Charter Arms Dating

Wondering if anyone could date this for me. Just got it from my dad whose had it a long time. The serial is 89xxx. It is an undercover 38 spl.

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I wish that I could help but I'm in the same boat. I have one that is serial #12xxx. The main difference between yours and mine is that the serial # on mine is at the front of the frame. Also the right side of the barrel on mine just says: CHARTER ARMS CORP.

anyone?

Tried contacting Charter about it? I've heard good reviews of their customer service.

Your Charter arms was made between 1964 and 1999. I know of no serial number list that will date your revolver. As has been stated, quality during this period was hit and miss, some were very good, some were not so good.

Some good news: if the gun says "Charter Arms" and not "Charco", and the hammer is case-hardened, and the ejector rod is exposed, those are all pointers to it coming from the best production period.

It's NOT a sure sign it's a good gun, but if it has those features plus passes "checkout", it's likely a keeper.

One key thing: like a Colt, the Charter system works best when the cylinder is "frozen solid feeling" with the gun at "full lockup" (hammer down after a trigger pull, trigger still pulled). And when it's like that, it should have perfect barrel/cylinder alignment on all bores. So long as that's the case, it will out-shoot most snubbies. But: because the system doesn't have any "self correcting slop" the way Rugers and most S&Ws do, you want to go real easy on the +P ammo if at all - and with the new Buffalo Bore high-quality standard pressure stuff, you no longer need to do +P at all. It's not that the gun is weak, it's that any mis-alignment is bad mojo. A Ruger will keep shooting fairly well and remain completely safe even if you DO manage to start battering it to scrap. Not a Charter (or Colt for that matter). Issues must be corrected and it's best not to get them started in the first place.

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I own a Charter Arms Undercover with these characteristics and it's a fine gun, tight as a drum and accurate, best $186 I ever spent. I "baby it" for reasons stated, but with that caveat noted I would trust my life to it any day of the week.

I have an Off-Duty as described above, and it's an excellent gun with a crummy finish. Tight lockup, better trigger than a J-frame, and really accurate for a 2" gun. It's from the mid-90's with a 964XXX number, so yours must be a lot closer to '64 than '99. These things are keepers, because they don't bring anything near what they're really worth.

>>they don't bring anything near what they're really worth.<<

That's because the Charco version was a screwed-up mess and brought the image of the whole series down. It's fundamentally a VERY good design, with some concepts borrowed from Ruger (lockup point at the crane, no sideplates, transfer bar) and some from Colt (an accurate "tight lockup" system).

Oh, and also ruining their rep: the 44Spl bulldogs were overly ambitious and not strong enough for the cartridge. Which led to a "Charters fall apart" reputation not deserved with the 38s until QC became spotty in the late production Charter Arms and fully into the toilet under Charco.

well i guess im in the good so far. it says charter arms not charco and i went thru the steps with the lockup and everything looked fine. ill give it a good going over when i detail clean it and see what she can do at the range. thanks everyone for the information. i really appreciate it. btw the gun was bought sometime in the early 70's i found out. not too bad huh

The word I've gotten says to me that yours would qualify for the original "golden era" of Charter Arms.
I also hear good about the stuff coming out recently but everything in between is widely held as suspect...

I've not heard a good estimate for when the wheels started to come off in terms of quality. Best guess is 1980-1982 on the 38s but that's a lot of guesswork. "Charco" is a definitely a HUGE warning sign.

I have an Undercover with serial # 369, obviously one of the first. I got it the first year they were on sale. It is an extremely accurate snub, sights better than a S&W M36 of that era(or any era for that matter) , trigger better than both Colt and Smith. A 16 oz gun with a steel frame. The SA is so light as to be almost scary, but it is very positive and will not go unless you actually pull(not just knock) the trigger. DA very slick. Lives in its original box when not being used(very rarely these days). It sounds like you got one of the good ones.