Charter Arms SS polished 357 3 inch barrel

Has my attention, but in a J frame sized gun I just don’t have a whole lot of desire to throw money at it. Seriously cool, but not for me when a Taurus 66 or Tracker is the same price. It’s pretty though and I would love to find a charter gun to get interested in.

I have seen one at a local gun shop and while I haven't owned a Charter Arms revolver in many years, I have to say I was impressed by the overall fit and finish of this gun.

I nearly bought one a few months ago. Every 8 or 9 months I feel the need to give the .357 a try for carry. I'm a big fan of Charter. I wouldn't hesitate to carry this one.

have one. great revolver for the low dollars.

My luck with C.A. has been about 50/50, but their concept is good so I come back every once in a while.

I just picked up a high polish Undercover today. The fit and finish are very nice.

Interesting - I know it's not but, it looks more like nickel than polished stainless.

Todd.

I carry a .357 with a 3" barrel and the recoil is very stout but mine does not have the rubber grips. Just fyi. I normally have to train with gloves to handle the recoil after 100 rounds of ammo just makes it more manageable for training purpose. But I wished I had seen this one before buying my 686. I like it.

JERRY said:

My luck with C.A. has been about 50/50, but their concept is good so I come back every once in a while.

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Besides the front sight issues on the Professional .32, the only other issue I've had is the transfer bar broke. I had been dry firing the thing A LOT, probably a thousand times before it did that tho, so IDK if there not being a round in the chamber had something to do with it.

From the way the transfer bar looked, I think it's a MIM part.

Todd

Interesting - I know it's not but, it looks more like nickel than polished stainless.

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A friend of mine did this to his Ruger Vaquero with the help of Mother's Mag Polish and a lot of elbow grease! Looks like nickel plating but it's polished stainless!

3" is the shortest length unlike for 357. It's fair trade off , especially if you carry iwb. I like that high polish charter. Would consider it if I didn't have a 3" already. My model 60 is fantastic. Received a set of thai grips for Christmas and man they're the best yet, fit my hand perfect and look pretty nice too!

bannockburn said:

Todd



A friend of mine did this to his Ruger Vaquero with the help of Mother's Mag Polish and a lot of elbow grease! Looks like nickel plating but it's polished stainless!

View attachment 882230

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Holy guacamole!
Any idea how long - roughly - it took him?

That is truly something - looks factory.

Todd.

One thing I like about the Charters is that they all take the same grips. I've found that the Pach Compact grips really straddle the line between being easy to conceal and taming the recoil. I only have one set. I just trade them back and forth across my Charter Arms guns as I need to, but they mostly live on my Pitbull. I think I would be pick up another set to be dedicated on this one if I were to buy one.

Fiv3r said:

One thing I like about the Charters is that they all take the same grips. I've found that the Pach Compact grips really straddle the line between being easy to conceal and taming the recoil. I only have one set. I just trade them back and forth across my Charter Arms guns as I need to, but they mostly live on my Pitbull. I think I would be pick up another set to be dedicated on this one if I were to buy one.

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It's one of the all-time classic aftermarket grip/revolver successes to me. I've had the same experience, a single grip for all that I've tried.

I can't say that with the big-three makers. No fault on them as their range of guns is so broad - just an interesting observation.

Todd.

Todd

No idea how long it took him. I just know that in the evening while watching TV he would work on it with a cotton cloth and the paste version of Mother's Mag Polish. Probably didn't take him all that much time as he had another Vaquero just like it to do after he finished the first one!

thread need a pic of it......

I like it. Would definitely make a contender for the title of "poor man's SP-101." I like three-inch revolvers; have a 3-inch 1995-circa Taurus stainless 85 on me now, kind of a rarity. I do own three Undercover CA revolvers, but none is newer than 1987.

I've kinda given up on Ruger to a degree. The last couple of guns I have had short of my Blackhawk have been just OK. Charters are inexpensive, but I'm 3 for 3 in quality. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another. They wear their rough edges out in the open. You aren't getting the finish of a S&W, but the fit seems to work where the rubber meets the road.

This is coming from a guy with a Smith and Ruger budget. The Charter Arms guns just seem to work better for me.

what's ruger doing badly? cosmetic and fit and finish stuff, or function stuff or both?

jhb said:

what's ruger doing badly? cosmetic and fit and finish stuff, or function stuff or both?

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I think a lot of it has to do with "This Ruger cost $500/600/700 and is just... okay" while the Charters are simliarly "just okay" but they cost hundreds less, in some cases half as much.

The almost $800 I spent on the .45 Colt/ACP Redhawk was a lot, but I got a lot of gun for my money given the ability to shoot the ACP with moon clips. The $580 I spent on the .327 SP101 was very disconcerting given the lack of ergonomics with it, the HEAVY trigger, the sharp corners on the hammer, trigger guard, inside the frame, and the general inaccuracy of it, even though it's a 4 inch barrel.

It was the first and last SP101 I will ever buy, I see no reason to spend $500-600 on one in .357 when there are plenty of Charters, both used and new, that are available for less and when the LCR is in .22 and 9mm, it makes no sense to pay the same or more on an SP101 with a poor trigger.

I mean, some people will gladly pay more money for something worse, but is all steel. That may make sense for the 9mm given the recoil 9mm can produce in a revolver, but paying $175 more for the .22 vs the 3 inch LCRx is... just dumb. I wish I could think of a better word, but I can't.

Anyway, after that experience with the SP101, I reconsidered getting a 7 shot GP100 and have been looking at the 7 shot Taurus with the spare 9mm cylinder that costs $200 less. The experiences I read of others having with their Rugers and my disappointment in my SP101 has led me to abandon all Ruger double action revolvers that aren't the LCR. Does Taurus make a better revolver than Ruger? No, not pound for pound, but at the prices they sell for, Taurus punches above its weight class while Ruger punches below it.

Fiv3r said:

I've kinda given up on Ruger to a degree. The last couple of guns I have had short of my Blackhawk have been just OK. Charters are inexpensive, but I'm 3 for 3 in quality. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another. They wear their rough edges out in the open. You aren't getting the finish of a S&W, but the fit seems to work where the rubber meets the road.

This is coming from a guy with a Smith and Ruger budget. The Charter Arms guns just seem to work better for me.

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Even tho I and others have had issues with the Professional, Charter takes more pride in their work than Ruger does. I think we forget that Ruger is a BIG company, they don't have middle management that cares more about the quality than they do about their bosses telling them to care about the bottom line. When I heard stories of guys who worked their during the panic years of supervisors telling people they need x number of guns shipped and to just "let every part go through" was a surprise.

With Charter, they don't have as large a market share as Ruger/S&W/Taurus do and to increase it they have to work hard. That said, if Charter was making revolvers like Ruger/S&W/Taurus are would I buy them over the other three? My answer is it depends.