The Taurus Judge (4510) is currently one of the most popular revolvers on the market, and is Taurus's most popular handgun. It is a 5-shot revolver that is designed to chamber 2.5-inch .410 shotgun shells & .45 Colt (.45 Long Colt) for "personal defense", the example Taurus loves to push its marketing material. Originally, The Judge was simply called the "4410". However, Bob Morrison, Executive Vice President, learned that court judges in high-crime areas had picked the 4410 as their primary defense weapon for the courtroom. Shortly after making this discovery, Taurus changed the revolver model to the 4510, and had "The Judge" engraved into the barrel. The 4410 and 4510 revolvers are essentially the same except for the new "The Judge" name and the model 4510 that better reflects the guns capabilities (implying both .45 and .410). Taurus has also released a 3" magnum version of the gun that can handle 3" .410 shotgun shells which vastly increases the ease of finding ammo.

	The Taurus Judge

The Judge is a revolver so naturally it's incredibly simple. It can be easily cleaned with the proper cleaning/lubricating chemicals without disassembly. As for jamming, they basically don't happen. The closest thing you might get to a jam with this gun is if one of the .410 shells gets stuck in the cylinder after being fired which is remedied by simply pressing on the extractor rod and clearing the cylinder. Also like most revolvers it lacks a safety, so there are no worries if you have to pull this thing out and make a zombie re-dead in a hurry.

Effectiveness of this gun varies greatly with range. At long range the gun is essentially useless. If you can hit what you're trying to hit, it will be effective. However, hitting anything at long range with this gun is difficult due to its short barrel. At medium range the gun becomes more effective with the proper ammunition. Quality .45 Colt ammo is fairly accurate, but some say the amount of distance the bullet has to travel down the smooth chamber before it gets to the rifled barrel hurts accuracy. .410 slugs on the other hand are deadly accurate out of this gun; if you can aim properly you'll probably hit your target within 20 yards. Where the judge really shines is at close range. .410 shells of bird-shot through buckshot have a very large spread pattern at a very short distance, so ideally you want to save this gun for a last resort. At close range the .45 Colt and .410 slugs have plenty of stopping power, the shells however don't have the oomph to have exceptional stopping power, but the 00 buck should get the job done.

	A Taurus Judge with .410 shotshells and .45 Colt HPs

Ammo for the judge is unique, being that it uses .45 Colt and .410 shot shells, the ammunition almost has to be broken up into two parts. First I'll cover the .45 colt and .410 slugs. Both of these types of ammunition are not nearly as common as say a 9mm, but these provide the best accuracy and stopping power out of the judge, and for the most part any sporting goods store should at least have SOME .410 slugs whether they are 3" or 2.5".

.410 shot shells are far more common than the .45 colt and .410 slugs, and like a regular shotgun the .410 shot shells have different types of loads from bird shot to 00 Buck. The bird shot is essentially useless especially to the undead considering they can't feel pain, and that's all the .410 birdshot inflicts, well maybe blindness too. When you step up to the buck shot the gun becomes lethal again, however .410 buck is less-than-easy to find. However, recently Federal released a 2.5-inch .410 handgun specific shell that contains 4 jacketed 00 buck, so 2.5-inch buck is a little more common now. If you have a 3-inch judge you can get the big .410 buck which contains 5 00 Buck pellets. At close range these will put a big hole in anything, but again the .410 shot lacks the "oomph" to do the damage that a slug or .45 Colt would produce.

The Judge comes in many flavors. There are the basic 2.5-inch and 3-inch chambers. Beyond that you can get barrel lengths of 3-inch, 4-inch and 6.5-inch with weights ranging from 22oz to 36oz depending on the build material (standard steel or alloy model). The Judge is very portable, and is a great back-up weapon that could be strapped anywhere with the appropriate holster.

The Judge is an ideal back-up weapon. Carrying one or two of these on you in case of a major "in your face emergency" would be recommended. The Combination of compact reliable power, coupled with the versatility of being able to shoot a shotgun shell as well as a standard cartridge makes this gun pretty versatile depending on the scenario you're in. The only major downfalls of The Judge are its low 5-round capacity and its limited stopping power when using shot shells.