The Professional blends modern features with classic style. (Photo: Charter Arms)
Charter Arms is breaking the mold with their latest new gun, a 7-shot small-frame revolver chambered for the unlikely .32 H&R Magnum. Charter Arms is calling it the Professional, unveiling it at this year’s Concealed Carry Expo.
The Professional combines classic and new-school features with its all-steel frame and durable black nitride finish. It has a foolproof and snag-free rear trench sight paired with a high-visibility green fiber optic front sight.
The double- and single-action revolver has a 3-inch barrel, a fully exposed hammer and a square-butt frame. The Professional’s stand-out feature is its 7-shot cylinder and uncommon .32 H&R chambering.
The .32 H&R Magnum cartridge is a lot like what 38 Special is to .357 Magnum compared to .327 Federal Magnum. It and .38 Special have similar energy at the muzzle, while shooting a lighter bullet at higher velocities. Depending on the load .32 H&R Magnum makes between 200-300 foot-pounds of force at the muzzle.
This should make the professional a soft shooter even though it weighs just 22 ounces unloaded. Thanks to the 3-inch barrel it’s not going to sacrifice a lot of power and still be small enough for concealed carry.
“The .32 H&R Magnum caliber has always been an underrated caliber that’s ideal for concealed carry and well-suited for the range,” said Charter Arms president Nick Ecker. “We knew once the Professional model came off the production line … It’s a winner.”
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The major advantage of .32 H&R Magnum is its smaller diameter, which lets Charter Arms squeeze an extra round into the cylinder. In the concealed-carry world, seven shots is competitive, considering that revolvers can be easier to carry for some people, especially people with restrictive dress codes.
Overall the Professional measures in at just under 8 inches long with its full-size contoured walnut grip. Charter Arms has partnered with Galco Gunleather to produce custom holsters for the Professional at launch.
Charter Arms has built a reputation for making reliable revolvers affordably, and the Profession is no different. With a suggested retail price of $438 real-world prices should come in at $400 or less.
This is an interesting development from Charter Arms. While the company’s bread and butter is short-barreled concealed-carry revolvers in .38 and .44 Special, they have been busy lately making interesting guns chambered for uncommon revolver cartridges, including 9mm Luger, .40 S&W and .45 ACP.
It seems like Charter Arms is doubling down on their decision to build these niche revolvers, and it’s paying off.
The Charter Arms Professional is easy to carry. The bright green fiber-optic pipe in a square housing preserves the sight picture formed with the square-notch rear sight. It is affordable and a pleasure to shot. Highly recommended.
That just doesn’t sound safe at all. I mean, it’s not one of those specialty, Euro revolvers that was specifically designed to shoot nine different calibers, right?
you’re very dumb.
Just passed my LTC instructors , revolver course of fire with the Charter Arms 7 shot 32 H&R professional. No problems at all. Out shot the shooters using 38 spl and 327 cal.
Hopefully a reloading kit comes with each gun. Otherwise, you better have a very deep pocket to shoot this gun on a regular basis. If you can even find any ammo. What happens if a ammo shortage does come again?
I have 2, 1800’s 32 revolvers, which I shoot, plus a 40 Cal., but don’t like to carry it because of weight. Will the price of this new 32 professional ever come down? I have been told that I have less than a year to live because of cancer in my liver. But, I sure would like to fire one of these.
The 327 Fed Mag also fires the 32 H&R Mag, the 32 S&W (short and long) and also the 32 ACP which is actually semi rimmed. The 32 H&R fires all the same rounds with the exception of the longer much more powerful 327 Federal Mag .
I am happy I got my 6 shot, Charter Arms Patriot 327 Fed Mag while they still made them.
Most companies made and then dropped 327 (S&W, Taurus, Charter Arms, Ruger) and because of the non-available ammunition thanks to Federal screwing up, they dropped them…..even Ruger’s original guns were dropped.
Now the round only survives because of Ruger’s new line. Henry has recently brought out a lever action for it as a 32H&R/327 Federal Mag….
For those who mention that it is a handful in smaller guns it actually is more pleasant to shoot than 357 that is also made in the very same guns … using 32 H&R for practice corresponds with people who practice with 38 SPL in their 357 ……..
The 32 magnum should be much softer to shoot than the 38 .special. For that reason, the professional could provide an ideal self defense weapon for those who do want a revolver but not the recoil or flip.
When underwood Arms begins offering a 32 magnum bullet, which should be sometime in the next six months, I’ll buy one of these, presuming the reviews bear out the promise. I also would acquire at the same time the lcr 327 magnum and load it likewise.
If you are not familiar with the unique architecture of Underwood Ammo, you’re missing out. They are lethal in their excessive wound cavity and penetration.
That exact platform in a 327 federal is much more interesting to me.
Why no more pictures?
For all those clamoring for a 327, I understand fully. I own 3 327 firearms myself but the simple fact of the matter is that in order to accommodate a 7 shot 327 cylinder, you have to step up to a GP100 sized frame. It opperates at nearly double the pressure of the h&r so the chamber walls have to be much thicker. Unless someone decides to make a cylinder out of one of those secret super alloys with double the tensile strength of heat treated 4140 chromemolly or 416 stainless, you’re never gonna get 7 shots in a frame this small. You still aren’t sacrificing anything over a 38 spl. You get considerably higher velocity than the 38 spl, with better penetration and more reliable expansion. Most 32 h&r is watered down for the old original break top revolvers. Buffalo bore loads a 100 gr xtp to about 1300 fps from a 5 inch barrel and should be doing around 1200 fps from a gun this size. That’s nothing to scoff at. If handloading, one can get very respectable performance while still keeping pressures under saami spec by using slow burning powders such as lilgun. While it might not be quite up to 9mm performance, it definstely bests the 380 by a good margin with the proper loadout, and offers less recoil than either a 38 or a sub compact 9mm.
No need to move to a GP100 size frame, River builds a seven shot 327 on their “Single six” frame. The cylinder is the same diameter as the 22!!! You have to have the cylinder aligned perfectly to remove shells or load. If they made the cylinder out of the same stuff Ruger uses, they could run .327. Actually it is better being an odd number in the cylinder, cause the bolt notches are in between the bores, not directly under them.
I’d like to see it in .327 Magnum. I suspect that’s coming.
This thing in .327 Federal would be perfect. I’d give up a round if I had to for the .327 cartridge. That thing packs some STEAM! Can shoot .32 H&R if you’d rather, but nice to have the option.
I like Charter Arms..I own 5 shot 44 special, a fine weapon!
I’d love to see more .32 caliber revolvers and ammunition come to market. I agree that they are underrated and a very good choice for concealed carry, especially in small framed carry weapons.
.32 H&R Magnum is nice, .327 Federal Magnum would have been better. I wonder why they went the route they did. If it is an issue of the thickness of the cylinder walls, I’d sacrifice one round for the more potent cartridge.
Everything else is right, the warranty, the price, the weight. Then again, I have a 9 mm 7+1 semiauto pistol that weighs 16 oz empty, is less than an inch wide, reloads more quickly, and can produce 300-400 ft/lbs at the muzzle. According to Ballistics by the inch, the .32 H&R Magnum produces 170 lbs with an 85 grain Federal JHP at less than 1000 ft/sec. To be ballistically competitive in the “pocket 9” concealed carry market, Charter really needed to build this in .327 Federal.
What are the trigger pull weights? What is the thickness of the gun at its widest dimension?
.327FED Mag is not pleasant to fire. You must have never fired one. This .32HR Mag allows for repeat shots on target, and the .32HR Mag will also accommodate the .32SW Long.
You got the 32 H&R velocities way wrong loadings such as buffloa bore push out a 100 grain projectile at 1,187 Ft per second that puts it in at 313 ft lbs which is above most 380 loadings for way less recoil its also in the same size class as 380 semis and 38 snub nose revolvers so balletically your not getting much more out of a small 9mm your getting one extra round and a few more ft lbs but also a ton more recoil a less concealable option and you cant shoot less powerful rounds if you choose you can fire the full power 32 mag loads or shoot 32 S&W which is 22 recoil