Charter 2000 .44Spl review, by www.gunblast.com & Quinn Brothers

J

Jim March

New member
Three brothers in TN have set up a gun and gun products review site at http://www.gunblast.com - the quality of the writing seems quite good, and when they review something they appear to be providing lots of details (such as on their excellent Cor-Bon "PowerBall" ammo review on that page). There's a bit of a "homebrew feel" to things, which is fine, fr'instance the test medium on the Cor-Bons has to be seen to be believed :D.

They also appear willing to criticize gun makers when warranted, see also the "Revolver Accuracy" article under the archives link. I read a good percentage of their articles tonight, technical knowledge seemed universally high.

What caught my attention was a detailed review of a Charter 2000 .44Spl Bulldog, the first really detailed article on a Charter 2000 gun I've seen. In short, they loved it, it turned out to be highly accurate and well made, better than Charter Arms original production in some ways. Given that these guys aren't "major gun journalists", it's unlikely Charter 2000 gave them a "review queen gun" so it's probably random production that they bought or borrowed (see addendum below!).

The site in general is worth checking out, they're mostly wheelgunners but not above some favorable comments for the Glocks. About the only disappointment I had was in the review of a very custom .44Spl Blackhawk (link is right on the main page) set up for low carry weight, based on an early .357 Blackhawk frame and with some aluminum parts. Sweet gun. I wanted to know just how light they ended up with it, but no weight data was included. A very minor quibble! I cared only because I wanted to know how it stacked up against Gary Reeder's Backpacker .45, a 28oz massively altered Vaquero :).

Has anybody heard of these guys, or know more about them?

(Addendum, later edit: in going through their guestbook entries under "feedback", it appears Charter 2000 did give them a test gun? Or rather, they'd promised to, so it's safe to assume that's what happened. It *could* be a "lab queen", or not. Hard to say. The gun is very interesting, because unlike a lot of .44Spls it's not a five-shot gun on a six-shot .357 frame, it's much closer in size to a J-frame and hence both "size-efficient" and plenty potent for defense. Also a good backup gun for those that carry .44Mag, which could eat the .44Spls in a pinch. I'd check the lockup and timing of one right at a gun dealer before buying, but if it seems solid and you want one, they're almost certainly worth the money and more. Has anyone seen other Charter 2000 reviews, of any model?)
 
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No real Tennessean would waste good country ham like that. I am thoroughly offended (especially since I haven't had breakfast yet).
 
Great site!

Wow, some of those reviews were very well written, particularly the Bulldog article.

Some of the archived reviews seemed a little liteweight to me, but the newer, more detailed ones, were very well done.

I like the way these folks write and review.

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edited after I read some older articles that were not as well done as the first few I read.
 
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The ham died for a good cause!

...especially since Federal isn't loading the E-FMJs to any kind of respectable energy level and are limiting the calibers.

I fear that the E-FMJ won't reach it's full potential, through no fault of the projectile's designer. If the Cor-Bon PowerBall solves many of the same problems (feed reliability and clog sensitivity in particular) then a full test of it is extremely valuable.

Worth more than a ham :).

The only thing I'd have added would have been notes on whether or not each gun had had feed ramp polish jobs or not, especially on the Norinco or other "low end" autos. I'd hope that the Quinns would include that data on any ammo reliability tests for slideguns.

And where possible, do more links back to the product's supplier - I'd like to know Clement's home page, the guy that did that .44.

Still, they've already surpassed most print gun rags :).
 
Larry, for gawd's sake, don't stop there, tell us what you think of it! You don't *have* to get very technical, just impressions on fit'n'finish and how well it shoots would be a start :).

A *lot* of us really want to know how well C2000 is doing.
 
Jim, give me some time to get back to the range for specific comments. I don't have the expertise that a lot of folks have on the TFL (or seem to have). For one thing though, it carries well for me in a ActionDirect wraparound in the small of the back (you do have to make sure you give it a good wipe down afterwards because of some perspiration). I carry Triton HiVels in it with two speedloaders. I'm not that good of a pistolero but I'm confident in a scenario that I can't run from this little pistol will do the trick. When I first fired it (not the HiVels) it had a lot of recoil. Another thing that bothered me was the spent cartridges did not easily eject. I'll have to look in my locker to see what type of ammo I fired that first time. I think it was 200 grain, not sure. The next time I fired it, I ran a cylinder of the HiVel and there was less recoil and the cartridges were easily ejected. I picked up this pistol because for years I have wanted a small pistol with a lot of punch. I have been hesitant to make many comments on these posts because: 1) I am not an expert though I've been around guns for around forty years and 2) there are some folks that get a little intense about things that should be fun and/or opinion.
 
I am poking around that site now. The custom snake load they describe sounds real interesting.
 
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