Charter Arms Bulldog- Man, am I confused

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Pappy John

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Dec 24, 2002
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I got this thing from a friend and am trying to figure out if its broken or not. It seems to lock up tight and the timing is good, but when you swing out the cylinder nothing looks or acts familiar. The cylinder, when out, has a quarter of an inch of freeplay front to back. The ejector rod will only push the ejector star out a quarter of an inch...and that only occurs if you hold the cylinder to keep the freeplay from allowing the entire cylinder assembly to move back along with the star. But, there is a collar on the ejector shaft which looks like it was meant to limit the travel of the rod to this quarter inch. ?????? When re-seating the cylinder you must pull forward on the ejector rod to get the star rod plunger past the hand slot. None of this seems normal to me, but I'm only familiar with Smith's and Colt's revolvers. Can this possibly be how Charter Arms meant these to work? Or is it in serious need of repair?
 
Nope, needs work

The star should push out much further, that little collar on the ejector rod should push forward to the end of the rod. And of course the cylinder should not be loose.
 
"needs work"...yep.

I downloaded a parts list and exploded view from Charter's website....that helped. Found out that the ejector rod collar was mounted backwards. My buddy swears he never had it apart.:rolleyes: Maybe so, he got it used, but he's had it for a couple years now. Musta never shot it much.:scrutiny: Anyhow, now its got its full travel.

Also found out that the little hole in the frame next to the trigger pivot pin is actually supposed to hold a cylinder retainer stud. That'll keep the cylinder from backing out when I get it installed. All should be well soon and my bud can have his gun back.

:D 'Course thats after I get to play with.....I mean thoroughly test it before I give it back.:D
 
On the older Smith & Wessons, that cylinder retainer boss is a separate part, but permanently assembled to the frame. I knew a guy who got into the gunsmithing and bluing business and one of his first efforts was to respond to a customer demand that he give an S&W a "super polish" before rebluing. He did, managing to polish the cylinder retainer almost flat. The customer picked up the gun, swung out the cylinder and had it fall on his toe.

After some heated discussion, the gun was returned to S&W at the "gunsmith's" expense. Heaven knows what they thought, but they installed a higher retainer and didn't charge anything. (Those were the old days!)

Jim
 
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