When Taurus USA launched the first ever optics ready defensive revolvers, the 856 and 605 Taurus Optics Ready Option (T.O.R.O.) revolvers, consumers loved them. Now, Taurus launches the first extension to the T.O.R.O. revolver line: The Judge T.O.R.O. The most popular multi-caliber revolver on the market is now optics ready.

The Judge T.O.R.O. is available in four different models, all of which feature a 3 inch barrel, smooth double action trigger, and a fiber optic front sight if you don’t want to use the included optics plate. The four available models will be a stainless or matte black model with a cylinder that accepts 2.5 inch 410 shotshells, and stainless and matte black models that accept 3 inch 410 shotshells. The standard Judge T.O.R.O. and Magnum Judge T.O.R.O. optics plate accepts sights that fit the Holosun K-series or Shield RMSc footprints.

Taurus Judge TORO

“What’s better than a Judge? A Judge with a dot on it,” said Caleb Giddings, General Manager of Marketing for Taurus USA. “The Judge is without a doubt our most popular revolver, and adding a red dot to it just enhances its capabilities.”

The new Taurus Judge T.O.R.O. is shipping now, and MSRP will start at $615.99.

For more information on the Taurus Judge family of firearms, visit: https://www.taurususa.com/revolvers/taurus-judge

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40 COMMENTS

  1. A red dot on a gun designed for bad breath distance use? (My Taurus Public Defender keyholes at 10 yards.) C’mon . . . .

    • I can only assume there are loads in 45lc that work well. Never messed with the 410 45lc or 454/460 family of corteges so filing this under neat but evaluate further.

    • Scuzzi, but to what are you referring when you say “keyhole”? I’ve typically known (and used) that term over the years to denote a bullet that has tumbled in flight and hit the paper target sideways upon impact, leaving a “keyhole” cut instead of round.

      • Exactly. Punch paper with a Taurus PD at 10y and its clear that the round is tumbling.

        Again, for a “git off me!” gun where the typical expected range is double digit inches, who cares? For the distances it’s meant to be used at, a red dot is wholly unnecessary. At longer distances where the red dot might make some sense, the inherent inaccuracy of the gun makes it a waste.

        • Ah, gotcha. I thought perhaps you were mis-applying the term for normal paper punching, but it seems you knew what you were doing.

          I’m not a fan of RMRs or any optics on an EDC pistol, for the simple notion that any DGU will very likely occur quickly and at danger close proximity. Pistols with iron sights for me. Quality glass for deer rifle. Red dots suit me just fine for midrange such as a CQB carbine.

        • LKB – likely the twist rate of the rifling is very low, to accommodate for the use of shot shells. If the rifling makes less than 1/8 of a turn over the roughly 2″ of rifled barrel, bullet stability is likely just a dream…

          IMO, the old Lemat design makes more sense, if you want a combo gun, but I know of no modern variant.

        • XZX,
          With modern steels and .357, it wouldn’t even be all that bulky, and the fact that the shotgun barrel extends through the cylinder could allow for a shorter legal barrel in a carbine. That could be a perfect hunting or survival combo for wooded areas, maybe with a folding or collapsing stock.

        • Ummm

          357 Max, 28 ga, 8 or 9 chambers, OAL of carbine 28″, obviously must be break action, also available in 32HR Max? Probably weigh about 8 lbs?

          lol I’ll take one of each, long as they ain’t more than a hunnert dollars.

        • XZX,
          I agree about break action, but I’m curious how you’d get 28″ (10″ behind the shotgun barrel).

          I think it could be a lot lighter than 8lb, since it would basically just be a lightweight Savage combo gun plus a cylinder and some tiny revolver parts.

      • Very short pull. That was meant to be a minimum.

        You are probably right about the weight, at least unloaded. Lockup would have to be toplatch, imo. But that big cylinder is gonna add some. Single action only of course.

        Seems like it could work.

        l always liked the Lemat – one design where muzzle loading is actually sort of an advantage. Fearsome weapon.

        • Ah, OK. I think a collapsing stock could get it down to 22-23″ stowed, while still snapping out to a decent LOP. I was always a LeMat fan too!

          The big cylinder would have a big hole in it, so weight should be roughly proportional to capacity (think “harmonica gun” bars wrapped in a circle), i.e. ~1.5x standard.

          I think I’d keep DA, for situations like following up on a spooked deer. It doesn’t seem to adversely affect the ability to get a good SA pull on quality revolvers.

          I still think this would be a great idea for someone unable or unwilling to mess with NFA, but now I’m wondering (for NFA or military survival) if it would be possible to serve the same purpose with an M-203ish underbarrel shotgun. Can’t test due to stupid GG laws, though.

        • “so weight should be roughly proportional to capacity”

          Loaded, yes. DA too expensive, imo, also breakable.

          Somebody will have one in the local stores by next week, I bet – now that we have done the hard part.

        • I don’t know about you, but I’ll waive my royalties in exchange for one sample😉

          Cost: I looked it up and was surprised to find that Ruger’s DAs are a few hundred more than their comparable SAs. I think that must be more due to swing-out cylinders, though; the actual DA parts are a handful, priced in the single digits each.

          Early DAs were certainly fragile, but I don’t think many people have that problem with a Super Redhawk.

        • Maybe top break and swingout cancel out, expense-wise.

          Somebody told me that the ultimate survival gun was two or three M60 Marlins and a couple cases of 22LR. Could be.

          You know, Taurus could make one where the central barrel is a rifle (30 cal or 5.56?) and the cylinder is 410 as easy as pie.

          I’ll be waiting for the check. The return address from Brazil should be a sure tipoff.

    • I got a Circuit Judge carbine in the hopes that it would be serviceable as a short range deer rifle in .45 Colt, but I found that it may be that the extra free bore from the 3″ cylinder didn’t do any favors for the gun’s accuracy, even at 50 yards.

      Caveat: I did discover a loose screw on the scope rail and have since Locktited it, so I have some hope that if I take it back to the range it will perform better than it did. I don’t know how much of my issues was due to the scope jarring off zero.

      But in a 3″ barrel handgun designed for use at 5-7 yards, I doubt there’s a problem.

      But if I wanted a carriable .45 Colt DA revolver, I think I’d get a Charter Arms Bulldog instead (they’re the only ones who make one, as far as I know). The .410 is really kind of superflous.

    • I think they initially tried a 28ga revolver years ago but it fell under all kinds of illegal (above .50 for pistol) issues above and beyond the DD designation I think due to import laws. With that said this is vaguely remembered and very likely wrong on some of the key details but kinda want to see a 28ga revolver just for the silliness of it……..guessing about .55 cal

      • As a relentless optimizer, I’d love to see someone toe right up to the line (.460 or .500 shotshells), focused on defense rather than the very different (and increasingly irrelevant) hunting requirements.

        Either that, or an ’06 Basic-based shell for AR10s.

      • Found a few of those helping with clearing out a house from somewhere in the 90s vintage. Only ever saw them for sale in TN ………eastern section I think.

    • I consider taurus/rossi/heritage to be the high end of the low end… best of the cheap, etc.. I’ve had more problems with my gp100 than with my 65.. though when they switched from screws to pins on the 605 grips, that was just a bad design choice.. the judges are illegal here in the PRC anyway…

      • Different model obviously but did notice that for whatever reason my sp101 does not like starline 357 magnum brass (factory or reloads). Almost like the case head is just a fraction too thick and will bind up when one tries to close/rotate the cylinder despite being the same total length as other brand factory brass.

        • That’s odd. Color a couple with a sharpie, slip them in, and see where you get rub marks? I’ve had no problems with their 44 & 445 brass.

        • About 65-75% of the surface after a few tries had various levels of smudges and same re no issues with the 44 brass or 308

  5. I just don’t get these honestly, That Executive .38 Special looks like a fun revolver though.

    • Yeah, that one a couple of months back here in TTAG kinda spoke to me.

      (“Buy me!”)

  7. I guess I’ve been lucky and have never had any trouble out of the Taurus products I’ve owned. I keep my Judge loaded with the .410 buckshot loads. If anyone tries to carjack me they’re going to end up in a world of hurt.

  8. I’m very happy with my 3 inch Judge as a nightstand gun. Some how I think being hit with 5 buck pellets, per trigger pull, will stop any home invader. And if necessary this is a one handed gun to operate.
    Good luck to you having been woken up a 3am, and trying to clear a malfunction on your semi auto gun.

    With caliber adapters I can shoot 9 different calibers of ammunition. I can always find ammo from my judge to shoot.

    • Buckshot is very lethal, but not a stopper. You will get more stopping power from a slug.

      Counter-intuitive, but true.

      • I suspect you are correct. Unfortunately the “gun community” believes only 9mm or 45acp or 5.56/223 will stop a home invader. There is almost no testing on 410 for penetration on you tube.

        But I think an AR15 in 410 buck shot. With a binary trigger will stop any home invader. And over penetration would be less of a concern. But my wall repair bill might get expensive.

  9. YR 2014 ~ 16 , TRIED OUT WITH TAURUS JUDGE 2.5 ~ 3 ” , 45 COLT SEEM ALWAYS SHOOT 3~4″ TO THE LEFT OF THE THREE TYPES USED , SO SO ,
    THE 410 SHOT GROUP SO SO SPREAD , KEEP THE 2.5″ POLYMER AND 3″ FOR NOW ,

    2017 GOT S&W GOVERNOR WHAT A WINNER , FORGET TAURUS SAVE YOUR MONEY .
    GOVERNOR WITH MOON CLIPS HAVE ENJOYED 45 ACP , CAN ALWAYS FIND IT AT FAIR PRICE ,
    PRICE OF 45 COLT AND GETTING 410 DIFFERANT TYPE AMMO ??
    GROUP PATTERN ON TARGET 410 BETTER THAN TAURUS , SIGHTS ON TARGET 45 COLT AND 45 ACP . A KEEPER . S&W GOVR MY GUN ,

    TAURUS LET KID SHOOT WHEN HE WANTS HAND TYPE 410 . STILL THE POLYMER 2.5″ TAURUS 5 SHOT EASY TO CARRY . WILL KEEP . THE OTHER TAURUS CAUSE IT CAN SHOOT 3″ KEEP IT .

    EACH TO THEIR OWN

  10. My first gun was a Judge/3” barrel. I bought it for snakes and it did that well. But .410 isn’t a self defense round except for the Hornaday with a .41 caliber mini ball and a buck shot follower. Nothing else had enough penetration. .45 Long Colt has the penetration but is expensive. I found the Judge to be more difficult to maintain accuracy than my SW 686+. And since my .38 special snub nose takes the CCI snake shot, it does the snakes just fine. No need for the Judge anymore.

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