Charter Arms Undercover, etc.(long-winded post)

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DAL

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After having my Charter Arms Undercover (5-shot, .38 Special, 2" bbl.) for a number
of years, and only putting a couple of boxes
of ammo through it while informally plinking,
I finally tried it out at an indoor range. I
can only say that this revolver leaves MUCH
to be desired. While shooting at a target
approx. 20 feet away, the gun kept hitting
about 6" high and about 5" to the left. I
know it was the gun because all of my shots
grouped in that area. I didn't have this
trouble with the other guns I fired that day.
I'm sure glad I found this out about the gun;
I was actually thinking of carrying it. Of
course, I realize that the gun wasn't meant
for tack-driving accuracy, but that was
ridiculous. This occurred in both SA and DA
mode of fire. Has anyone else had this prob-
lem with this model?

BTW, special thanks to Morgan for his help
with my search for an accurate, concealable
pistol. He graciously offered to meet me at
an indoor range near him and let me fire his
Kahr MK40. All I can say about that little
gun is WOW! I'll definitely be picking up
one of those in the near future. At first, I
was thinking about getting a 9mm, but now I'm
leaning toward the .40S&W. I was also VERY
impressed with the H&K USP40 he let me shoot.
After I returned to shooting my Makarov, a
gun I still enjoy shooting, it felt as if I
went from a Cadillac to a Suzuki Swift. Not
that I'm knocking the Makarov, it's a great
gun for the price and, after 500+ rounds, it
has never had a failure to feed, but now that
I've seen what else is out there, I'll never
be the same.
DAL

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Reading "Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal," by Ayn Rand, should be required of every politician and in every high school.
 
I have a couple of CA 5 guns from the mid '70's which are very accurate, considering the price level. Each is regulated for a particular bullet weight, the 158 gr. in the .38 Spl. and 240 gr. in .44 Spl.. Nothing shocking here, my Smith 638 only shoots a few loads to POA also.

Could it be a little experimentation with ammo would make you feel better about your CA?
 
I found that in a particular fixed sight Model 10 110 and 125gr shot to POA at 7 yards whereas 158gr hit 4" high. Ammo choice matters.

Also, today I got my S&W Bodyguard back (it hit high and to the right by 3-4" at 7) and the smith simply ground out the rear sighting notch. I hope to find that the alteration worked....sometime later this week.

Then there's my Taurus 85UL which has shot to POA since I got it with most every load...lucky?
 
Hey, you guys might have something there! I
didn't even think that it might be my ammo.
Come to think of it, I was using 132 gr. FMJ,
which I bought specifically to use at the in-
door range. I've never used this load before
in the CA revolver. It's been so long since
I fired it, but I think I used 148 gr. wad-
cutters previously.

The weather's supposed to be nice tomorrow,
I'm off work, and I don't have much planned,
so I'm going out to the (outdoor) range and
test out some different loads. There may be
some hope yet for this little sucker. I'll
let you know how things go.

Thanks!
DAL

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Reading "Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal," by Ayn Rand, should be required of every politician and in every high school.
 
Well, I tried about three different ammo/
bullet types and all of them performed very
poorly in my CA Undercover. Then, as I was
cleaning the revolver tonight, I noticed a
lead coating in a couple of the grooves near
the muzzle. I scratched them with my nail
and chunks of lead flaked off. For the next
hour or so, I scrubbed the hell out of the
barrel with some Remington bore cleaner (it
feels slightly abrasive) and I think I got a
good 90-95% of the lead out.

Would leading of the barrel cause the horrid
accuracy I talked about above? Even using a
rest today didn't improve the accuracy, so I
am thinking maybe the leaded grooves are the
culprit. I'm going to give the little gun
one more chance, this time with a variety of
jacketed bullets in different weights, be-
fore I relegate it to permanent storage. If
it continues to shoot as poorly as it has
been, I won't even be able to sell it. I'd
feel guilty taking someone's money for a gun
I know to be inaccurate.

BTW, my Makarov was as accurate as ever to-
day.
DAL

------------------
Reading "Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal," by Ayn Rand, should be required of every politician and in every high school.
 
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