[Eagles6]

My buddy bought a Judge on a whim. Produced a 4'+ pattern at 10 yds with #4 with maybe half of the pellets hitting the vitals or the silhouette. Not something I would reccomend to a newbie for self defense or anyone else for that matter.

That being noted, as others have said, go rent, stick with quality and get trained

[Travis McGee]

The Taurus Judge, with a rifled barrel, purely sucks as a shotgun-handgun. The patterns are all over the place past 7 yards. Totally unpredictable swirls and tangents.

Closer than 7 yards, why not just shoot them with a bullet? If you are such a bad shot that you need a “shotgun revolver” at 5 yards, you should not have a gun, PERIOD.

Past 7 yards, the pellets will be all over the side of a wall, with many random fliers, due to the rifled barrel.

[WayneS]

Did he test the pattern at 10 feet?

Because that’s about what I would consider the effective range of a handheld shotgun.

A “Snakeslayer” two-shot Derringer is rather impressive at very close range, but its effectiveness drops off quickly at distances greater then 10-15’ (apart from its ability to deafen bystanders, that is).