CA Bulldog Club

[Legionnaire]

Haven't see a new "club" thread in a while, so how about one for the Charter Arms Bulldog? No membership fees, but price of admission is a picture of your dog and a couple of words about your experience with it.

Links to articles and sources also welcome.

Here's mine. 2013 manufacture that I picked up in October 2016, shortly before Ruger announced the new GP100 in .44 Special. Honestly, had I known about the GP100 being in the works, I might not have bought this one--and that would have been my loss. Got it second-hand in like-new condition; original owner had put less than one box of factory ammo through it.

Ammo is a Missouri Bullet Hi-Tek coated 200 grain Cowboy #5 over 5.0 grains of Titegroup, Starline brass, Winchester LP primer, carried in a Tuff Products QuickStrip.

 

[Legionnaire]

Here's an excellent article on the Bulldog, including reloading for it, from Concealed Carry Arizona.
And for all the Hickock45 fans, here's his Bulldog video.

 

[heyjoe]

Baby Boomer. Bought it last fall. At 18 ounces very easy to carry even in a pocket.

 

[Crowman]

Blued, 3" tapered barrel classic Bulldog 44 with oversize Pachmyar Gripper grips (really makes handling and shooting a breeze). This is my EDC for fall/winter, loaded with 200 grain Buffalo Bore Man stopper hard cast wadcutters. I carry it concealed in a tan Tucker & Byrd OWB pancake holster. Extra ammo is carried in Quickstrips, containing one shot shell and 5 wadcutters. Two HKS speed loaders are also carried with Hornady 165 grain JSP (they feed into cylinder easier than wadcutters).

 

[Cocked & Locked]

Thanks Legionnaire for starting the CA Bulldog Club!

Mine is a 4th generation one and I bought it NIB in Jan. 2016. Since that time it has become my daily carry. I really like the Bulldog! I have a variety of factory .44 spcl. ammo and I also enjoy hand loading for it.

I replaced the factory rubber grips with Pachmayr ones and liked it even more.



I found a set of Herrett's Shooting Ace wood grips and liked them even better. Plus, the Herrett's are much lighter than the Pachmayr ones.




I carry the Dog in a Galco holster made for a J-frame...The .44 fits it fine. The cartridge pouch is also Galco. Belt is a RafterS that I've had for years. Case XX large Stockman knife riding in the belt pouch. I don't carry things in the order they are posing on the belt. Knife on left side, holster 3:00 on the right side with ammo pouch forward of that. Speed strip with six extras also rides in back pocket.

 

[Great Scot]

Custom "Pre" - Boomer Bulldog. Great trigger, stout but manageable recoil with Hornady load. Carries as easily as my Smith 442!

 

[loose noose]

Below is a Charter Arms .44 Special that I purchased back around 1973, the only thing I did to it was a trigger job and engine polished the hammer, believe it or not it is still relatively tight, and very accurate for only having a 3" barrel. I've shot in excess of 2000 rounds thru it. . Note I took the wooden grips off it and added the Pachmeyer grips after the first time I shot it for obvious reasons.

[

 

[loose noose]

BTW I do like that new SS model with the shroud, maybe in the not to distant future. I hardly shoot my CA Bulldog anymore.

 

[Panzerschwein]

Awesome little pocket pistols that blow any J-frame out of the water in terms of stopping power.

 

[Tallball]

Here's a bad cell phone picture of mine. I like the shrouded hammer. I got it used a few years back.

 

[wbbh]

My Bulldog with CT grips. Years ago I was shooting with a buddy that had one. After shooting the little beast I had to have one.

 

[wbbh]

Thanks Legionnaire for starting the CA Bulldog Club!

I found a set of Herrett's Shooting Ace wood grips and liked them even better. Plus, the Herrett's are much lighter than the Pachmayr ones.

I really like those grips. The Crimson Trace grips on mine are OK, but I want to replace them as I'm not a fan of laser sights.

 

[Duster340]

I'll join the club! I really love my little Bulldog, well past 3,000 rounds and still going strong.


It wears these most of the time and pretty much disappears with a IWB under a tee shirt.



It likes to eat these...


And lately the WFP on the right

 

[Dan-O]

Own two. This one got slicked up by magnaport.

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[Great Scot]

Own two. This one got slicked up by magnaport.

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My little CA beast has magnaporting as well, and it does help with the recoil! Love the sights on your gun!

 

[Thomas Traddles]

I'll join, but I have no pic.

I bought CA Bulldog (blued) about a year ago. I feed it handloads from cast lead -- 240g RNFPs and 250 SWCs and it shoots to sights. The Bulldog swaps daily carry duty with my LCR .38+P. They fit the same holsters. The Bulldog disappears riding OWB in a simply rugged sourdough pancake holster; it disappears riding IWB (appendix carry) with a remora holster. Its disappearing act is as good as the LCR's. The Bulldog fits my hand like no other revolver I have, and it shoots well. I've been thinking about getting a Lyman 429215 SWC to see if the lighter bullet reduces recoil a bit. Recoil is not bad with the 240/250 g bullets loaded to factory standard velocity (760fpsish), once one gets used to the gun. Nevertheless, I think a lighter bullet with slightly greater velocity might be the ticket for carry. The .38/.357 Thompson bullet (Lyman 358156) is one of the most accurate bullets I cast. 5 grains of Unique under this bullet in .38 special is the cat's meow. I do not use gas checks. I'm thinking the .44 version of the bullet will be as good as the .38.

Duster, you should share your experience with the 215 SWC, as well as a few loads!

 

[GBExpat]

I acquired 2 current-production stainless Bulldog during Summer'14 (their SNs are separated by only 12 digits).

I found the front sights to be too high and too sharp (enough to SHRED holsters), the the bottom of the trigger poorly shaped (again, too sharp, this time causing a sore on my trigger finger) and there are chatter marks in both bores.

That said, I really like these 2 little pistols.

I reload my own SD ammo and prefer a 800+fps load topped by a Matt's 250gr HP lead bullet.

For anyone that wants to see pics, they can go to the Charter Arm website because mine look just like those.

I swapped-out the regular hammer with a DA hammer on one, but have not yet decided which prefer.

EDIT:

I was wandering around my Photobucket account looking for something else and found a pic of the Matt's 250s to which I referred. Thought that someone might like to see them. BTW, the retrieved bullets were fired into a dry, loose, mostly-clay dirt backstop.

EDIT#2:

Added "loose" to the backstop description. The backstop material is constantly churned into small grains by my shoveling it out, sifting it to retrieve bullets and shoveling it back in-place.

 

[Legionnaire]

Those look great. I'm going to order some of those, along with some of Matt's 215 grain button nosed wadcutters and see how they do over Titegroup and Unique.

 

[the Black Spot]

Well i was in the club. Then my oldest daughter got married and now she has it as a wedding gift from me.

 

[loose noose]

Hmmm, Matts 250 grain bullets, very interesting will have to order some here, do like the way they expand.

 

[natman]

Here are mine:



A rare combination of stainless steel and bobbed hammer. I bought this so long ago that eBay was still listing guns.



A 4" Target Bulldog, loaded with a couple of CCI shotshells and Buffalo Bore 200 grain hard cast wadcutters, it's my trail gun.

 

[loose noose]

Man those SS Charter Arms Bulldogs got expensive, I checked the 2016 Blue book and found the suggested retail on them is $409.00, so next I checked at my LGS and the MSRP was $439.95, but the owner said he'd give me a break and only charge me $429.95. OTD with tax was $463.70. The other LGS I stopped at wanted $464.82 OTD. Man that little blued .44 Bulldog that I've got is looking pretty good right now, even with that 3" barrel . I'm sure I'll find it cheaper if I keep looking.

 

[Legionnaire]

Look used. My sense is that many who don't reload sell them rather than pay to feed them. I paid $250 for mine.

 

[loose noose]

Found one today NIB for $400.00 OTD, now he just has to order it, as it is on back order. BTW I tried looking and as soon as they come in they go out.

 

[GBExpat]

I just checked my Index ...

... for reference, the two (SS, full hammer versions) that I bought in Summer'14 cost me, each, $342.95 OTD.