns. Even a Smith 629 could be had for less than $100 more.

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=275973771

No .410 capability. Evidently the public wants something that shoots .410. Time will tell whether the Raging Judge approaches the popularity of its predecessor. I'm guessing it won't, but I couldn't have predicted the success of the Judge either. My guess is that the Governor will make serious inroads on the Judge unless the run is already over. The Raging Judge is a different gun and much bigger. There are a couple of other companies now making .410 revolvers too. Right now it is difficult to even find a Raging Judge, although the one in 45 Colt that a gun dealer I know has, is not moving.

CY, thanks for the review and the range report.

As Kevin Gibson says, the Raging series from Taurus are very nicely constructed revolvers and very accurate. I'd like to see what kind of groups you get shooting that thing off sandbags.

If I had a handgun that grouped like that @ 7 yards I'd throw it in the [bleep] trash.

Just my opinion.


Travis

Majority doesn't always get it right. Witness the last presidential election and how big a screw up that turned out to be.

.

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.

Cole - I appreciate your willingness to post your report and take the heat.

Exactly!! FreeMe you have a very practical approach to firearms. The exact same logic is why I feel the heavy loaded 45 Colt is the best hunting revolver produced today. A 6 shot Ruger Bisley can push a 325 grain flat point hard cast over 1300 FPS doin so in the low 30,000 PSI range. Loaded this way it is capable of taking ANY game animal on the NORTH AMERICAN CONTINENT HANDILY. The Revolver is lighter and much more shooter friendly than a 44 mag, and especially the 454 or larger bore revolver. All of this makes the 45 Colt "mo beta" as Cole would say

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.

Cole, I'm showing my ignorance here, but please explain what a "heat-treated cast bullet" is?

After casting the bullet is placed in the oven and heated to just below the melting point and then cooled sized lubed and shot. Makes the bullets harder than by simply loading them after casting. Dropping the bullet from the mould into a 5 gallon bucket of water works as well when casting with WW material

Good post and I concur. I'm reached that point in my life that when it comes to handguns if I can't kill it with a 1911 it don't need to die or I'm taking a rifle.

As an old man I just don't care for heavy recoil any more.

But how do you define heavy recoil? Some are traumatized by the .429 magnum.....

For me personally, anything heavier than the .45 Auto. For others who knows.

For rifles, .22 centerfires maybe the 6mm although I do like the .275 Rigby. A heavy rifle now days for me is a 30-30.

Hope that answers your question.