By Cork Graham, publisher of GCT Magazine and Cork’s Outdoors.
It’s two in the morning. It’s dark. Your dog, sleeping peacefully at the foot of your bed when you turned out your side lamp, rustles you awake with a shake of its head and a flapping of its ears. He’s not barking, but he’s sniffing at the closed door of your bedroom.
You grab your pistol from the side table, make sure it’s loaded, and creep to the door. You open the door and follow right behind your dog, who peels off in the dark.
You hear scuffling and barking. There’s yelling at the dog. You respond with, “I’ve got a gun and I’ve called the police. You better get out of here!”
…But, the intruder doesn’t leave. Matter of fact you can hear your dog’s yelp as the intruder tries to grab your dog.
Any sane burglar would have been running for an escape the moment he realized his cover had been blown. This intruder is up to more than theft. This guy is nuts. This could likely turn into a worse nightmare than it already has been.
What to do?
Turning on the living room lights is a good start: bad guys seek the dark for their business. But, be sure that when everything’s lit up you’re ready, because it’ll force whoever is hiding to show themselves, and if they’re either seeking suicide or murder, or both, they’ll rush you.
For this very reason, a pump shotgun is the preferred choice for home defense. It makes an easily recognized sound when the action is worked, that would send any normal thinking person out the window. For those not so sane, a full load of buckshot to the chest would be the appropriate response.
The thing is that whichever piece of buckshot doesn’t plunge into the perp’s body, will likely drive right on into the nearest wall. If the consistency of that wall isn’t able to stop that buckshot, it’ll likely go through those walls, and might even have enough energy to make it next door. We’re not even going to talk about the potential of something like a full slug going through you walls, and possibly hitting an innocent bystander.
With the advent of the Taurus Judge, a remedy seemed available. Though multi-cartridge firearms have been around for years, this was the first viable multi-cartridge offering in a while. It shoots .45 Long Colt and .410 cartridges. We got our hands on Smith and Wesson own multi-cartridge offering and found it to be that much better: with moon clips that permit the user to also load .45 ACP.
As everyone who’s been in an ambush knows, those who make the most noise and get the most lead down range has the likelihood of gaining the upper-hand, even if you’re starting on the receiving end of that ambush. In a home invasion, those who draw first blood will likely take the night. This can be the stun of the blast of the shot. It can also be a glancing hit. At close range, under five to ten feet, the first shot, though perhaps not perfectly accurate, can easily be the determiner. If there’s more than just one projectile, so much the better.
Weighing in a 30 ounces, the Governor can be trying for some to use effectively, especially for those who don’t practice enough to have proper form. With a 2-3/4-inch barrel, on tpo of the extended cylinder, it shoots like a five-inch revolver.
Made of scandium metal alloy, the pistol holds six rounds. All rounds, the .45 ACP with moon clip, can be placed anywhere, but I like to load the shotshells as the first two or three as I’m seeing the pistol being used for surprise shots under five to ten feet away.
The trigger was a little over four-pounds and crisp. Cycling the cylinders on double-action is easy, as evidenced by the segment we shot for GCT TV. And even made it easy to keep the Crimson Trace sights on the target.
Most often the complaint has been that the pistol is “torque happy”. You need to practice with this weapon, like any weapon, to use it properly. Weak and limp wrists need not apply. This is also not a target shooting firearms. This is a killing weapon. You’re in a combat station, directing the energy of the weapon into the target. You’re not just holding up the firearm and trying to get a tight group on the paper during a weekend jaunt to the range. Good combat form during practice and you’ll have good form during a firefight.
PDX1 .410/.45 Defender Combo Pack
A good firearm is worth nothing if the ammo that’s driven out of its barrel isn’t up to snuff. When the Taurus Judge came onto the scene, many scrambled for a variety for birdshot options: 9, 8, 7, 4, 2 and BB were at the top of the list. A .410 just doesn’t have the capacity. So, many thought of the shotshell capability as viable only for snakes. Yes, birdshot isn’t just for snakes and vermin, at close range it is perfect for inside a house or apartment so that you don’t have projectiles flying through walls and knocking off some neighbor watching TV or eating a meal next door.
Winchester’s PDX1 combo pack offering is the perfect paring to the Governor. With it, you’re not only able to run with .45LC, but a .410 load that is more than efficient to take an intruder with three copper disks and 12 copper-plated BBs in the dark than with a single project coming out of the barrel at once. The smiley faces the three disks makes cutting paper, as recorded in the latest episode of GCT TV, is very impressive. Makes it easy to see what they’ll do punching into flesh.
I’d easily expect good enough energy out to ten feet with the disk, but not with the BBs. They really start spreading out at five feet. And while the BBs and disks would be flying at 1100 feet out of a long gun, they’re going at 750 out of a Governor. Still, they have been recorded as passing ten-inches into ballistic gel at 15 feet.
The other half of the twenty-round box is 225 grain hollow point .45 Long Colt. These are flying at 850fps and can take a big chunk out of your adversary. For home defense, I’d easily give this combination an enthusiastic, HOOYAH!
Cork Graham is the publisher of GCT Magazine and Cork’s Outdoors. A former CIA paramilitary operations officer and combat photographer, he wrote the international best-selling Vietnam prison/treasure hunt memoir The Bamboo Chest. For his latest books, writings, and appearances, follow him at www.corkgraham.com,Facebook and Twitter. He is a co-instructor with ETS, for more information visit:www.emergencytacticalskills.com
