Has anyone googled the new Smith Governor? Is this for real?

Unfortunately...

SHOT Show: Smith & Wesson Unveils Taurus Judge Competitor: The Governor |

I was glad to see that the writer's assessment, as well as some of the comments, accurately reflected my experience using The Judge as a "critter gun". I sold it just as soon as I realized that it had about the same effective range as a Louisville Slugger, and it didn't take long for me to figure that out.........

I think it's great. **** that Taurus judge that keeps breaking !! I hope the S&W is a winner and sells thousands!

Here in Illinois the Governor always ends up in jail.......

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millbilly

A new low in a wrong direction for S&W, in my opinion. To put out an ugly gun with little value, just because Taurus has done so, simply makes it appear that S&W is now Taurus-North.

Disappointed.

That is seriously ugly and a shameful copy.

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Dyin ain't much of a livin

Sigh...

Every range shooting test I have seen online of a shotgun revolver involves one of those trick targets that highlights the impact point with high visibility colors. People think for some reason that this impressive color display equals some kind of performance for a defensive handgun. That is wrong.

A handgun/shotgun like the Judge and now the Governor are terrible defense weapons. They are flashy and absurd meant to appeal to the Desert Eagle crowd (specifically the crowd that thinks a DE is a great defense weapon). Shame on Smith and Wesson for a weapon of dubious performance that is a copy of a poor quality manufacturer.

I will predict the future; thick people will fill the cylinders of these absurd revolvers with .460 S&W Magnum loads (you know, for defense) and turn them into hand grenades. Hilarity ensues...

You forgot to mention the most important point and undoubtedly why Smith & Wesson is marketing "The Governor."

The Taurus Judge has been selling like hotcakes! Dealers around here can't keep them on their shelves and 3/4 of my shooting buddies own at least one variant.

I have no interest in this kind of revolver, but if Smith makes them, people buy them, and they turn a profit in the process, more power to them. That's what being in business is all about.

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Steve
NJ State Trooper (rtd)

Smith following Taurus - that can't be good.

Does the frame have a letter name yet?

I wonder if the frame fitted with a long barrel will allow S&W to make hunting revolvers more powerful than N frames but not so enormous as X frames. Dan Wesson's .445 and their equally long .41 cartridges might fit. It could be there's a revolver you guys all desperately need but you just don't know it yet.

Since Taurus has a .454 & 410 shot shell firing version of their Ragging Bull S&W might copy that thing next using a .460 X frame. The result will be a revolver with great 200 yd. ballistics and poor 15 yd. accuracy.

I guessing the next new S&W 22 auto will look like a Whitney Wolverine . . .

No, Smith next .22 auto is a M&P made in partnership with Walther. SKU's are 122000 for the 10 shot and 222000 for the 12 shot. They have a 4.1" barrel and a thumb safety.

Taurus also now has a 6.5" barrel revolver in 28 gauge!!!??? Nothing out there but some birdshot. Barrel would have to be rifled, so nice big patterns with small shot.

I'm another one no buying the .410 pistols.

CD

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De Oppresso Liber

'It has the IL and MIM parts - I'll never buy one!'

Of course, the first S&W here was the new 625MG in .45 Colt my wife shocked me with - with MIM parts. IL & MIM parts don't bother me. The MG could launch .45 Colts properly - including their shot shells. Then came 'da Judge'... I got to A - B one with my 625MG, .45 Colt-wise, at the range several years back. I can still taste my stomach contents. Nasty. The .410 shotshells were a joke. Shot placement, shot placement,... Da Governator aint for me...

Stainz

It's like drugs, just say no.

Why is it problematic for S&W to try to be competitive in a niche it previously had no presence in? For most purists (like many on this board) this new model may appear unattractive, misguided, etc., but from a business standpoint it appears to be a savvy decision to get a foothold in the Judge demographic. I have heard quite a bit lately from industry people that Taurus quality has plummeted over the last six months, with one local dealer refusing to carry the brand any longer. If this is accurate, then it seems that S&W is positioning itself nicely to capitalize on Taurus' misfortunes. And for S&W enthusiasts like ourselves, shouldn't we be applauding the company for taking chances and being innovative? Personally, I'm much happier seeing my dealer's shelves stocked with a variety of S&Ws rather than Tauruses.

Someone just asked about new calibers on an X frame.......there you go.

Yet another ugly new S&W I have no use for.

"Taurus North" indeed. Regards 18DAI.

OMG!

If S&W had to copy anything from Taurus, why couldn't they move the lock to the hammer like Taurus revolvers have? (I guess it is still there, I haven't looked at a Taurus revolver in years.)

Wanting to capitalize on market trends is one thing, but isn't this move by S&W rather like Porche coming out with an electric car that will go 40 miles at 30 mph?

Fellas, business is business. You sell or you die. The appearance of this gun is not what keeps me from purchasing it, it's the lack of function. It don't do anything I can't do with a stick.

I originally thought The Judge would make a good critter gun. I am usually in areas where the pigmy rattler is common. This little snake can easily crawl through the pattern these guns throw unless it's already crawling up my boot.

Good luck S&W maybe a matchlock the next time.

Sad - very sad.

I can hear the fans now: "Even Smith & Wesson make one now, what do you mean it's not good for anything"

It has one redeeming quality,the lovely and much appreciated IL.

I don't know. Do you think it would hurt if you were shot with one loaded with Winchester PDX1 .410 shells?

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Steve
NJ State Trooper (rtd)

A very bad joke has just been played on those of us who kneel at the alter of Smith and Wesson. This boarders on blasphemy. What next? Made in China!!

After 40 some years of Taurus making copies of Smith & Wesson handguns...............now S&W turns it around??????

FUGLY...............

The 410 handgun is the answer to a question that no one asked!!!!!!!!

Not for me.

It'll make them a lot of lovely money though.

It is just another monument to the current dumbed-down generation of shooters. Foolishness sells to the thoughtless.

Heck, yeah....it also hurts to get shot with a pellet gun, too.

Exactly!

I've no doubt they'll sell a passel of them.

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Steve
NJ State Trooper (rtd)

That must be Smith and Wessons new 'Y' frame.
Also as in 'Why?'

Allen Frame

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NRA cert.instructor&R.S.O.

Well Said Bro....

This is obviously a Self Defense Gun for the person who only wants to "shoot the bad guy a little bit..."

Well...not necessarily. I am certainly not arguing that this is a viable defense gun, but as previously pointed out, I wouldn't want to be shot with one...or even a pellet gun. If someone was attempting a car jacking, for example, and you shot them in the face at a range of a foot or two, let's say, I bet it would discourage them from proceeding.

Other than that, though, I wouldn't want to depend on this particular weapon for almost any other defensive scenario...unless this was the only weapon I had.

This ?!??!?

And they won't bring back the 696?

Well, to their credit, at least they didn't hype it like Ruger did with their newest offering with all the 'you must have one of these or you will no longer be able to live with yourself' pre-announcement advertising.

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" I said, good DAY! "

I doubt that it would discourage them from proceeding directly to civil court to sue you into oblivion...

Well, if a bad guy survived a shot in the face from about one foot away with a .410 load, I suppose they would be "hard headed" enough to try to sue!

Would rather see something useful like maybe a 9mm Night Guard on the discontinued K Frame 315. A sharp stick in this case maybe more useful

I see no harm in S&W making these or pink handled umbrellas if they make a profit on them - I just have no use for such and truly wonder who buys all that stuff ?

I've been a handgunner for over 40 years and in my less educated days I'll admit to buying a few that seemed like maybe a good idea at the time, but quickly found some other poor fool to take it off my hands so I could correct the mistake and buy something worth having. But . . . speaking entirely from personal opinion and judging no else's choices, I can't recall anything I ever dabbled in, however temporarily, that strikes me as useless as this presently discussed design. To me, this isn't even a solution in search of a problem. The poster who said "foolishness sold to the thoughtless" nailed it to my way of thinking.

If you want one, more power to you. That just means there may be another pre-lock N frame out there somewhere I'll have a shot at because some mope spent his bucks on a .410 revolver instead

Yeah, but does it have a lock?

I doubt that on their worst day DB Wesson or Carl Hellstrom would have allowed the name of Smith & Wesson to be put on such a butt ugly creation. Just think, in 30 or 40 years the young members will get to collect these gems. Whoo, whoo! As far as the new frame designation I have heard that it is considered a large frame and will be prefixed with BFU - short for " big friggin ugly."

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Doug

How many .25's and 32's have been sold over the years.Not my idea of a defensive handgun,but if they sell...

Yup, it even has and arrow on the barrel so they know which direction to point it! Guess thats to let everyone know that it's not like an IPod.

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Doug

+1 S&W is a business, if it makes them money, creates more gun owners and allows them to profit so they can keep making the other guns we buy and enjoy, it's a win for us all.

I will never condemn an American gunmaker for bringing out new products, even if I don't like the product personally......I don't care a bit for polymer revolvers but I was glad to see Ruger bring out the LCR. If they sell, more power to them. Rather see the lineup grow than shrink.

People say it's a "sad day" when S&W copies a Taurus.......I was more sad to see the Model 10 moved to the "Classic" lineup with sporadic batches coming out, rather than being a "production" gun like it has since 1899, now THAT is a sad day

Has anyone seen a MSRP on this yet? Yes, S&W does need to be competitive, and I'm glad to see the .45acp listed as an option for their model. But for those buyers who aren't gun nuts like most of you guys, but buying "just in case I need it", price will make the difference. If this is listed at $200+ the Taurus model,like some of the revolvers are, they won't steal much of their business away from them. Just saying--.

While we're all criticizing Smith and Wesson for what we think may be a poor decision, let's not forget that S&W just about went bellyup a couple times in the not so distant past and for a while even passed into foreign ownership. So if they're making a solid "business" decision based on market analysis, I won't get in line too fast to knock the idea. They're not in the business of pleasing pistoleros like us, but making money for their stockholders. Besides, I don't have to buy the thing if I don't like it or have confidence in it. Then I also recall a few handguns that we extolled as the solution to all pistol-problems and fell flat, plus a couple that the gunwriters declared poor ideas that have proved the test of time. The .41 magnum and the .357 come to mind. Once upon a time it was solumnly declared the new-fangled double action revolver would never replace the single-action.

It also seems to me that a lot of us have invested a lot of ink (figuratively speaking) knocking folks who can't hit the backside of a bull with a bass fiddle. Maybe for the lady (or the gentleman) who is confronted at close range could benefit from something only requires practicing once a decade and can just be pointed and shot. My wife of 33 years suffered a stroke a couple years ago and can't use her strong side too well. I'd rather see her carrying this thing than going unarmed with a big sign that reads "victim." I can't be with her every minute, so if this gets her through the night, I'm all for it.

Your entire post was well stated, and this in particular makes a good point. Not all firearms are made just for me, my tastes, and/or my abilities.

If I was in the market for this type of handgun, I would gladly pay $200 more for a S&W to get the quality and customer service over a Taurus. I would prefer to pay the same, but in order to get the S&W, I would pay more.

This is just plain wierd! Just a thought here, and maybe it's as wierd as the gun....

It's bound to be significantly more expensive than the Judge that it copies, so I don't expect it to be a brisk seller. Also, it's pretty clear that there will be a strong backlash from the S&W purists. Some of them don't like model numbers, some don't like MIM parts, and shocking but true, there are a hardcore handful that don't even like the intenal lock....

Let's change gears for a second.

I'd like to have a K-32. Most of us would (except for the handful that already have one).

I count myself to be very fortunate that I have a .22 Jet, a Model 52, and a factory nickel plated .38 Special Python (books say there's no such thing, but there is). These guns are interesting and desirable because they're rare (and a lot of fun). They have other things in common. None of them were great sellers, they had very limited appeal, and they didn't stick around.

I'm thinking that this Governor ain't gonna be around very long. All I know for sure is that if I get one, it won't become collectable. If I thumb my nose at it, it'll become worth more than its weight in cut and polished diamonds....

Nothing that appeals to me, but while I was in the LGS a couple of months ago, 2 guys came in looking for Judges in the space of 10 minutes. That correlates to the way that same shop cannot keep X Frames in stock, another gun that has no appeal for me. I'm just out of step with the gun-buying public and content with my Model 10's.
Chris

love em or hate em the judge is in very high demand.
i've handled a few and have considered getting one for a house gun but everyone of them that i've seen has a loose feeling cylinder that leads me to believe that they won't hold up well in the long run.
personally i think and hope that the smith is built better and if so i may buy one.

Today, I spoke with the owner of the LGS, just back from the SHOT. He said he ordered a large number of the new Governors.
He also mentioned that he is dropping the entire Taurus line, as about 1/3 of them are defective, causing him problems with his customers, and that Taurus' service department is of little help.

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-jwk-
US Army '72-'95

Why does this not shock me...

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Sie vis pacem parabellum