Charter 32HR 6 shot #73220

I need to polish up the center pin to reduce gouging the aluminum frame.


Funny you should mention this. The rest of this reply should interest you.


I hate to be the one that posts this but.... as a mother's day gift I purchased a new Pink Lady .38spl. using snap caps and empty chambers I found that the gun locks up on occasion. There is a .44spl bulldog video recently load on youtube about the same problem.

I sent an email to C.A. and will see if I can take this back to the shop and have them do all the shipping since I cannot be home for a gun return.


I found out today exactly what's causing this issue. It's something in the contact of the trigger and cylinder stop. I discovered this after I found another issue with the ejector rod in mine.

Seems Bubba must work at the CA plant. As I was cleaning mine after it's first range trip, I noticed some small machining chips left on the ejector gear teeth. Once I put on an eye-loupe and took a closer look, I also noticed the end of the ejector appeared to have been either filed or run across a grinder. No idea why they would have done this, but it may have been the rod wouldn't lock into the frame when the cylinder was closed. I decided to remove the ejector rod and have a closer look and sure enough it was ugly(see pic). Since I was going to replace it anyway, I chucked it in my lathe and polished down the rough marks. After reinstalling it I started to get an occasional cylinder lock-up in both SA and DA. What started happening was occasionally the cylinder would move up at the rear as a result of slightly smaller diameter of the ejector rod and allow the cylinder stop to raise just enough to misalign its notch with the trigger's notch so they wouldn't mesh. All it took to correct this was to lightly push the rear of the cylinder down. Once I get a new ejector rod installed it should keep the cylinder from moving and prevent this from happening.

Had I left it alone, the ejector rod would have eaten into the frame in no time. Guess this is why these revolvers are so cheap.

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Funny you should mention this. The rest of this reply should interest you.





I found out today exactly what's causing this issue. It's something in the contact of the trigger and cylinder stop. I discovered this after I found another issue with the ejector rod in mine.

Seems Bubba must work at the CA plant. As I was cleaning mine after it's first range trip, I noticed some small machining chips left on the ejector gear teeth. Once I put on an eye-loupe and took a closer look, I also noticed the end of the ejector appeared to have been either filed or run across a grinder. No idea why they would have done this, but it may have been the rod wouldn't lock into the frame when the cylinder was closed. I decided to remove the ejector rod and have a closer look and sure enough it was ugly(see pic). Since I'm was going to replace it anyway, I chucked it in my lathe and polished down the rough marks. After reinstalling it I started to get an occasional cylinder lock-up in both SA and DA. What started happening was occasionally the cylinder would move up at the rear as a result of slightly smaller diameter of the ejector rod and allow the cylinder stop to raise just enough to misalign its notch with the trigger's notch so they wouldn't mesh. All it took to correct this was to lightly push the rear of the cylinder down. Once I get a new ejector rod installed it should keep the cylinder from moving and prevent this from happening.

Had I left it alone, the ejector rod would have eaten into the frame in no time. Guess this is why these revolvers are so cheap.

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Geez. Good find and problem solving, @BC17A !

BTW, the hammer in mine was rough on the left side causing an audible scraping noise against the aluminum frame. So I pulled the hammer and smoothed the sides and removed the sharp edges.

It seems that modern CA guns have to be finished and debugged by the end user. Either by warranty return or by an end user that’s willing to work on them.
 
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Geez. Good find and problem solving, @BC17A !

BTW, the hammer in mine was rough on the left side causing an audible scraping noise against the aluminum frame. So I pulled the hammer and smoothed the sides and removed the sharp edges.

It seems that modern CA guns have to be finished and debugged by the end user. Either by warranty return or by an end user that’s willing to work on them.

I have seen were you can purchase,Shim kits for Charter hammers … I recently installed a hammer on my Bulldog 44 .. I cleaned the hammer up a bit with a stone then some leather … then a light coating of Mobil One ..

Im sure Charter is like everyone else .. finding employees… alot of people don’t want to work… focus should be on quality control though.. it is a firearm
 
I have seen were you can purchase,Shim kits for Charter hammers … I recently installed a hammer on my Bulldog 44 .. I cleaned the hammer up a bit with a stone then some leather … then a light coating of Mobil One ..

Im sure Charter is like everyone else .. finding employees… alot of people don’t want to work… focus should be on quality control though.. it is a firearm

Yeah, I shouldn't forget that I had to do some work to my last two Rugers (Single Six [new], Bearcat [used]) due to chambering issues, plus I put in a lot of work with my Remlin 1894 (new) to overcome a magazine tube loading issue. Not to mention a certain Taurus TCP bought new many years ago.

I should have sent them all back to the factory, but I have this sickness about trying to fix things myself. :confused:
 
Yeah, I shouldn't forget that I had to do some work to my last two Rugers (Single Six [new], Bearcat [used]) due to chambering issues, plus I put in a lot of work with my Remlin 1894 (new) to overcome a magazine tube loading issue. Not to mention a certain Taurus TCP bought new many years ago.

I should have sent them all back to the factory, but I have this sickness about trying to fix things myself. :confused:

I had a really nice looking S&W Model 65 3” revolver bought new in 1990 that couldn’t hit a 10” target at 7 Yards even at the hands accomplished shooters. Everyone makes a bad product on occasion from a Python to Undercoverette. Sometimes though I think we over analyze things. I see so many posts where the first thing guys do is swap out springs and do action jobs on new guns before they even dry fire a gun a few hundred times and allow it to break in. Not saying this is the case but machine parts need a break in period to work harmoniously. A obvious flaw is just that but I don’t ever remember opening a revolver up as it came from the factory and the only gun I ever returned for an problem was the Model 65 I mentioned. Came back the same, it went bang but could not hit wort a darn.
 
Since I'm waiting for parts, I decided to measure the front sight position and found it was .025" to the right which explains the left POI. Took 30 minutes to mill out a makeshift wrench and five seconds to tighten the barrel and center the sight.

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Well done on the mod. Still waiting on brass. Ordered from another vendor that listed it in stock and its been "processing" for over a week. I turned to my old standby 32-20 for temporary relief this weekend.
 
Funny you should mention this. The rest of this reply should interest you.





I found out today exactly what's causing this issue. It's something in the contact of the trigger and cylinder stop. I discovered this after I found another issue with the ejector rod in mine.

Seems Bubba must work at the CA plant. As I was cleaning mine after it's first range trip, I noticed some small machining chips left on the ejector gear teeth. Once I put on an eye-loupe and took a closer look, I also noticed the end of the ejector appeared to have been either filed or run across a grinder. No idea why they would have done this, but it may have been the rod wouldn't lock into the frame when the cylinder was closed. I decided to remove the ejector rod and have a closer look and sure enough it was ugly(see pic). Since I was going to replace it anyway, I chucked it in my lathe and polished down the rough marks. After reinstalling it I started to get an occasional cylinder lock-up in both SA and DA. What started happening was occasionally the cylinder would move up at the rear as a result of slightly smaller diameter of the ejector rod and allow the cylinder stop to raise just enough to misalign its notch with the trigger's notch so they wouldn't mesh. All it took to correct this was to lightly push the rear of the cylinder down. Once I get a new ejector rod installed it should keep the cylinder from moving and prevent this from happening.

Had I left it alone, the ejector rod would have eaten into the frame in no time. Guess this is why these revolvers are so cheap.

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you should let C.A. know about this assembly problem. seems the binding locking up isn't that rare.
Charter Arms Bulldog .44 Special Review - BIG DISAPPOINTMENT! I Had Multiple Problems With Mine - YouTube

they replaced a slew of parts to fix this problem.
Charter Arms .44 Bulldog - I Had To Send Mine Back For Repairs - Did They Really Fix It? - YouTube
 
you should let C.A. know about this assembly problem. seems the binding locking up isn't that rare.
Charter Arms Bulldog .44 Special Review - BIG DISAPPOINTMENT! I Had Multiple Problems With Mine - YouTube

they replaced a slew of parts to fix this problem.
Charter Arms .44 Bulldog - I Had To Send Mine Back For Repairs - Did They Really Fix It? - YouTube


I watched both those a week or so ago and didn't give it much thought until I started to notice mine locking up after I polished the rough end of the ejector rod. As for their problems, I would hope they know what's causing them by now. What I see with mine is there may be more than just cylinder slop locking up the trigger and stop. The stop itself has excessive play and I noticed it will stick in a slightly forward position on occasion and just a light nudge rearward will free it up. Before I get the new parts and install them, I think I'll disassemble the rest of the pistol to see whats happening and try to make it better. Just a guess, but I believe these parts are poorly manufactured to begin with and require some fitting just to make them function. After seeing what was done to the ejector rod I'm afraid to see what else the hack that assembled this pistol might have boogered up. On the bright side, the customer service rep didn't question my findings and is sending the parts I requested. I'm sure if I find more unsatisfactory parts they'd send those also.
 
I called the good folks at Charter Arms and was informed that they use two mainsprings of differing weights - Blue (lighter) and Green (heavier). Seems odd, but whatever. My .32 had the blue spring; no wonder the trigger pull felt so good. They promptly sent me the green spring, which I installed. Afterwards, fired 30 round with no misfires. :)

I like these grips, which are Altamonts. They are usually out of stock of nearly everything, but a site named handgungrips often has a decent selection for the Charters, which all use the same grip frame.

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.32 day at the range. The Charter Arms Undercoverette and the Taurus TCP-732 shooting at 10 yards. Both ran flawlessly.

This double action only modified Undercoverette was easy to hit with very quick pulls of the trigger. Double taps, triple taps, left hand only, right hand only, both hands, it's a good pointing revolver in my hands. I currently only have Magtech .32 S&W Long JHP, I need to source some .32 magnum.

I also ran a few cylinders of S&B.32 ACP FMJ in the Undercoverette. Solid deep primer strikes on this ammo. The sound was different than the TCP-732 due to the cylinder gap. Not as accurate as the .32 Long, but no evidence of bullet tumbling before impact on the target. Good as a last resort close range cartridge, I would think.

I have to admit, due to the disclosure of the blue hammer springs being the soft spring compared to the green, I stretched the blue spring in this gun from 1.85" uncompressed to 2.00" before shooting. Not sure if it made a difference or not, but it was done.

So far, this little lightweight 6-shooter looks very promising for what I want it for. :cool:

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I was able to get 100 cases yesterday and loaded up 80 rounds consisting of RCBS 32-98-SWC lubed with WL carnauba red at .312" over 4 gr Unique with a CCI 500. COAL was 1.432". Crushed two cases and was shorted one. Oh well that's life. I wish I could say that was the only problem I experienced.

I'll start with the sights. It appeared that in order to obtain a level shot the front sight must be raised a couple millimeters above the rear notch. My initial shots were in single action at 12 paces and the holes ended up a good five inches low. With a little practice I was able to account for this and obtain higher hitting groups, albeit higher than what I thought was my aim (splitting the difference is going to be a bit of guess work). As an aside the grips really don't do it for me and likely contributed to my aim so I'll hold off addressing the sight issue until my Altamonts arrive this coming week.

The next issue is double action. Easily half of the shots I took in DA were light strikes. Say what you want about CCI primers but half? I also noticed a bit of stacking on some, but not all of the DA shots. Not sure what's going on. Maybe it needs a break in. I'll load up and try again next weekend. I managed two hole in hole groups on paper and left the range with a few pounds of scrap lead so it wasn't a total let down. I know it can shoot. It just needs to shoot all the time. More to come later.

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The next issue is double action. Easily half of the shots I took in DA were light strikes. Say what you want about CCI primers but half?

Sounds like a candidate for the green hammer spring. :oops:

I can tell you that the hammer on my revolver was making an audible scraping sound against the frame when I got it. Perhaps the hammer was being slowed down some, but definitely the aluminum frame was being scraped with each hammer swing.

So, I removed the hammer, deburred the sharp dinged edges, and polished the tops of the grooves on the sides of the hammer with fine grit sandpaper.

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Thought I would do some dry firing tonight to get used to the trigger. No more than 6-8 dry fires in and the trigger stops mid depression, the hammer is cocked half way, and no amount of force will complete the cycle outside of rotating the cylinder by hand. This happened two more times every 6-8 pulls. So there is more than a light strike issue here and this new gun will be going back to Charter asap.
 
Thought I would do some dry firing tonight to get used to the trigger. No more than 6-8 dry fires in and the trigger stops mid depression, the hammer is cocked half way, and no amount of force will complete the cycle outside of rotating the cylinder by hand. This happened two more times every 6-8 pulls. So there is more than a light strike issue here and this new gun will be going back to Charter asap.

Sounds like it's the same problem mine has, or had since I fixed it today. I got the new ejector rod parts from CA last week and installed them on Friday just to find it still had a cylinder/trigger lockup problem. Not as bad as before but I could easily make it happen by slowly letting the trigger out to reset. The cylinder stop was hanging up on its trigger notch and also on the plunger so instead of sliding forward then rearward to allow it to mesh with the trigger it was moving up & forward and locking in that position which made it lock horns with the trigger. No amount of pulling force on the trigger would make it budge.

After disassembling the gun, I found the stop was very rough on the side that contacts the frame, and slightly rough on its trigger notch and plunger edge which only added to it sticking rather than moving smoothly. After polishing all the parts with some 1000 grit and a buffing wheel the stop now moves very smoothly. During trigger reset the stop will move forward then snap nicely into the trigger notch like it should. I probably should have sent it back to CA but after seeing some of the hack work they did before shipping it out new, I don't trust them. This is my first CA and definitely going to be my last.

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Sounds like it's the same problem mine has, or had since I fixed it today. I got the new ejector rod parts from CA last week and installed them on Friday just to find it still had a cylinder/trigger lockup problem....

After disassembling the gun, I found the stop was very rough on the side that contacts the frame, and slightly rough on its trigger notch and plunger edge which only added to it sticking rather than moving smoothly. After polishing all the parts with some 1000 grit and a buffing wheel the stop now moves very smoothly....
]

Mine had the same issue initially of the cylinder bolt hanging up on the trigger. I sent it back and Charter repaired it. How did you get the cylinder bolt out? I didn't want to knock out that splined open pin holding it.
 
... I'll start with the sights. It appeared that in order to obtain a level shot the front sight must be raised a couple millimeters above the rear notch. My initial shots were in single action at 12 paces and the holes ended up a good five inches low....

The next issue is double action. Easily half of the shots I took in DA were light strikes.

Every Charter I've owned for the past 10 years has shot low. I routinely have to file the front sight lower to raise the POI. The models with the fiber optic front sight shoot horribly low and can't be altered.

Light strikes? Check your mainspring. If it's blue, call and ask for the green one.

What's going on over at Charter? Here's a number of random guns with the same problems. Not good.
 
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