The new 44spcl Bulldog's (what you think?)

[mdauben]

One thing I could never understand and still cannot is why anyone would buy a 44 Special instead of a 44 Magnum. How much can the difference in weight be and the magnum gives one so many more options when it comes to powerful loads.

The S&W snub nose 629 is over a pound heavier than the Charter Arms Bulldog. The snub version of the Ruger Redhawk is even heavier. Also, many people feel that .44 mag is getting into the range of dimishishing returns; powerful yes but too much recoil and too slow to recover for a SD gun.

 

[Certaindeaf]

A good bullet for the Bulldog (and any other .44) is the old 180 grain Lyman #429348. Super economical and mikes nice big holes in paper and critters.

 

[coop2564]

I love my Bulldog.

 

[Float Pilot]

CERTAINDEAF :::

Any Idea where I can get a handfull of those 180 grain full wadcutters for experimentation?

I bought a Taurus model 445 UL with a 2 inch barrel. But I most have a buch of heavy 44 caliber slugs around the homestead...

I was looking for some old Speer 225 grain half jacketed semi-wadcutters, but they do nopt makle them anymore.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Float Pilot, I guess used or so. I'd send you some but it's buried somewhere with a warped sprue plate or something and none are cast/left over. If you did a shout out over at castboolits.com, someone there may well be able to happily oblige you.

 

[Float Pilot]

Thnking about Bullog problem solved...

 

[David E]

I was looking for some old Speer 225 grain half jacketed semi-wadcutters, but they do nopt makle them anymore.

They might be fine in an all steel gun, but in the 19 oz Bulldog, the 1/2 jacket stayed in place while the lead core jumped crimp.

 

[MachIVshooter]

I have a 2011 model, I really like it. Carries easy, packs a wallop.

One thing I could never understand and still cannot is why anyone would buy a 44 Special instead of a 44 Magnum.

Do you know what a Charter Arms Bulldog is?

Your assessment makes sense with full size guns, but not so much with the compact and/or lightweight guns.

Exactly. The CA Bulldog is about the same size as, but a good bit lighter than, the Ruger SP101. They smack you hard with heavy .44 SPl. loads, I would not want to fire a mag load out of small frame gun weighing under 20 ounces.

 

[diyj98]

The 44 special also doesn't have the ear damaging blast of a 357 or 44 magnum. I have two Charter bulldogs. They aren't up to S&W quality, but the price is a heck of a lot cheaper as well. For night stand guns they do just fine for me.

 

[Jaymo]

The Bulldog IS an all steel gun, with the exception of some of the trigger guards/grip frames, that were aluminum. It's a very light steel gun.
I can imagine the lead core did jump crimp, with a hot load. The Bulldog is a lively little revolver to shoot.
That means, wood grips=no fun.

 

[David E]

The Bulldog IS an all steel gun, with the exception of some of the trigger guards/grip frames, that were aluminum.

Which makes it NOT all steel.

All steel FRAME, yes, but not an all steel gun.

 

[Float Pilot]

Odd how the 2.5 inch bbl C.A. Bulldog (website claim steel frame) is 21 onces while the Taurus Model 445 UL, which has a 2 inch stainless barrel and cylinder, but an alloy frame,,, is 22 onces.

 

[MachIVshooter]

Odd how the 2.5 inch bbl C.A. Bulldog (website claim steel frame) is 21 onces while the Taurus Model 445 UL, which has a 2 inch stainless barrel and cylinder, but an alloy frame,,, is 22 onces.

Mine tips my scale at 19.7 ounces empty. And yes, it is a steel gun except for the grip frame/trigger guard.

The Bulldog is simply smaller than the Taurus.

 

[Drail]

Bullets pulling is caused by insufficient case neck tension. I have been reloading and shooting Bulldog Pugs since the 80s and I have never seen a single bullet pull on anyof my loads from 180 to 250 gr. cast. Bullet pull is not the fault of the gun. And those 180 gr full wadcutters work very well. I still have a few left but they're getting harder to find. My Bulldogs weigh in at 19.5 oz. They have more steel in them than most modern ultra flyweight snubs manufactured these days. It would be nice if Charter Arms could finally solve their quality control issues. The design is a good one.

 

[rozziboy18]

i "gettofyed" one once for a friend. it was just a because he can kinda thing and there was no real reason behind it other than fun. its a hand me down night stand gun to him and he wanted to make it a conversation piece. i so polished it up and gold plated the trigger hammer and cylinder release. i have to say after a full tear down and light work, after all the years of his family owning it , its a tight gun, shoots well and does its job. i am by no means a good revolver athority to go off of, i have owned two 1 being a judge, long sence gone and 2 being a 686-6, still got.


oh heres a pic!

 

[Drail]

Man, that IS ghetto.

 

[rozziboy18]

he wanted it not me!! im more partial to blue and walnut myself!

 

[firesky101]

I went to the range with my father on Saturday. One of the guns he brought was his .44 special charter. Still fun to shoot. Interestingly someone showed up with another one, an older one like the one in the photo rozziboy18 provided. He had removed the cylinder release and used the ejector rod to open the cylinder. He said the cylinder release cut his hand up real bad, and charter told him to take the release off.

 

[lowercase]

I plan on buying one. I like the idea of a small, light revolver with 5 rounds of BOOM.

I have the Charter Mag Pug (same frame as the Bulldog, but in .357) with some Pachmayr Compac grips on it, but they are a little too tacky, and my cover garments hangs up on them. I plan on dressing it up with some Eagle "Secret Service" grips.

Here's my Charter .357 with its Pachmayrs.

Here's the grips I want. Pic borrowed from Eaglegrips website. I hope it is okay.

 

[David E]

Bullets pulling is caused by insufficient case neck tension. I have been reloading and shooting Bulldog Pugs since the 80s and I have never seen a single bullet pull on anyof my loads from 180 to 250 gr. cast.

The bullet I cited was the old Speer semi-wadcutter with 1/2 jacket. Perhaps you're unfamiliar with it, as it's been discontinued for years.

The jacket was totally recessed into the case, a full crimp was applied. The rounds looked like regular cast semi-wadcutters as a result.

The lead bullet CORE separated from the 1/2 jacket, which stayed firmly crimped in place. It took 3-4 shots for this to happen in my Bulldog.

I pushed the lead core back into the 1/2 jacket and fired it normally. I also never bought those bullets again.

 

[Drail]

Thank you for that explanation. Interesting bullet failure. I used plenty of those bullets in .44 and .41 back in the dark ages but I never saw one do what you described. (I do believe you ) Most of the experts of the day had a good opinion of those half jackets. Anymore all I shoot now are hard cast SCW bullets. Remember Bull-X? They were right down the road from me and they would let us back our trucks up to the shipping door and load up bullets. I spent a lot of money in that place. Really great pricing doing it that way. Really great people at Bull-X also. I sure do miss them.

 

[David E]

I didn't have a .44 magnum at the time, but suspect those bullets would've been fine in an all steel gun.

I shot with Carter Jones often at the Havana matches. Great guy.

 

[Float Pilot]

I used those old Speer half jacketed SWCs for decades in my hot 44 mag loads without any problems. But I always had a very heavy roll crimp into the lead above the jacketing.
Unfortunately I am down to my last box. Out of the 5,000 I bought back in the early 70s.
They were a good hunting bullet.

I just shot up 10 of them in my alloy framed Taurus and they worked just fine. Good group and dead-on for point of aim. But I only had them going 650 fps.

 

[the Black Spot]

I am getting some pachmyr presentation grips for mine. I don't like that little picky finger slot. I am used to a colt single action style grip.

 

[natman]

One thing I could never understand and still cannot is why anyone would buy a 44 Special instead of a 44 Magnum. How much can the difference in weight be and the magnum gives one so many more options when it comes to powerful loads. I DO understand why the special might be and is a better carry load.

Same story diffent channel. If buying just one revolver i would buy a 357 magnum not a 38. I can still shoot the entire gamut of 38 loads and the magnum cannot be that much heavier.

The Bulldog is a very small, light gun designed for carry. It's not strong enough for magnum pressures. Recoil is quite adequate with 44 Specials and would be unmanageable with Magnums.