Hornady Triple Defense .410 VS .40 S&W Critical Defense Ballistic Test 

I realized that I called the 000 Buck "BB". That was just one of those things, focused on the job and not the fine vocabulary. A 000 Buck is .36" as where an actual shotgun "BB" is .18".

Best test I've seen people are sleeping on your content 👍🏿

Great video man!! You’re doing AWESOME work. Was pretty impressed by the .40 critical defense load- interesting

cool test Sam, I was really impressed with the 40's performance.

I know it's been a year or better since you posted this, but I have the same .40 and just bought the same Critical Defense ammo for an upcoming road trip - thanks to your video I'm quite glad I did!

Thanks for sharing. Always a good and interesting video. I was a bit surprised how well the .410 lead stayed close together. Take care.

The Triple Defense used to have such a broad spread. It would put the slug at point of aim, but the 2 rounds of buck would veer off quite a bit and would almost make a triangle that would measure about 4 inches at 5 yards. They later changed the wad I think and got it to be much tighter, but personally would prefer they just load the .41 caliber FTX slug and add more powder than fool with the buckshot. Of what I refer to as the gimmick loads being Triple Defense and PDX-1 ammunition for the .410, the Triple Defense at least has some merit to it. Federal 000 Buck handgun loads is one of the best for the Judge/Governor series. A pretty consistent 13-14 inches of penetration out of 2 inch and 3 inch barrels, can go a bit farther with the longer 6 1/2 inch barrels but truly other than myself I don't know too many people who are toting those around. Overall, a lot of your data is matching mine and what we're seeing displayed here is that with the right loads, they can be serious contenders for self defense. Don't get me wrong, I understand why people would pick other options but I honestly like the Judge/Governor because of it's versatility of things it can do. It may not excel at any one particular area, but it's not really lacking either when you really look at it.

Interesting video shows that the 410 has some capability for self-defence at closer range

The federal 000 buck handgun load is pretty much the 410/45lc end all at least as far as shotshells are concerned. They use hard plated shot which is contained in a very thick and stiff plastic wad that acts like a sabot. It turns the judge/governor line of pistols from range toys and snake guns into a legitimate 2 legged self defense option. If 45 colt is more your flavor, a dead soft, as close to pure lead as possible 215-230 gr swchp on top of a max charge of blue dot is the way to go. It needs to be dead soft and run a full 14k psi for 2 reasons. One is so that it can obtain sufficient velocity for proper expansion (800-900 fps from this type of firearm). The other is so that the projectile can bump up to the diameter of that long cylinder under acceleration forces so they enter the forcing cone straight and true, where they will then swage back down to bore diameter and will grip the shallow rifling with authority and ensure maximum stability. By doing this, they will turn these relatively so so accurate handguns to something that is as accurate as any other handgun. Even my poly public defender can pretty much stack rounds on top of one another following this method.

Finally picked up a box of the .410. Thanks for your hard work, stay safe.

Besides 45acp I do like the .40 pretty well and that 40 critical defense load looked promising. Thanks for a great video and for all the hard work you do behind the scenes. Thanks for making learning fun

My primary carry has been 40 for many years...late 90s. Though I have carried 44 magnum & 10mm in woods and 45acp in rotation on occasion, the 40 is the main caliber. Mostly S&W recently. Full size & 40c. I have been carrying the Critical Defense in my 40s for approximately 3 years. Very happy all around. Thank you for featuring it.

Great test! The .40 won hands down. This .410 load is better than the Remington, but not good enough to beat a conventional handgun with a decent HP.

Great video content, keep up the good work.

Excellent job of pointing out the difference of the 2 rounds. Have a great evening 🙂

This is great because its multiple wounds per trigger pull. People are really going to be surprised when they see the Federal handgun 000. Gold standard for this platform for years.

The Federal premium 000 buckshot is the best shotshell load for the governor but right now it's almost impossible to find - thinking about trading my governor for an MP 2 10 mm....But as far as the hornady load the results are interesting ... with MDF you have about 3 inches less penetration with the 410 than the 40 and without MDF you have penetration of at least one of the 410 projectiles about 1 inch more than the 40. But the other big difference is that with each pull of the trigger the 410 is creating 3 wound channels vs one for the 40. So not sure I agree with those folks who say the 40 beats the 410 triple defense hands down. Within a 5-10 yard range the triple defense looks pretty good I think.

Nice video. I know the Governor is very much a niche gun and is certainly not the end all be all that a lot of people think it is but it’s still a fun gun and the speciality 410 ammunition for the handguns does ok. My personal favorite is the Winchester PDX1. I hope you can get some of it to test. I liked the Hornady too but like you seen the extraction of the cases are pretty tight sometimes.

45LC loaded with a 255gr LSW over 9gr of unique work’s excellent in my Judge! These handguns are very underrated, JMHO….🚁💨💨

If I'm gonna use .410 for defense, I'd go with 000 buckshot.

Aaahhh I wanted to see a test of that critical defense Ammo!!! 👍🏻

You need to try the federal 410 triple aught 4 pellet. I always had good luck with it in my judge.

Interesting. The 410 load seems to be consistent with other testing i have seen. May have some value at close range in high density living situations, but that is all. I wonder if anyone has thought of 2 slugs, or several full caliber lead discs, like the old tuna can wadcutters? They would engage the rifling and might be more accurate. I imagine there would be space for 3 of them in a 45 Colt case, depending on their exact thickness. I remember an article in Gun Digest Annual in mid to late 80's where they got good results in 38 and 357. They were even able to shorten 357 Max cases so they would chamber, and load 4 of the short wadcutters fliush fit to the case mouth. Other option would of course be some .452"-.454" round balls. Might be interesting. The old Rem multiball 357 load was fairly accurate at 10 and 15 yards. It should be easy enough to create a 45 version. Food for thought. At leat the patterns on this 410 load were good at close range. But u can only put so much lipstick on a pig

I used to shoot those triple defense with my bond arms derringer I found extraction very difficult

Thank you, very interesting.

The Governor and Judge are really just a novelty guns....

These .410 pistols make good conversation pieces and that's about all.

CD in 40 is a hot one you can feel it shooting them,they used to plate the cases nickle,now just brass.

Late to the party but o just got some of these shells and am going to test them in a 410 nomad shotgun. Hopefully tomorrow. Ill let you know how it goes.

Need a longer barrel for more velocity, and more chance for the rifling to engage and stabilize the pellets. And a 3" chamber to allow more payload. Years ago I was able to put 5 000 pellets in paper cases. Produced tight patterns our of a 410 shotgun.

Did you order any federal buckshot or do I need to see if I can send some over?

I very much like the triple defense for strictly home defense where a shot will be 10-15 feet away. Not many home interiors have a 10 yard open area.

If you can find some Nobelsport 40 cal. buckshot, give it a try. It has four 40 cal round balls that from a 28 inch barrel are going 1200 fps, probably 800 out of a revolver, all I know is that they shoot tight patterns and blow big holes in Coyotes...lol

Pretty interesting. Thanks.

Critical defense is def a top 3 round for .40 s&w along with Underwood 155 or 135 gr xtp and 155 gr HST or maybe some doubletap ammo

Sam good luck huntin how testing different revolvers agaist each other of the same caliber?

That Triple Defense actually did a little better than I expected. I've shot a box of it out of my Judge and I agree it's very mellow shooting but my problem was the slug would keyhole and was kinda all over the place. Something about a .41cal slug bouncing down a .45cal barrel doesn't really scream reliable performance. Seemed to maybe do a little better out of the Governor?

The governor and judge are still just a bit gimmicky. The way you could make one actually work would be to have a 3" 6 round cylinder with a 3" to 4" barrel and make the gun capable of handling .460 rounds so .454 and .45 will work and you can make super hot .410 with heavy loads that would scream down the barrel at 900fps.

Seems like the makers of these .410 handgun loads need to up the powder charge. The velocity difference between them and reguler pistol rounds is pretty substantial. At least make a "+P" or "magnum" version.

It would be interesting if the Governor had a 5 inch barrel. Ballistics would be very different.

It's starting to get better for the .410 revolvers. The rifled barrel is just pointless in thia gun. Here in Brazil we have it with the smooth barrel, the groups are like one fist at 16 yards.

So, with the right ammo, that revolver isn't as silly as it seems. Still not sure if 3 shallow holes are better than one really good hole. lol

Moral of the story: Shot shell out of a short barreled handgun equals very little penetration if your attacker is wearing any clothes and also has no bones (attack of the blob?). I'll stick with a regular metallic cartridge gun thank you. 9x19, 45 colt, 40 SW, whatever. :)

Don't know of any 410 optimized for short barrel. I'm sure it would be doing substantially better with a 26" shotgun barrel.

What is the best all slug round to use with judge?

That hornady 410 stuff is awful, I had a .410 mossberg 500 shotgun and a friend had a s&w governor revolver; the buckshot would be dead-on and the slug would fly off roughly a foot in any direction we were aiming at 10yds.

I'm surprised that that .410 did as well as it did. I would still prefer to have the 40 cal or a conventional revolver though.

Great test sam 40s&w definitely be my choices. 410 load is something need go back work on did not impress. But nice the load 410 hit the target be ok I guess for social work .

Hey Sam are you runnin the 15 round magazine on the .40

.40 cal is still a viable round for sure especially with Critical defense. 🎩♠️☯️

That M&P sure seems to have a lot of trouble, at least for you.

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527fpe hard to understand the hate towards 40 that is pissing all over 9mm and how often are you really going to need those 1 or 2 rounds when you have this much performance 1st round is probably going to be plenty by round 3 you'll be shooting a corpse

So considering most humans are under15 inches deep it would expand all energy in the target

Less than impressive .410 ammo but the .40 was very impressive out of the 5" barrel.

It is possible that the gel has a different density on the edges? I don’t know your process or how you store the gel but I am thinking if where you store it is colder than where you are shooting it then it is possible that the block is more flexible on the edges as it warms up.

My M&P 40 groups left alot also

👍🙂

I wonder what that .410 load would do out of a shotgun

Gimmick round that doesn't work. Go figure. Great vid thumbs up

The 40 walks the 410 like a dog on a leash

I would never want that 410 for self defense. The tests don’t instill much confidence for me.

👍😃✌️🇺🇸

It's called .410 but I'm guessing that it's actually .45 as I have heard of people firing .45 Colt out of them but never .41 Magnum.Probabably like .38 Special is actually .357 and .38 40 actually .40.All very confusing just like buying shoes on the internet.... don't unless you have had the same brand before!

7:00 let's can we do five shots in a row?

You buy some weird guns. Don't think the 410 revolver is any good

250 fpe out of that beast??? why not just have a .38 or better a .327...

Too bad hornady forced the mandates, I will never buy from them again.

Somewhat funny. For all the hype about the 410 in the revolver, the performance is rather disappointing. I'll stick to my 9 or 40.

Un like a lot of people I am not a fan of S&W firearms.

.410 through a 18 in better

.410 is piss poor from a handgun. only good for snakes and birds at close range. better off with 45LC

I hate 410 Revolvers!!!

Your guns have more malfunctions than I've ever see in my life. Either, you're consistently limp-wristing, or you need to get those things fixed. As far as the test is concerned, that 40 round did just fine, but those 410's seem pointless to me. I don't see the point in having multiple projectiles basically following the same wound channel and falling short. Why not just have a single slug propelled at higher velocities? Too much gimmicky ammo on the market these days.

I think 410 slugs are pretty underpowered compared to a 40 Cal slug would be a good test