From a gunsamerica.com email blast: “Please note that we have taken down the Taurus 28 gauge revolver story. They removed the gun from the booth after a day and have decided not to make it.” So the question now becomes did Taurus ever intend to put the 28-gauge Raging Judge into production or was it a hoax designed to spoil the introduction of the Smith & Wesson Judge?
From what I can gather, the fact that it was larger caliber than .410 (and thus could not be considered a .45LC gun that just happened to chamber .410 shotshells) was the deciding factor.
It probably was too close to a “sawed-off shotgun” for the ATF to endorse it, without opening the floodgates of other models. And perhaps a legal challenge to the restrictions on sawed-off shotguns.
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Scam, sham, thank you ma’am.
On a side note the Fallout series of games now has another awesome obscure collectable gun to put in game…
LOL!
Ah corporate warfare at its best. I for one cannot believe that the lawyers at Taurus would have been dumb enough to not realize that a 28 gauge handgun would be illegal due to a bore size of ~.550 (If they are that dumb, then God help Taurus). So yea, I’m going to go with hoax.
Clearly, Robert, this was a “concept gun,” just like concept cars that are never intended to be greenlighted for production.
True dat. A genre is born.
To back up gunnutmegger:
http://michaelbane.blogspot.com/2011/01/impending-atf-letter-on-shotguns.html
Everything I’ve heard says BAFTE was claiming it would be a short-barreled shotgun, so it wouldn’t be really salable in the US. That kind of killed the point of making it.
The question is when did Taurus know that?
I am hearing reports on other blogs, that BATFE actually came up to Taurus at the show, to tell them it would be in violation.
I am not sure if you want me to post links to other blogs (competitors and all that), sorry I didn’t think of that the first time I responded.
Other links are cool. Bring it!
Ask and ye shall recieve (this story is linked by one them):
http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2011/01/25/big-gun-short-lived-taurus-28-gauge-revolver/
http://michaelbane.blogspot.com/2011/01/impending-atf-letter-on-shotguns.html
http://michaelbane.blogspot.com/2011/01/is-it-monday-yet.html
I think it’s pretty obvious this was an attempt to steal S&W’s thunder. And I’m not that upset about it. Especially when you consider that S&W was jumping on the “me too!” bandwagon – sad, when you consider the storied history of Smith & Wesson. I would have almost figured this was a pattern here for Taurus, given their carbine version of the Judge that was their NRA Show no-show, but they actually produced it and started selling them.
A bigger question for me, anyway, is if there is a market for oversized revolvers that shoot both cartridges and shells, why not come out with something in a .50 caliber (maybe shoot both .500 S&W and .50 A.E. loads) and get someone to produce what amounts to a .50 cal shotgun shell? It’s not like new calibers are a no-no. And if an ammo manufacturer is willing to produce something in .410 specifically for the original Judge, why would they not be willing to produce something that would fit in a .50 caliber handgun? Maybe they could collaborate with the guys making that bolo round and end up with the Mother of All Gimmick Guns (call it the Judge MAGGnum perhaps?) I hear Yosemite Sam is looking for work…do I smell endorsement deal?
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I was wondering what pistol round they were going to use as the cover guise, Mabe they got 38 ga mixed up with 28ga. 38ga is .50 cal. i bet 38ga is close enough to 500 s&w / 50 ae too get away with it.