American Survival Blog

It’s no secret that I like my .410. I like the .410 000 buck loads that have been available (thank you Judge owners) and since my main .410 is the .45/.410 Survivor by Harrington & Richards I keep a few hundred rounds of .45 colt rounds around (thank you cowboy action shooters) for in case I have to do a little social work. Before the Judge came out my .410 was was basically a single shot .45 carbine for defensive purposes but now there’s more options which give the little .410 much more versatility. Nowadays the popularity of the Taurus Judge means that ammo companies are scrambling to find hard shooting .410 rounds that aren’t too hard to shoot out of a snub nose barrel leading the creation of  exotic loadings that are being touted as THE load for .410 pistoleros.

The Firearms Blog posted about one such round being developed by Winchester called the PDX1 which will be available in a .410 loading  comprised of three 000 buck “defense discs” backed by 12 bbs. The press release available on Winchester’s website has this to say about the round:

Highly effective in both shotguns and 410 compatible handguns, the PDX1 in 410 gauge features a distinctive black hull and black oxide high-base head and combines three plated Defense Disc™ projectiles and 12 pellets of plated BB shot. The result is the ideal personal protection load for short range engagement with the performance needed to stop threats. This load is also suitable for varmint hunting and pest control. Designed for use in the Taurus Judge, this new personal defense round provides maximum protection at close range.

The rounds have theoretically been available since February but I haven’t seen any. For Survivor owners out there the PDX1 rounds might be of interest because the discs are designed to engage the rifling of the barrels (though they had the short barrels of Judges in mind when they designed it) while the bbs take advantage of the spreading effect rifled barrels have on shot. Thus with a center mass shot the three discs should produce accurate hits to vitals while the bbs will hopefully score hits in the neck, face, shoulder, stomach and groin. Like this:

The round is the best of both worlds, in theory. I haven’t seen the round fired from either smooth bore or rifled long barrels. This American Rifleman video from The Shot Show has some scenes of the round being shot from a Judge and the round seem to work fine, though the fact that if you blink you’ll miss the patterning scene does not inspire me with confidence.

But from a longer barreled judge or a Survivor the ammunition will perhaps be exciting, and I’m curious to see how smooth bore shotguns handle the rounds. But frankly, is this round going to be much more lethal than the 000 buck that’s available now? The 3in 000 has five .36 caliber balls in it, the 2 1/2in has three. Will flattening out the three buck balls and adding 12 bbs really make a difference at close range?