Tuesday - February 15, 2011
the more things change …
Just as a quick follow up to the revolving shotgun post I did last week, based on a link Rich K sent me. I opened up the latest Blue Press catalog that Dillon Precision sends out every month, and in it is a review of the new Taurus Circuit Judge revolving shotgun rifle. Taurus - which is the same company as Rossi these days - makes a long cylinder .45 revolver called the Judge that can also fire .410 shotgun shells. It’s a very popular pistol that comes in several varieties, so to create another version they hung a long barrel and a forearm on the front end and screwed a T/C Contender style stock on the back, and are now selling it as a light rifle. This one might actually be useful, and might at least partially solve the old blow-by problem.
You can see that it really is nothing more than parts screwed on to their revolver; notice the big cut in the forearm to make room for the ejector rod. To deal with the blow-by problem, they’ve installed some half height shields on both sides of the front of the cylinder. Better than nothing, but I’d think full height shields would be better, especially since the scalloped shape of the forearm invites the shooter to hold it just in front of the cylinder.
The rifle has a 5 shot cylinder that fires .410 shells and .45 Colt cartridges just like the pistol version. Taurus packs a whole bunch of extra do-dads in the box, like a cylinder plug, a cleaning jag, a hammer spur and 2 kinds of screw in “choke” tube - one with straight ribs that attempts to take the spin out of the shot cup, and a smooth one that protects the threads for when you’re shooting bullets. And they hung a short Picatinny Rail on top - ie a Weaver base - so nearly blind shooters can hang a scope on this 75 yard gun. Everything has a Picatinny rail on it these days, so I guess that gives this little Cowboy Steampunk gun a “tactical” moniker as well.
A full review with lots of great pictures is over at Gun Blast. The Circuit Judge is 38” long with an 18.5” barrel, so it meets size standards for both rifles and shotguns. It weighs just a bit under 5 lb. Street price is under $475 NIB.
The Camp Rifle / Backpacker’s Gun / Light Rifle concept has been around forever, but it hasn’t got much play since Marlin pulled their Camp Carbines off the market a decade or so ago. [ d’oh, they tended to become machine guns when the parts wore down a little! ] Quite a number of small rifles exist, but they tend to fall in the “evil black rifle” “plastic fantastic” “assault weapon” categories. Many of them are at best marginal for hunting even small deer at moderate ranges, though this one comes close. Plus small rifles with revolver cylinders just look cool. They ooze charisma. And Camp Rifles are just plain fun to shoot, like the M1 Carbine or the aforementioned Marlins. They pack a lot more power than .22 rimfires, so it feels like you’re actually out shooting guns instead of squeezing the bullets out like you’re flicking watermelon seeds. They use less expensive ammo compared to full power rifles, especially if you load your own in bulk. They usually make great home defense guns and lightweight field guns. They’re all accurate enough for a 30 yard shot at a rabbit or a woodchuck or a javelina. But that’s about as far as they go. I know that deer can be harvested cleanly with a plain old .45 Colt, but I’m not confident in it. I’d want just a little more gun, just in case. Or a lot more gun, just because.
I’m happy to see actual wood and actual blued steel on the Circuit Judge, but I’d also like to see this one made to handle the .454 Casull cartridge like one of the Judge pistol variants can. That would make it far more versatile, and there would be no question at all about it being a 100-125 yard deer rifle when fed that ammunition. It would be a 75 yard black bear rifle as well, making for a great backwoods defender. The .454 Casull is a .45 Colt on double steroids. Compared to a .45 Colt, which can push a 255 grain bullet to 850 fps in a pistol, the .454 Casull can push a 300 grain bullet to 2000fps in a rifle. That equals the power of .45-70 factory ammo, a known deer slayer for 138 years now. Load the Circuit Judge with .45 Colt ammo and you’ve got a potent small game rifle for short ranges. And a little shotgun when you feed it .410 shells. So it would fall in the Survival Rifle category too. There is some rumor that this one will also have a smoothbore shotgun only variant, which would fully complete the circle started back in 1855 by Sam Colt. All in all I think this is a great little gun, and a lot more useful than the original Judge revolver.
The more things change ... the more things stay the same. The Hollywood / fiction authors Gun Stupid never goes away either. I was watching The Simpsons last night, the episode where Moe dates the little person. There’s a scene where everyone at the bar was looking out the window at Maggie, so to get their attention Moe takes his side by side shotgun out from under the bar, racks the action, and fires off a shot. So I guess the pump action double barrel will be the next oddball gun to build. It shouldn’t be too hard either; all you need is a good welding torch.
Posted by Drew458
on 02/15/2011 at 12:19 PM
Filed Under: • Guns and Gun Control •
• Comments (1)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Five Most Recent Trackbacks:
Once Again, The One And Only Post
(4 total trackbacks)
Tracked at iHaan.org
Thｅ advantage to having a guide with you is thɑt an expert will haѵe very first hand experience dealing and navigating the river with гegional wildlife. Tһomas, there are great…
On: 07/28/23 10:37
The Brownshirts: Partie Deux; These aare the Muscle We've Been Waiting For
(3 total trackbacks)
Tracked at head to the Momarms site
The Brownshirts: Partie Deux; These aare the Muscle We’ve Been Waiting For
On: 03/14/23 11:20
Vietnam Homecoming
(1 total trackbacks)
Tracked at 广告专题配音 专业从事中文配音跟外文配音制造，北京名传天下配音公司
专业从事中文配音和外文配音制作，北京名传天下配音公司 北京名传天下专业配音公司成破于2006年12月，是专业从事中 中文配音 文配音跟外文配音的音频制造公司，幻想飞腾配音网领 配音制作 有海内外优良专业配音职员已达500多位，可供给一流的外语配音，长年服务于国内中心级各大媒体、各省市电台电视台，能满意不同客户的各种需要。电话：010-83265555 北京名传天下专业配音公司…
On: 03/20/21 07:00
meaningless marching orders for a thousand travellers ... strife ahead ..
(1 total trackbacks)
Tracked at Casual Blog
[...] RTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPL [...]
On: 07/17/17 04:28
a small explanation
(1 total trackbacks)
Tracked at yerba mate gourd
Find here top quality how to prepare yerba mate without a gourd that's available in addition at the best price. Get it now!
On: 07/09/17 03:07
DISCLAIMER
THE SERVICES AND MATERIALS ON THIS WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE HOSTS OF THIS SITE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICE OR ANY MATERIALS.
Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:
It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.
- Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
- Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
- Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
- Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere
THE INFORMATION AND OTHER CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE ARE DESIGNED TO COMPLY WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS WEBSITE SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ALL PARTIES IRREVOCABLY SUBMIT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE AMERICAN COURTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPLICABLE IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY, THEN THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO BE ACCESSED BY PERSONS FROM THAT COUNTRY AND ANY PERSONS WHO ARE SUBJECT TO SUCH LAWS SHALL NOT BE ENTITLED TO USE OUR SERVICES UNLESS THEY CAN SATISFY US THAT SUCH USE WOULD BE LAWFUL.
Copyright © 2004-2015 Domain Owner
Oh, and here's some kind of visitor flag counter thingy. Hey, all the cool blogs have one, so I should too. The Visitors Online thingy up at the top doesn't count anything, but it looks neat. It had better, since I paid actual money for it.
RSS 2.0 
Atom 
