Charter 45LC Bulldog

If you reload let us know what works for you. I am in the market for one.

Also am interested in how to polish the internals.

Congrats!
I'm currently deciding on a CA revolver. Part of me says get a .44 special bulldog. Part of me says to hold out for a .45 colt. Part of me says that I have several boxes of .40 S&W left after trading off my last .40 and that the LGS has a Pitbull chambered in that. Part of me thinks the .45 acp would be fun but a bit large. The rational part of me says that I am down a .38 snub nose and that an Off Duty would make the most sense for my day to day needs.

Striker said:

I have two Classic Bulldogs in .44 Spl that serve as house guns. I got the .45LC as a companion piece to my primary walkabout gun, a H&R 45LC/.410 Handi Rifle.

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Makes good sense to me. Part of my reasoning for thinking .38 is because I'm pretty much exclusively set up for .38/.357 when it comes to center fire revolvers. I no longer stable a .40 or .45 since I have switched to 9mm. I'm short a .38 for carry which I like since its not as concussive as the .357 and all my .357s are full size.

Still, that lumbering low pressure hard push of the .45 does seem mighty attractive Good score!

Fiv3r said:

Congrats!
I'm currently deciding on a CA revolver. Part of me says get a .44 special bulldog. Part of me says to hold out for a .45 colt. Part of me says that I have several boxes of .40 S&W left after trading off my last .40 and that the LGS has a Pitbull chambered in that. Part of me thinks the .45 acp would be fun but a bit large. The rational part of me says that I am down a .38 snub nose and that an Off Duty would make the most sense for my day to day needs.

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Sounds like you need to buy 5 of them. Maybe you can find a dealer willing to give you a volume discount.

Big bullets out of snubnosed revolvers are pretty much forgotten/thing of the past. While not a 45lc fan I have owned ca bulldogs in 44spl 3+ decades. Prefer 180gr to 220gr bullet in the 44spl bulldog & have tested a lot of factory & my own cast/swaged bullets over the years.A bulldog in 44spl with 220gr cast hbwc's turned backwards.

That 220gr hbwc shot in the bulldog recovered from wetpack.

The last series of tests I did with the bulldog. The bottom left bullet is a h&g #142 (lyman 429215 copy) that casts an excellent Thompson designed hp. I was more interested in the bullet on the top left. It a 230gr 429422 keith swc that is also hollow based. I put the hp in it using a forster hp tool.

A +/- 200gr bullet doing +/- 1000fps put the obsolete 44spl in the class with the short bbl'd 357's & 10mm's. A side view of that 210gr swc hb hp shows that not only did the hp expand/flatted in wetpack. The base of the bullet compressed (as it should) & expanded.

When the misses wanted a snubnosed revolver for ccw I got here a ca undercover. Nothing but good things to say about it. Ended up with the 158gr/950fps practice loads for the undercover.


While there's a lot of snubnosed 38spl's & 357's out there. A light weight (18oz) big bored snubnosed revolver is worth taking a hard look at.

More reading if you havent seen these threads:

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/how-about-a-bulldog-club.843901/page-2#post-10989908

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/charter-arms-bulldog-45-colt.838129/

I have a 44 special Bulldog and a 45acp Pit Bull. They both go bang every time and I like the big hole at the end. I particularly favor them for cold weather coat pocket carry.

I got the Pit Bull just a couple of months ago.

That 45 colt will add 2" to your waistline when you iwb carry lol.

Striker, i like those holsters

Jesse Heywood said:

Sounds like you need to buy 5 of them. Maybe you can find a dealer willing to give you a volume discount.

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No thank you, sir. I like being married...well, I like being HAPPILY married

Just got back from the LGS. Went in for an aluminum hammerless .38 special. Nearly bought a purdy polished stainless .38 special. Hefted the .45 acp Pitbull. Liked the sub $400 price enough to not be super practical with my .38 decision and decided it could be pressed into more roles than the .38. Probably not true, but seldom do we make a firearm purchase because it's 100% practical.

I would have gotten the .45 Colt Bulldog if they had had one. I really like the .44 Bulldog, but I'm not looking to getting into reloading. The .45 acp seems to split the difference. The lack of moon clips is a plus for me as I busted enough of them to kinda swear them off. Loading the gun with the weird extractors takes some practice, but I don't see it as an issue. It's a chunky monkey compaired to a lot of CA revolvers though. Not heavy for a big bore, but big fat cartridges need big fat chambers on a big fat cylinder.

Fiv3r said:

Congrats!
I'm currently deciding on a CA revolver. Part of me says get a .44 special bulldog. Part of me says to hold out for a .45 colt. Part of me says that I have several boxes of .40 S&W left after trading off my last .40 and that the LGS has a Pitbull chambered in that. Part of me thinks the .45 acp would be fun but a bit large. The rational part of me says that I am down a .38 snub nose and that an Off Duty would make the most sense for my day to day needs.

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I don't own any .44's and don't plan to as .45 Colt does all I need. If I didn't reload and bought just factory ammo, I'd go .45 Colt because the popularity of the .410/.45 revolvers has made ammo manufactures make modern .45 Colt JHP's that work very well. Winchester PDX1 is the best .45 Colt I've seen, Hornady is... meh, CCI Blazer's work well.

For .44 Special, Idk much of what is available. I know Hornady and CCI makes a JHP for it, but IDK how well it works nor do I see it that often in stores. Most people who tout the .44 Special are reloading it.

IMO, if you don't reload and want a big bore revolver, a Charter .45 ACP Pitbull is the most affordable option, but a .45 Colt is going to be the better performer.

TTv2 said:

I don't own any .44's and don't plan to as .45 Colt does all I need. If I didn't reload and bought just factory ammo, I'd go .45 Colt because the popularity of the .410/.45 revolvers has made ammo manufactures make modern .45 Colt JHP's that work very well. Winchester PDX1 is the best .45 Colt I've seen, Hornady is... meh, CCI Blazer's work well.

For .44 Special, Idk much of what is available. I know Hornady and CCI makes a JHP for it, but IDK how well it works nor do I see it that often in stores. Most people who tout the .44 Special are reloading it.

IMO, if you don't reload and want a big bore revolver, a Charter .45 ACP Pitbull is the most affordable option, but a .45 Colt is going to be the better performer.

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The Speer 44spl 200gr Gold dot will expand well with pentration...
Underwood produces a 200gr LWC which is another great choice for the 44spl

I really dont like the built in clips in the 45ACP ...
But the 45 Colt looks like a winner .. The Winchester PDX1
45 Colt load performs great in gel tests out of a Taurus PD .. and should do the same in the Charter ...
Underwood also makes a LWC for the 45 Colt

Not taking anything away from the snubnosed 45lc's & 45acp's. Any snubnosed bigbore is an "excellent!!!" choice. Back when I 1st started carrying a ca bigbore (80's) they didn't have the 45acp version or I would of went with it.
The 44spl is becoming more popular and the ammo makers are paying attention. Most shooters have the "old school" mentality and once they make up their mind about a cartridge, that's just the way it is. When ruger came out with the gp100 in 44spl it was game on for the ammo mfg's.
fiocchi makes hp/sd ammo for the 44sp
blazer makes hp/sd ammo for the 44sp
pmc makes hp/sd ammo for the 44sp
Hornady critical defense makes hp/sd ammo for the 44sp
Hornady (xtp) makes hp/sd ammo for the 44sp
winchester makes hp/sd ammo for the 44sp
federal makes hp/sd ammo for the 44sp
There's always the crafted ammo out there like underwood or buffalo bore. I'm sure there's going to be more mfg's jumping on the band wagon.

I shoot wadcutters in my 45 dog. Handloaded 245 gr with 7.5 gr unique is real close to poa at 7-8 yds.

the Black Spot said:

I shoot wadcutters in my 45 dog. Handloaded 245 gr with 7.5 gr unique is real close to poa at 7-8 yds.

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Nice, got any pics? Always like bigbore wc's/hbwc's. Been thinning molds out lately but still have/use these in the 44spl's


Have no idea why but I like the hb bullets in the 45cal's Still have the 175gr swc hb & the 230


Sorry for the thread drift, there's just so many excellent bullets/choices out there for the snubnosed bigbores. That 245gr wc would be a real sledge hammer in that 45lc bulldog!!!

I do hope the .45 bulldog continues to stoke the ammo manufacturers. The Judge is all well and good, but it doesn't make use of the .45 potential. While I wouldn't try to rattle the little gun to death, CA states that their guns are +P rated (even if the manual recommends not running it). Taurus pretty much says to stick with CAS loads for the Judge.

I'd really like to see the. 44 special come back around. The GP100 surely has to help it along. I do see at least 2 types of SD ammo on the LGS shelves that weren't there a year ago. However, as a non reloader, I'd like to see some plain Jane affordable plinking loads to go with the good stuff. At least a .45 acp revolver is cheap to feed comparatively. It's also nice that funkier boutique bullets will feed just fine where they may choke a similarly priced 1911 built to ball spec.

Anyway, if .45 colt keeps trucking and .44 special continues to thrive, I'll be happy. I thought we were going to see .327 creep back into the fringes of the mainstream a couple years ago, but my LGS with a sizable supply of oddball cartridges isn't stocking even a single box. It's a shame that I can find GAP but none of that hot rod .327.

I have an original undercover and an original Bulldog 44. I use moderate loads in the 44. I remember Nonte's article way back when they came out where he pushed them a little and had the barrel shroud move forward a little. I think my last load, which I made up a bunch of, was the 429421 hollow point over 6.5 grains of Unique. I think the 45 Colt would be more of a handful. I'm getting quite a bit of arthritis in my fingers and no longer enjoy the big snappy stuff. Autos are a little easier on me.

I'm working on 500 rds. through my CA 45 Colt. Bought a set of Eagle Secret Service grips to shorten grip length. I'm using it primarily for open carry with a Don Hume JIT Slide holster. Sits really nice under my shirt. Current load is 7.5grs Unique and 255gr bullet. Double action is smooth and recoil is manageable. I bought it for canine protection while walking my dog, but I find myself carrying it more for everyday use.

cottonpicker said:

Double action is smooth and recoil is manageable. I bought it for canine protection while walking my dog, but I find myself carrying it more for everyday use.
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Wow! How big are the pooches you need to fend off with a .45 hand cannon? Direwolves maybe? But it makes sense. I usually carry a .22 magnum or .380 for such walks however, I'm not sure the little pills would make it through a thick muscly dog to the vitals. Thumping them with a .45 would probably be more definitive.

I will say that one of the things surprised me about the CA revolvers is that they have pretty decent triggers. Not as smooth as an lcr but for the price I really find it a pretty nice little gun.

Good luck to everyone here with one of those CA .44 thumpers! I had one too, lots of years ago, and loved it... until it started to fall apart. Just standard loads, too... mostly Remington green box, and light wadcutter handloads for range fun. Still too much for it and the poor thing began to rattle loose.

PapaG, fixin to try the 6.5 gr unique load in my 45. No need for a bunch of speed with the flying oil cans that i shoot.

Fiv3r, We have a PITBULL problem in my area. I was carrying a GP100 357 Mag. but felt a smaller package in 45 Colt was better suited for my needs! This Charter Arms revolver is definitely not a range toy, so I will not be putting hundreds of rounds through it...mainly just enough to keep in practice.