Charter Arms - worthwhile or not? UPDATED - PLEASE READ! Need advice/answers.

[Wheelgun Dunn]

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

[Hazcat]

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.

[2HOW]

Charter is one of the best IMHO

[brosometal]

Charter is something you do to a bus or an airplane.

Sorry couldn't resist and it is way past my bedtime

[cookie62]

I have had to CA revolvers, loved them both.

[Sponsor]

[John McCreery]

I have one of the undercovers and it goes bang everytime I pull the trigger.  The price was right!  Great BUG.

[twyacht]

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),.. 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.

[Wheelgun Dunn]

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 

[m25operator]

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

Enjoy

[twyacht]

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!

Congratulations! Let us know how you like the recoil. Stick with "normal" loads,,, They're plenty.