1970s? Charter Arms 380, has anybody seen one?

[Carmady]

I never heard of this until a couple of minutes ago. I'm guessing 1970s since it's a Stratford gun, that was made in West Germany. Might be early 80s.

A current GB ad, and a pic from a magazine for sale on ebay.

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/768808708

 

[RJay]

I remember them being advertised but I believe it was near the end of the first Charter arms run and when Charter folded so did the gun.

 

[TruthTellers]

Charter is a really tough company to find history on because nobody really bothered to document what they were making in the 70s and 80s. Thankfully I have a list of revolvers they were making from back then, so I know what's rare (basically anything with a 6 inch barrel) and what's not.

I wish somebody would write an article or a small book about Charter the way that Bill Goforth (RIP) did with Harrington and Richardson.

This though... I know Charter once tried the mini revolver market and quit because they couldn't compete with NAA, but a 1911? Nope, no clue.

 

[Siggy-06]

Never seen that one before. Very pretty gun.

 

[tallball]

I know that Star made something similar.

 

[lee n. field]

A couple of the g00gle hits say made by Erma, EP-459 .380

 

[tranders]

I sure like the looks of it.

 

[Carmady]

Thanks for all the input.

From the ebay magazine ad:
"Checking in at 24 ounces empty, this gun easily fits into out criterion for pocket pistols."

 

[carguychris]

From the looks of the pistol in the advertisement and what little info I'm seeing online, the pistol appears to be strongly patterned after the Walther PP, albeit with 1911-like styling, a heel mag release, and an added firing pin safety.

The barrel, breech, recoil spring, pivoting trigger guard, thumb safety, and slide stop are all PP/PPK type. Also like these pistols, there is no external slide release lever.

A couple of the g00gle hits say made by Erma, EP-459 .380

That makes sense, considering that IIRC the last Erma centerfire pistols sold in the U.S. were a couple of scaled down Luger knockoffs that went off the market in the early 70s and seem to have been mostly regarded as gimmicks.

By the early 80s, AFAIK Walther, Tanfoglio, Star, Astra, Llama, and Beretta were all selling single-stack all-metal .380 pistols through U.S. importers or production arrangements, and Colt was selling the Gov't 380 and Mustang. I'm sure Erma wanted a piece of that pie.

 

[WC145]

Interesting, looks like a little 1911 with a PPK action.

If you call Charter Arms they might be able to help with some history. They've given me info on a couple of their old revolvers before.

 

[natman]

Charter is a really tough company to find history on because nobody really bothered to document what they were making in the 70s and 80s. Thankfully I have a list of revolvers they were making from back then, so I know what's rare (basically anything with a 6 inch barrel) and what's not.

I wish somebody would write an article or a small book about Charter the way that Bill Goforth (RIP) did with Harrington and Richardson.

There is such a book, published in 1981, called "And now STAINLESS".

 

[kymasabe]

That's a nice looking gun. Am I wrong, or does the safety swing in the wrong direction?

 

[1MoreFord]

That's a nice looking gun. Am I wrong, or does the safety swing in the wrong direction?

Not for a hammer drop decocker like metal S&W's and PPK's it doesn't.

Ooops - ETA - Forgot to include Beretta's.