Are Charter Arms Revolvers Worth It

H

HotMetal

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I own a number of handguns, including Berettas, Smith's, Rugers, etc. However, I just saw a Charter Arm's 38 Spl. that intrigued me. Are they well-built, reliable and of good quality?
 
If it's an older Charter Arms, I'd get it. They were built tough. One of my gunsmith instructors (Bob Dunlap) loaded some 44 Specials to 44 Mag pressure and fired it through his bulldog. He checked it out before and after and said no stretching or sign of stress. Bob is the fellow who does the video tapes for AGI.
 
I have a newer one here, "Undercover .38" from 1999 I think, that is just a complete piece of crap. It was bought new and now serves as a paperweight pretty much. The timing was disgustingly off and it wouldn't detonate most primers when the pin did happen to land on a primer. I just went ahead and removed the firing pin because it wasn't even worth getting repaired. I considered it to be dangerous to fire.
 
I've heard the older bulldogs are good. Utunately we don't see many used around here, if i came across a good used one i'd give it serious consideration......
 
Well

I recently traded my charter 2000 bulldog pug in .44 spl. It was not dependable at all. After about 2 cylinders of 240 grain practice ammo, I had a number of misfires. And on top of that, the cylinder would not open unless it put massive force behind it. I also ran some 200 grain speer gold dots through it and it seemed to functon ok. It was a very bad experience :mad: If you buy one, I highly reccomend shooting only 200 grain loads through it.
 
Thanks guys for sharing your experiences with Charter Arms. You just re-enforced my gut feelings - I'll get the S&W aluminium & stainless 38 Spl. and pay the extra $100.
 
i have a charter arms undercover in .38 spc and it is great. goes bang every time i pull the trigger. no problems at all. i put some pach grips on it and it is a delight to shoot. no timing problems, accuracy is better than me. maybe i got lucky. sog has them on sale so i may pick up the .44 special revolver next.
 
you can chapter 11 for many reasons, poor quality, advertising, stiff competition, labor issues, poor management, saturated market.
 
If i had to guess, i would guess it was poor quality control. I've just saw to many bad ones. I own 3 Charter 2000 guns. Two (both .38's) was 2 bangs and 3 clicks out of the 1st cylinder full. The Bulldog seems to be just fine (aprox 500 rounds).

It's really to bad. With stricter quality control, and a good advertising campaign, they could have been some great little guns.
 
I bought an new Undercover 38 recently for about $168 from a guy who was selling all his guns at cost and closing his gun store. I've had no problems with it. It is amazingly accurate in single action and has been completely reliable. It is a solid little gun that reminds me alot of a stainless Chief's Special I had some time ago.



Lou
 
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I have an 80's vintage Pathfinder. ( Stainless, 3", 22 lr) Sweet action, fit and finish. When it comes to anything with bigger pressures though, I'm strictly a S&W man.
 
Any thing ever made by Charter Arms is JUNK!!!
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This is a complete falacy. The Charter 2000 and Charco guns are a bit quality challenged, but the original Charter Arms manufactured guns are good guns.

The Charter Arms were never Smith or Colt quality guns, but they were the Taurus of their day. Extremely dependable, made well enough, and economical. I dare you to find a gun comparable to the Charter Arms Bulldog in concealibilty and power, much like the big bore snub Tauri of late.

Hopefully, someone with a brain will purchase the Charter franchise and bring it back from the edge of the grave.
 
After wanting one and reading the posts on this and other forums as well as reviews, I elected to get an original CA Bulldog and was not disappointed. I can't find anything wrong with this gun. And as a bonus, it is a steel framed very concealable pistol in .44 spl that weighs only 19 oz. I don't know what you are carrying, but as a CCW I would put this up against anything. Not bad for "junk."
 
If you say that anything made by charter arms is junk

It shows how little you know about there guns.
I wont argue that guns made by Charter 2000 have problems. But the charter arms guns made in the 80 are very good guns for the price.
FOR THE PRICE!
And to mark the entire range of guns as crap shows how wrong you are.
I have had two Bulldogs, one an early blued that was used when I picked it up and put 500 rounds through it with never a missfire and never one shaved lead. When the stanless came out with the bobed hammers I ordered one unseen. In the over 15 years I have had it, I have shoot 100 rounds a year through it. Thats 1500 rounds, the only time it has missfired was from one, THATS ONE hand load that had a bad primer that not even my smith 29 would set off. The gun is still as tight as the day I bought it, and I have worn out two holsters carring it on my hip.
So all Charters crap, YOUR FULL OF IT if you think so.
 
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