Charter Arms "Off Duty"

[Firefighter]

anybody familiar with these ?

http://www.charterfirearms.com/offduty.php

 

[Ala Dan]

The Old Original Charter Arms "Off Duty"

Greeting's Firefighter!

Yep, had one of the first to arrive in Dixie. Darn good little
5-shot revolver's, chambered for .38 Special. Not a S&W
model 36 or a Colt Detective Special; but a good gun for
about a 1/3 of the cost. NIB my top figure would not
exceed $150.00.

Best Wishes,
Ala Dan, N.R.A. Life Member

 

[Firefighter]

Is it +P rated ?

 

[Preacherman]

From the Charter 2000 Web site (http://www.charterfirearms.com/faqs.php):

Q. Can I shoot +p in my .38 five shot revolver?

A. Charter .38's are the smallest revolvers in this caliber, they can handle +p but we do not recommend a steady diet. Studies have shown that +p ammo is not a great defensive round because the bullet travels so fast that unless a critical area is hit the perpetrators may not be stopped. We recommend hollow points and full metal jacketed ammo as it will open and have a better chance stopping the intruder.

 

[Mike Irwin]

I had an original run Off Duty from the real company. My first revolver, that I bought as my CCW gun back in 1987, I believe.

I carried it a lot over the years.

 

[makarov1989]

I had one of the Old "Off Duty" revolvers from the first Charter Arms and a "Undercover" snubbie from the company that is selling the gun you are asking about.

The Original Charter that I had was a better gun but the newer one was decent also. They are not as smooth as a S&W but for the price, you do get a solid, servicable gun. If you don't plan on shooting too many rounds through it, I think it will work as well as anything out there.

With the price of the S&W 642 so low right now, I think that is a better deal and a better gun. You should find a NIB S&W 642 for $350 if you look.

 

[ninjaj448]

If you are not shooting 50 rounds/week or using it for bowling pin matches, then the Charter 'Off Duty' or 'Undercover' is the way to go. I'd lose the rubber grips and replace with checkered plastic or wood grips for pocket carry but, for the money, they can't be beat(IMHO).

As stated earlier, these are not Smith's or Colt's and Charter does not recommend +P ammo but the 'Undercover' I use locks tight and consistant and nothing has shaken loose after about 150 rounds of various .38 Special ammo. I like the 158 gr lead round nose from PMC. Equal about to standard LEO ammo until they discovered semi-autos in the 60's.

 

[Jim March]

I have a late '70s production Charter Arms Undercover that I'll *never* part with.

The deal with Charters is that the design is VERY good. The original engineer was a former Ruger guy and it shows - in typical Rugeresque fashion, the grip frame with triggerguard "forks up" into the back of the primary (cylinder) frame. This eliminates sideplates, a significant advantage. They also lock up at both ends of the cylinder.

Late in the lifespan of the original company (early '80s) quality suffered as they ran into a cash crunch. The design was then bought out by "Charco" and quality went well and truly into the toilet or worse. The quality of the ones from my gun's era is startlingly good; the hammer and trigger are case-hardened (for real) and the bluing/finish is excellent, if weird: they didn't even try and match the finishes between the steel and aluminum areas, so it's got a black cylinder, *brown* cylinder frame, deep high-gloss-black anodized aluminum bits. And the lockup is rock solid, the barrel/cylinder gap is down around .002" and the timing is perfect. It *shoots*.

This new Charter2000 company that's brought back the design yet again (because it's a damned good one!) seems to be doing better. They've gone to strictly CNC tooling, but kept the finishes plain to reduce costs. Still, ugly as some are, they DO seem to work well. I was cautious at first, but can now look favorably on most models, with cautions only on the 44Spl flavor (go easy on the hot stuff!) and the aluminum 38s.

That said: between the current "Off Duty" and "Undercover" designs, I'd rather have an Undercover, and here's why: it uses a steel primary (cylinder) frame but an aluminum barrel shroud (steel core) and an aluminum grip frame. The resulting 16oz weight is a nice compromize between the weight of a high-bucks "unobtanium" gun down around 10 or 12oz, and an all-steel gun of around 19oz. I consider that 16oz weight to be *perfect* for a 38+P capable snubby, a great balance of low packin' weight yet enough "beef" for comfortable and fast shooting.

The Undercover can take +P. I wouldn't make that the "sole diet", but that's true of most 38snubs. The aluminum Off Duty, I'd go REAL easy with +P.

 

[snubby]

The cylinder latch on the CA 2000 Undercover leaves much to be desired-- too many small parts (lever, spring, 2 washers, and screw) to get dirty and cause the latch to "stick," thereby hindering cylinder release. These latches are hard to remove and clean. But at least the price is right!

 

[einnor1040]

I have one of the original OFF DUTYs. I should say had. Mrs. einnor1040 claimed it as hers.I bought it new in 1988. It's a good little gun.