Great fun little pocket rocket. I’ve shot about 300 rounds an no problem so far.

Great snub nose!! Buds is the best. Everything goes like clockwork. No hitches. Great place to purchase a firearm

It wasnt bad for what it was. I had it a few months and sold it.

The Charter Arms Boomer in .44 special is a fine piece of American craftsmanship and definitely meets the criteria for up close and personal defense both in design and speaking voice. But I will say that it is for the experienced shooter and definitely not a beginner's first foray into gun ownership. It's light weight combined with stout recoil needs an experienced hand as well as an experienced eye to focus on sight picture without benefit of a front sight blade. My first trip to the range with the Boomer enlightened me to what I have just written. I, personally, have no issues with the Boomer, as I look forward to it being a regular companion of mine and carrying it with confidence. Although I will say, if the good people at Charter could look into removing the serrations from the trigger and smoothing its surface, that would be nice, it kinda bites a bit. Thanks again to Buds Guns on another seemless and snafu-free buying experience, you guys rock.

In my early days in law enforcement I carried a 44 S&W. My back-up was a modified Charter blue 44 barrel cut to 1 inch, hammer bobbed, trigger polished smooth, action job. I received this gun and I will say Charters workmanship have improved. The gun was solid, action stiff(new gun) edges are very sharp. The edges show good machining but make a not pocket/carry friendly CCH. Need to knock the edges down some. Trigger has traction serrations, which I found in a quick to put in service handgun doecsn't allow your finger to slide into position in case you didn't hit it right on first draw. Lastly the porting, if you have ever fired a ported short barreled revolver close in. Well its not pleasant and in a quick confrontation it maybe very close to you. I understand porting, but feel its unnecessary in this instance. Grips are a little big for its purpose, but happen to have boot grips I will replace them with. These are personal preferences I gained from many many years 35 of carrying weapons discovering what works and doesn't. I may be more of a shooter then some and will using a very competent gunsmith modify the Charter. If your carrying make it work for you. All that said Charter makes a decent handgun but believe it could be better modified from factory. I would still recommended it but understand its not made to shoot nuclear rounds out of load it appropriately.

Overall, a great little revolver. I'll get the little issues out of the way first, then list the great things about this nice little revolver. Mine had a few little problems, and still has a few. First - I changed to the Charter Arms Compact Grip. The back of the steel frame where it meets the inner "grip frame" was very sharp. Where the bobbed hammer met the frame, also very sharp edges. Sharp as in... yes I cut myself. I do not have tender hands that cut easily, as I work with them every day. I was able to disassemble the revolver, take the sharp edge off the various spots, and correct the situation. Next - the cylinder release mechanism was binding on the transfer bar. If you dry fired more than four times, the cylinder release would bind. Conversely, if you applied the cylinder release a few times and didn't pull the trigger, it would bind the hammer/trigger. Taking things apart again, the interacting parts were eased a little bit with a small file and rubber wheel on a Dremel. Third - This one I can't fix at home. One chamber does not always time. It usually will, if the revolver is empty. If its loaded, it depends on the ammo, what spot on the firing order it is, and the drag of the empty and fired cases. If its the last chamber in the order, the empties will drag, and the problem chamber will not quite line up, and... it does fire, but spits lead. The revolver needs a new cylinder star to correct this. When the chamber is locked in place, then things line up fully, so its not the cylinder, but the star. Its not quite coming into rotation enough to lock. Finally - the trigger and or pin hole in the frame is not right, as the trigger sticks out beyond the trigger guard on the right side. Again, I can't fix that. So, for #3 and #4, the little Boomer will need to go back to the mother ship. Apart from those correctable items, the Boomer is great! Recoil is not bad, even with self defense loads in .44 special. I'm shooting .44 Russian lead 247g for practice, as I found a bunch online for half the price of .44 special. They're the same power, just slightly shorter, sort of like 44mag---_44spl---_ 44Rus in order of length. The pistol conceals well in a jeans pocket, draws well from a jeans pocket. Fits inside the pocket in my motorcycle vest. The lack of front sight is no problem at close self defense distances. Considering 15 to 20 feet, you can easily hit the center of mass with not too much of a problem. After that it gets a bit dicey, but at 25 or 30 feet or beyond, you're probably not in a position to have to actually fire defensively. The factory grips are overly large, imho. The compact grip is comfortable and a lot smaller and better suited for concealed carry. I cannot tell if the barrel porting helps, but it sure doesn't hurt. There is a bit of upward flame with self defense loads. The trigger itself had some gritty feel when brand new. Dry firing a few hundred times smoothed that up. I own a Charter Pitbull as well, and that revolver times perfectly, and is very very smooth after being fired about 200 times and dry fired at least as much as that. I'm sure the Boomer will remain smooth like the Pitbull, but it does need some correction. So far, Charter has been good with customer service, answering questions and taking orders. The lady who answers the phone is the wife of the owner of Charter Arms! (Dee Ecker, she's great!). With all that in mind, I'm going to rate this revolver a 4, because it is really a good gun, even with a few manufacturing flaws (as opposed to design flaws, which it does not have). As always, Buds was a pleasure to do business with, and shipped fast to my FFL.