BULLDOG’S CORNER
Da’ Judge!
What I’m talking about is what I’ve found to be what works best for the average home defense weapon.
There are those of us who have a twelve gauge next to the bed, those of us who have an AR next to the bed, those of us who have a snubby .38 next to the bed, and those of us who have a .44 magnum Anaconda for the uninvited visitor. And these all work well as long as you are comfortable with what you choose. What you choose is the best question to ask yourself. Most folks don’t have a wide variety to choose from. If that’s the case, get acquainted with your distances and limitations in your home. When you shoot at the range, take notice of your distances and relate them to your home. Not the outside, but the indoor distances from different locations. For example, from your bedroom door to your front door. Or maybe from your hallway to your back door and all other scenarios that could come into play in a bad situation.
All weapons are good if you are proficient with them, but if you are a part-time shooter or just have a weapon for bad times, take note. What I have found is a handgun with great stopping power and all-round home defense weapon is the Taurus Judge. This gun comes in a few variations of barrel length, but all shoot the.45 long colt and the .410 shotgun shell. Now a shotgun shell can do a lot of damage while limiting over penetration. There are a lot of loads to handle any kind of threat you may encounter. Find one that suits your needs. What I like about this weapon is that it fits into a nightstand drawer as well as a holster. The recoil is not as bad as you might think. In fact it’s not bad at all. We have a few of these and feel confident in using them if ever necessary. The key to using these is to practice with them. Get some bird shot and let the family get accustomed to it. Ammo companies have some very good .410 defense ammunition for this.
Bond Arms makes a derringer with the same calibers and it’s a very well made weapon. Then again, it’s a two shot. I also have a few of these and they are very good around the house while cutting grass or fence repair for snakes and other unwelcome varmints.
I call these “go to guns”. Bedside, front and back door, etc. Some folks use these for daily carry and it’s not a bad idea, but let that be your personal choice. It’s not a cure-all, but it’s handier than wheeling a rifle or shotgun in very close quarters.
National trainer Tom Givens, who has had 68 students involved in shooting incidents out of more than 40,000 students and more than 40 years as an instructor, did an evaluation of the Judge and .410 shotshells in handguns for SWAT magazine. From that article:
“The verdict?
I can’t find anything the Judge does well that a standard handgun won’t do better. At room ranges (5 to 7 yards) the buckshot pattern is so small that it must be aimed precisely, just like a handgun bullet, so there is no advantage there. Beyond that distance, danger to bystanders is simply too great to even consider using the gun. With bird shot, the Judge is essentially useless. With .45 ammo, it is a large, ungainly piece with poor accuracy.
As part of the testing he fired bird shot at 15 feet into a plastic water bottle and the few pellets that hit is simply bounced off, Also, a .410 slug load in the Judge launches a 90 grain projectile at less than 1,000 fps. In other words, it has the ballistics of a .380 ACP in a gun bigger and heaver than many .44 magnums. You don’t need much more info than that to know that the Judge is a bad idea for a defensive gun.
I agree with Tom’s assessment.
In 30+ years of working as a trainer, I have never found a documented case in which a civilian home defender had a negative outcome from “overpenetration”. This widely repeated gun myth causes people to choose birdshot, which isn’t recommended by any national level or law enforcement firearms training for use in shotguns for personal defense.
Similarly, the Bond Arms derringers are much harder to shoot than a similarly sized .380 semiauto, like the Glock 42. The semiautos hold more rounds, are easier to reload, and just as small, light and flat with much more capability.
I’m a graduate of more than 3000 hours of training from more than 80 different national schools and trainers. None of them recommend derringers or shotshell revolvers or birdshot loads in shotguns for personal defense. Readers of this article may want to consider that information when choosing a defensive firearm and ammunition.