|
First off, there are Charter Arms guns, and then there are Charter Arms guns, and then there are Charter Arms guns. The company hasn't been around very long at all compared to Colt, Smith & Wesson, or even Ruger, yet it has changed hands and reorganized at least three times in that comparatively short stretch. Not only have they changed hands, the entire company has moved at least once, not just across town (like Colt, from an aging relic of a complex in Hartford to a more modern factory in West Hartford), but several towns away. Colt still has workers who were originally hired to work under the blue onion dome. I doubt very much that Charter Arms has anyone working there from any of the previous incarnations of the company.
Based on limited exposure, I would rate Charter Arms as perhaps a notch above Taurus in quality but well below Ruger, S&W, and Colt. That's in part from handling their guns in a local gun shop where the owners don't mind telling me which guns give them the most headaches, and partially from discussions with a friend of my wife, who was Charters quality control inspector before she retired.
Charter Arms (the current incarnation) does seem to be better about repairing defective guns than Taurus, which is why I rate Charter slightly above Taurus.
|