Revolvers to stay away from

I know the OP has used his 4 up, but any other NJ readers that may be in the same situation, Since you are limited to 4 guns look at a Ruger convertible Single Action. I would probably recommend a 357/9mm. You can shoot 38 sp, 357 mag, and 9mm out if the same gun. It is almost like having an extra gun. Gives you a little something extra. Also comes in 45 colt/45 acp and 22lr/22mag
 
The only revolvers I would buy are S&W, Colt, or Ruger.

I would not even consider a Taurus, based upon my personal experience. They are not worth the trouble even though they attempt to repair. It is a lot of trouble and expense to send guns back to the factory, and even if they pay the shipping it is a lot of trouble and you are without the gun for weeks.

Jerry
 
In over 40 years of shooting, collecting and generally playing with handguns as a hobby, the worst guns I had were Llama's. (had two, one a few years after the other, because, one bad gun could be a fluke). Neither one was any good, and one was so "good" it would reliably fire 4 of the 6, and not always the same 4!:eek:

Taurus has a poor rep for fixing things that go wrong, not that they won't just that its a major hassle, and apparently they often take two or more trips back to the factory before they finally get fixed (or replaced!).

Rossi? A friend had one of the little .38 snubs, and it was an ok gun. The next one on the shelf might not be.

RG, Rohm, Arminius, and anything Spanish made are to be avoided. The first ones are just basically junk, and Spanish made pistols very widely in quality, from decent to crap, and its been that way since the end of WWII. Astra is the best of the lot, and they have had QC issues from time to time. Autos are generally ok, the revolvers? flip a coin, in my experience.

Colt made good revolvers, but they don't make them anymore (outside of the SAA) and gunsmiths that actually know how to do good work on a Colt are a vanishing breed.

S&W, Ruger, can't get better for the money. And if you do have a problem, they are very good about fixing it. Plus, there are still plenty of smiths that can fix them properly, outside of the factory.

Since you have already decided on the .460, I won't argue that one. You should have a .22, and the S&Ws are fine guns, but expensive. A Ruger Single Six is hard to beat, for both price and performance, if you don't mind the single action style. Personally, I would choose the Super Single Six, because I like adjustable sights.

A mid size gun for recreation and personal defense (including carry) would be a good choice. .357 Magnum (effective and versatile) K frame Smith, L frame Smith (if you don't mind the extra weight). N frame Smith .357 (considered heavy for carry, but pleasant to shoot).

I'm not big on Ruger DA revolvers (love their SAs), but the Security Six (discontinued) is a good mid size gun. The current GP series I don't know personally, but its Ruger, which means its at least decent.

Small frame (snub?) .38 for pocket carry (.357 if you can handle the recoil in a little gun - and it is considerable with magnums). The Colt Detective Special is classic and holds 6 vs the S&W 5.

The new Ruger with the plastic frame might be something that suits you. Not me, but you might have a different opinion.
 
Why are you limiting yourself to only 4 handguns?

BTW...that 460... 3000 ft-lbs muzzle energy on some loads!!!! That's a similar kinetic energy to my 3" Magnum 600 grain Brenake 12 gauge slugs! More power to you on that purchase.
 
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At least one major gun shop in New England has stopped carrying Para Ordnance pistols because, they say on their website, Para has terrible problems with service.
 
I don't know about their repair service, but I ordered a part (over the phone) from Para Ord, and got it in the mail in about a week.
 
.38 snub for carry (with laser grips, possibly get a .357mag snub, but shoot 38's in it, for longetivity)

9mm/.40S&W/.45/.357 for main HD gun (I got a glock 34 9mm which with a polygonal 5.35" barrel shoots as hot as a 3" .357mag) personal philosophy, an HD gun should have a long sight radius.

a .22... cuz



if you could get your carry, HD, and .22 guns to have similar handling/trigger/sights you'll be much more proficient with all of them. Whatever you shoot "a lot" is what you will shoot "well". I've considered getting a .22 slide for my glock for this purpose, but one of the reasons I went with 9mm is so i could cheaply be proficient with the real thing.
 
Most only want a Rossi that is pre-Taurus as in the early 90's the guns was pretty darn nice. this is a M88 and shoots as good as my S&W model 38 AW..

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There a great buy if you can find them , i have heard that S&W parts will work in it as how close Rossi built these to near S&W standards. not alot of info can be found on them as many say there clones, I have heard S&W sent engineers to Rossi to help them build better guns as they where once owed by the same company as a groups holdings.

Could be that S&W sold the frames to Rossi as this was close to S&W going to the locks on there guns. but the gun is a clone of the S&W model 60 and it can be found with pinned barrels and non pinned barrels just like S&W which changed to non-pinned around 1982. it's made of slainless steel and not a cheap product to work with if one is just selling knock-offs.
 
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Concur on Taurus, Rossi, & LLama. I would like to add RG & Arminius.

It depends on why you want them. In the OP's quest for a central lifer, then this is probably true. If you are just looking for something fun, the opposite can be true.

In my case, I was buying ammo a few months ago and saw an old Arminius .32 7-shooter in the case for under $200. Being a Vermonter, there is no restriction other than being an adult and passing the mandatory federal background check. So I haggled to shave off $50 and took it home. I cleaned it up and took it out to the woods. It snaps like a cap gun and puts those little .32 S&W Longs right where I want them. (I'm certain that children, the elderly, or the infirm could join me for some plinking without issue.) I also won't be totally heartbroken if, say, a new shooter drops it in a swamp or it gets rained on in the woods. I think this will be an excellent varmint pistol too. :)
 
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