New to this so bear with me. First i must say that there is a wealth of knowledge here. I'm impressed. I own a S&W M19-5, 4", a S&W M38 Airweight Bodyguard and a Bersa 380 i bought for CCW permit. In Texas if you go thru training with a revolver then you can only carry a revolver. I normally carry the Bodyguard when i go out. I shoot the M 19 very little. From reading the Forum i have come to realize i have some good weapons. My sad thought is i sold my S&W M17 K22 Masterpiece in a moment of weakness, but that is another story. My question is that i want to go up in caliber on the carry gun and i have been looking at a Charter 2000 Bulldog 44 spl. I have read good and bad here on this weapon. I plan to buy a new one and shoot it some to get to know it then it will go into the carry mode. Am i wrong. I can afford other brands , but seem to come back to the Bulldog. Comments please.
Question on Charter Arms Bulldog Help
- Thread starter Randy C.
- Start date
I agree with HiWayMan. I recently bought a Taurus 445, and really like it. The gun is an easy-shooting, accurate revolver. Mine is blue steel, non-ported. As far as I can tell, porting is unnecessary.
Note that the 445 is not currently in production, so you may have to do some searching.
Note that the 445 is not currently in production, so you may have to do some searching.
I wouldn't recommend Charter Arms at all, they have some serious quality control problems, Taurus isn't too bad but it wouldn't be my first choice. I've had a lot of experience with revolvers, carried one on duty and a Master Class shooter in PPC using a revolver, my first choice would be S&W, second choice would be a Ruger, the Ruger isn't as refined as the S&W but they are a good reliable revolver, I would put the Taurus as a third choice.
Back in the 70's an accquaintance bought one of the original Charter Arms .44 Bulldogs. I liked it's small size, big bore concept, though the cylinder walls seemed to be reaaalllllly thin to me. The gun held up through about 300 rounds just fine. Then slowly, over the course of about 18 months, it began to fall apart (figuratively). Difficultly opening the cylinder, shaving lead (out of time), progressively harder trigger pull, ejection problems and more.
Given the examples of the Charter 2000 that I've seen (exactly 2) it seems they build them the same way as the original Charter Arms did. I'm not impressed. For a gun that will be bought, have 20-50 rounds fired and then see duty as an "economy" home defense gun, it's probably okay. Definitely better than a Raven .25.
Taurus revolvers do have a lifetime warranty and they've been known to replace the entire gun with a new one. Others have had problems with Taurus warranty repairs however. My own experience was positive -- A Taurus M731 2" ported .32 H&R Mag snubbie that I liked -- and I've fired a number of Taurii guns who's owners have been happy with 'em out of the box.
If you like the .44 special, they offer(ed) a .44 special snubbie in stainless and in a Titanium frame. A similar gun is(was) available in .45 Colt too. My favorite though is the Model 415T -- a 2" ported Titanium snubbie in .41 Magnum(!). I've fired one of the Ti versions with 175gr silvertips and it wasn't as bad as one would think. Still, the .44 special would be milder and more useful as a CCW gun I think.
Given the examples of the Charter 2000 that I've seen (exactly 2) it seems they build them the same way as the original Charter Arms did. I'm not impressed. For a gun that will be bought, have 20-50 rounds fired and then see duty as an "economy" home defense gun, it's probably okay. Definitely better than a Raven .25.
Taurus revolvers do have a lifetime warranty and they've been known to replace the entire gun with a new one. Others have had problems with Taurus warranty repairs however. My own experience was positive -- A Taurus M731 2" ported .32 H&R Mag snubbie that I liked -- and I've fired a number of Taurii guns who's owners have been happy with 'em out of the box.
If you like the .44 special, they offer(ed) a .44 special snubbie in stainless and in a Titanium frame. A similar gun is(was) available in .45 Colt too. My favorite though is the Model 415T -- a 2" ported Titanium snubbie in .41 Magnum(!). I've fired one of the Ti versions with 175gr silvertips and it wasn't as bad as one would think. Still, the .44 special would be milder and more useful as a CCW gun I think.
I killed a Charco Bulldog Pug in a little over 300 rounds. Granted, most of those were 240gr PMC's, and the gun might have lasted longer with 200gr loadings, but it didn't instill me with lots of confidence in the marque.
A Charter 2000 in .357 Magnum suffered one of the more interesting failures I've seen: A customer brought it back to my previous employer with the barrel in one hand and the gun in the other. Apparently, still on its first box of ammunition, the entire portion of the barrel forward of the shank parted company with the rest of the firearm and accompanied the projectile downrange. That must've been exciting.
A Charter 2000 in .357 Magnum suffered one of the more interesting failures I've seen: A customer brought it back to my previous employer with the barrel in one hand and the gun in the other. Apparently, still on its first box of ammunition, the entire portion of the barrel forward of the shank parted company with the rest of the firearm and accompanied the projectile downrange. That must've been exciting.
Befor I would spend money on a torus
Read others on problems that some people are having with Taurus. About 15 years ago I bought a used blued Bulldog and wore it out learning to handle the recoil. It took me around 300 rounds befor I felt comfortable with it. I then sold it and bought one of the stanless Bulldogs when they first came out. It now has around 400 rounds through it and has never given me reasion for complaint.
The only thing that I will add is that most people that have shot it, the recoil is somthing you will have to get used to. 44 Special is not that high pressure of a round but in that light of a gun it does let you know when you have touched it off. The other thing is that this is not a gun that your going to be able to put thousands of rounds through. Its a light gun, with a heavy round. ITs not 357 mag pressures by a long shot but there is a lot of energy going out the barrel with the bullet.
I dont mean to bad mouth Taurus's here, but if you read the number of people that are complaining about quality issues your probably going to want to spend your money some where else. Charter arms are not the finest guns made, by a long shot, but there well built with few problems, and thats with the 100's that have gone through our shop in the past 20 years.
Read others on problems that some people are having with Taurus. About 15 years ago I bought a used blued Bulldog and wore it out learning to handle the recoil. It took me around 300 rounds befor I felt comfortable with it. I then sold it and bought one of the stanless Bulldogs when they first came out. It now has around 400 rounds through it and has never given me reasion for complaint.
The only thing that I will add is that most people that have shot it, the recoil is somthing you will have to get used to. 44 Special is not that high pressure of a round but in that light of a gun it does let you know when you have touched it off. The other thing is that this is not a gun that your going to be able to put thousands of rounds through. Its a light gun, with a heavy round. ITs not 357 mag pressures by a long shot but there is a lot of energy going out the barrel with the bullet.
I dont mean to bad mouth Taurus's here, but if you read the number of people that are complaining about quality issues your probably going to want to spend your money some where else. Charter arms are not the finest guns made, by a long shot, but there well built with few problems, and thats with the 100's that have gone through our shop in the past 20 years.
Your not getting my point.
...as opposed to all the glowing Charter Arms/Charco/Charter 2000 revies in this thread
Yes people have problems with charter also, but with the number of charters vs Tarus's we have sold the problems were fewer with charter, I will also add that when a company adds a life time waranty is it like the chep jap cars that are coming with 100,000 mile waranties. They did it to get peope to buy them. There still crappy no matter how long the the warinty.
You can get a good tarus, you can also get a good Charter. he was asking about buldogs, I have had two and never had a problem with ether, but that light of a gun does have a short life span.
To every one here that likes Taurus I am happy for you, but if I am going to have an N frame its going to have smith on the side and not Taurus.
...as opposed to all the glowing Charter Arms/Charco/Charter 2000 revies in this thread
Yes people have problems with charter also, but with the number of charters vs Tarus's we have sold the problems were fewer with charter, I will also add that when a company adds a life time waranty is it like the chep jap cars that are coming with 100,000 mile waranties. They did it to get peope to buy them. There still crappy no matter how long the the warinty.
You can get a good tarus, you can also get a good Charter. he was asking about buldogs, I have had two and never had a problem with ether, but that light of a gun does have a short life span.
To every one here that likes Taurus I am happy for you, but if I am going to have an N frame its going to have smith on the side and not Taurus.
Charter Arms Undercover .38: 1st cylinder full=3 clicks and 2 bangs. Fixed under warranty.
Charter Arms Offduty .38:See above.
Charter Arms Bulldog .44: Almost 1,000 rounds of all types of ammo without one problem. Still as tight as new.
Taurus 94 .22=Several thousands rounds. not one problem.
Taurus 85 .38=Same as above (almost all +p's)
Taurus 605 .357=Same as above (mostly .357's or .38 +p's).
Taurus 606 .357=Same as above.
Taurus Millennium 9mm=Thousands of rounds of mostly +p's. No problems.
Do you really need to ask which brand i would grab in a self defense situation?
Charter Arms Offduty .38:See above.
Charter Arms Bulldog .44: Almost 1,000 rounds of all types of ammo without one problem. Still as tight as new.
Taurus 94 .22=Several thousands rounds. not one problem.
Taurus 85 .38=Same as above (almost all +p's)
Taurus 605 .357=Same as above (mostly .357's or .38 +p's).
Taurus 606 .357=Same as above.
Taurus Millennium 9mm=Thousands of rounds of mostly +p's. No problems.
Do you really need to ask which brand i would grab in a self defense situation?