My Judge, 3x3, (called) Magnum (Hmph!)
For a good price, prowl around on Gun Broker. I snagged a 3"x3" judge for $350, NIB, with a Blackhawk SERPA holster. The bad news: the locking tab for the Judge is for a 2½", not my 3-inch. Just for funzies I tried the bird-shot at news-paper sheets, about 20-25 ft. 16 pellets showing, out of the single round. A toy. Totally UN-remarkable; I gave the rest of the box away. My set-up was a single sheet of newspaper near the muzzle to print a pattern, then a grocery sack filled with really wet newspapers on down-range to about 30-ft. .45C was next, holding 12" circle all day long into wetted newspaper stacks, penetration was only 3-3½". Judge is really easy to aim well, and the heft helps with the recoil, which is negligible once you're used to it. HUGE fire-ball at night! Kept 25 .45C rounds into 12"-14" circle @ 20-ft. Would not want to face any home-owner armed with a Judge. Next ran one box of 2½", ⅕oz. rifled slugs, expecting the bore rifling to synergize w/ the slug rifling, but noticed no evidence of that. 20-ft. patterns were 8-9-inches. Penetration in wet-pack nearly 6". Pretty convincing wound-simulation from these snappy little 2½" rounds. Tried 2 boxes of PDX1 next. Both 3", one having 4/16=discs to BBs @ stated 750fps, and the other with 3/12=discs/BBs ratio, 850fps. Speeds are probably full-length shotgun barrel figures. Both types of D/BB rounds tore a 5-6" hole in newspaper @ 10-ft., and damaged the wet newsprint enough that if it were an intruder, he would be made bloody, but not convinced to stop intruding, IMHO. But there IS a good deal of flash from the muzzle. Next came some 3-in., #6 shot, speed of 1325fps. These made tight holes in the newspaper, and reached on out to totally tear up the wet-pack. These would be my favorite, along w/ a 3-in. rifled slug ("Magnum"). I would not depend on any shot-shell configuration except for rabid squirrels or snakes. I like my Judge, and will use it mostly HD and fun plinking.