Taurus Judge .45 acp moon clips

[Hang Fire]

I just bought some UniqueTek .45 acp moon clips for the Taurus Judge, anybody ever use them?

[Kuato]

i used to work for Taurus. Don't use 45ACP in the Judge. It wasn't designed for it, the pressures are different & moonclips throw off the headspace.

[MikeS]

The only issue I could see in shooting 45ACP in the Judge would be the thickness of the case rim / moon clip combo being too thick and not letting the cylinder close. If you can close the cylinder with 45ACP's and the moon clips, I don't see how pressure could be an issue.

The thing I don't understand with any of the 45Colt / 410 shotshell pistols (or 45Colt/45ACP/410) is how can they be accurate when shooting 45's considering how long the cylinder is before it even gets to the throat! I had a Bond Arms 45Colt/410 derringer years ago, and while the barrel was 4" long (I think that's how long it was, but I'm just going from memory, so I could be wrong), but was mostly chamber, with the actual barrel portion being maybe one inch or so! I only ever shot 410 buckshot in it, as back then they didn't have the loads specially designed for handgun use like they do now. I also at one point owned a T/C Contender that was chambered in 44 Magnum, but the original owner had reamed the barrel so it would shoot 410 shotshells, I never shot 44's in it, and only shot birdshot out of it as I was concerned that anything else might be too much pressure for it. Now I'm sorry I sold both of those guns!

[stubshaft]

They aren't too accurate, at least the ones that I've owned and shot. Unless you call 3"@25yds accurate.

The last Encore barrel I had in 45/410 was a blast with shotshells but a bummer with regular 45LC loads. I can only imagine how much more dismal the accuracy would be with ACP's.

[Jim]

.....The thing I don't understand with any of the 45Colt / 410 shotshell pistols (or 45Colt/45ACP/410) is how can they be accurate when shooting 45's considering how long the cylinder is before it even gets to the throat!.....

Mike, if you get inside the chamber with a small, bright light, you can see that it has two diameters. The first stage, being larger, is for .45 Colt. Check both ends of one of the chambers with a caliper, you'll see what I'm talkin' about.

[Hang Fire]

The Judge and now the S&W Governor were designed as up close and personal defensive weapons. And in that role they are very well suited for the task, as they do not need to be real accurate out to beyond a few yards. I know the wife with her Judge in just a couple seconds, can DA unleash twenty five .36 caliber balls into center mass on a man size target at 20 feet. She can almost duplicate that with 5 rounds of .45 LC, and she is 70 years old.



http://hstrial-rchambers.homestead.com/P10100071.JPG

[jh45gun]

The Judge I shot at 7 yards that belongs to my friend was very accurate with the 45 ammo put them right where you aimed one inch high and kept repeating it. Now maybe at 25 yards it might be a different story but up close it was accurate same with the shot loads Nice close tight three to 4 inch clusters at that range.

[runfiverun]

you do know the pressure differences between the cartridges,,, right???
it's about 20% higher for the 45 acp.
that's how it gets almost the same velocity as the 45 colt does in the 3" longer bbl.

[Hang Fire]

you do know the pressure differences between the cartridges,,, right???
it's about 20% higher for the 45 acp.
that's how it gets almost the same velocity as the 45 colt does in the 3" longer bbl.

Yes I do know the difference in SAAMI specs, I also know why SAAMI lists those differences for factory ammo, because they have to take into account there are still many Colt 1873 SA black powder frame guns out there.

But I am not concerned as will be handloading, so nothing hot. I also know guys who for griz protection in Wyoming when bow hunting, are packing Judges running some hellashious 350 grain .45 LC loads in even the light framed Judges that are well up over 30,000 psi. I questioned the son-in-law when he told me this, but he said tests had been professionally run at way over those pressures with no failures.

Another example, they are making .45 acp conversion cylinders for the 1858 Remington C&B replicas, and the frames on them are no where as strong as those on the Judge.