Charter's need to be broken in?

I have 2 Charters. A 38 undercover and a 44 Spl Bulldog. They are both smooth and don't have any unusual resistance in closing the cylinder. Both were purchased used. Maybe already broken in? Charter makes some nice guns for the money.

I had a Bulldog briefly and returned it. It was made in Sheldon and the bore looked like it had rocks shot from it, the chamber throats were over sized as was the groove diameter. I sent it back to Charter, and they shot their lead loads through it and sent it back saying it is with in our standards. Well I bought the gun new and it was leaded, I sent it back clean and it came back leaded. Whats up with that?
Fool me once.

The latching mechanism can be a bit more stiff, and it and the ejecting rod was dry on my Bulldog XL (45 Colt). Cleaning, oiling, and dry firing it a couple hundred times as I would with any new firearm, and it is working pretty nice. Not as smooth as my Ruger GP100, but not bad, either

Blue Brick said:

Stopped by my local gun shop and looked at several new Charters. I looked at a 45 ACP (XL frame), 9MM, 44 (both are large frame) and 5 shot 38 (small frame). All except the 45 had heavy resistance when closing the cylinder. Not like a Smith, Colt, or a Ruger. Salesman said they need to be broken in...

Is this normal?

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Check for dirt under the ejection star. In the case of Charter Arms revolvers, the center lock pin of the cylinder has also to cross the channel for the hand in the shield.

ontarget said:

I have 2 Charters. A 38 undercover and a 44 Spl Bulldog. They are both smooth and don't have any unusual resistance in closing the cylinder. Both were purchased used. Maybe already broken in? Charter makes some nice guns for the money.

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I have the same 2 charter arms. They do bring a lot to the table for the $$$

Most charter's are stiff/tight when new & loosen up after a couple boxes of plinking loads/blammo ammo.

Mine is a .45 pitbull and it closes just fine. Not as refined as the Smith or even a polished Ruger, but for under $400 for a big bore you have to expect a bit of rough finish. The frame obviously could have used more polish time to soap-bar the edges, but it works well. All the Charter's I have messed with in the shops have closed up ok. Like I said, a bit crunchier, but for the money they offer you quite a lot. I'm a big fan.

I have the Classic Bulldog and after several hundred dry firings and several hundred 44 out the front it is almost as smooth as my S&W for a lot less money. I like Charter, Ruger and S&W. Each has its place in my safe.

I have two Charter revolvers that I purchased new. A Mag Pug .357 and a .44 Bulldog. They were both made in 2012 and I don’t remember them being difficult to close the cylinders.

I know that shooting and dry firing, plus cleaning and lube really helps smooth out the triggers, though.

Oops I didn't answer your question. When I got the Charter it was a little rough and improved after cleaning and dry firing. I clean all my guns before the first time to the range and work the action to get a feeling for the gun. The Charter may benefit more than others but they all improve with use.

My personal experience with Charter and Taurus is the lack of oil that is in them when they come from the factory. I can only surmise that management has decided that 4 drops of oil inside the action, on the yoke and inside the cylinder adds to much to the cost of the gun.

They have all greatly improved with a few drops of CLP followed by shooting.

I have four Charter Arms revolvers. I bought three of them used. I bought a new one a couple of months ago (a 2" 22lr). None of them had symptoms as related by the OP. Maybe I just got lucky on the new one? Normally I do clean them before I take them to the range, but I didn't clean the 22. I did dry-fire it a bit with snap caps. Its DA trigger is a bit stiff, but it shot very well in SA and I had no problems with it. I cleaned and lubed it after I shot it (of course). I'm taking it to the range again tomorrow morning. If it wants to shoot even better tomorrow, I'm fine with that.

Sorry but in my book any gun that needs a "break in period" came from the factory "broken/with QC problems", especially wheelguns.

All new production guns need a break in period. If you think otherwise you're living an odd fantasy world. Les Baer tell's you it's 500 rounds for one of their new $2000+ guns. Cheap 10/22's need 200 - 300 rounds. Why? Parts need to wear into each other. There isn't someone on the production line smoothing and polishing components to reduce friction. You have to pay extra for that.

silvermane_1 said:

Sorry but in my book any gun that needs a "break in period" came from the factory "broken/with QC problems", especially wheelguns.

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I disagree with this premise. Pretty much every revolver I’ve owned has benefited from a break-in period.

I have a Charter Arms (357 Magnum). I shoot it much better now than I did when I first bought it. With factory 357 Magnum ammo at close range & out to 50 yards it is just as accurate as other more expensive guns. It's a great value & I would recommend them to anyone looking for a dependable revolver in that price range. As far as breaking it in I've had it a long time & I'm sure it's smoother now than when new but I can't really be sure. It always takes me a while to get used to a different gun so maybe it's a little of both.

Don’t know about “broken in”. I’ve seen quite a few of these that were just plain broken. The all time record I witnessed for breakage with one of these was four shots on a brand new revolver right out of the box. That’s right. Four standard 38 Special rounds fired in a new, in the box Charter Arms revolver and it was done! Charter Arms? No thanks. I’ll pass.

whatnickname said:

Don’t know about “broken in”. I’ve seen quite a few of these that were just plain broken. The all time record I witnessed for breakage with one of these was four shots on a brand new revolver right out of the box. That’s right. Four standard 38 Special rounds fired in a new, in the box Charter Arms revolver and it was done! Charter Arms? No thanks. I’ll pass.

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Sorry to hear of your misfortune, but one revolver is statistically insignificant. Did you send it back? How was their customer service in addressing your issues?

Blue Brick said:

Stopped by my local gun shop and looked at several new Charters. I looked at a 45 ACP (XL frame), 9MM, 44 (both are large frame) and 5 shot 38 (small frame). All except the 45 had heavy resistance when closing the cylinder. Not like a Smith, Colt, or a Ruger. Salesman said they need to be broken in...

Is this normal?

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Totally normal for a Charter Arms product.

They’re cheaply made garbage. You get what you pay for.

Coal Dragger said:

Totally normal for a Charter Arms product.

They’re cheaply made garbage. You get what you pay for.

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Have you owned many?

Got my first Charter in '78 and it was one of the first ever made. Paid $65 (that's right). Little gun has never let me down even after thousands of factory and reloaded ammo. To say it was slick is an understatement. Other's I've had over the years all were no major issues

MaxP said:

Have you owned many?

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No.

Handled a few, that was enough to preclude spending money on them. Same for any of the various Taurus products of recent manufacture that I have handled or shot.

Coal Dragger said:

No.

Handled a few, that was enough to preclude spending money on them. Same for any of the various Taurus products of recent manufacture that I have handled or shot.

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I think one needs to manage their expectations. I don’t handle a Charter and think Smith & Wesson. They are clearly an economical entry into personal defense. The one I recently took delivery of if actually quite nice. I’m pleasantly surprised by the trigger. Haven’t had the time to shoot it yet but intend to soon.

I think the issue people fail to wrap their head around with Charter is that mechanically, they are pretty well designed. There are a lot of innovative things going on there for the times. Where they are "cheap" is in the spit and polish department. They have tooling marks, sharper edges, and rattle a bit.

I'm going to go out on a non-statistically significant anecdotal limb here: I've had more issues with my 662 and lcr than i have had with my Pitbull.

For $400 I'm pleased.