Charter Arms Bulldog .44 Classic

[Deaf Smith]

Chesster,

Sort of. The 696 should have been fixed sighted, no underlug, and a thinner 2 1/2 inch barrel.

They made it too heavy and with adjustable sights prone to snagging (after all, it was supposed to be concealment gun not a belt gun.)

Think about a 686 2 1/2 snub, but with a 5 shot .44 cylinder and barrel and fixed sights. Simple, powerful, and no sharp edges.

Deaf

 

[Chesster]

Well said Deaf. Taurus made a stab at it with the 3" 431. If you could take the best of the CA/S&W/Taurus you could probably come up with a perfect SD revolver for IWB carry. I have stock versions of each of these and see the good and bad with the designs. I also found this modified piece a few years back that some smith cobbled together. Stainless frame with bbl cut and sight replaced, grip frame replaced with a blued alloy I guess to cut weight and I added the rubber grips to improve shooting comfort. I also recall a gun magazine featuring a custom conversion of a Ruger Speed Six 2.75" converted to a 5 shot .44s. Would have loved to get my hands on that one.

 

[lowercase]

Since this thread is still alive and kicking, I figured that I might as well post a picture of my vintage Bulldog.

 

[Chesster]

Can't get enough l'case. I see yours has the latter vintage Bulldog grips found on the real "classic".

 

[Ozzieman]

Deaf, I think you are talking about a Smith 696. Great gun but hard to find and pricey.
I would rather see Ruger come out with a SP101 in a 5 shot 44. I have been e mailing Ruger once a month asking for that very thing. Imagine how many of those they would sell if they came out with one. I keep getting answers back, lawyerease and not at this time.
Deaf I disagree, your point is well taken but the advantage of the bulldog would be lost if they did the additions you suggested. Light weight and inexpensive. If they did, I would buy one in a second.
I think the gun you’re talking about is the other one in the photo I posted, the Taurus 445 which I don’t think they build any more. But it had a lot of reliability issues that required a good gunsmith.

 

[Deaf Smith]

the Taurus 445 which I don’t think they build any more. But it had a lot of reliability issues that required a good gunsmith.

Hence a better made gun.. S&W! I'd even accept an 'airweight' L frame 5 shot fixed sighted 2 1/2 inch bbl .44 spl. without the child lock.

I also recall a gun magazine featuring a custom conversion of a Ruger Speed Six 2.75" converted to a 5 shot .44s. Would have loved to get my hands on that one

.

YEA... I'd love to get my hands on that one to. Now the .44, taking more steel from the cylinder and barrel would make it lighter. And no one ever said the Speed Six was a weak or unreliable design. And it was a fixed sighted gun and good DA pull (I only have two of 'em!)

As long as it would take the "Skeeter' load. 8 grs of Unique with 250gr slug.

Now there is a gun smith that rechambers and rebores Ruger GP100s to 10mm. That's ok but sure love to see it done in .44 Spl. Six shots, 3 inch barrel, and a DAO hammer.

Deaf

 

[Ozzieman]

Hence a better made gun.. S&W! I'd even accept an 'airweight' L frame 5 shot fixed sighted 2 1/2 inch bbl .44 spl. without the child lock.

Yea, I hear your need, I do too. I didn’t mean to say that the Taurus was the answer to all needs but they did make a stronger gun than the Charter but in my case a POS.
S&W did make a light weight 44 special hammerless the S&W 296 AirLite Titanium back in the late 80’s or early 90’s with a 2 ½ inch barrel.
I owned one but the recoil was so brutal even compared to the Bulldog that I didn’t keep it. Something about the shortness and grip angle that really hurt the web of my hand.
I saw one for sale several weeks ago at a local GS and the nit wits wanted 1200$ for it. I know times are crazy but that’s stupid.
If Ruger did make one in 44 special, I would buy one for myself, one for the wife and one for the safe.

 

[eastbank]

i bought a used, all ss,(even the grip frame is ss) early.44 spl 3 inch unshrouded barrel with factory bobbed hammer in like new condition in the box with wooden grips for 225.00 OTD, a hard cast 225gr semi wadcutter at 750-800 fps is a close range stopper. and its only a few more oz,s than my S&W model 60 in .38spl. i,m sure the charter will not shoot 10,000 rounds of .44spl+p,s, but it has eaten several hundred 225,s at 750-800fps with out a hitch. when its to warm to wear a jacket or coat the charter is what i carry in a inside the pants holster with shirt tail pulled out. i don,t feel under gunned at all. eastbank.

 

[Chesster]

Deaf, I use 7.5 Unique with that bullet for the "Skeeter" load in my Specials. For the Bulldog, I limit the load to 6.5 gr. which is still stout in the light frame woofer. I actually prefer a lighter bullet for the dog but the gun was designed when the only factory game in town was a 246gr RNL.

 

[Jaywalker]

As I recall, there was a problem with some/all of the early Bulldogs back in the 1970s with the bullets keyholeing (tumbling) in flight. I don't recall the details, but as I recall the NRA technical staff discovered the barrel was constricted by the frame during production. If an older piece shows this problem, I'm sure Charter would be interested in helping.

 

[Kurt Pochert]

Charter Arms Pitbull 9mm owner comments

New member of The Firing Line here:
I am the owner of a Charter Arms Pitbull 9mm, and have a guarded opinion of the company. I am a solid 9mm fan, as I have 7 different pieces and a .380 (9mm short, Kurtz). A genuine Ruger fan, GP-100, but intrigue took over on this one.
My Pitbull 9mm went to the factory twice. Once by the online store I purchased it from in Texas, as they found the only one in their stock with a locked up cylinder. They sent it in to Charter Arms and then sold it to me. The gun functioned as such, but had excessive cylinder-barrel gap and the barrel and sights, were terrible as Charter Arms torqued-screwed the barrel in excessively to the left (My perceived opinion) to allow the cylinder to latch in properly without locking up. Front sight tipped several degrees to the left as well as being way to tall.
I sent it in for the second trip. They paid for shipping both ways. Gun came back much better. It looks like the cylinder and the barrel were replaced. Gun does function very well now, with only one slight irritation that I think is a possible problem with all Charter Arms guns, and that is once in a while the gun locks as you pull the trigger slowly back to the point of almost dropping the hammer and it goes no further. Maybe once in 20-30 trigger pulls. Releasing the trigger resets things to fire the next round, but of course the previous round was not fired. Something hangs up in the firing mechanism, all be it rarely, to prevent the trigger being pulled the last 1/16 of an inch.
All in all, I do like the gun and it now works to my satisfaction except for the hang up described above. I will consider it a keeper though, considering the trouble acquiring it.

 

[Chesster]

Welcome Kurt and thanks for the info.

 

[subhuman]

my LGS has a stainless bulldog for $379 that im drooling over and he stocks the 185 grn. hornady critical defense ammo $22 for a 20rnd box, im getting the dog but from my reading i would rather have a 200grn winchester silver tip. do any of you guys shoot the critical defense ammo and how do you like it ?

 

[the Black Spot]

My '80's bulldog wont group the crit def stuff for nothing, groups all over the place. Now 5 gr of bullseye under a 240 xtp shoots 1" groups at 15 yds from a rest!