OMCHamlin
Member
OK, a while back, I got to thinking that I wanted an older Charter Arms .44 Special Bulldog, and found a minty one on line at a price that I thought was fair enough.
When I first went to shoot it, I loaded it up with some factory 240 SWC ammo that was clean and new looking (but of undetermined history) and hauled back on the trigger and...<<CLICK>>..., nothing. ALL of the next rounds fired either double or single action went off just fine (the original dud round went on the second strike).
I went out a second time and put darn near another box of Magtech new factory 240 gr flatpoints through it with no misfires. To date, thats roughly 70rounds fired with one (the very first one fired) of the 70 a no-go on the first strike. While looking this over, I noted that some of the brass looked to have off-center strikes, so on the second outting, I marked each one for orientation reference in their chambers and cylinder, and later took the attached photographs. In each photo, the round shown at 10 oclock was the first round under the firing pin. Again, no misfires in this batch of ammo at all.
So, my questions are these:
1. Based on the 1 to 70 malfunction ratio that has not yet repeated itself, do I have a problem?
2. Based on the offcenter strike photos, do I have a problem?
3. Based on the info I have gathered, I wonder if replacing the cylinder stop with a slightly wider one (or at least a NEW one) would help center the strikes? If so, how hard is that to accomplish?
4. If I left the cylinder stop alone, could I replace the hammer spring with a Wolf Extra power spring to add a margin of insurance to ignite the offcenter hits?
5. Charter claims to be able to fix older (pre-reorganization) guns for $49, do I send this to them? (I ask that with a grain of salt, based on the new stuff I've seen come out of their doors lately)
Other then that, the gun hits well, just an inch or so left of center at 15 yards or so and I would like to solve this, if it is a problem at all.
So, anyhow, I would appreciate any advice (beyond the "throw it in the lake" comments) offered.
Thanks and happy new year!
R/
OMC
When I first went to shoot it, I loaded it up with some factory 240 SWC ammo that was clean and new looking (but of undetermined history) and hauled back on the trigger and...<<CLICK>>..., nothing. ALL of the next rounds fired either double or single action went off just fine (the original dud round went on the second strike).
I went out a second time and put darn near another box of Magtech new factory 240 gr flatpoints through it with no misfires. To date, thats roughly 70rounds fired with one (the very first one fired) of the 70 a no-go on the first strike. While looking this over, I noted that some of the brass looked to have off-center strikes, so on the second outting, I marked each one for orientation reference in their chambers and cylinder, and later took the attached photographs. In each photo, the round shown at 10 oclock was the first round under the firing pin. Again, no misfires in this batch of ammo at all.
So, my questions are these:
1. Based on the 1 to 70 malfunction ratio that has not yet repeated itself, do I have a problem?
2. Based on the offcenter strike photos, do I have a problem?
3. Based on the info I have gathered, I wonder if replacing the cylinder stop with a slightly wider one (or at least a NEW one) would help center the strikes? If so, how hard is that to accomplish?
4. If I left the cylinder stop alone, could I replace the hammer spring with a Wolf Extra power spring to add a margin of insurance to ignite the offcenter hits?
5. Charter claims to be able to fix older (pre-reorganization) guns for $49, do I send this to them? (I ask that with a grain of salt, based on the new stuff I've seen come out of their doors lately)
Other then that, the gun hits well, just an inch or so left of center at 15 yards or so and I would like to solve this, if it is a problem at all.
So, anyhow, I would appreciate any advice (beyond the "throw it in the lake" comments) offered.
Thanks and happy new year!
R/
OMC