I have a pair of .357 magnum M66 Taurus revolvers, older guns I bought used at gun shows. I looked 'em over, did my usual revolver check outs. The 4" is an awesome revolver, early 90s, pre-lock, pre-MIM parts, 6 shot. I got it for just under 200 bucks. It shoots 1" groups with either 140 Speer JHP or a Lee cast 148 WC in .38 brass over 2.7 grains Bullseye. It's a friggin' tack driver, 1/2 more accurate than my Smith M10 at 25 yards and as accurate as my 6.5" Ruger Blackhawk. It beats the HECK out of my old Security Six. It's a keeper. It only had one little thin spot in the nickle finish on the cylinder when I got it, what looks like probably a little holster wear.
The 3" I got is a late 80s, hammer block action vs the 4"'s transfer bar action. The newer action is better. The 3" gun isn't quite as smooth in DA. Both guns are fine in SA. The 4" newer gun is as slick as any K frame, though. The 3" gun is easier to carry, had lots of holster wear and wear on the back of the pachmayr it came with. It'd been fired a LOT. It's still tight, though, and times perfectly. I put a Hogue grip on it and carry it. I picked it up for $180. One thing that all the Smith and Wesson koolaid drinker/Taurus bashers have done, it seems, is drive down the price of a used Taurus and I really do appreciate that, guys. I got two great shooting medium frame guns, guns that compare well to my K frames, for the price of one M19 in worn condition.
I particularly prefer the forcing cone, it's round, to a K frame's flat forcing cone. I've had a Smith forcing cone split on me before. Good thing about Smiths, parts are everywhere, just picked up another 4" barrel, a heavy barrel this time, and had it installed. No need for a 6 week trip to Miami. One thing that p's me off about Taurus, they won't sell ya parts, insist you send the gun to 'em for repair. I've never had to do that, just sayin'.
I also have a little M85SSUL 2" alloy frame .38 snubby I bought new in 96. It is part of my carry battery to this day. It's an accurate, reliable snubby with a SWEET DA trigger, best I've yet owned for an out of the box DA trigger. Yes, I've been quite happy with Taurus.
No, I had a Charter Arms .38 once, 20 years ago. I didn't care much for it, sold it. I've owned some decent Rossis. I'd buy a Rossi before a Charter just on my experience. I had a neat little Interarms Rossi 971 .357 magnum 4" 20 years ago. I used it on a trade for one of my Ruger Blackhawks. It snapped a firing pin. I sent it back to Interarms and they fixed it, came back, snapped on the second round. I had a gun smith fit a K frame firing pin and it worked like a champ until the day I traded it. They seem to still have that reputation for firiing pin problems, but they are quite well made little guns now days. They went through a spell in the early 90s where fit and finish were lacking a bit, but they've improved in that regard lately. I feally prefer Taurus revolvers to Rossis, though. Taurus tends to have a nice trigger, is more accurate on the average.
Just my experiences with 'em. I've got no experience with the Comanche, but I've never heard much favorable about 'em and have always just ignored 'em.
Now, let the bashers call me a liar and run my guns down if they want. I've out shot a lot of Smiths in the club matches with my 4" 66. My Smith M10 used to be my favorite revolver for club matches, until I got this Taurus.
