I recently purchased a Charter Arms PITBULL in 9mm. I've always had an interest in 9mm revolvers and I've wanted one of these for a long time. I've used search tools to find these online One finally showed up on GrabAGun so I purchased it.
This is an Internet stock pic because
1) My camera isn't so good
2) My PITBULL doesn't look nearly as nice as the stock pic
I paid $459.00 which reflects a premium because of their scarcity, Charter Arms didn’t seem to be making a lot of these, although I've seen more and more of these for sale now, and at a cheaper price![Frown :( :(](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
The Good:
The revolver loads easily (for a 9mm revolver), no moon clips are needed, you just pop the cartridges in and the gun is ready to go.
I think the grips are good and the gun feels good in my hand.
The single action trigger is crisp and breaks nicely. The trigger is also improving with use.
The gun is shootable, not too much recoil with various 9mm ammo and I do find it fun to shoot at the range.
Firing it single-action, the gun is accurate, it fires where it is pointed. Since I use 6 O’clock hold my shots are a little south of the bullseye on this target, but I think you get the picture that the gun is generally accurate. This was fired from 30 feet:
The Bad:
The double-action trigger is gritty, it sounds and feels like two rough pieces of metal rubbing against each other. The DA trigger is also heavy, it stacks, speeds up and lets off. It was really horrible out of the box, granted I am not an accomplished revolver shooter, but I couldn't keep the sights on target when dry firing it double-action. I didn't even try at the range – the results would have been horrendous. The trigger has gotten better through a lot of dry-firing. It is no-where near as nice as the S&W 929. Granted that the 929 is a $1,000 gun, and judging the trigger is subjective, but for a gun that is only a little over twice as expensive as the PITBULL, the trigger on the 929 is about 10 times better. Out of the box the DA trigger on the Charter Arms PITBULL is better than the Taurus 905, but I have no idea how or if the Taurus trigger improves with use.
The empty brass will eject on the first 3 cylinders fired without any problems but after 3 cylinders worth of firing, things start to get sticky. I had to tap the ejector rod with my gun case to get the rounds out on the 5th cylinder.
The Ugly:
The Charter Arms PITBULL has nicks or machine marks in a lot of places. There is a nick in the barrel underlug on the left side, a nick on the top of the frame toward the rear sights, the frame window has nicks on both sides top and bottom. The finish isn't as nice as a Taurus 905 – the only Taurus revolver I look at are the Taurus 905s (which I do quite often) and I've never seen a Taurus 905 with as many tiny gouges or nicks in it as I've seen with this Charter Arms PITBULL. Here are some pics of the poor finish on this revolver.
The mediocre and miscellaneous:
The stainless steel front site is just serviceable. It can turn silver and lose contrast in certain lighting – as you might expect.
The lock-up is just OK, and not as tight as I've experienced with other Charter Arms revolvers – like the Pathfinder. The lockup is also not as positive as a .40 S&W PITBULL that I dry-fired in a LGS.
General comments:
I realize I paid to much for this gun at $460.00 and I knew I was paying a premium just because Charter Arms wasn't producing many of them. I just like 9mm revolvers. This gun may reside in my Bug-Out-Bag in between range trips.
My EDC guns are 9mm – a Rorhbaugh R9 and a CM9 so I like the ammo interchangeability.
All in all I am happy with this gun, I have a lot of fun just dry firing it all day![Smile :) :)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
.
This is an Internet stock pic because
1) My camera isn't so good
2) My PITBULL doesn't look nearly as nice as the stock pic
I paid $459.00 which reflects a premium because of their scarcity, Charter Arms didn’t seem to be making a lot of these, although I've seen more and more of these for sale now, and at a cheaper price
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
The Good:
The revolver loads easily (for a 9mm revolver), no moon clips are needed, you just pop the cartridges in and the gun is ready to go.
I think the grips are good and the gun feels good in my hand.
The single action trigger is crisp and breaks nicely. The trigger is also improving with use.
The gun is shootable, not too much recoil with various 9mm ammo and I do find it fun to shoot at the range.
Firing it single-action, the gun is accurate, it fires where it is pointed. Since I use 6 O’clock hold my shots are a little south of the bullseye on this target, but I think you get the picture that the gun is generally accurate. This was fired from 30 feet:
The Bad:
The double-action trigger is gritty, it sounds and feels like two rough pieces of metal rubbing against each other. The DA trigger is also heavy, it stacks, speeds up and lets off. It was really horrible out of the box, granted I am not an accomplished revolver shooter, but I couldn't keep the sights on target when dry firing it double-action. I didn't even try at the range – the results would have been horrendous. The trigger has gotten better through a lot of dry-firing. It is no-where near as nice as the S&W 929. Granted that the 929 is a $1,000 gun, and judging the trigger is subjective, but for a gun that is only a little over twice as expensive as the PITBULL, the trigger on the 929 is about 10 times better. Out of the box the DA trigger on the Charter Arms PITBULL is better than the Taurus 905, but I have no idea how or if the Taurus trigger improves with use.
The empty brass will eject on the first 3 cylinders fired without any problems but after 3 cylinders worth of firing, things start to get sticky. I had to tap the ejector rod with my gun case to get the rounds out on the 5th cylinder.
The Ugly:
The Charter Arms PITBULL has nicks or machine marks in a lot of places. There is a nick in the barrel underlug on the left side, a nick on the top of the frame toward the rear sights, the frame window has nicks on both sides top and bottom. The finish isn't as nice as a Taurus 905 – the only Taurus revolver I look at are the Taurus 905s (which I do quite often) and I've never seen a Taurus 905 with as many tiny gouges or nicks in it as I've seen with this Charter Arms PITBULL. Here are some pics of the poor finish on this revolver.
The mediocre and miscellaneous:
The stainless steel front site is just serviceable. It can turn silver and lose contrast in certain lighting – as you might expect.
The lock-up is just OK, and not as tight as I've experienced with other Charter Arms revolvers – like the Pathfinder. The lockup is also not as positive as a .40 S&W PITBULL that I dry-fired in a LGS.
General comments:
I realize I paid to much for this gun at $460.00 and I knew I was paying a premium just because Charter Arms wasn't producing many of them. I just like 9mm revolvers. This gun may reside in my Bug-Out-Bag in between range trips.
My EDC guns are 9mm – a Rorhbaugh R9 and a CM9 so I like the ammo interchangeability.
All in all I am happy with this gun, I have a lot of fun just dry firing it all day
.
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