When you think concealed carry you probably don't think "scatter gun", but that's exactly what you get with the Public Defender. Taurus took their popular Judge series and cut down the size, making for a formidable carry gun for the trail. To make the Public Defender more carry friendly, Taurus cut the Judges barrel and grip down about 1.5 inches each, reducing the weight by 8.6 ounces. Despite this reduction, the Public Defender is still a hefty 28.2 ounces and 9 inches in length. Most of this heft is due to the elongated 5 shot cylinder. In order to chamber 2.5 inch .410 shot shells, Public Defender sports a 3 inch long cylinder , making the cylinder longer than the barrel.
Chambered in both .45 Long Colt and 2.5 inch .410, the Public Defender gives the shooter a wide variety of load choices. The ability to mix and match different types of shot and and .45LC lends itself to making the Public Defender a terrific trail gun. Due to the slow burning shotgun powder, traditional .410 rounds are somewhat underpowered in the short barrel, pocket blunderbuss. Despite the shortcoming they make a good round for snakes and troublesome rodents. Companies like Federal Premium, Winchester and Hornady produce a number of options specifically for .410 handguns.
Featuring a rudimentary rear sight coupled with fiber optic front sight, The Public Defender makes picking up targets quick and simple at close to medium range. Despite having a decent set of fixed sights, accuracy with .45LC leaves much to be desired. While at the 25 yard range, I managed to average about 6 inch groups, which is just shy of "Pie Plate Accuracy".All tough I'm not that great of a shot, the main issue is the short, shallowly rifled barrel and long, stiff trigger pull. (About 8lbs, normal for most revolvers.) In order to accommodate the .410 shells, Taurus made the rifling shallower than normal so that it would not disperse the shot too widely. Loaded with #7 shot, the spread is is about 10-15ft wide from 25 yards away, not the tightest pattern.
When shooting the Public Defender, recoil varies greatly depending on what type of round you're firing from it. .410 game loads give a little bit of muzzle rise basic recoil (The slower burning powder also puts out a good sized fireball) while heavy .45lc bear loads give you a slow, strong push. Higher velocity defense loads is where the ribber grip comes in handy, Firing these gives significant, snappy recoil and can be abusive to the palms of the shooter.
All in all, The Public Defender is not an all around carry gun but is better suited for dispatching snake, carjackers or just paper targets and aluminum cans. 
