Rossi or Charter Arms?

[asintado]

I'm in limbo between getting a Rossi or a Charter Arms revolver for my place in the bay area. I've used a Charter Arms off-duty before and I liked its performance. A Rossi .38 caught my attention and the price is perfect. This pistol would only be for the home and not a duty carry weapon or ccw so I'm not in a hurry to spend 600 on a Colt or a S&W. If you guys had to choose, what would you pick? I also want to keep it a .38 even though I know a .357 can be more versatile.

[-hanko]

I'd take the Rossi before a Charter gun, but I'd take a used SW or Colt before the Rossi

-hanko

[maxicon]

If I were looking for an inexpensive revolver, I'd get a Ruger or Taurus before a Rossi or Charter.

Here's my rough take on revolver preference for defense use, best to worst:

S&W
Ruger
...
Taurus
Rossi/Charter

There's a pretty big jump between Ruger and Taurus for me. For an inexpensive, new, decent quality revolver, it's hard to go wrong with Taurus, but I'd look for a clean used Ruger first.

I don't include Colt in there, because I don't care much for inexpensive Colts as defense guns, and expensive ones like the Python are out of my league for a defense gun. For less than the cost of a good Colt, you'd be better off with a Ruger, IMO.

YMMV, as always!

max

[461]

From my own experiences I'd take the Rossi over the Charter but for the same money I bet you could find a used Ruger that would blow either one away and last a couple more lifetimes. I've had both Rossi and Charter and the Rossi was far and away ahead of the Charter although to its credit the Charter never failed to go boom.

[calAWBsux]

+1 on a Taurus

From what I understand, S&W quality has been very spotty. There's a thread over at Tactical Forums wherein S&W filled a contract for a prison, but the prison experienced a very high number of failures with their contract revolvers. It has also been noted that S&W is using a high number of MIM parts and that their customer service is lacking.

If I were you, I definitely check out the Taurus revolvers: good quality and good customer service.

[asintado]

FWIW, Rossi is now made by Taurus in their Brazil and US factories. I have thought of getting a used Ruger but no one lets those go. Any good places in Northern CA. where ruger prices aren't ridiculous?

[asintado]

BTW, which Ruger .38 are DOJ approved for CA? It's hard to distinguish them on the list as they are reffered to in a different way when I look for them (i.e. GP100, SP101).

[kantstudien]

Neither. S&W

[461]

Both the GP-100 and Sp-101 in .38 are approved for California, but I would buy the .357 and simply load it with .38spl if you like, why limit yourself. Seems strange to say it but Sacramento seems to have some of the better prices around although I still feel ripped off at most shops compared to the free world. Taurus is indeed the owner of Rossi now which is why a lot of the Rossi exotic models have gone away as they were getting in the way of the Taurus models, now they are simply a lower priced alternative to the Taurus models. Nothing wrong with Taurus either, but I'd test it thoroughly before trusting my life to it as I've had a few issues with a few of them.

[asintado]

I don't have a problem purchasing or shooting .357 its just that I won't be the only person using this gun. The other people who may need this aren't as gun savvy as I am hence the shorter catridge. I know you can shoot .38 through .357 but I just want to keep it simple and not confuse the people I intend to share this with. The reason I said Ruger prices were ridiculous is because every shop I've been to in Sac have marked up theirs considerably. The worst I've seen was close to 100 over MSRP. Through some internet browsing I've found some rugers for way cheaper than what Sac shops are asking (thats including transfer and shipping). I may just purchase from out of state.

[461]

My problem with buying from out of state is that I haven't yet found a dealer in Sac that doesn't charge stupid prices to receive them. I'd buy a lot more regularly if I had a decent FFL. The problem you're going to find with looking for a .38 version of the SP or GP is that they are not a big seller so stocking dealers usually won't have them. Check out Guns-N-Stuff out in North Highlands, Nice guy that'll order anything you want and the prices aren't too far out of line. I haven't asked him about receiving out of state guns so I can't comment on that but I've bought several Rugers from him in the past year.

[asintado]

I bought my Hi-Point 9mm from him when my home was burglarized. His prices are actually 20-30 over what the bigger stores sell their stuff for but Wes is a really cool guy. He doesn't do FFL transfers however. I do all my FFL transfers at Buy-Sell-Trade-It-All on Stockton and Fruitridge, its a pawn shop. He charges a flat fee of $75 (transfer & dros) but he only accepts from other FFL dealers so if you're purchasing from a private party you have to find another FFL that will accept it (I have a bay area FFL for those instances). I might just go w/ Rossi since they have a great warranty, they're not as expensive as most Charter Arms, and they're easier to find. I've also done some research and a lot of FFLs in CA. won't transfer Charter Arms because of its vagueness on the DOJ list and the different ownership/co. name issues in the past. That's too bad because I've always wanted a Charter Arms, it was the first gun I shot as a kid and I was hoping to own a nice little 5-shot snub nose for the home.

[461]

Wes had a new Charter in there last time I was there but I don't know if it was .357 or .38. Pricing is usually not a big factor for me as what I buy is mostly "non-standard" stuff so I mostly skim regular prices, maybe I need to start homing in a little more.

[asintado]

Yeah, I saw that revolver. It's a "Bulldog" model in .44 special. Only the .44 special and .38 special are on the DOJ list for Charter Arms. It's a nice piece just too big for what I need it for. I wouldn't mind having it though, get into a semi-Dirty Harry mode. His Rossi that he has for sale is around 380 something where as I've found them for around 260 at other stores and 225 out of state. But like I said, I'm not mad at his prices since he's such a cool guy.

[swift]

I'd strongly recommend S&W or ruger. One of the gun mags had an article on buying used guns and it was worth the $1 I paid for it (at a used book store). There were a few important things to check for (using an unloaded gun):
1. cock the hammer. If you push on it, does it fall?
2. when the cylinder is closed, pull hte trigger and try to retard the rotation of the cylinder. Use gentle force, as you can stop the rotation if you hold it tightly enough.
3. Is the forcing cone cracked?
4. Examine where the revolver opens and closes, does it have any difficulties or do you see gaps? This could be indicative of someone swinging the cylinder open and closed like in the old cowboy movies.
5. Check the case ejector. Does it get caught or does it move smoothly?
6. Run your fingers along the gun barrel as if pinching it. Are there any bulges?

If the answer to any of 1-4 or 6 is 'yes', don't buy it.

I use this info when evaluating revolvers. I found a great colt detective a few years ago that was perfect in every way except #2. I bought a different revolver. I also discovered some newer guns require moon clips to be used with the ammo for the ejector to work 'normally'.

The GP100 is a great gun.