Buffalo Bore on Charter Bulldogs

When will people learn that water is NOT an appropriate media for testing defensive hollow point handgun ammunition? It simply leads to very high expansion in almost all cases, and does not compute well at all to real flesh in terms of expected expansion and penetration levels.

To all you people out there shooting water jugs and gawking at the expansion you're getting, please do keep in mind that you may very well not get the same results in ballistics gelatin or living tissue. In fact, you will get very different results.
 
the old Win STHP had an aluminum jacket as did all of their low velocity STHP rounds. this led to good expansion. however, now they are a harder copper jacket with a nickel wash so to speak to give them the silver color. the new STHPs don't do so well from the lower velocity rounds anymore.
 
I've got a box of the Silvertips.

Mine appear kind of old, they're in the silver colored box, not the new white box.

The bullet has a wide hollowpoint, and the bottom of the hollow point cavity is flat.

Are these the new or old Silvertips??
 
So after you shoot the 20 rounds of BB . Then your never going to practice again . I practice with what I carry at least a mag or 2 is a auto . and other day was 20 rounds from my Bull dog . I was drawing and firing 1 round and double taps . Using stripper clips. for the reloading Need to practice reloading quick also. Was shooting my 200 gr Gold dot rounds.

I see no reason myself to shoot these 950 +FPS rounds . The recoil is not all that bad with silver tips or Gold Dot . You hot loads more recoil and slower follow up shots As to the HP not expanding I really not going to loose sleep over if does or doesn't . 44 bullet starts where lesser caliber HP might expand to.

Enjoy your pistol Just remember not a 44 mag and 44 spl has done a good job over the years . performing as a big slow bullet . Kind of like the 45 auto of revolvers
 
When will people learn that water is NOT an appropriate media for testing defensive hollow point handgun ammunition?
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Really, I’ll be sure to tell him that since he has been using that medium for the past 35 years. Shooting as many bullets as he does if he used ballistic jell he never would have shot many.
Plus the fact that you do get the same reaction to the bullet each time. He also had another way to catch fired bullets that wouldn’t deform very much but I don’t remember how he did that.
You do the best you can with the tools you’re given when performing any testing. As long as your equipment is calibrated as best as it can then its response will be consistent each time.
Instead of complaining about the test process you might want to share your wisdom on how this kind of testing should be completed on a budget.
I’ll be waiting for your expert test process.
 
Silver tips have come in 3 different kinds of boxes.
The first and oldest was a narrow white box that’s easy to tell because the bullets were set in the box 2 by 10 rows.
The second was a white square box of 20 with WIN on a red and silver ribbon.
The last that I know of was a silver square box with WIN printed in red.
As far as date I really don’t know but the narrow box’s I purchased in the early 80 and still have some.
The second was when I was still working in a gun shop in the late 90’s and the silver box I picked up 10 of them 2 years ago.
Doesn’t mean much since this stuff can set around for years.
 
Thanks! Mine comes in the silver box. Hopefully it works okay for 2.5" Bulldog use.

If not, I have a 50 round box of the Blazer 200 grain Gold Dots coming that hopefully also work for 2.5" Bulldog use!
 
it doesn't matter two flips what the box looks like. are the rounds aluminum jackets or copper with a nickel wash? the original STHP were aluminum jacketed in the slower calibers such as .44 spl, .45acp, .32acp and so forth.
 
it doesn't matter two flips what the box looks like. are the rounds aluminum jackets or copper with a nickel wash? the original STHP were aluminum jacketed in the slower calibers such as .44 spl, .45acp, .32acp and so forth.
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Jerry, I'm afeared I can't tell the difference. :(

Is there a way to test for this? I'd really love to find out! :)
 
Jerrys, That's them, I have both but the test rounds shown in the photo was the older one that was more rounded.
Also all silver tips that WIN ever made had aluminum jackets.
 
they no longer make the aluminum jacket version. they now only use the harder copper jacket with a nickel wash so they can keep using the name. because of this change the lower velocity rounds no longer expand worth a flip.

if you want reliable expansion from a current sthp you need high velocity rounds such as 9mm, 10mm, .357 mag, .44 mag and the like.

Mod12Win, yours is the current style with the harder copper jacket.
 
AAHHH WELL HELL!! :mad:

Well, I have some Blazer 200 grain Gold Dots coming in the mail so hopefully God willing, those will expand from my 2.5" barrel.
 
maybe. the blazer is loaded a little slower than the speer version. but the aluminum casing makes them cheaper by almost half. theyre crap for first in gun ammo because the casings tend to stick upon ejection. save them for a reload or target fodder.
 
Jerry: I've heard the Blazers are actually a bit faster than the fancier Speer version? Not sure though...

Well anyway, I sent my bulldog back to Charter Arms in Connecticut today. The gun just wasn't timed properly out of the box. Brand new, never fired, the damn thing was made in February 2015 (two months ago) but it just wouldn't lock up in double action mode before the hammer fell on most of the chambers most of the time. No bueno. Today I also got some Pachmayr compacs for the bulldog, which I put on the gun before I boxed it up. VERY nice and look darn cool.

When my dog gets back, hopefully it will be fixed and ready to go. In the meantime, I'll be scouring the internet for information on the best defensive load for the gun. I REALLY like it, feels so great in the hand, but as of yet it won't replace my S&W 642 for defensive duty until it's fixed and I've found a good load for it.

I want to personally thank everyone for helping me in my quest, especially JERRYS. I'm a newbie to the Charter Arms bulldog and to .44 special in general, but I'm learning a lot everyday. :)
 
let us know what they did to fix the timing. one of mine is slightly out of time in s/a mode and has some end play. I imagine a new hand and some cylinder shims would do the trick.... I guess the real test will be if a gunsmith works on your gun, or a just parts replacer does it.
 
I'll let you know when the guns back. Hopefully they fix the problem, I've still yet to fire the bulldog. I will have to say that so far, customer service from Charter Arms has been exemplery. They were very nice over the phone and mailed me a FedEx shipping label no questions asked and said "we will get it back to you in 7-10 days", very good folks to work with so far.

I'll keep everyone posted! :)
 
yeah, the current owner Nick Ecker was also the owner of Charter 2000, but they wont warranty those guns, nor will he warranty the original guns his father David Ecker made.

I have a few Charter revolvers and I really like them considering what I paid for them, however the shipping costs to and from, plus the service charge, plus the cost of parts makes me consider just getting rid of the ones that need tightening.

all that said, I hear they have good customer service for the guns they currently make (this go-around anyway).
 
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