Right now, 1-Star. Bad Quality Control. The Hi-Viz Front Sight turns 'round-and-'round, very loose in it's socket. Also, the wood grips are no where near Charter's quality, which have been pretty decent on their other revolvers. These are so dark, that I thought they were black Nylon! No discernible grain pattern at all. Thought these were from the factory that made the old soviet SKS stocks. On a positive note!!! Charter did send me a return mailer - for them to fix the revolver - an is it now back in their shop. Hoping for a complete repair. I like the 32 H&R Magnum. It does not have the heavier recoil of the 38 Spl's 158-grain L-SWC-HP P, but seems to pack enough punch. And, it's 7-rounds to boot! Update: OK, This revolver was returned to Charter Arms for warranty work. They addressed all the issues I had, and also replaced the grips, test fired it, and returned it completely cleaned. I am very satisfied with their customer service.

As we all know, Buds did a wonderful job and certainly will purchase from them again. However I was disappointed; I had placed this item on layaway and had asked for Buds to waive the fee that is imposed when not fully paying for the item after 30 days. This was during the early days of the Covid 19 panic and when other companies were giving back insurance premiums, phone data, free meals etc to help their customers, I had hoped Buds would graciously follow their lead, they did not. So, the Charter Arms Professional is a decent firearm. Smaller frame, nominal recoil, nice grip with solid purchase (made the firearm feel well in the hand) , very visible front site and seven round cylinder made this a good choice for my wife. She usually would only fire/use a 22LR. She felt a 38 was a bit snappy but she really likes the Professional and feels confident in its use/operation. Initially shot 32L S&W; we noticed the accuracy was lacking but we then shot the Hornady Critical Defense and those performed well at self defense distances. The gun itself is pleasing to the eye but the edges are rough and lack the machining of higher priced brands. However the gun functions well and is a good budget buy. I did need to interact with Charter Arms directly to get an additional spring/plunger and they provided great customer service. Nice to buy/work with an American company.

Nice little pistol, love it. I feed it Magtech S&W long semi jacketed hp and Federal H&R magnum, lead semi wadcutter. Good accuracy with both.

Overall, this is an impressive little revolver. American made, stainless steel, 7 shots (in a caliber ballistically similar to standard pressure 38 SPL but with much less recoil and blast) in a small size (J) frame that usually only holds 5 rounds (in 38/357/9mm), 3" barrel (best balance of velocity/sight radius/concealability and, well... balance), decent trigger, nice grips, and a hi-viz front sight. An added bonus is being able to shoot 32 S&W and 32 S&W Long as well as 32 H&R Magnum- all of which have low recoil and excellent intrinsic accuracy. This is my first Charter Arms product, and I really like "Made In USA" and "Lifetime Warranty".
I took this little Professional to the range today and tried out three differnt brands of ammo- Fiocchi 32 S&W Long 97 gr FMJ, Federal 32 Mag Personal Defense 85 gr JHP, and Hornady 32 Mag Critical Defense 80 gr FTX. The first cylinder was 7 rounds of Fiocchi FMJ, and, amazingly, the thrid round was a first strike misfire- which failed a second strike, also. The remaining six rounds printed 6-7 inches below point of aim at seven yards. Being quite surprised (it's a revolver after all), I tried another seven rounds of Fiocchi- only to have another first and scond strike misfire. Hmmm... must be the ammo. So, I loaded a cylinder of Federal and... proceeded to have another first stike misfire. The Federal also printed 6-7 inches low. I was now slightly alarmed, so i loaded a third cylinder full of Hornady, which actually fired all seven rounds without a misfire- but it printed close to 8 inches low at seven yards.
Having started with 20 rounds of Federsl, 20 rounds of Hornady, and 50 rounds of Fiocchi, I decided to make the first range visit a reliabilty test (the first such test I've ever had to do on a revolver in almost 40 years of shooting). The final tally was 2 non-fires (first and second strike) plus 6 more first strike only misfires with the Fiocchi, 5 first-strike-only misfires with the Federal, and 3 first-stike-only misfires with the Hornady. All rounds printed between six and eight inches below point of aim at seven yards at an indoor range.
Conclusion: I feel this revolver has a lot of potential, but I guess I'm going to have to send it back to Charter to have them correct both the misfire issue as well as the accuracy issues. I sincerely hope they are able to do just that, because if it comes back reliable and shooting to point of aim- it will be one of the most impressive small frame revolvers I've ever owned. We'll see... (fingers crossed).