Believe I have a load for the Public Defender sorted out. The shotgun aspect is interesting but of limited value to me... the oddball chamber dimensions presented some challenges in finding a usefully-accurate load. I eventually loaded a swaged .454" bullet and to cut down the distance the bullet had to jump, I loaded these out to 1.720”. You have to admit that the 45 Colt, loaded to this length, has a certain 19th century charm about it.

Be advised that loaded to this length, my Ruger Vaquero wouldn’t chamber them. But they dropped right into the Public Defender and that what I was after. Shoots well enough for a shotgun/snub at 25 yards. Now to perfect the zero.

More here:

http://www.thesixgunjournal.net/the-taurus-public-defender-45-colt410-snubnose-revolver/

I always enjoy your post`s and I learn some things too!!!

A buddy has the longer barrelled version and I was not impressed. Interesting to see there are options. Thank you.

I was helping the Missus clean off the back porch of our old farmhouse today... something we've been needing to do as it contained 25 years of other relatives' set-asides. I heard her "EeeeeeK!" and discovered that she'd moved a box with three mice in it. Don't know if the were blind, as we didn't visit long.

I threw the box outside and discovered that if a 410 revolver isn't good for anything else, WW #6's will annihilate three mice with one shot, provided they are polite enough to gather in one spot. A 'triple' on mice! Now if I could just get doves to do that!

Nm

I'd read that some of these revolvers will accept 45 ACP in Taurus's little 5-shot 'Stellar' clip intended for their Model 455 snubnose. Some won't; the difference being about 0.008" as near as I could tell. Anyhow I ordered a 5 pack of moon clips and determined to make them work.

Near as I can tell, I removed about 0.007" from the recoil plate before the clips would drop in and turn freely with ACP cartridges in place. The firing pin still sits below flush and headspace has not changed significantly, so there should be no negatives with this modification for standard-pressure 45 Colt of 410 shot-shells. It did require a complete tear-down and I slicked things up a little, while I was in there.

I've got half a three-pound coffee can of lead-bullet 45 ACP loads left, so we'll soon know how well the gun shoots with them. I don't expect it'll be a tack driver but I'm tickled to have added a layer of versatility to an already versatile fivegun.

I ran a few ‘clips’ through the gun this morning and there were no problems to report. The target represents 20 rounds fired DA at 15 yards and I flubbed a few out of the bull until I figured out I needed to hold just under the red dot on the target. There was some key-holing but I didn’t bother cleaning the bore and it was already leaded up from yesterday's shooting. The same hold yielded consistent hits on 6” falling plates.

Man, this gun is dirty. The chambers look like old sewer pipe.

MUCH better than I would have guessed.