Nowadays with so many sexy new semi-automatics coming out in the market, it is easy to forget about the so-called old school technology of a revolver even though it remains an excellent choice for self-defense. Revolvers are light weight, reliable, safe and always at the ready. The mission of a personal protection firearm is to help you get out of a mess unharmed. While it makes for interesting macho conversation to talk about filling a drug filled attacker with lead, the reality is that getting away from a bad situation alive and unharmed is always the best option. However, if a situation has progressed to the last resort scenario where deadly force self-defense is required, a reliable firearm in a sufficient caliber to stop the attack is what you need. And the most reliable firearm remains the simple revolver.

As a deterrent, revolvers are easily recognized as a firearm, even in reduced light, especially if manufactured in a visible finish and this recognition may save you from having to fire to convince an attacker. No normal person wants to shoot someone. Even if everything goes your way in a shooting, there are legal costs, potential lawsuits, and the long-term mental stress and strain of having shot someone. Bottom line the mere sight of a recognizable real-looking and loaded firearm will stop many an attacker in their tracks!

• There is little doubt that a revolver is loaded. The threat/attacker will see it’s loaded by simply looking at the cylinder and seeing the ammunition in it. Some people paint a light coating of liquid paper or white paint on the bullet tips to make them more visible for deterrent value.
• Revolvers are quick and easy to operate. Simply draw, aim and fire. No switches or tricky functioning, stoppages or other malfunctions; they will work when they are most needed!
• Any trainer will tell you that revolvers require less training than semi-autos to fire competently and safely thus making a revolver the best self-defense firearm for the average citizen.
• Revolvers are very fast to get into action, incredibly reliable and nearly foolproof.
• Some people feel revolver trigger pulls are heavy (especially in double-action mode). But in life and death adrenalin-filled situations the pull of a revolver trigger is not even noticed by the shooter, nor the sound or recoil. Light triggers are one reason why accidental semi-auto discharges are so common especially when people are under stress. The double action revolver is actually safer because you do not want to accidentally shoot anyone.
• Revolvers are generally much more affordably priced than most semi-automatic pistols.
• Today’s revolver ammunition is much more effective than that of just 20 years ago. Charter Arms revolvers offer powerful loadings in compact and lightweight revolvers that include: 32 H&R Magnum, .38 Special +P, .327 Federal Magnum, .357 Magnum and .44 Special calibers. Typically a 2” barrel will lose only 30-85 fps velocity over a 4-inch barrel, so snub barrels are not a significant velocity disadvantage. Revolvers are easy carry and provide a quick-to-action advantage.
• Ammunition mix can be a significant advantage. A revolver can digest and fire any ammunition chambered for that particular firearm. This can be any type of bullet design or ammunition mix you may wish to carry, such as the first two shots being frangible high-expansion ammunition followed by heavier hollow-point or even solid loads. Revolvers are not sensitive to the bullet design or velocity (low recoil loads may not function in some semi-autos) and when it comes to defending one’s life, this choice of load option is a very real advantage.
• While high-capacity autos are popular, well known shooters like Jeff Cooper and Mass Ayoob and many other professional shooters have argued for years (and we paraphrase) it’s accuracy that counts, not all of those high-capacity magazine, liability-loaded, people-and-property-damaging misses. Bottom line is that you will be held legally responsible for every shot you fire; hits and misses.
• Charter Arms’ compact, lightweight revolvers offer tremendous power-to-size ratios and, due to grip and overall design, they are very easy to draw, point and control. Short-grip and compact autos (especially small autos in effective stopping calibers) can be very difficult to draw, grasp and control in a reactive life or death adrenaline-packed encounter. Survival depends on draw speed, correct grip and operational control.
• We tend to forget that at the firing range without a real death threat we generally take the extra time to acquire a proper and firm grip with a compact semi-auto. But, in a panic packed confrontation we don’t have that luxury. For this reason the lightweight compact revolver is better-suited for the average citizen who wants effective protection. A revolver is also a smart choice for professionals who need a solid, effective primary and totally reliable back-up firearm in a fight stopping caliber.
• Many licensed concealed-carry permit holders may start with good intentions to carry, but the enthusiasm wanes quickly if their firearm is wrong for them: Too wide of a cylinder or too thick of a slide, too heavy, too big, too long or uncomfortable and many will eventually stop carrying their firearm. Charter Arms’ revolvers boast the lightest weights and most-compact revolver designs available today.
• Shooters do NOT buy a short-barreled compact revolver to take to the range and plink, shoot targets or hunt. Yet people talk about so-called “excessive recoil,” and short barrel sight radiuses, etc. as though target shooting. The fact is, a short barrel revolver has one important job and that is to protect your life in the event of an attack. And they do that job superbly.
• Even though few people will ever fire more than 1,000 rounds (twenty 50-round boxes) through their handgun, revolvers are built to fire many thousands of rounds of ammunition over a lifetime while maintaining accuracy and reliability.
• Accuracy testing of a short-barreled hand gun at 25 and even 50-yards is not relevant to the fire arm’s mission of personal protection. According to FBI data, life-threatening attacks rarely happen at ranges beyond 5 yards away. We have tested 2-inch barreled Charters at 50 yards (hand held off a rest) and the rounds will stay in a 6 inch circle and they will stay in a chest size target at 200 yards! More than enough accuracy to protect your life.
• Short barreled revolvers present a sizable muzzle flash when fired. On the battlefield this can be a disadvantage because it gives away one’s position. But, a muzzle flash or a loud report has little or no effect on the shooter, especially in a high-stress situation. In fact at close self defense ranges a handgun muzzle flash (regardless of type of handgun) can actually work to your advantage. If you are being assaulted it is pretty obvious the attacker knows where you are. When a handgun is fired at a close attacker in the dark or in reduced light conditions, the attacker facing the muzzle gets all of the flash. This flash can cause some temporary blinding (flash-bulb effect) as well as a tremendous psychological effect even if not struck by the bullet. In nearly all self-defense situations, a bright muzzle flash is an advantage to the defender and a distinct disadvantage to the attacker—and for what it is worth, shorter barrels deliver more flash.
• The advantage of a compact, lightweight self-defense revolver design over compact semi-autos is that Charter Arms revolvers are comfortable to carry so your firearm is more likely to be with you if and when you need it. If you carry a big high-capacity semi-auto or heavy caliber revolver and it's too big and heavy to carry comfortably, you are less likely to have it with you when you need it.
• Unlike most semi-auto handguns, revolvers can be quickly drawn with a nearly perfect properly registered grip. Most trainers instruct their students to draw fast then hit the brakes, aim quickly and shoot effectively. And the revolver is always reliable and at the ready!
• As you can see that the short-barreled self-defense revolver shines even in these days of high-tech high-capacity semi-autos. When it comes to close-in self-defense, Charter Arms manufactures the lightest, most-compact, most-reliable and safest self-defense revolvers in the industry. Charter Arms’ revolvers do the job they were designed to do and that’s all you can ask from any firearm.