The Taurus Judge

It has been argued for decades that the best gun for personal home defense is the shotgun. Shotgun rounds typically fire a buck shot round, which means that the ammunition used contains several small pellets that are dispersed from the barrel when fired, as opposed to a traditional rifle or hand gun which fires one slug at a time. The reason for the argument of the shotgun is that most people don't have time to properly aim and fire at a threat when an intruder is in their home or their lives are being threatened. The shotgun allows the user to fire a barrage of bullets at once that spread apart further at greater distances, lowering the requirement for perfect aim and perfect breathing.

The shotgun, however, has its own faults. For one, the sheer size of many home defense shotguns makes it difficult to round corners and maneuver in tight spaces. The large size of the shotgun also makes it an easier target for an assailant or burglar to grab for. If the bad guy has more to grab for, his chances of pulling the weapon from the victim are increased. Second, shotguns are pump action weapons, meaning the user must manually chamber each round. This isn't too long of a process, but when seconds are crucial, it may mean the difference between success and failure in protecting the home and people within it.

Enter the Taurus Judge.

Offering the best of two worlds, the Taurus Judge is a revolver style handgun designed to fire .45 Colt rounds and 410 shotgun shells. It is rumored that the Judge got its name because of the number of judges who carried this weapon with them into the court room as an additional personal safety measure.

The Judges are available in several sizes and feature different size chambers. When originally introduced, the Judge was advertised as an "anti-carjacking" option, to be used at close range to fend off would be carjackers. Other uses for the weapon include home defense and as a snake pistol for outdoors-men.

As a home defense weapon, the Judge offers more maneuverability than a traditional shotgun and since the Judge is a revolver pistol the rounds don't have to be manually chambered as they do in a pump action shotgun.
The Taurus Judge can also be dually loaded with .45 and 410 rounds in the same chamber. This would be helpful in a tactical scenario by loading the first round to be fired as a .45 and the rest 410s. Since the first round fired in many gun fights is usually the most accurate, a .45 could be used to neutralize the threat and the 410s could be used as follow up rounds should the first round miss or fail. After the first round has been fired your position is more than likely given away, so following up with shotgun rounds allows the shooter to effectively engage a target without needing to worry as much about breathing and keeping the gun steady. When adrenaline is pumping and hearts are racing, many will find a shotgun round to be much more helpful than a slug round. This is especially true for those who have little experience with guns but still want an option to protect themselves in their home or car.

Overall, this pistol packs a wallop of a punch in a pretty compact frame. As of the day of this writing, few complaints have been reported against the Taurus Judge.

Sources:

Quinn, Jeff. Here Comes the Judge! GunBlast.Com

Taurus Judge Info. TaurusJudge.Net