I have the Taurus Judge and love it. Bird shot is fine for snakes and scaring varmints but for anything else #4 buck is the minimum. They make plenty of loads designed for handguns including Hornady Critical Defense 410 Triple Defense. It starts with a 41 caliber FTX Slug followed by two 35 caliber round balls T 750 fps and 294 ft-lb. I don't think you want to get hit with that. And that's only the 2.5" round. There are many other rounds designed for a handgun that are shown in many YouTube videos. The Lehigh Defense Maximum Expansion comes to mind as being almost as long as the 410 shells and expands to almost an inch. You really need to watch the YouTube video. There are many other great loads featured on YouTube as well so before you make your decision, get all the facts. Mine is a blast to shoot and everyone that I let shoot mine thinks so too. Including a young lady.