Current production Charter Arms bulldog .44 special?

[megatronrules]

I'm looking at a charter arms bulldog 44 special. Its a current production gun, it has "shelton CT." On the barrel. It seems like a well made gun for the money. What can anyone here tell me about these revolvers? Anything to watch out for or look for? Its a new gun I'm assuming it was made recently.

Also does anyone carry one of these for protection? I ask as im considering one for that purpose thanks.

 

[lowercase]

I carry one of the current production Bulldogs.

Mine has been a great little carry weapon and I carry it OWB at about 4:00 in a small belt slide holster.

I bought a set of NOS wood bulldog grips for the old generation Bulldog and really like them. The Pachmayr "Compac" grips are another option and feel good in the hand.

With Charters, the number one thing to watch for is for screws to loosen. Check these and maybe use some blue Loctite to secure them and you'll be fine. Also, stay away from hot handloads with this gun. It is lightly constructed and trying to "hot rod" it will beat it to death in short order.

-lc

 

[foxtail207]

lowercase -

I just ordered a Bulldog and should get it next week. What defense handloads do you use or recommend?

I load .44 sp for a Ruger BH right now using 240gr JHPs.

 

[lowercase]

I just ordered a Bulldog and should get it next week. What defense handloads do you use or recommend?

I load .44 sp for a Ruger BH right now using 240gr JHPs.

I haven't yet got into hand loading, but REALLY need to put down some of my other projects and start.

I use 200-grain Gold Dot jhp for my carry load.

For practice, I use Magtech 240-grain lead flat point Cowboy Action Loads.

 

[35 Whelen]

I have one of the old CA Bulldogs and carrying frequently. LOVE it.

After buying it, I shot it extensively. At first I used my standard cast 255 - 260 gr. SWC's loaded over 6.5 grs. of Unique or 20/28. Recoil was unfreekingbelieveable but accuracy was nice (offhand 15 yds.):



I finally found a Lyman mould that cast a little 185 gr. wadcutter and run it about 850 fps. MUCH better and still shoots well, although a hair low:



FWIW, I got a few of the 200 gr. Gold Dot factory loads in a trade and chronographed them, 733 fps from the CA Bulldog's 3" barrel. They ain't gonna expand at that speed.

35W

 

[RustyShackelford]

Good & bad....

I've heard & read mixed reviews of the recent Bulldog .44spl snubs.

I like the DA only(no single action or spur) & the "shrouded" hammer spur .44spl Bulldogs.
These revolvers are safe, won't snag or catch on garments/pockets & you can avoid possible false claims of misuse/cocking hammers(light trigger pull).

If you plan to buy a Charter Arms .44spl, Id suggest looking for the extra Davidson's Lifetime Warranty. If the revolver is broken or has issues, you can get a free replacement.
As for carry/defense .44spl loads, Id advise using only factory ammunition. Well made brands & frangible(pre fragmented) .44spl rounds.
Hornady Critical Defense, Glaser Safety Slugs(silver), MagSafe, Buffalo Bore, DPX, PowRball.
Crimson Trace; www.Crimsontrace.com offers Bulldog lasergrips if you want a bright red dot.

 

[GBExpat]

Current production Charter Arms bulldog .44 special?

I bought 2 of these little pistols (MFR# 74420 ... S/S 2½") last summer, about a month apart (SNs are 8 digits apart).

The 2nd was slightly more refined/finished than the first, but neither bore is well-finished.

They are ~$350 big-bore pistols, so it is smart to expect less than perfection.

I have found them to be relatively well-made, handy, acceptably accurate and not-too-punishing to shoot with moderate loads.

I test-fired some 200gr GoldDot Blazer AL-cased ammo thru my Chrony from ~6' and the 5 averaged 778.3fps with an ES of 27 and SD of 11.

I am working up some 44spc handloads using my S&W 29 3" for comfort (the last set of test strings I ran involved 4 calibers and over 200 rounds fired 6-10 at a time ... at the end, over 2 hours after starting, I was BEAT).

The one item that I have on my list to fix on these two pistols is the trigger. The bottom corners on the triggers are a bit too sharp for my fingers and hurt the pads of my fingers when dry- or live-firing (faster with the latter than the former). I have decided that I need to shorten/round/polish these just a bit for comfort.

The cylinder lockup is more noticeable (both tactile & audible) than my S&W so it is easier for me, when firing DA, to consistently pause at lockup just prior to hammer release ... I like that.

 

[Damon555]

Having never owned a CA bulldog before I don't really have anything to compare it to other than my S&W 642. It's not as refined as the Smith but it certainly isn't bad....in fact for the money it's a pretty decent little revolver. The trigger is actually quite nice compared to the 642....which doesn't take much really. There have been many, many revolvers that have graced my gun collection over the years and the Charter Arms bulldog stacks up pretty well against most of the mid priced models. If I were in the market for another one I would not hesitate to go with CA.

I've never shot a factory round through my Bulldog which is about 6 months old. I'm loading 5 grains of Unique behind a 200 grain lead round nose flat point bullet as my practice load.....it's running pretty slow @ 650 fps or so but it's easy on the hands and the gun. My night stand load is 7grains of Unique behind a 200 grain Speer Gold dot hollow point....again, not a speed demon but powerful enough to take care of business.

 

[diyj98]

I have two of the current production models and they both work fine. I haven't ten of thousands of rounds through either, but so far they've held up great. I use the Winchester Silvertip load in mine because it's fairly accurate.

 

[BSA1]

In my tests Hornady Critical Defense 38 Spl. +P performed well from J-Frame 38 2" barrel with all rounds expanding. I shot through four layers of cotton shirt and four layers of heavy cotton demin jean. Based on these results Hornady Critical Defense 44 Spl. would be at the top of my list for testing.

 

[marcclarke]

In my tests Hornady Critical Defense 38 Spl. +P performed well from J-Frame 38 2" barrel with all rounds expanding. I shot through four layers of cotton shirt and four layers of heavy cotton demin jean. Based on these results Hornady Critical Defense 44 Spl. would be at the top of my list for testing.

Into calibrated ballistic gelatin?

 

[joneb]

I have picked up few CA BD's in 44spl and I was not impressed, poor fit and really sloppy brand new I wondered how it would be a 1K rounds from now
I have a S&W 696 and a Taurus 431 2.5" round butt, the CA doesn't hold a candle to either.
Hornady has load data for a 3" CA BD 44spl.

 

[Lucky Derby]

I have picked up few CA BD's in 44spl and I was not impressed, poor fit and really sloppy brand new I wondered how it would be a 1K rounds from now
I have a S&W 696 and a Taurus 431 2.5" round butt, the CA doesn't hold a candle to either.
Hornady has load data for a 3" CA BD 44spl.

Kind of like saying "I drove the Chevy Aveo. It doesn't hold a candle to the MB 500SL."

Both the S&W & the Taurus are considerably larger, more expensive (especially the S&W) and harder to find due to being out of production.
I have owned all three. Currently only have the S&W. Been thinking about giving the new CA a try though.

 

[YJake]

Just traded an XDs .45 and cash for a New Bulldog and a Pre-10 M&P today.

The Bulldog has a gritty trigger but the timing is fine and I'm sure the trigger will smooth out with lots of dry firing. Bought 100 rounds of 200grn cowboy loads loaded to 750 FPS to practice with and am looking at Speer Gold Dots for carry.

Excited to shoot this thing at the range next weekend.

-Jake

 

[BSA1]

In my tests Hornady Critical Defense 38 Spl. +P performed well from J-Frame 38 2" barrel with all rounds expanding. I shot through four layers of cotton shirt and four layers of heavy cotton demin jean. Based on these results Hornady Critical Defense 44 Spl. would be at the top of my list for testing.

Into calibrated ballistic gelatin?

marcclark,

I apologize for not answering your question sooner. I did not see it until just now.

My bullet testing is done with demin and cotton shirt covering a 3 gallon plastic water barrel as I am way to poor to make ballistic gelatin. With the 38+P the performance of the bullet is excellent and the shock of bullet hitting the water caused the plastic barrel to rip apart lengthwise. I have to shoot fast to get several rounds in before all the water drains out.

I have watched a lot of bullet testing on youtube using ballistic gelatin. Frankly while I find them informative I don't put a lot of weight in their results. Most of the videos they only shoot one round. Shooting The Bull (Ammo Quest) usually shoots 5 rounds into the gelatin so his results are more consistent.

Me? I shoot into most anything. Water, frozen water in milk jugs, wood, sheetrock, etc. with the actual gun I am interested in. Over time it adds up to 50 rounds or more. With winter already here ice block testing will be coming up for a variety of guns and cartridges.

p.s. Shooting things is fun.

 

[Lucky Derby]

p.s. Shooting things is fun.

I think that's why most of us are here.

 

[HexHead]

I really like my Bulldog. It's become the closest thing to an EDC of my handguns. I love it's light weight and it carries really well in a Galco Fletch holster.

I load 200gr Nosler JHPs for it, over 6.3 gr of W231, which is Nosler's most accurate load for that bullet. It's become one of my favorite handguns.

I don't currently have a .357, and have no desire to get another. I really like .44 Special. I also have a S&W Model 24 in .44 Spl., and intend to get a 329PD and maybe a Model 69, both in .44 Mag, but would only shoot Specials in them. That 329 is an N-frame that only weighs 3 oz. more than the Bulldog.

 

[Tallball]

In the past the CA revolvers that I handled looked poorly finished and cheap. Maybe they have improved. Ironically, the much maligned Taurus revolvers looked noticeably better. So I went ahead and bought the Taurus 44 special snubbie. It was my first 44 special. After I shot it the first time I fell in love with the caliber. I was surprised by how moderate the recoil is - enough to be fun, but not enough to bother me at all. I would carry it a lot more, but it is kind of large for summer "shorts and a tank top" carry. Now that the weather is cold I can conceal it easily.