11 Reasons My Charter Arms is Better Than Your Smith & Wesson

I have 5 45 ACP revolvers. The only one I'd sell is the CA Pitbull. The quality is a step or 2 below anything S&W has ever done. It's an OK gun, but to claim it's better does not match my experience.

Sharp edges everywhere, poor trigger pull, terrible sights, worse accuracy, cylinder release feels flimsy. On top of that I find it much easier to use moonclips versus trying to get rounds in and out of the Pitbull.

3 Charters for the price of 1 Smith? You can get Smith 442 for a little over $400.
 
1. Not a fan of the Smith lock. Therefore, I don't own one.
2. Had a Charter, years ago. Couldn't afford a Smith, got a used Charter.
Nothing special about it. .38Spl, 4", blue. It went bang, every time and hit where it was supposed to. NOBODY drooled, wanted to fondle or shoot it. I traded it off. No regrets, barely remember anything about it, like a wooden handle, claw hammer. It got er done,
3. You like (insert anything), enjoy it. Variety makes the world round.

Made a trip to the range. Happened to carry a couple of Browning lever guns, BL-22 .22LR and B-92 .44Mag.

Another shooter arrived. He had 2 Henry's, .22LR and .45C. He went on and on about Henry being THE BEST LEVER GUN. Henry was NEW and sold almost as soon as they hit the shelves. No such thing as a used one.

We chatted some. He was a really nice guy. Admitted he had never owned or shot any other lever guns. I expressed a desire in having a Henry, someday. I offered to have let him shoot mine. He took my offer and let me shoot his.

Afterwards, he says, " dang it, now I will be looking for some Browning's. "
I laughed. I ended up getting a Henry .45C.
 
Many moons ago I had a SS Charter Bulldog 44 spl with a tapered barrel.
I really liked that little gun bur always considered it a step between an H&R and a Colt, Ruger, Smith. The last 3 I have owned in various models and have completely disassembled at least 3 of each brand. I would never take an H&R or CA down all the way, I couldn't keep up with all the springs and gizzmos flying across the den:eek: All of these makes have their place in the shooting world.
 
11. Lifetime Guarantee
Yes, I know Smith will most likely take care of their messed up guns but they don't have to. Charter puts it in writing. They slap a sticker on the box so you don't forget. American made, American parts, Guaranteed for Life!
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This one seems to be pulled from Tommy Boy. Made me smile.
 
I had a Charter Undercover that I bought at an auction in the late 1970's. I ended up selling it to a friend in 2005. It was a great gun and the price was even better.
 
That would be the current Model 19. Putting it there is how they fixed the need to have a flat spot on the forcing cone, which was a weak spot. Prior to that, there was nothing like this on a factory K frame, to my knowledge.
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No, you're correct. Before the -9, the front lockup was at the end of the ejector rod.

The Charters I've owned, 38's and 44"s did lock up tight. Good guns, I just don't have any now. Maybe another 44 some day. I've got a bunch of reloading stuff for the 44 special.
 
Wut?

In the immortal words of Grady on Sanford and Son... "Great Googly Moogly!" No way a Charter Arms is better than a S&W. LOL! I do own a .44 S&W Spl. Charter Bulldog, however, and am keeping it... :)
 
I do own no less than 8 S&W revolvers so they aren't bad. I could also make a list of why S&W revolvers are better than CA but I'm not sure I could come up with as many reasons.

The point of this thread is to make people aware of the advantages and not to write them off as an inferior brand just because the previous owner of the company made some crappy guns a long time ago.

It's like saying Harley Davidson makes a bad motorcycle because they made crappy bikes back in the AMF days. The jokes about them leaking oil and breaking down still persist today even though quality has gone way up since then.

In recent years I've seen the quality of S&W go down while the prices seem to clime even higher. I took a chance on an alternative and I'm really glad I did.
 
stance

My stance on Charter revolvers is that they are suitable, but intended to be ready or carried, more than they are shot. In other words, given steady shooting, a 'Smith (or Colt, or Ruger and possibly others) will hold up longer and give less problems.

I base that opinion on the two Charters I had in the mid '80's, a .38 Undercover, and a .44 Bulldog. I was fascinated with the Bulldog and shot it regularly, reloading 240 & 250 grain slugs. I did not keep records on the gun, but it went out of time in what I'd estimate less than 1000 rds. In retrospect, I was loading the little gun too heavy. No records of my loads, but they were certainly at minimum the equal of the factory 246 grain slug of the era.

The Undercover went the same route. The load for it was the old 2.8 Bullseye/148 WC, or a 158 SWC. Again, no records, but I'd estimate the .38 went 1500 rds.
 
It's nice to see big blue following in the footsteps of Charter Arms. Like when they copied their internal transfer bar.
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I have not seen a Smith and Wesson with a transfer bar like a 1900 Iver Johnson. Even now that they have gone to frame mounted firing pins, the hammer still hits the firing pin. The internal bar is a hammer block.

I don't know what Charter is doing now, but my friend D's Undercover is a serviceable purse gun and my late Uncle's Pathfinder .22 is a fair plinker, but they are not fine revolvers.
 
Super Sneaky Steve said:
4. 8 grove barrel.
8 is better than 6. Even my 5 year old knows that. Less bullet deformation and better accuracy with the CA.
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Evidence for better accuracy? I have a 8-groove Ruger and it is not as consistently accurate as my S&W.

My S&W Models 637, 67 and 686 have 5-groove barrels not 6-groove. I think my other S&W revolvers do too (too many to look at now).


Super Sneaky Steve said:
5. Lock up.
The CA will lock up on the crane. S&W will put a ball detent on some of their fancy N frames but not on any of their J or K fames. CA does it better.
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False. Previously noted for the Model 19, and their Model 66 has the ball-detent lockup too.

https://www.smith-wesson.com/product/model-66


Super Sneaky Steve said:
11. Lifetime Guarantee
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False. See their website.


Lots of blatantly false information here. That doesn't help your credibility.
 
I was just looking at a Charter Arms "Professional" for the little lady in 32 cal. The review that gun rags and internet spotlights are giving this thing make me want to just (forgive the pun) pull the trigger on the purchase.
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Once you've "pulled the trigger" on the "Professional", you might rethink your forgiving nature. Terrible da pull; way too heavy, imo.
 
"It's nice to see big blue following in the footsteps of Charter Arms. Like when they copied their internal transfer bar."

I missed this comment my first go around this thread.

Smith & Wesson revolvers do NOT have, nor have they ever had, a transfer bar.

If you don't understand how S&Ws function, how can you claim that Charters are better?
 
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