No, you can't use the .454 Casull...

I hope nobody at the same range that was unaware of the negligent stupidity of their neighbor was hurt.

While I hope the shooter wasn't hurt, I can't help but feel more sympathy to those who might have been hurt who were not responsible for the action.
 
You can use anything that "fits" in a revolver. And, its true, you can use anything that fits, the same way any ship can be a minesweeper. ONCE.:eek:
 
You can use anything that "fits" in a revolver.
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That used to be taken into account more when making new guns and new rounds. Such as making the .357mag case longer than the .38 to avoid using it in a .38 not designed to handle the pressure. What happened? I do not think the judge was a good plan in the first place but I think I would have designed it to account for, what can happen will eventually happen. Excluding hand loads because you can not design for all those possibilities. If the cost was too much to do that then maybe it should not have been made.
 
Sorry, but I'm a hair skeptical of this. First and foremost, a .454 Casull round shouldn't even chamber in a standard Judge in the first place. I know this because, out of curiosity, I tried to load a .454 Casull into the chamber of a Judge several years ago just to see if it would fit (I had no intention of attempting to fire it). The .454 cartridge would not fully chamber in much the same manner as trying to load a .357 Magnum cartridge in a .38 Special cylinder.

The reason for this is because, like most other revolvers, the Judge has a step machined into the chamber which prevents the longer .454 cartridge from going all the way in. A .410 shotshell can fully chamber because it is smaller in diameter than a .45 Long Colt and thus can slip past the step and into the elongated chamber throat.

The way I see it, the picture provided is of one of two things: either the revolver was grossly out-of-spec to allow a .454 Casull to chamber or, more likely since the photo is too blurry to make out a headstamp, an overpressure .45 Long Colt cartridge was fired (probably a handload).
 
Was your Judge the 2 1/2" version or the 3" version?
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I don't recall as the gun didn't belong to me (it was in a local shop and I tried my experiment with the owner's permission). It doesn't really matter anyway as even the 2 1/2" version would have a cylinder much longer than a .454 Casull as that cartridge's maximum OAL is 1.77"
 
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