OT: Charter Arms Bulldog

[Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619]

I suspect I'm not the only wheelgunner that has been somewhat intrigued by the Charter Arms Bulldog .44 Special. It's in a niche that no other manufacturer as far as I know has sought to fill:  an easily carriable .44 Special.

 

So I recently bought one. Internet says $450 retail, so do some youtube demonstrators. I got mine for $375 at a small gun store I hadn't been to before but wanted to try. Then a couple of weeks later I saw one at a bigger shop for $315! I heaved a philosophical sigh; but the point is, these are to be found at very good prices indeed.

 

It's a cool "black nitrile" and weighs 21 ounces. Very light. It has a very good feel and after a couple of trips to the range, I find it shoots very well. It packs a kick with the big bore and the light weight, but not too bad at all. A good looking gun with a very good feel.

I very much like the idea of a big bore light, easily carriable revolver, which this is. It is now my carry gun when I hike back into the woods and mountains, which I still do quite a bit. I want a little more punch there, but still want to carry one that adds very little weight.

 

Charter Arms has had about 4 incarnations, and some reviews of the gun from earlier iterations were negative. But current ones are very positive and so is my experience so far. Anybody else have experience with these?

[Smuteye John SASS#24774]

Not with the Charter but one of my favorite carry guns is Rossi's version of the concept- the 720.  I have a late '90's 720c- DAO, fixed sights with a 3" full underlug- that I carry pretty much daily.  I also have a later model (early ones have unfluted cylinders and both of mine have fluted ones) traditional DA/SA 720 with adjustable sights that I use as my 'truck gun'.

 

I was looking for a Charter when I ran across the Rossi back in the late '90's.  I got it 'technically used' from a shop that I frequented but I knew the whole back story on the gun. 

 

One of the local LEO's would come in, buy a gun, shoot a hundred rounds or two through it and trade it in for something else that tickled his fancy.  He'd buy something, barely break it in and trade it- which worked out well for the regulars like myself.  The 720 was one of his purchases, as was my .45 Witness and my first Para Ordinance P.13/45.  

 

I ran into the DA/SA model in a little gun shop down in South Alabama about 15 years ago.  They had it marked at $275 and I didn't even argue since they couldn't be found at the time for love nor money.

[Trigger Mike]

I had the charter pit bull 9mm.  Accurate pistol but it would not cycle when loaded with cci shot shells so I sold it.  

[Smokin Gator SASS #29736]

I've got a Taurus 445 44 special snubnose. Stainless not a light weight. Shoots great.

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

I bought one when they first came out.  My biggest issue was the cylinder release which sliced my thumb every time I fired it.  Other than that it was a fine piece and fun to shoot... if I remembered to to put a substantial glove on my right hand.  Swapped it for a Colt Detective Special before it dawned on me that I could have had the cylinder latch smoothed out.

 

I wish I still had both of those guns.

[Linn Keller, SASS 27332, BOLD 103]

The late Skeeter Skelton described the latch chewin' the bejabbers out of his thumb.

His term as I recall.

I carried a bulldog .44 in my inside uniform jacket pocket when I was young and skinny and still packin' a badge.

Nice little pistola.

[Utah Bob #35998]

10 hours ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

I bought one when they first came out.  My biggest issue was the cylinder release which sliced my thumb every time I fired it.  Other than that it was a fine piece and fun to shoot... if I remembered to to put a substantial glove on my right hand.  Swapped it for a Colt Detective Special before it dawned on me that I could have had the cylinder latch smoothed out.

 

I wish I still had both of those guns.

Ditto.

[Captain Clark]

Have had mine for a long time, always reliable and a favorite.  It influenced one of my sons enough that he grew up and found a nickeled version for himself!

 

[Alpo]

I've got a Smith 696. Basically the same. 3" 5 shot L frame 44 Special. Speed loader for the Charter works perfect.

[Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172]

I looked at it for years. Just never found my need for one that was great enough to pursue and purchase  it. 

Looks like a great carry piece, as some have already declared. 

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

2 hours ago, Utah Bob #35998 said:

Ditto.

You wish I still had both of them?   How kind and generous of you.    

[Utah Bob #35998]

2 hours ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

You wish I still had both of them?   How kind and generous of you.    

I sold them and a shotgun to help finance our 25th anniv. trip.

You do what ya have to.

[Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619]

5 hours ago, Alpo said:

I've got a Smith 696. Basically the same. 3" 5 shot L frame 44 Special. Speed loader for the Charter works perfect.

Alpo, what is the weight of that Smith? I looked up the 696 but in a quick search I couldn't find the weight. I assume it's heavier than the Bulldog, but I don't know.

[Utah Bob #35998]

46 minutes ago, Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619 said:

Alpo, what is the weight of that Smith? I looked up the 696 but in a quick search I couldn't find the weight. I assume it's heavier than the Bulldog, but I don't know.

They're 36 oz with factory grips.

44 Bulldog is 21.8

 That's a significant difference

[Alpo]

Bob beat me to it.

 

http://vintagepistols.com/range_report_S&W_696.html

 

36 oz empty. Nice to shoot.

 

They were having a Smith and Wesson Party (like a Tupperware Party) at my gun pusher's. They'd pushed all the racks from the middle of the floor up against the walls, and the (now) big empty space was full of folding tables and were covered with Smith revolvers. Smith rep there to answer questions. They had three of them, and I took the one with the best trigger.

 

Got this 317 the same day.

 

Painted aluminum don't hold up to sweat as well as stainless.  

[G W Wade]

Kind of a shame, but I picked up a Magna-Port Backpacker.   Charter Arms Bulldog with a chopped barrel, porting, trigger job and SS Metalife finnish with Pachmeyer grips.  Been sitting in my safe for almost 40 years unfired.  One of those things I just didn't get around to.    GW

[Trigger Mike]

Hey G W Wade. My local store had one and I agonized over it too long and someone else got it.  I was hoping you could tell me how you liked it.  

[Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619]

Charter has that "Backpacker" ported short barrel, no shroud, still, now called the "Boomer". It's basically advertised as a "belly gun". I suppose it fills the niche of those original late 19th -early 20th century British Bulldogs and their imitators.

 

The weight thing is the key to the appeal of the Bulldog. It's definitely light, and the kick is, notwithstanding, very manageable.

 

Charter Arms has a good lineup; .38s, .357s, etc. Their competitiveness there is on price. With the Bulldog, it's price, to be sure, but also it's the unique light carriable, concealable big bore revolver. It surprises me not a little that they seem to have been left alone in that niche. For instance, as Ruger developed the light .38s (and .357s) in the LCR, I would speculate that they should come up with a light .44. With their reputation, they might beat Charter at its own game....

[Alpo]

Do they still make the "Bulldog grip", or do they come with rubber now?

 

My first pistol was a Target Bulldog.

 

 

4", 18 ounce, 5-shot 357. Knowing no better, I shot it with Remington 158 JSPs. Shoulda beat me to death. But them perfectly designed grips let me shoot it as long as I could afford to.

 

That grip was designed for the 44 Bulldog.

[Stogie]

I've had a Bulldog for loooong time. After I got it I bought a couple of speed loaders and tried to have some rapid fire fun. I learned that after about the 7th shot the gun heated up so much it closed up the gap between the barrel and the cylinder. Could have opened the gap a little but decided not to. Now I just shoot 5 rounds and load it slowly. It's happier that way. I don't carry it.

[Chickasaw Bill SASS #70001]

had one for a tractor gun , on the farm , bear country on the mtn 

 

  figured it would maybe get me back to the truck to get something bigger 

 

 never had to use it to , the old 9n , made enough noise , I did NOT have one get close enough to need it 

 

  CB 

[Pat Riot]

18 hours ago, Alpo said:

Bob beat me to it.

 

http://vintagepistols.com/range_report_S&W_696.html

 

36 oz empty. Nice to shoot.

 

They were having a Smith and Wesson Party (like a Tupperware Party) at my gun pusher's. They'd pushed all the racks from the middle of the floor up against the walls, and the (now) big empty space was full of folding tables and were covered with Smith revolvers. Smith rep there to answer questions. They had three of them, and I took the one with the best trigger.

 

Got this 317 the same day.

 

Painted aluminum don't hold up to sweat as well as stainless.  

Alpo, Is that the same gun in those 2 photos?

[Alpo]

Same gun, 13 years apart. If it wasn't riding in my waistband (it's wearing a Barami Hip Grip, so no holster) sitting up against my sweaty belly, it was in my right front pocket where the only thing between it and my sweaty leg was a sweat-soaked pocket.

 

Between the heat and the humidity, it just kinda took that surface coating off.

 

In the second pic the dark gray is the actual aluminum, and the light gray is what's left of the purty paint job that it came with (first pic).

 

Notice it's where my thumb sits, and where the muzzle, the frame and the outer parts of the cylinder sit when I'm carrying it. The other side, which don't rub up against me, looks more better.

[Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619]

Alpo, mine came with rubber grips, but you can get the "Classic" with wood.

[Utah Bob #35998]

5 hours ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

Alpo, Is that the same gun in those 2 photos?

Looks like a crime scene gun. 

[Alpo]

There's a picture of it in the encyclopedia, next to RODE HARD AND PUT AWAY WET