reliability and durability are not the same thing.
are the C.A. Bulldogs reliable? yep. are they durable? not for regular range training.
So, "it goes bang until it doesn't"?
Have read or heard that some of the Charter Arms are better made than other ones due to dates made ect. Would like to get information on this before buying one. Any valid information welcome. Thanks
Charco and Charter 2000, said to be not so great. Internet hearsay, no personal experience.
Once upon a time I had bookmark to a thread on one of the forums, Highroad, I think, where someone laid out Charter Arms dates, serial numbers and manufacturing locations. If I can find it I'll edit it in.
(Found it. Check out the second post in this thread
Please help Identify Bulldog 44 Special.)
Probably not the only gun "out of stock"!
Ha ha! No.
I did a spot check the other day. Went to Midway USA, sorted handguns by availability. On page 5 of 35 it went from Available or Mixed Availability, to Unavailable. Available stuff appeared to me to be mostly high dollar stuff and single action revolvers.
My newly manufactured Bulldog (5 years or so) has been quite reliable, and surprisingly accurate. Especially being the bobbed hammer DAO version. Round count is probably in the 500 range. Not a real torture test, but in reality, how much will a light weight, pocket 44 Special be shot?
I keep reading that Charters are "carried a lot, shot a little". That's not how I work. If I'm carrying it, it goes with me and gets shot every time I go shooting.
My personal experience with Charter Arms revolvers earlier this decade involved too much breakage to trust it. Broken transfer bars, mostly. Sold it off and moved on. Would be willing to try again, if I thought they made the transfer better now, of if they just "had a bad batch of transfer bars".
I would, seriously and honestly, on the low end be more interested in finding one of Taurus' .44 Special snubs. Practically, the XDS45 gets you to exactly the same place for a self defense gun.