Picked mine up today, the shroud has the same issue
@lincen' s has and it's not just the top of it that's oversize, the bottom of the shroud is also oversize, but not as much as the top of the shroud is. Not that it matter that the bottom is also big, it doesn't affect shooting, but visually it's just the spot where the radius on the front of the frame ends and where the bottom of the shroud should begin... the shroud is sticking out below that point because it's oversize.
Shroud aside, I shot some .32 ACP today and it shot it quite well, groupings were okay, but like others it's shooting low. So, this is the second .32 H&R Mag chambered revolver that I own that shoots .32 ACP well, thus I'm going to go on a limb here and say if you're looking at buying a .32 revolver to shoot ACP in, do not get a .327, get a .32 Magnum.
I'll post a pic of my targets today.
The only issue I encountered was when cocking for a SA shot, the cylinder would at times not advance. No issues with this in DA, so when shooting .32 Mag and S&W Long, I'm going to keep an eye on that to see if that issue continues or if it's just when shooting .32 ACP this happens. Also, the fiber optic front sight... the part that it fits in to, it seems like the top of the post that the rod fits in to doesn't have much meat holding the rod in place. It's not a heavy recoiling gun, so it may never fall out, but typically these fiber optic rods fall out and given the light weigh of the gun, IDK how long it would last with full house .32 Mag over a long period of time.
That's the only thing the Ruger does better with the SP101, the fiber optic fronts are rock solid.
Cylinder throats are a consistent .313", that's bigger than I'd like, my ideal throat diameter is .312", but .313" is smaller than the .314" on my .327 SP101, so I'll take what I can get. There are .313" factory lead bullets available in 115 grain and Mattsbullets is the only maker of a hollow base 100 grain wadcutter that I know of and the hollow base should expand to seal the gasses in the chamber than throat to prevent any blow by, but my favorite bullet is a 94 grain that unfortunately is .312 and will lead the bore if I shoot it in this.
But with how well this shoots .32 ACP, I could see myself shooting mostly that. The Berry's 71 grain bullets can be bought for 5 cents/round when on sale at Midway. Then the Hornady XTP bullets would be perfect for .32 Mag velocities, so I figure I'll be seeing how the 85 and 100 grain XTP's shoot in this when I get around to loading it.
I like the grips, they fit my hand well and I was considering getting the traditional wood Charter grips that don't have the finger grooves, but I feel these grips are just fine. I would like to see some checkering on the sides of them tho as if my hands had any moisture on them, it wouldn't be any fun to shoot. It points quickly and naturally for me, I'm sure the grip shape helps and the light weight too.
The DA trigger fires quicker than the SP101 and by that I mean the hammer drops when the trigger is further forward than it does on the SP101. That said, the pull feels heavier than my now dry fired many times SP101, but when I pull the triggers in DA, the front sight on the Charter holds still better than the SP. Maybe that's a barrel length issue, the SP's barrel is 4.2" while the Charter's is 3", but I think it's just the longer trigger pull and shape of the grips.
The SA pull is a tad better than the SP101, but the real difference is because the spring is lighter in the Charter, it is very easy to cock the hammer while the SP101 is downright frusterating to cock at times. You have to make a conscious effort to cock the hammer the right way with the SP101, otherwise your thumb is either going to slip off or you're going to have to put a lot of extra force cocking that hammer. With the Charter, I can use the pad of my thumb to cock the hammer, with the SP101 I literally have to curl the knuckle of my thumb around the hammer and jerk it down. That throws my aim off and takes extra time to realign the sights, but the Charter it's like the front sight never moves; I am able to shoot the Charter much faster in both DA and SA vs the SP101.
And this is with the Adj sight SP101 w/ fiber optic front, not the traditional fixed rear and ramp front, which I can't even imagine how tough that is to shoot with. After having both these revolvers, I'll never touch an SP101 again.
So, visual issues aside (forgot to mention the top of the crane is not nitrided) the Charter just feels better to me. Once the POA issue gets fixed, this is going to be one of the best .32 revolvers on the market today. I can't speak to the .327 LCR, I haven't shot one, but it's neck and neck between those two.