Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing help w/ a taurus judge

I have a taurus SS Judge that I have returned to taurus four times with no resulation. the problum is when firing it with 410's the gun "locks' up. the cylinder will not open and the hammer will not cock, I have found that when this happens you can push the cylinder release forward , tap with small rubber hammer and the cylinder will open. Taurua says they fire it 20 to 30 times with no problem. Has anyone had this and what does it take to fix

Exact same Issues I had with Taurus customer service with my Tracker .41 mag. They never did fix it, and I'll not own a Taurus again.

how many times have you tried firing it?

Some guns just need to work in and slick up. try shooting a box or 2 through it. Then when they tell you to fire it 20-30, you can tell them you did 50-100 and it's still doing it

Never happened in mine.. But my main question is - what shells are you using? Factory loads? What size shot?

What I'm betting is happening is after it's fired, the shell case heads are either backing out a tad or the primer is.. That will lock it up and prevent rotation of the cyliner - i.e., it won't cock either.. Because the latch is operated and a little tap allows the cylinder release tells me the case heads are rubbing against the back of the frame..

First, try different ammo - let's say, skeet loads.. See how those work. Progress into heavier loads and see where the issue arrises..

Post back with results..

the factory told me to use either win or remington. at first i used estate and the brass would swell and ejection was a problem. this last time i used win AA # 6 out of 15 rounds we had 5 failures

Have fired beaucoup many .410 shotshells through a Judge with no such issues. A guy almost has to assume that the post-firing tightness issue has to do with primer or brass expanded/backed-out.

Does your Judge have the 2.5 inch shotshell chamber or the 3 inch chamber? 3 inch or 6 inch barrel?

Does it do anything similar when firing the .45LC rounds? Any evidence of backed-out primers with either round? If you have a mic, maybe check the base/case dia before and after firing to determine any extent of expansion.

This is an interesting situation. Hope you stay with us until it is resolved and reported.

Some folks are having problems with steel case heads on the shotgun ammo not contracting after firing and locking things up. Might want to check out Federal's new Judge ammo. It's designed with a brass shell head. The brass is designed to return to near original size after firing. They will be making it in twenty round boxes in size 4 and, I think, buck shot to start with. Don't know when it will be on dealers shelves.
If you don't have aproblem with the 45 casings, this sounds like your problem.
Bfly

The judge ammo patterns a lot better than other shotshells out of my gun.

My Judge did the same thing. It also would not reset the trigger using either factory .410 or .45 Colt. It went back to Taurus twice with no resolution. My local gunsmith fixed the timing and got it working most of the time. Now it will not shoot double action with .45 Colt reloads (WLP primers). I have gone back to carrying a .44 Mag with rat shot and solids.

I had exactly the same problem with a TAURUS Judge as described by roy67. My gun is brand new and has a 2.5 " shot chamber. I took it to a shooting range for the first time last week and after shooting 5 rounds of .410 ammo the gun locked up.
I could not release the empty shells from the cylinder, and the hammer and trigger were inoperative; completely frozen.
I sent the gun to Taurus for repair and am waiting on their reply. Anyone knows their response time or have any further suggestions or recommendations?