Charter Arms Professional 32 H&R Mag

This is a shooting review of the Charter Arms Professional 32 H&R Magnum revolver. It has a 7 round cylinder in the same size package as the 5 round Charter Pitbull 9mm. There aren't a lot of videos on the Charter Professional.
Some highlights: (1) The grip looks much nicer in real life than the turd wood pictures but Charter sells a variety of other grips if you don't like the fairly slick grips that come on the Professional. (2) The revolver can shoot 32 H&R, 32 S&W Long, 32 S&W, and 32 ACP--32 Colt and 32 Long Colt will both chamber but they taper even more than the 32 ACP. (3) Even with the 32 H&R Magnums recoil is less than that of a 38 Special. With 32 ACP the recoil is almost nonexistent. (4) The trigger, after about 1000 dry fires onto snap caps, cleaned up and feels pretty nice.
Some lowlights: (1) The fit and finish aren't great. The cylinder release latch is tough to operate and mine came with several finish imperfections and loose grips. (2) Accuracy wasn't great even accounting for user error. The sights don't appear to be adjustable so you'll need to know where to hold to get the bullets where you want them. (3) The 32 ACP works but inaccuracy is to be expected. Check out Lucky Gunner's video here: • Can You Fire .32 ACP i...

[@azcosmoline4me269]

I bought the Charter Arms Professional about a month ago. Mine is the SS 3" seven round in 32 mag. I could not find any factory ammo in my local Phoenix area retailer, but this is not a problem. I have been a handloader for over 50 years. I ordered 1K of brass from Starline (back ordered) and 400 pieces from Powder Valley. I already load for the 32S&W and 32S&W Long. The same dies can be used for 32 mag. I have a few thousand Acme 100 gr SWC sitting around for the other 32 calibers, so those were used. I used 3.5 gr of Accurate #2 ignited by Fiocchi small pistol primer on a Dillon 550B press. These are cake to load. The revolver grips were not comfortable, so I installed a Pachmayr "Gripper" to fix this. I also found a perfect holster fit with a Kolster 351. S&W K-frame holsters are like 99% compatible with Charter Arms guns. Yesterday, I fired 200 rounds of my handloaded 32 mag rounds at C2 Tactical in Tempe, AZ. Indoor ranges make a lot of sense when it is 112º F outside. Targets were all set at 40 feet. The first few shots went about 8" wide to the left, but then settled into 4" groups the rest of the session. The groups started at about 2-4 inches high, then settled to center. The green fiber optic light pipe front sight was excellent for these old eyes. I found that the group size and placement was about average for what I shoot at that distance. I typically shoot about 400-500 round per week using a variety of pistols and revolvers. It is nowhere as accurate and consistent as my Walther PPQ, but it is way ahead of my old Webley or Nagants. Bottom line is that pistol is a keeper. Easy and economical to load. Good enough accuracy that I could improve on with practice, nice hand fit (thank you Pachmayr), low recoil and muzzle blast, light weight, yet would still be effective on most two-legged varmints if things got ugly.

[@ronquixote1739]

Great comment! Do me a favor and please copy-and-paste it to the video I did using the replacement Charter after I had to send the one in this video back. I think people will find your comment very helpful. Here's the link for the replacement Charter video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gXe9maR7gM-maqs

[@michaelburrows9042]

My wife bought the Taurus 327. Never plan to shoot .327 mags out of it because that would defeat the purpose of having a low recoil revolver for the Mrs. 32 H&R mag work great for self defense and the 32 S&W Long has to be the cheapest to reload. I pour my own lead so it's the cost of the primer and a tiny pinch of titegroup. I think I bought 500 pieces of Starline brass. That will last forever. I am considering the Charter Arms. Surely you can drift the front sight if needed.

[@ronquixote1739]

@@michaelburrows9042 The front sight is fixed so I imagine that moving it would take more work than the revolver is worth. I got a replacement for the Charter in this video and it has the same slight cant. It is still accurate with the replacement being much better than the one in this video. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gXe9maR7gM-maqs

[@joeherrera3247]

Since you’re wrapping your finger around the trigger your shots are hitting left. I was taught to only use the tip pad of my finger when pulling the trigger, so you can pull it straight backwards. If you wrap your finger around the trigger and squeeze then the shots will hit left. Try it out

[@ronquixote1739]

I do vary my trigger placement with different guns. In this case it was the gun. The revolver had to go back as the grips were falling off (grip screw was stripped) and the cylinder would push slightly through the frame when closed. I did a follow up that you can see here. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gXe9maR7gM-maqs

[@terryhodgson2357]

Thanks for the review. I've been considering one of these for a while, and was just looking at one earlier today.

[@ronquixote1739]

Make sure you check out my follow up--I had to send the original gun back and got a replacement. The results were much better. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gXe9maR7gM-maqs

[@fairnheight3673]

Dude! Your like the first person on KZbin to own one of these, could you please get some chronograph readings??

[@fairnheight3673]

I’m just really wanting an idea of how much power this thing is putting out. If you could get some Buffalo Bore’s 100gr hollow points that would be really clutch. Im considering buying one of these but I’m not going to until I know for sure it’ll perform well.

[@ronquixote1739]

Glad you find the videos to be useful. I don't have a chronograph, unfortunately. According to Buffalo Bore, their 32 H&R Mag loads run 1187 fps out of a 3" Ruger so I would expect that to be about the same in the Charter. I held off on buying the gun for quite a while due to some write ups that suggested the gun wasn't consistent from load to load let alone 32 H&R to 32 S&W. I haven't had that issue with the gun that replaced the one you saw in this video--check out my Replacement Charter Professional video here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gXe9maR7gM-maqs Buffalo Bore website is here: www.buffalobore.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=257

[@TomMJH]

Gun Sam does a number of videos on this caliber kzbin.info/www/bejne/iXS4hquKl7upptU

[@DeanMk1]

According to Wiki, .32 acp, .32 Long and .32 Mag all use a bullet .312" in diameter (.32 acp is listed at .3125"). This is typical for a .32 handgun round. .32 acp is shorter than the other two, though, so there's more freebore with that round. Could be why the bullets went sideways. ....of course, it is a Charter Arms, too.

[@ronquixote1739]

Not sure about wiki's info. The 32 ACP tapers while the Long and Mag are both straight wall cases. I looked at a couple of sites selling reloading components and they list 32 ACP projectiles as .312 while Long and Mag projectiles are .312 or .314. Clearly the barrel is capable of handling the slightly larger projectiles and, presumably, they would better engage with the rifling and be more accurate. I don't know the projectile diameters of the Long and Mag rounds I was shooting but they didn't keyhole while the ACP rounds did. As you point out, the ACPs have to jump from the case to the barrel while the Longs and Mags are closer due to the longer cases.

[@DeanMk1]

@@ronquixote1739 Yeah, I think the keyholing, in this case, is probably a case of excessive freebore. I think if any of those guns were actually made to chamber the .32 ACP round, the keyholing wouldn't have happened. JMHO.

[@ronquixote1739]

@@DeanMk1 I'm not getting the same keyhole results from my Nagant with 32 ACP cylinder. It doesn't appear that the cylinder includes any rifling so the bullet is having to jump to the barrel, though I haven't measured the distances involved. It could be that the Nagant cylinder is shorter overall--and then there's the weird Nagant feature where the cylinder moves forward and presses against the barrel creating a seal.

[@martinmallett3298]

Where the hell do you find ammo? Obscure round.

[@ronquixote1739]

indeed it is hard to find ammo. I live in a small town with the largest gun store in the state and he has a small quantity in stock. Try Lucky Gunner for online orders. www.luckygunner.com/handgun/32-hr-magnum-ammo www.luckygunner.com/handgun/32-s-w-long-ammo

[@LarryeWhite61]

Online sales

[@stevenr1354]

What is the distance? Thanks.

[@ronquixote1739]

I was close, roughly 10 feet. The gun in the video had to go back to Charter. I did a new review of the much better replacement gun here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gXe9maR7gM-maqs&pp=ygUbY2hhcnRlciByZXBsYWNlbWVudCBxdWl4b3Rl

[@stevenr1354]

@ronquixote1739 Thanks for the fast reply! I recently got a new Taurus 327 2" snubbie and it's quite accurate at 15 yards with 32 S&W Long wadcutters. Very heavy trigger though, even single action.

[@ronquixote1739]

@@stevenr1354 Hope the Taurus serves you well. I've had issues with the brand in the past but sometimes companies work through it. Not many 327 Fed options on the market.

[@stevenr1354]

@ronquixote1739 Thanks. I have a Ruger LCRx in .327 which has a much much better trigger. But the Taurus is gorgeous and half the price. And the LCR looks like a squirt gun.😄

[@ronquixote1739]

@@stevenr1354 I've got the LCR in 22 mag. Good gun but, yeah, not very attractive.

[@Rowrin]

My charter arms 32 "professional" has been the biggest pos gun I've ever had the horror of shooting lol.

[@ronquixote1739]

I had to send the one in the video back--cylinder went too far back through the frame and grips fell apart. The replacement that I received has been solid. Here is the review of that one: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gXe9maR7gM-maqs

[@davidkachel]

Not impressed, Charter Arms people!!

[@ronquixote1739]

Those are my first shots through the gun and ammunition choices are limited. I'll update after I have more rounds through the gun. I mainly wanted a revolver that could fire 32 ACP and I fired several more cylinders after the video and never had a failure to fire. The accuracy didn't get better but I knew that was going to be the case with the 32 ACP given the slightly smaller bullet diameter. The most direct competition to the Professional is the Ruger SP101 but that costs hundreds more and has 6 rounds instead of 7.

[@track-sv2us]

Can you use 327 magnum in that firearm

[@TomMJH]

I have one of these. No, you cannot shoot .327 magnum. You can shoot H&R Magnum, S&W .32 Long and short and .32 auto.

[@ronquixote1739]

You're right that you cannot shoot 327 Magnum as the gun can't handle that pressure and I don't believe the cartridges will allow for the cylinder to close. As far as Charter is concerned, 32 ACP isn't listed among their approved cartridges for the gun. As you can see in the video, 32 ACP does chamber and fire.

[@ronquixote1739]

Nope. I doubt the cylinder would close with 327 Fed ammo as that ammo has a 3.2mm longer case than 32 H&R Magnum.