I thought I would do a short review and comparison of five budget revolvers. These are revolvers owned by myself and family members and priced around 300 dollars and below. No Colt Pythons etc obviously. The Charter Arms belongs to my wife and is her EDC. I have carried the Taurus 605 on occasion.
Upper left: Armscor M200 38
Six shot 4 inch barrel Weight 28 ounces
Made in the Philippines
Pros: Very inexpensive, purchased new in the 90's for under 150.00
Cons: Kind of heavy
Middle Left: Rossi Revolver 38
Six Shot 4 inch barrel Weight 28 ounces
Made in Brazil
Pros: Wood grip fits my hand nicely.
Cons: Older gun, I bought it used for well under 200.00 and it does not have a model number stamped on it. Kind of heavy.
Lower Left: Taurus Model 605 38/357
Five Shot 2 inch barrel Weight 24 ounces
Made in Brazil
Pros: Rated for 357
Cons: It is light and has a small grip so shooting full power 357 loads is not comfortable for me.
Upper Right: EAA Windicator 38/357
Six Shot 2 inch barrel Weight 28.8 ounces
Made in Germany
Pros: Rated for 357, due to the higher weight and slightly larger grip it handles the 357 loads much more comfortably than the Taurus in my opinion.
Cons: Kind of heavy for carry.
Lower Right: Charter Arms Lavender Lady
Five Shot 2 inch barrel Weight 12 ounces
Made in USA
Pros: USA manufactured, gun is light great for carry.
Cons: Most expensive of the five guns tested.
I fired each revolver at seven yards with a full cylinder. So five or six shots depending on the model. I used regular 38 Special Remington target ammunition. There were absolutely no malfunctions or issues of any kind. Apparently budget revolvers don't have the kinds of issues that budget semi-autos seem to occasionally have. I really had trouble trying to rate the trigger pull of each gun so I will let the shooting results speak for themselves.
I was a little surprised that the 4 inch revolvers didn't really do any better than the 2 inch snub nose. In fact the 2 inch barrels did a little better for me. I didn't have the targets (paper plates) supported very well so a few of the bullets kind of tore the target as they passed through as you can see especially with the EAA and Charter Arms which were the last 2 that I tested. The Rossi shoots low for me. I am not sure if that is normal for these guns or if it is just me.
It looks to me like the Taurus 605 did the best of the five but you can be the judge.
What I take from this is that budget revolvers can get the job done and are acceptable as self defense weapons if that's all you can afford. They won't beat out the Colts and Smith's which are awesome, but they can be a cheap alternative.
YMMV
Upper left: Armscor M200 38
Six shot 4 inch barrel Weight 28 ounces
Made in the Philippines
Pros: Very inexpensive, purchased new in the 90's for under 150.00
Cons: Kind of heavy
Middle Left: Rossi Revolver 38
Six Shot 4 inch barrel Weight 28 ounces
Made in Brazil
Pros: Wood grip fits my hand nicely.
Cons: Older gun, I bought it used for well under 200.00 and it does not have a model number stamped on it. Kind of heavy.
Lower Left: Taurus Model 605 38/357
Five Shot 2 inch barrel Weight 24 ounces
Made in Brazil
Pros: Rated for 357
Cons: It is light and has a small grip so shooting full power 357 loads is not comfortable for me.
Upper Right: EAA Windicator 38/357
Six Shot 2 inch barrel Weight 28.8 ounces
Made in Germany
Pros: Rated for 357, due to the higher weight and slightly larger grip it handles the 357 loads much more comfortably than the Taurus in my opinion.
Cons: Kind of heavy for carry.
Lower Right: Charter Arms Lavender Lady
Five Shot 2 inch barrel Weight 12 ounces
Made in USA
Pros: USA manufactured, gun is light great for carry.
Cons: Most expensive of the five guns tested.
I fired each revolver at seven yards with a full cylinder. So five or six shots depending on the model. I used regular 38 Special Remington target ammunition. There were absolutely no malfunctions or issues of any kind. Apparently budget revolvers don't have the kinds of issues that budget semi-autos seem to occasionally have. I really had trouble trying to rate the trigger pull of each gun so I will let the shooting results speak for themselves.
I was a little surprised that the 4 inch revolvers didn't really do any better than the 2 inch snub nose. In fact the 2 inch barrels did a little better for me. I didn't have the targets (paper plates) supported very well so a few of the bullets kind of tore the target as they passed through as you can see especially with the EAA and Charter Arms which were the last 2 that I tested. The Rossi shoots low for me. I am not sure if that is normal for these guns or if it is just me.
It looks to me like the Taurus 605 did the best of the five but you can be the judge.
What I take from this is that budget revolvers can get the job done and are acceptable as self defense weapons if that's all you can afford. They won't beat out the Colts and Smith's which are awesome, but they can be a cheap alternative.
YMMV