Charter 38

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Roadkill

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Evening, I"ve been shooting a while, reloading too but I brought home a Charter Undercover .38 (marked Charter Arms Corp) with case hardened hammer, am not sure how much bang this little gun can handle. I've had several/lots more really .38s/357s revolvers and currently load for and shoot a couple of .45s. One of my favorite shooters is a Colt Trooper .357 in which I shoot warmly loaded .38s with a great deal of accuracy. What is my best load without surprises for the undercover Charter? I will reload all my ammo for it.

Thanks

rk
 
If this is the one with the non-shrouded ejector rod then I would stick with light bullets at standard .38 SPL pressures. I use Federal 110 gr Hydrashok in my Charter Arms Undercover and it shoots very well. I don't think I'd feed it a steady diet of +P loads. To me it seems that the pistol is too light for this.
 
I'm another owner of these. Mine is VERY tight and well-tuned, and is a great shooter.

I shoot small amounts of +P once in a while, and do 99% of practice with standard-pressure stuff. It's still in great shape.

The only +Ps I would categorically reject would be the new super-hot Bufallo Bores shipping this summer, such as the 158 lead hollowpoint @ 1,000fps or a similarly wicked 125JHP.

I have a lot of interest in the new Speer 135grain +P Gold Dot, and will shoot a couple cylinders to see where they print when I can score a couple boxes.

I have a low opinion of the Federal 158 Nyclads. The data I've seen says that the otherwise similar plain lead Winchesters or Remington 158 lead hollowpoint +Ps will pull 850-875fps or so from a good tight 2" barrel gun, which is in that round's expansion range. The Federals will maybe hit 800 with a tailwind and a prayer :scrutiny:.
 
My Charters all seem very happy with standard 158gr swc's or 148gr wc's. I do shoot +ps on ocassion,maybe two or three cylinders full each session. They would probably handle a moderate amounts of +p's. The Charter web sight(www.charterfirearms.com) says they can handle +p's.
 
Great info, it does have the non shrouded ejector rod. I got it from a guy who said he had never fired it and also obviously never had cleaned it. Took a while but it really looks nice now. I've always had semi autos for ccw so this is something new for me. $120.00 wasn't too bad. Thanks
rk
 
the older charter .38's like you have are a far cry better in quality than their newer counter parts from the same company........

i shoot cor-bon +p 110 and 125 grainers in my titanium and aluminum/stainless snubbies...they are rated for +p from the factory. in spite of this, the cor-bons are damn near magnum power in a .38 package, so i shoot them enough for familiarity and thats it.

i would not try ANY +p load in that charter arms .38, though it would stand a little bit of it, it would start to loosen up rather quickly with regular use.

if i were regulated to non +p ammo for a snubbie .38, it would be the 158gr. swc........unfortunately, they no longer make this loading in a non+p h.p.

P.S. that price was a heck of a steal on your part.;)
 
I bought a Charter Undercover back in the early eighties. That thing would eat anything i loaded it with. Between me and my dad we put about a zillion rounds through that thing. There's very little finish left and it's beat up from years of being carried in pockets,tackel boxes,under car seats so on and so on. Even with all the +p's it's ate it's still a better quality gun than the new Charter 2000.
 
I am thinking about buying a new Charter Arms Undercover 38 Special. Why do I always hear that those new ones are crap and the old ones were so good?

Can somebody please explain the differences and for example, what parts keep going bad on the new model and why it is bad? I handled one at the gun store and compared it with the SW 637. I thought it was well made, with a much lower price tag plus had a much better trigger.

Thanks
 
I own two of the new Charters,an Udercover an Offduty. With certin brands of cheaper ammo the Undercover has to light of firing pin hits. I haven't had the Offduty very long. First trip to the range i had the same experiance with it as i had with the Undercover. Only it was also out of time. I took the Undercover back to the dealer and when i got it back 5 weeks later it was the same. The Offduty was shiped back to the factory. I'll see what happens when i get it back. With Winchester,Remington and Eldorado both guns never failed to fire but atleast one round out of every cylinder full had lighter hits than the others. I took the misfires and tried them in my S&W's ,Ruger and Taurus and they all fired first hit. Other people haven't had any problems. Can you say QUALITY CONTROL?
 
I had an Undercover .38 back in the 70's, and I really liked it. Last year I bought one that was manufactured in 1973. I was getting some misfires so I sent it to Charter Arms. Charter had gun too long in my opinion. They replaced a couple parts and charged me $50. I got gun back and it was not fixed. So, they sent me an extra heavy mainspring which solved problem. Anyhow, gun was inspected and it has some new parts and it works so that is a good thing. I carry it more than I shoot it. I practice with standard pressure 125 gr. or 158 gr. lead bullets. I carry +P Federal 158 gr. lead hollowpoints because I like a heavy bullet, I like Federal primers, and I feel bullet will deform or expand even though it only does about 785 fps from a 2" barrel. I have fired a limited amount of +P's with 125 gr. and 148 gr. and 158 gr. bullets. Gun is tight.
 
The Undercover design is spectacularly good. A steel frame with aluminum grip frame and barrel shroud (steel core) kept the weight down without a strength penalty. There are no sideplates, as the action "forks up" into the back of the frame much like a Ruger. It locks up at the crane and rear of the cylinder, like a Ruger. Transfer bar like, you guessed it...

Original engineer was ex-Ruger :).

Quality control late in the Charter Arms era "suffered" some. By the time Charco bought the designs, QC went well and truly into the toilet.

The modern versions aren't "Charco bad" but final hand-finishing and checks suffer (due to costs). Ditto the finish. What's wrong today is that while the guns are really worth $300+ retail (Taurus prices for the same weight class), the poor prior QC issues connected with the brand means they can't get that. So Charter 2000's "game plan" was to cut costs with computer-controlled machining, raise quality that way while reducing expensive hand-work. Well they're better off than the Charcos...but they ain't all the way to where they need to be.
 
I have one of the old ones late 70 early 80 s Nice little pistol wouldn t shoot a lot of +P . Old grips suck ordered new type form company fits hands a lot better. I carry 158swc in mine when i take it for a walk or ride.
 
I've had it out a few times now, just got in from a 45 minute walk in the country with my wife, carried it in a nylon holster on right hip under T shirt, conceals very well, Sunday I took it on a 20 mile bike ride, on return trip I gave it the time honored Alabama redneck target test, its called the MBCITC qualification course. There is a ratio of targets to bullets you have to understand in order to determine accuracy. The MBCITC (Miller beer cans in the creek) qualification course depends on how many of the targets you personally emptied before throwing them in the creek and the number of the rounds in the gun. Since the Charter only had five rounds and I had not emptied the targets I threw five cans in. You increase the number of targets according to the number of bullets but subtract from them according to how many you drank. For example, if I had my AR15 with eighteen rounds and had emptied seven targets I would only throw ten in the creek because they count for two after you empty six. It sounds a little dumb but I've been doing this for lots of years and it works. Anyway, the Charter passed very well. Reckon I'll keep it.

rk
 
RK: Hilarious post, dude :D.

Seriously, classic Charter Arms Undercovers tend to be very accurate. The lockup at the crane probably has a lot to do with it.
 
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