Hi all,
I have been looking at several versions of a 22 revolver recently. I found myself drawn to the Taurus 992, which converts from 22LR to 22 Mag, but have been troubled in the past by Taurus' customer service. Big, heavy and sitting on the standard Tracker frame, The Taurus was selling at Bud's recently for $444, but then... transfer fees, registration fees, shipping... .etc... and I decided to look locally.
My LGS suggested that I take a look at the Charter Arms Pathfinder. 22LR, with an additional 22mag cylinder. 4" barrel, bead blast SS. Lists at $550, my cost: $450 out the door. Could have bought one last summer for about $50 less.
Why a 22/22mag revolver? Why not. Cheaper to shoot, and in 22mag, one that my Mrs isn't shying away from. Regardless what WE think, many of our wives just don't feel comfortable shooting semi autos in 45 or 10mm. But... I digress.....
I'd like to say "fit and finish is flawless." It's not. If we want flawless... lets go see Dave Severns, Les Baer, Dan Wesson, etc etc.... There are a couple of machining marks that I can see. particularly on the cranes (those metal thingies that the cylinder hangs off of for us 1911 critters). As you can see from the face on picture, there is a screw that holds the crane/cylinder in place. You remove the screw to replace the cylinder. Inside that screw, there is an obnoxiously small nylon washer that gets lost. So much so, that the manufacturer supplied a small baggie with about a dozen washers.
Trigger pull: DA. Heavy, but not atrocious. I don't own a trigger pull weight thang... but I DO have calibrated fingers. I would guess the trigger pull at 5.5 - 6 lbs. in double action. Single action is probably right around 3 lbs.
Accuracy out of the box: Hey, almost every gun in production today is more accurate than me, so I'm not posting targets. My groupings were about 2" at 21 feet, in Double action, two hand hold. I'm thinking this will get better with age (the gun!!!! not ME). In 22 mag, the groupings got quite a bit better. Maybe the round, maybe me getting used to the gun.
It's a lot of fun shooting, 22LR is cheap (if you can find it!) The final reason for the choice of this revolver over others is that Charter Arms is about 2 miles from my home. I can drive over there and pick up all the washers I want, and if I want the trigger honed a bit.... wellllll...... I don't have to ship the firearm.
Bedside stand? Yup! Glove box? (if your state allows it) Yup! Backpacking or camping plinker? Yup. Teaching fundamentals? Yup! If you buy one of these, you'll enjoy it. No frills... it just works well.
Da
