Range report: "original" Charter Arms .44

omegapd

New member
Got a chance to head out to the range the other day at work.

I went through a few cylinders full of 246g Winchester cowboy loads I had laying around the house for a few years to get a feel for the gun and see how bad the recoil was. These are some nice shooting, fairly mild loads and I really believe they'd get the job done if I had to use them in a pinch for self defense.

I also brought along a handful of some Speer Gold Dots (200g) as they would most likely be my carry load. They also shot accurate from self defense positions and didn't recoil much worse than the cowboy loads, although you could tell there was an extra bit of "oomph" to them.

All of my shooting was from the 10 yard line. Here's a pic of 15 rounds with about 12 of them being the Cowboy loads and the few Gold Dots. These were fired double action taking my time.

ccw017.jpg


I've ordered some cheap .44 spc ammo for another little X-mas gift, so I'll be able to really see what this gun is capable of after then. I do think this will be a "carry a lot- shoot very little" type of gun.

I have to qualify with my duty gun on the 11th of this month and will have to qualify with this one also if I want to tote it off-duty. 25 round course should be a piece of cake. If no problems arise, I'll have a pretty good feel for it and enough confidence in it to see if it'll replace my K frame .38 CCW.

EW
 
Nice shooting, omegapd! Let bad guys beware! :D

omegapd said:
I do think this will be a "carry a lot- shoot very little" type of gun.

Yup, revolvers like this usually end up that way. They were never intended as target pieces anyway. Glad you found one of the old Charter Bulldogs in what is apparently excellent shape. The new ones aren't worth the powder and shot to blow them to hell, but the old Charters have a good reputation for reliability. I think Pachmayr makes a compact rubber grip that fits them too if you're interested in getting rid of the wood ones. I never liked the wood grip that came on them because it didn't fit my hand well, but that is strictly a person by person thing.
 
I bought one of the first ones and gave it to my Dad,Pachy compacs made it very shootable.They say Son of Sam would have killed more people but with those wood grips had to go home and soak his hand in epsom salts...
 
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