Firing tests with Governor, review, impressions (yet another)

Perhaps the only people with patience for this long post will be those shopping for a Governor. For what it's worth I've read or watched every review out there and with doubts in mind I still bought the Governor for fun on the range, woods, fishing gun and home defense. One of The most fun guns I've ever owned and much more accurate at full pistol range than I imagined it would be. I've done a bunch of shot shell testing because in my opinion this option deserves the most analysis. This matches results of some other tests on the web.

General impressions, gun may not be light but not heavy either, fits my hand nicely, love the factory grip much better than the Crimson Trace laser grip. Glow in dark sights are awesome but wish they would do same for rear. Trigger not too heavy, more medium but smooth and I can feel exactly where it fires by feel. Not something I could ever do with my Taurus. Single action is crisp, gun just feels solid. Love the finish. Not as bad a kick as I expected and my wife loves to shoot it. Her 442 38 hurts my hand worse afterwards.

410 tests - Tested at all common distances measured in my 2300 sq ft home. Average distance 10-15 feet with several 25 foot distances. Longest shot possible under 30ft.

Option 1 Federal home defense handgun 2-1/2", four 000 buckshot in red cart. This, to my surprise was the best performer with 3" groups at 10-15 feet and baseball sized or slightly larger from 20-25 feet. Basket ball size group with occassional single fly aways beyond 30-35 feet which is more like distances in my yard not my home. 1200 fps max on box, so it's a powerful shell and a good kick. Penetrates objects like large metal buckets full of water at full distances with no problem and quite a punch. With FOUR big holes. Empties do NOT stick in the cylinder when unloading, ever. They fall out. They also come in a box of 20 for only 12.00 dollars Walmart (available).

Option 2 - Winchester PDX1 410 shells with 3 disks and 12 BBs. The discs punch 3 tight holes at nice 25 foot distances and pretty consistent but the BBs are wild after about 10-15 feet in my Governor. Great snake gun or close up blaster. A 10 foot shot in a bedroom would be great. Empties like to stick some trouble ejecting after a few sets.

Option 3 - Remington HD 410 ultimate home defense shells with 4 lead 00 buckhot and a rated up to 1300fps. Only 15 in box and more expensive, 16$. I thought this would be so good I left my gun loaded with them for a while then on the range they seemed to be much more loose and random than the Federal 000 bucks. I guess these would be hell close up. Pure hell in a room size. They like to stick perhaps slightly more than the PDX1 Win.

Option 4 - 410 four rubber buckshot. Not too practical for defense. Pack of 5. I've heard they are a non lethal tool for animals but who knows, I just thought it would be cool to have a couple.

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Other rounds 45 acp, LC

The TulAmmo 45 acp rounds, what was I thinking, like to stick, and so bad you have to stop shooting them. They gave them to me when I bought the gun, shrug.

S&B 45ACP FMJ - cheap but decent practice ammo with no misfires or issues. I think these are ones with red on primer?

Federal 45acp FMJ - no issues here either.

Long Colt - Speer Gold Dot 250grain GDHP personal protection. Best rounds I've tested in the gun in this caliber to date.

Remington ultimate defense HP 45acp - another awesome round for defense that works really well in this gun.

Last Comments: Been loading it with a combination of two or four 410 federal 000 along with two or four 45acp remington defense. Have two other moon clips of 45acp handy and I just keep the 45 LC rounds tucked away for later.

P.S this guy on youtube made part 1,2,3 videos testing most of the shells above and his results were the most accurate and helpful I have found to date. These are well worth watching, unlike the other 95% of unhelpful iphone crud on youtube. ENJOY

S&W Governor Part 1 - YouTube

Nice and thorough overview. I've noted similar performance from some of the 410 rounds. I'll be printing this post for reference.

What was the cheapest quality .45 colt practice round cost?

Thanks.

Excellent, informative, review LittleBrother!

Thanks for taking the time to share it with us

LittleBrother, I've read many of the threads about the Governor but yours, to me, has been the most thought provoking and, because of this, I'm now "on the fence" when it comes to the Governor. Somewhere I never thought I'd be after my experience with The Judge.

You can read about my experience here.

http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-revolvers-1980-present/204315-governor-410-loads-2.html

I sold my Judge (3" chambers) just prior to the ammo companies releasing their handgun specific .410 loads so my experience was with traditional .410 ammo and, it seems, as if the new offerings may have dramatically changed the playing field since then.

I haven't paid close attention to exactly what the ammo manufacturers did to make their new offerings better suited to the short barrels, but, and correct me if I'm wrong, one of the things they changed was the wadding?

Prior to getting the Judge I did some checking because I was curious as to how the traditional .410 ammo would perform, velocity-wise, in such short barrels. I read somewhere, and I may be wrong once again, that the "old school" rounds required a minumum of 18"-19" of barrel length to get full powder burn and have a chance to reach the manufacturers stated velocities.

Would you happen to know if the new offerings use a different powder that would help them reach the velocities called out by the manufacturers in such short barrels??

I know most ammo manufacturers use special "test barrels" when determining their velocities, unlike Buffalo Bore who uses over the counter handguns for this purpose.

After The Judge I never thought I would even consider another .410 Revolver, but, while the Governor is of the same "species", it seems like a different breed entirely. There is no doubt that the Gov is far more versatile than The Judge, so, when coupled with the new rounds, as well as your review, I'm now taking another look........

Moonclips

Do you have to use the Moonclips with the .45ACP with the Governor?

Moonclips

Yes..Moonclips are required for .45ACP.

Excellent, informative review and range report.

However, read this thread:

http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-revolvers-1980-present/210198-hoppes-9-will-damage-governor.html

Worth knowing, especially to us die-hard Hoppe's No. 9 fans, or if you already own one and intend on using it. CLP/Break-free is probably useable though. Sounds like several newer S&Ws with these kind of finishes or the clear coat ones like the 442 may be vulnerable.

Glad you found my YouTube videos helpful, the Governor impressed me way beyond my expectations.

LittleBrother said:

P.S this guy on youtube made part 1,2,3 videos testing most of the shells above and his results were the most accurate and helpful I have found to date. These are well worth watching, unlike the other 95% of unhelpful iphone crud on youtube. ENJOY

S&W Governor Part 1 - YouTube

Click to expand...

Well, it's all a moot point now. I went by my local gun shop, and while they didn't have a new Governor in stock, they had just put a used one out in the case, one that appears to have been fired very little. Box, moon clips, lock, all there with the Factory fired cartridge dated June.

$525 and now it's mine.......

With all due respect to the range reports I've read so far, I'm going to hold off judgement on it's effectiveness until I've tested it on live targets. I have two 'coons that have been hangin' around the barns for about a week now and I've already given them the harassment bit trying to run 'em off. Their warning period is about over.......

I also picked up two types of handgun specific .410 loads, the Federal Premium 000 Buck (4 pellets) as well as the Winchester PDX1 .410 Defender loads. Based on LittleBrother's information above, I'll start off using the Federal's.

This time I git up on the fence and my balance wasn't so good.

Thanks for the replies, and taking the time. I'm happy my impressions might help others rule in, or rule out this model. Thanks for the tips on the solvent #9 which hasn't hurt my Gov yet but I'll stop using it until I find a better choice.

OgilvySpecial, Glad that helped and sounds like you got a steal on this gun. Likely it was too odd or big and ugly for the original owner but I bet you'll get very attached to it like me. This would be an awesome gun if I still lived on a farm. These new rounds all say "handgun" on them and I believe do have a wadding that retains the grouping but remember the PDX1 discs actually use the rifling of the barrel. So I think the rounds you bought will cover all bases for you as along as you test and calibrate your mind on the distances and results. You might find yourself loading more than one kind and indexing the cylinder forward to the ones you want at the moment. I love this forum by the way, I need to read more and post less so I can learn.

LittleBrother said:

OgilvySpecial, Glad that helped and sounds like you got a steal on this gun. Likely it was too odd or big and ugly for the original owner but I bet you'll get very attached to it like me. This would be an awesome gun if I still lived on a farm. These new rounds all say "handgun" on them and I believe do have a wadding that retains the grouping but remember the PDX1 discs actually use the rifling of the barrel. So I think the rounds you bought will cover all bases for you as along as you test and calibrate your mind on the distances and results. You might find yourself loading more than one kind and indexing the cylinder forward to the ones you want at the moment.

Click to expand...

I hear ya LittleBrother on the "load blend" aspect. My current yard gun is a Ruger SP101 chambered for .327 Fed Mag and I usually run the first two out .32 S&W Longs, then two .32 H&R Mag's followed by two .327's. Later edited to remove a "senior moment".

I'm under no illusions whatsoever that, when it comes to effectiveness, the Governor will perform any better than my Judge did. To me the difference will be in the design of the .410 Handgun Ammo.
Because I remember when, I'm also going to limit my shots, at least at first, to about 15', or less, with the 000 Buck.

Back to the "load blend," my thought is to start out with four 000 Buck followed by two .45 acp, just in case I run into something a little bigger than a Raccoon or 'Possum. I'll figure out what role, if any, that the Win. PDX1 Defender loads will play later on.

My initial impression of the Governor is good, but I expected that considering I am comparing it to The Judge that it would be. I'll probably swap out the stock grips for some Uncle Mike's round to square conversion grips I have around, that is until I get some Crimson Trace Grips. Since most of my "work" is done at night I've found that the CT Grips are the only way to go, that is if I want a good chance at hitting my target, a target that is usually running with me running right along behind trying to get a shot off. If it isn't running it sure as heck is moving........

I'm still of the opinion, which I sincerely hope changes, that the role best suited to the .410 Revolvers is something along the lines of an, "answering the door gun." You can keep it easily hidden but quickly bring it to bear if needed. Since we live a couple of hundred yards off the road out in a cultivated field we rarely get anybody up here that we don't know, so even that role woudn't be of much use around here......

Even if the Governor doesn't pan out as a good yard gun, at least I'll have a different kind of Smith around and that beats having a different kind of Taurus around any day.

Thanks again LittleBrother, your input has been most helpful!

Ogilvy,

So happy for your score! What a price. I was out on the range this weekend, outdoors at the wildlife preserve, gorgeous weather and again my wife trying to steal my Governor half the time.

I load up about 16 moon clips at a time with 45acp and bring them. This time I reloaded the moon clips 2 more times. Thats about 300 45acp rounds through it. Not a single issue, misfire and very reliable accuracy and fun results.

Shot more of the 000 federal and again confirmed it totally kicks arse. Shot the Remington HD 00 home defense buck again and same wild results. Didn't shoot many PDX1 but they would be awesome for barn critter shooting but the 3 discs might do to much damage to the barn.

I see your point on the laser because you can literally shoot from the hip with a laser and nail a target in low light. Amazing how much I am loving the laser on my wife's gun. Now I want to win the lotto so I can install one on every gun I own...

I think the more you use the Governor the more ways you will realize it can be used for serious work, protection but also fun. Put a 1200$ 357 magnum or 44 on the table and my wife and kids wont even begin to desire shooting it. But seems like EVERYone loves and wants to shoot this thing. The quality of the gun and accuracy is certainly why this package works so well. Smith nailed it.

Real happy for you!