Deltaboy1984
Member
I have a old Charter from the early 1970's or late 60's. It is great for what I use it for. Pocket carry.
What is the quality of Charter and Taurus snubbies like?
- Thread starter RKBABob
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hardluk1
member
Nomad now thats real good for you to shoot that much in a weekend. Congratulations. Thats what, around 100,000 a year. Must be hard on a firearm to last more than ,oh a couple years? I thought the glock iin the mags now with 400,000 was a good round count.
I have a safe full of guns and all get shot regularly with some only 39 years old. One is a D Wesson thats got around 8000+ down tube with zero trouble. And a couple old 22's ,one a Taurus thats had 10's of thousands shot. It finally had a factory tune up. I also do not keep a record of how many rounds i have shot over the decades. Round counts could be off by thousands with some guns. Heck that old 38sp taurus could have 3000 or 5000 but bottom line is, it works every time. and I shot a 50 round box 1 time a month for 20 some years. What ever that amounts to. You are the one complaning about how bad your taurus was when NEW with just a few rounds. Send it back, fix it, try it again. After all it is at pratice or play time. May now run 50.000 rounds.
Many people take a class and have no real experience with firearms. They take a pistol or revolver out of the box and go to shooting. They don't run right so it the firearms fault. If i take just half of what bs is writen down in forums to heart i would be afraid of all firearm failing. After seeing s&w's current production process on tv with many different hands building one gun i am now sure some cr*p goes down the line to be found by the end user. I remember some that had the name of the one person that built it. THEY ALL MAKE SOME JUNK, deal with it. Thats the reason we should shoot many rounds before trusting any. They will typicaly fail while the round count is very low. Even my new to me gen 3 glock will not get carried any till many rounds are shot.
I have one shooting buddy that has a pair of old high dollar 1911 just for play time and prodution class compitition. When new they went back and forth several times before they were some first class pistols. Now have ,he said over 80.000 rounds shot and now retired. But were junk when new 20 years ago. He now has got'n into the s&w m&p line. Bought a couple of each caliber. Two are 9mm for play and comp. Do you think they all worked great. NO. one has been back 2 times before it works right and trouble free. Now shoots 100%.
I have a safe full of guns and all get shot regularly with some only 39 years old. One is a D Wesson thats got around 8000+ down tube with zero trouble. And a couple old 22's ,one a Taurus thats had 10's of thousands shot. It finally had a factory tune up. I also do not keep a record of how many rounds i have shot over the decades. Round counts could be off by thousands with some guns. Heck that old 38sp taurus could have 3000 or 5000 but bottom line is, it works every time. and I shot a 50 round box 1 time a month for 20 some years. What ever that amounts to. You are the one complaning about how bad your taurus was when NEW with just a few rounds. Send it back, fix it, try it again. After all it is at pratice or play time. May now run 50.000 rounds.
Many people take a class and have no real experience with firearms. They take a pistol or revolver out of the box and go to shooting. They don't run right so it the firearms fault. If i take just half of what bs is writen down in forums to heart i would be afraid of all firearm failing. After seeing s&w's current production process on tv with many different hands building one gun i am now sure some cr*p goes down the line to be found by the end user. I remember some that had the name of the one person that built it. THEY ALL MAKE SOME JUNK, deal with it. Thats the reason we should shoot many rounds before trusting any. They will typicaly fail while the round count is very low. Even my new to me gen 3 glock will not get carried any till many rounds are shot.
I have one shooting buddy that has a pair of old high dollar 1911 just for play time and prodution class compitition. When new they went back and forth several times before they were some first class pistols. Now have ,he said over 80.000 rounds shot and now retired. But were junk when new 20 years ago. He now has got'n into the s&w m&p line. Bought a couple of each caliber. Two are 9mm for play and comp. Do you think they all worked great. NO. one has been back 2 times before it works right and trouble free. Now shoots 100%.
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BADUNAME13
Member
I know you said this just to be sarcastic... but I said 'In a weekend class' not every weekend.
How many rounds... wouldn't even try to count.
What you say about 'back and forth' to the factory is all well and good.
HOPE those who have that taurus as their only defensive pistol like being unarmed for weeks at a time!
Also... I'm not a fan of bothering. That's why the only thing I'd do to my 1911's was add night sites. (Funny how well they worked when you didn't tinker with them!)
I'm a 'lowest common denominator' kinda guy. If it's got a failure of more than 1:1,000... It gets gone or (If collectable) moved to that arena.
Sending a defensive weapon to the factory a whole buncha times is of no interest to me. Much less a brand I see break so often.
I prefer to be able to trust my life support equipment.
As i said:
YMMV.
The Red Hot Rider
Member
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No Taurus problems.
Handguns, to me, are like pizzas. I LOVE 'EM ALL!! I own smiths, taurus', rugers, phoenix, FNP, and rossi.
All I can speak from is my own experience. The Taurus handguns I own shoot as well and smoothly as my smiths, rugers, and my FNP.
I have never had a problem with Taurus. BUT, I know they, like any handguns, do have occasional problems. My dad just recently got a brand new, Ruger Mark III Hunter, and it started with feed/eject problems right out of the box. He sent it back to the factory, and it is due to be returned today.
I honestly think that all manufacturers send out a lemon at times. The production process is subject to human error in any factory.
Handguns, to me, are like pizzas. I LOVE 'EM ALL!! I own smiths, taurus', rugers, phoenix, FNP, and rossi.
All I can speak from is my own experience. The Taurus handguns I own shoot as well and smoothly as my smiths, rugers, and my FNP.
I have never had a problem with Taurus. BUT, I know they, like any handguns, do have occasional problems. My dad just recently got a brand new, Ruger Mark III Hunter, and it started with feed/eject problems right out of the box. He sent it back to the factory, and it is due to be returned today.
I honestly think that all manufacturers send out a lemon at times. The production process is subject to human error in any factory.
hardluk1
member
Yep ,that was sarcastic. My taurus is a good one and was carried daily for around 24 years. trust it, you bet. Now a new one would be looked at just like ruger,s&w charter or any other brand. I have over the last couple years seen most big name brands all with returns from different owners. It's just like most things now adays i think. Not enough quality control. After many years I know longer carry the taurus because of wieght only and now have a lighter carry pistol and for atleast around 1000 rounds it to has been 100% relyable. To each there own but no whinners over brands. The one you carry you can bet has pissed someone off .
Hondo 60
Member
I have a Charter & it's junk. When open the cylinder is just sloppy loose.
I've looked at a Taurus & just didn't feel comfortable with it.
When I closed the cylinder, it closed too far & locked up.
I have 4 S&Ws from 60s & 70s.
They're just solidly built & have what I consider to be classical beauty.
And I have 2 Rugers that I bought NIB this year.
They don't have the classic beauty lines of a S&W, but they're built like a tank.
I think they'll last a loooooong time.
Other's opinions will vary, that's just mine.
I've looked at a Taurus & just didn't feel comfortable with it.
When I closed the cylinder, it closed too far & locked up.
I have 4 S&Ws from 60s & 70s.
They're just solidly built & have what I consider to be classical beauty.
And I have 2 Rugers that I bought NIB this year.
They don't have the classic beauty lines of a S&W, but they're built like a tank.
I think they'll last a loooooong time.
Other's opinions will vary, that's just mine.
I have a Charter Arms .38 Off Duty that I got in trade for an old PA63 a year or so ago. That little Charter shoots exactly to point of aim at 15 yards. The only ammo it doesn't like is the cheap Monarch brand ammo from Academy- it won't fire the primers most of the time. I chalk that up to the age of the revolver, and the hardness of Russian primers (Monarch is made in Russia for Academy). It fires the Winchester PDX1 I use in all my .38s just fine. I only have $200 in it (the cost of the PA63 I gave for it) but I wouldn't take $300 for it now. It's an older Charter, blued, with the wooden grips that have the little chrome round logo on them.
I had a Charter .44 Pug 2 years ago, that I bought new. It was a piece of junk from Day 1. Bought new in box, it shot low and to the left, badly- I've shot for 30 years, and wondered if it was me, so I asked the guys that ran the range and give lessons to shoot the .44 Pug and tell me if it was me or the gun. Both guys said, "Low and to the left." It also shot itself loose, even with the recommended light .44 Special loads (the Pug has a 200gr limit). The frame screws would all be loose when I got home, and I'd have to go over it with a screwdriver and tighten everything.
I called Charter, and they told me to send it in, but when I checked on how to ship it, it looked like it was going to cost me around $50 or so to send this new gun back to get it fixed, and seeing as how they built it to begin, with, I didn't feel very confident in their ability to make it shoot straight, so I sold it instead. Now I read that many people's Pugs shot low and left- it was an issue with the barrels being over-torqued or something- and I have to say that most of the stories I read about people returning their 44 to Charter ended with them being happy. In most of the cases I recall reading, the gun was returned shooting straight.
The Charter is a neat little gun, and is light. But there are many light J-frame type snubs out now, the Ruger LCR, the new S&W Bodyguard (I just bought one, and love it) and others, and so for the little price difference, I'd go with a S&W or Ruger. A used 442 or 642, or a SP101, would be maybe $100 more than a new CA, and if you have to send it in to Charter, that'll cost half of that $100 you saved. It's a gamble I cannot recommend.
I had a Charter .44 Pug 2 years ago, that I bought new. It was a piece of junk from Day 1. Bought new in box, it shot low and to the left, badly- I've shot for 30 years, and wondered if it was me, so I asked the guys that ran the range and give lessons to shoot the .44 Pug and tell me if it was me or the gun. Both guys said, "Low and to the left." It also shot itself loose, even with the recommended light .44 Special loads (the Pug has a 200gr limit). The frame screws would all be loose when I got home, and I'd have to go over it with a screwdriver and tighten everything.
I called Charter, and they told me to send it in, but when I checked on how to ship it, it looked like it was going to cost me around $50 or so to send this new gun back to get it fixed, and seeing as how they built it to begin, with, I didn't feel very confident in their ability to make it shoot straight, so I sold it instead. Now I read that many people's Pugs shot low and left- it was an issue with the barrels being over-torqued or something- and I have to say that most of the stories I read about people returning their 44 to Charter ended with them being happy. In most of the cases I recall reading, the gun was returned shooting straight.
The Charter is a neat little gun, and is light. But there are many light J-frame type snubs out now, the Ruger LCR, the new S&W Bodyguard (I just bought one, and love it) and others, and so for the little price difference, I'd go with a S&W or Ruger. A used 442 or 642, or a SP101, would be maybe $100 more than a new CA, and if you have to send it in to Charter, that'll cost half of that $100 you saved. It's a gamble I cannot recommend.
Kentucky_Rifleman
Member
How true. I never bash any name brand; I think most companies put out at least some decent guns, and most put out some real crap as well.
I don't "hate" Taurus, and I don't think less of anyone who carries one.
I personally had one of their Beretta 92 clones in 9mm stainless. I traded into it and took it to the range. I'm a decent pistol shot, and I couldn't hold better than a 10-12 inch group at 15 yards. My cousin shot it and couldn't do any better.
I traded it off and was glad to see it go. Two years later I traded into the real-deal Beretta 92F. I couldn't shoot much better with it than I could with the Taurus. It turns out I just suck at shooting those handguns. I shoot 1911s and BHPs pretty well, but not the 92 Taurus or Beretta.
A friend bought a Taurus 6" .357 new in the box from a local dealer. We took it to the range with two boxes of factory Winchester .357 ammo. Kevin loaded the cylinder, locked it up and fired three rounds (not in rapid succession). No problem. On the fourth round the gun belched burning powder onto both of us (I was 2-3 feet to the left of the shooter and 2-3 feet behind him). If I had been standing closer, I'd have gotten burned pretty good, not just singed.
That fourth round split the side of the cylinder lengthwise from one end to the other of that chamber and spit the burning powder up and out both sides of the top strap. The bullet lodged in the breech end of the barrel, just past the forcing cone. The top strap was bulged up pretty badly, but it didn't break.
We took the gun back to the seller, who gave my cousin store credit in the amount he paid for the Taurus. I talked to that dealer 18 or 20 months after the incident, asking him what Taurus had done about the gun. They had refused to replace the gun, blaming the ammunition for the failure.
Maybe it was the ammo, but we shot out the rest of both boxes a week or so after the Taurus went kaboom and we never had any other issues (we were shooting a S&W 66 and a Ruger GP 100).
Make of it what you will.
KR
I've not owned a Charter Arms, but remember a fella at the range who had an older model's barrel come unglued (yes it was glued).
I had some pretty bad fortune with Taurus revolvers (Model 85s) about 15 years ago, but then there are many who really like these guns.
I did have a Rossi model 88 that had very good fit and finish and is still going strong with a family member. I must admit that if I were in the market for a new or used revolver I would probably go for a S&W if it was to be a J framed size and if larger I would go with a Ruger.
I had some pretty bad fortune with Taurus revolvers (Model 85s) about 15 years ago, but then there are many who really like these guns.
I did have a Rossi model 88 that had very good fit and finish and is still going strong with a family member. I must admit that if I were in the market for a new or used revolver I would probably go for a S&W if it was to be a J framed size and if larger I would go with a Ruger.
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