The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Handguns => Topic started by: Wheelgun Dunn on June 24, 2008, 07:02:42 PM
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Well, I have been catching up on my Downrange TV podcasts and listening to our fearless leader, Michael Bane, and he is obviously a huge proponent of the Charter Arms company and their products. So my question is this, why does Mr. Bane like 'em so much, are they really that good? I am not questioning his good judgement and obvious experience as I respect what he says and agree with him the vast majority of the time, I just want some personal testimonials. Also I understand the original Charter Arms made a good product, then made a terrible product, then went out of business, then came back and now make an even better product than the original, is this true?
Please chime in on personal experiences/opinions with them and any history lessons on the company.
Thanks!
Wheelgun Dunn
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I have fired the all steel jobs and they are good, inexpensive guns. Triggers can be a bit heavy or gritty or wonderful. They will shoot and are as accurate as they need to be.
On the other hand I had a undercover lite .38 (12 oz gun) and the metal would expand so much it would not extract the empties unless you pounded on the extractor rod.
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Charter is one of the best IMHO
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Charter is something you do to a bus or an airplane.
Sorry couldn't resist and it is way past my bedtime ;D
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I have had to CA revolvers, loved them both.
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I have one of the undercovers and it goes bang everytime I pull the trigger. The price was right! Great BUG.
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I have shot my father's CA Bulldog .44 (He won't let me have it until as he says; "Goes Home") But I have shot it many times, and well it is a Bad Mother,... (expletive),.. 8) And for a "small" pistol it is a full blown .44 Magnum! Recoil is stout, but in a SD situation, 1 maybe 2 rounds is enough. Pachmayr grips for X-Mas last year helped alot.
Never had an issue, even though my father doesn't shoot much anymore, I have to remind him to oil it, which he saves for me to do when I see him. (He's 250 miles away.)
http://www.levergun.com/articles/44_Special_Bulldog.htm
Great article regarding handloading, ballistics, fps, SD loads, and other tidbits of info regarding a really good pistol.
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Well I did it! A friend of mine and I were shopping together at our favorite grown up boys toy store (gun store) and I saw a CA Bulldog Pug in .44 Special and I could not resist! It was my B-day/Christmas/B-day/Christmas and for his respective gift a Kahr PM45! We had a good day! Anyway, did I do the right thing? Haven't had a chance to shoot it yet hope I am not disappointed. Finish is a little rough, is this cast metal? It can't be. The CA website said they are stainless steel. How is it so light? My SP101 weighs a ton! Why the difference? Do I need to be worried or just enjoy my new gift? Thanks!
Wheelgun
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It's light because of the large holes in the barrel and cylinder. Charter has a couple of things going for it, if you remove the grips, they have a tiny grip frame, good for concealment, they make the smallest .44 on the market. They are reasonably priced and they are reliable. Thats the good stuff.
Cons, In .44 they are a handful, not much fun just to play with, for most of us this is a special purpose pistol. Carried often and shot seldom. I really dislike the actions, they are more difficult to get a good, reliable double action trigger on, like the Ruger, they have a trigger group in the lower half of the trigger guard, and the hammer is pinned into the frame, so it is hard to see the relationship from hammer, trigger and sear. So like a Ruger, just polish the hell out of everything and keep the surfaces square. And as far as mainsprings, I hate coil mainsprings, you just can't go much below the factory spring without problems. I'm not big on Colt v spring ignition either.
Notice, no where in my commentary did I refer to it as a POS, it's not. I just wish S&W made it. Without the lock system of course.
I can't wait till you shoot it, the first cylinder is like WOW, especially if it's a 2". But on the receiving end it's the same reaction. WOW ;D
Enjoy
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Uh,..... Marshal'ette needs to make a DRTV rule,..... If you post about getting a new firearm, you have to give us a picture to see it.
Speaking as kind of a gun voyeur, some new gun porn would be great! Especially when just back from the range and dirty! 8)
Congratulations! Let us know how you like the recoil. Stick with "normal" loads,,, They're plenty.
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Uh,..... Marshal'ette needs to make a DRTV rule,..... If you post about getting a new firearm, you have to give us a picture to see it.
Speaking as kind of a gun voyeur, some new gun porn would be great! Especially when just back from the range and dirty! 8)
Congratulations! Let us know how you like the recoil. Stick with "normal" loads,,, They're plenty.
Thats great. :)
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I mean, Charters don't have the fit and finish of an S&W or a Ruger, but they're 'way cheaper and my experience with them has been very good indeed. I've had a couple of .44s and have one now, and I like my current one bunches. It's been overhauled by Magnaport and it's slick, but it was a workhorse before I sent it to be overhauled. I cleaned it once by accident. I've carried it a lot in a Simply Rugged pancake, both in the backcountry under a vest and in citified situations under a jacket.
I'm going to get one of the red and black Charter snubs, maybe .38, maybe .327, because...well, because! A red and black snub offers me major choice in wardrobe selection, always a critical issue. Good taste is timeless...
Michael B
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Thanks for all the input guys! I actually drew responsive fire from our fearless leader Michael Bane! Always good to hear from the Major Domo! Appreciate all the responses and rest assured I will have a range report and pics as soon as they are both complete and available. Thanks!
Wheelgun
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I think of myself more as Fearful Leader...I'm in television, after all!
mb
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I went through the Charter phase in the late '70s/early 80s. I got a 4" Target model (TERRIBLE rear sight would not hold zero. I had to put shims in both sides) and an original 3" as a backup. The 4" had to go back to the factory due to repeated light strikes. It turned out to be a burr. The problem with carrying one of them was always the reload factor. I really wish Bianchi made .44 speed strips! that would have been the answer. I used an "ammo wallet" for awhile. Both guns are now house guns loaded with Glaser Blues with Silvertips in speed loaders. There are companies (DeSantis I think) that make slide on the belt ammo holders. That would work also. Off duty (don't ask) when I go "low profile", I find that a Kahr K40 gives me as much power, is slimmer, is easy to reload with an easily carried extra magazine, and has higher round count in the gun.
I like the Charters. They're no nonsense close in defensive guns. On the other hand I really wish Ruger would make a SP101 or a GP100 in .44 Spec. I'd be one of the first in line.
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In front of fearful leader?
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I've recently gotten bit by the Bulldog bug. I've handled them at local shops and gun shows. And I'd like to get me one.
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I've seen some good comments on Charter Arms and some bad. Probably the one that made me pause on pulling the trigger the most was that someone had pins coming loose. I also saw one about the gun not ejecting. After reading about others' experiences here (particularly the "fearful" leader's) and the review in the last Combat Handguns, I made my move and started my 10-day wait. This is the standard stainless Undercover. Even if it isn't as fit as a S&W, I can buy almost 3 Charter at the price a Smith costs in the O.C.. I'll give them a fair shot and I have some faith in the fact that this is the steel version. You can't get any of the aluminum guns in California yet. I would have liked the Off-Duty, but it hasn't gone through CA certification yet.
I think that Charter should send Mr. Bane his Red and Black Undercover, as a reward for his fair reporting on them. I know that I was definitely a victim of the gun store guys calling everything inexpensive "junk."
I'll report if I have any problems, but I don't expect any.
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10 day wait? Ouch, yet another reason that I live in FL
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Yep! California getting bad. Next year may be the last year that we can get any handguns. The guns will have to microstamp the serial number onto every primer and if a couple more laws pass, they'll also have to be "smart guns" and we would only be able to have 50 rds transferred to us a month. All of the manufacturers are saying that they just won't sell to California. I've heard that they even say they won't sell to our police or service them. I appreciate our police, but I hope that the gun companies make that statement. It's the only way that we'll have these laws overturned. Barrett stopped selling to the police after our 50 cal ban, and when LAPD sent their rifles for service, I heard that they refused to send them back.
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The Wicked Witch of the West (Nancy Pelosi), hasn't even gotten started,..
Very sad indeed,....
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