Federal Premium .410 Handgun 000 Buckshot is the absolute best Self-Defense ammunition for the Taurus Judge, Smith & Wesson Governor, Magnum Research BFR, and any other .410 handguns on the market. PERIOD.
Yes, it's expensive and yes, it can be hard to find, but that's because it really is the best ammo available. Other .410 handgun loads such as the Winchester PDX1 Defender and Hornady Triple Defense ammo is gimmicky, inaccurate, and largely ineffective, only marginally better than ordinary .410 Shotgun Ammo.
The Taurus Judge and S&W Governor are specialty handguns which require specialized ammunition designed specifically for short barrels to be effective, otherwise they're just range toys. Unfortunately, cheapskates don't understand this and are adamant that any firearm which doesn't perform well with bargain basement ammo is junk, so if you subscribe to the same ideology, then I strongly suggest that you cut your losses and sell your Governor immediately, then console yourself by joining the ranks of those who denigrate .410 Revolvers at every available opportunity because I can tell you based on personal experience that cheap run-of-the-mill .410 ammo is going to perform terribly out of a handgun.
Still with me? Very good then, sorry for being short about this, but I've owned a Taurus Judge Magnum for the past 3 years, so I know what works, but folks always choose to ignore my advice then complain when it doesn't work out for them.
Federal Premium .410 Handgun 000 Buck is perfect for Self-Defense with a .410 Revolver because it just plain works. Federal did their homework and came out with a winner because instead of trying to make some gimmicky load for the gun with plated discs or .41 caliber slugs which predictably tumble out of the barrel resulting in abysmal accuracy, they simply adapted their proven Flight Control design to .410 Bore, then used faster-burning powders to achieve optimal velocity out of a short barrel. As such, Federal .410 Handgun 000 Buck utilizes a scaled-down variant of the Flight Control wad which prevents the shot from coming into contact with the barrel's rifling and the shot is copper-plated so it doesn't deform inside of the shot cup under recoil, which in turn helps the shot to maintain a tighter group as well as greater accuracy in flight.
To the best of my knowledge, no other .410 ammo does this, which is why it tends to perform so terribly when tested. Unfortunately, most ammo companies made their ammo solely for the purpose of capitalizing on the popularity of .410 Handguns, ergo they really didn't try to design optimal loads for .410 Handguns, they just made something with a gimmick that sounds good on paper like goofy mixed shot loads with plated discs, shot, and/or slugs combined within the same shell. Meanwhile, common sense dictates that if there were any merit to such designs, then obviously they would have also been offered in 20 Gauge and 12 Gauge loads as well, yet they were not. Wanna know why? Because they are useless gimmicks.
So yeah, although this whole post may have come out reading like a clumsily constructed sales pitch for Federal ammo, it's just because they simply offer the very best load for .410 Handguns. I'm not a Federal Fanboy either, in fact my favorite defensive loads for all my other handguns is made by Hornady.
But hey, don't take my word for it. There are no shortage of .410 Ammo Tests out of a Taurus Judge or S&W Governor on YouTube, (honorable mention to ShootingtheBull410 for providing some of the most fair, unbiased ammo tests available) so I strongly encourage you to check them out and see for yourself.
