i have narrowed my choices for a concealment revolver to these ,
any pro's or cons on these guns?

charter arms ss mag pug 2-2in ported barrel 357mag

taurus 605ss2 ss 2in barrel 357mag

rossi r46202 ss 2in barrel 357 mag

my choice of the 357 is because i have enough bullets and powder to last me a lifetime,plus the fact that i can use some lesser recoil rounds with the 38loads which will make it easyer to teach my wife to shoot.

thanks,srwshooter

Of those three, Taurus.

I owned the 6" version of the Rossi for about 10 years. Never a glitch and very accurate. Fantastic Smith clone at a great price. That's the only one on the list I have any experience with.

I've been thinking about adding a little pocket revolver to my collection. The little S&W 637 airweight is the one I've been looking at.

Terry

If it must be one of those three, I agree with Taurus. S&W or Ruger would be a definite step up.

Of those three, the Rossi would be my pick, it is made by Taurus with their lifetime warranty, has S&W pre-lock innards and IMHO is a great value in a reliable carry piece. If I was to run out of S&W J frames I would buy one in a NY second.

wow I didn't realize there were any concealment revolvers beside S&W J frames!


learn something new everyday

though I wouldn't own one with a lock, don't know what current offerings are

Colt Detective Special in a Milt Sparks VM II IWB holster.

Perhaps there's still a few available of the very recent J-frames (642's and have heard a new batch of 442's will also be made available) sold by RSR WITHOUT the IL. Several thousand (642's) were just made by S&W and sent out to a very few distributors, RSR being one of them.

I bought 3 last month.

Just a heads-up...........

I'm a big fan of Taurus, one of the few brands I've never had to ship back to the factory. But the Rossi (the newer ones), is a solid revolver as well. As already mentioned, Rossi is now owned by Taurus and they turn out a much better revolver these days.

Charter has always made reliable revolvers. Some of the early ones had a tendancy to rattle apart, but that was then, this is now. The new Charters are solid guns.

So, really any of the three will do the job just fine. I wouldn't hesitate to carry any of them.

I just bought a brand new Charter Undercover in 38 Special on Sunday. When I got it home and was shooting it I realized that the front sight was tilted , upon closer inspection I found that the barrel was turned into the frame a fraction of a turn too much. FWIW this is a Charter 2000 which is what the company was called for a short period of time ending in mid-2007. I have heard that their QC is somewhat better now. I will be sending this revolver back to Charter for repair. I will also post back here with a report on Charters' customer service.
Other than this defect I am quite pleased with this revolver.

Mike

I have the Taurus 605 and would recomend it to any one for the
money its a nice little carry gun.I was very suprised at the accuracy at self defence ranges right out of the box.Mines waiting on a trigger job and then I think it will be great.

I keep saying it and no one believes me; Taurus makes great guns. On the top end, the Raging Bull series are stronger and more accurate than just about anything.

thanks for the help guys,i bought the 462 rossi yesterday. made by taurus.

sister picked up a 442 Airweight, no lock, pristine condition, not even much in the way of cylinder scoring.

they're around I guess, but not common

Hopefully she got a good deal, nice it was in such good condition. You're right.....they're around, but have been a bit pricey.

Good gun for most sisters/wives/daughters and/or as backups. I've heard it's the most sold model that S&W produces......wouldn't surprise me.

Congrat's to your sis...............

srwshooter,

I'd think seriously about getting a S&W. I've two - 642-1 in .38 Special and a MP340 .357. Both are equipt with CTC Laser Grips. The MP340 weighs just over 13 ounces. It is shootable with .357 and +p .38s but a little goes a long way.

In small frame revolvers there are two worlds:
S&W

and the rest.

Oh yeah, there is Colt which fine but they are not exactly small frame.

I'd save a bit longer and go first class. YOu'll never reqret getting the best.

I would not hesitate to carry any of those....I carry a Taurus 85UL .38 snub and feel fine with that.

Here's my Colt next to my J-Frame S&W. Not an appreciable difference in the real world, other than the fact that you get 20% more round capacity with the Colt, i.e., six vs five rounds.

PS Although the Colt is sporting a set of factory grips which extend significantly lower than the actual grip frame, custom grips, or grips designed for a Colt Cobra, would make the grip length of the Colt about the same as that on the S&W.

I am not familiar with the weight of those mentioned. Weight becomes a factor for every day carry. I have a S&W Model 37 airweight that I have carried off and on since 1983. To make it even better I had the hammer bobbed, a trigger job to make the double action pull very smooth and added Spegel grips to dress it up. Carried either in a pocket or with my Mernickle Holster it is pleasure.

Birdshead Vaquero in .45 Colt.

Nice.

S&W M38 Airweight Bodyguard .38 Special with 158 gr. +P LSWC-HP's...

Can't argue with that choice. Very high on my list, too.

My pocket wheelgun, Taurus .38 Ultra Lite.




Whoa! Pic resize gone wrong!

She did good you might see if you can borrow it sometimes.

and they're not exactly stainless steel either.

You know what? I give very little if any attention to rust prevention on my Detective Special and I carry it daily, which involves lots of handling. Maybe once a month I wipe it down. Not a speck of rust. Most people have an exaggerated concern about rust on a polished/blued steel revolver. Unless you are working in Niagara Falls, or wade through swamps on a regular basis, most folks don't need a stainless steel revolver.

PS If some owners of Detective Specials have legitimate concerns about rust, there are several excellent companies offering rust proof finishes which, for a reasonable fee, they will apply to their revolvers in short order.

I am sticking with a .38 Special in two inch revolvers. At the range they are used, it's all you need, and offers the bonus of lower recoil and muzzle blast.

Hey, we agree. It served our police well for decades, and in plus p modern configuration, it's even better at self defense ranges than it was then. The only real problems with .38 Special came from using slow moving round nosed lead bullets, and that only became a problem when cops more frequently had to deal with doped up criminals. Plus p .38 combined with hollowpoint designs does about as much as you can do in a handgun for that purpose without adversely affecting follow up shots or causing problems like excessive flash, blast and recoil.

Hawk, I concur with everything you've said. I was just doing a bit leg pulling.

Mann . . . .

With modern ammo and good marksmanship the .38 Special is pretty darned good for self-defense.

I do happen to like the short-barrel 135 grain +p JHP Gold Dot load from Speer. The Speer stock number for this round is 23921.

The various CorBon loads are all superb but kick about like a .357 mag.

FYI . . .

I have a Colt Cobra and an Agent that I carry. I love the Smith 38 but the extra round mostly makes the difference.

I carry nothing special, but I carry this little fella every now and then:



S&W "J" Frame 38Spl in a Simply Rugged Silver Pancake Holster. It's a nice little package for concealed carry.

I was confused by that holster till I realized that you were left handed.

I am in the S&W camp too - I have a Model 60 .38 and a 640-1 in 357 Mag. Both are equipped with clip draws....The Mag is a heavy best compared to the Ti units, but of course, kicks a lot less. At one point in time I had the Ti 357 mag, which was very easy to carry, but was the hardest kicking gun I've ever shot. So I sold it.

Tom

The new production S&W model 40 is a good choice,,..+P rated.. and it doesn't have the lock which has been incorporated on the other classic series.

Yep. I like it so much, I recently bought one. Well made and designed little gun, and no key lock.