Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Charter .44 Bulldog

I've never had an especially high opinion of Charter Arms, but we took in a mint stainless .44 Bulldog on consignment that keeps calling my name. It is a "real" Stratford Charter, not a Charter 2000 or Charco gun. I've been wanting a Smith 396 Night Guard, but they have gotten ridiculous. The Charter would fill the bill as an occasionally carried lightweight big bore carry piece. The owner wants too much for it, $499,but it is as new and likely hasn't had a box of ammo fired thru it. I'm going to shoot a cylinder thru it on the range to see if it agrees with me. Anybody have one? Love it? Hate it? Problems? I doubt I'd shoot it much anyway. Thanx

too high priced. High 300's maybe 400

I've got three from various periods. I guess you know if I like them or not.

I wish I never sold the one I bought in the early 1980s. Sold it in the late 1980s. For some reason, it really bothered me that, after shooting about fifty rounds through it, the frame cross pin would drift itself out and need to be pushed back in. Silly reason to sell a nice little, lightweight, powerhouse like that. All I had to do was take a look from time to time and push it back when it started to drift out.

I used to carry it in a shoulder holster, as I recall. I had some nice compact Pachmayrs on it. I have those on my Classic variation now. Same exact grips. Looks exactly like the one I had in the 1980s.

I like the 44 special a lot. Maybe I should seriously look into one of those.

Like them! What’s the barrel length ?

It's a 2 1/2". I shot a cylinder thru it just to get a feel. It bangs the f*ck out of my trigger finger. Neat little gun, but I may just get a GP100, though it is heavier than I want.

I’d be interested if the price was maybe a little lower.

Really like mine,it is Shelton Con. gun. 2.5 " barrel. So lite and easy to pack, and recoil not that bad.
Paid $300.00 from a guy who says was fired about about 20 times. Came with 30 rounds of 44 special, and a full box of 50 Winchester 44 Magnum soft points. ( 44 mag ammo, his mistake)

A Charter Bulldog 44 has been my go to Gun when hunting arrowheads fo years. Mainly for rattlesnakes. The
First cylinder is loaded with CCI Snake Loads and the other’s loaded with Buffalo Boar 200 gr Hard Cast WadCutter .44 Specials.

I used to know an older gentleman who carried two Bulldogs. He'd had them Armaloyed in the pre-stainless days, and the old fella always had one or both on him

. He had had a Second Issue Smith Hand Ejector and sold it to another friend of mine, when he got his two Bulldogs. He was awarded the Bronze Star on Ie Shima during WWII for shooting down a Betty bomber with a quad .50, while guarding the airstrip on the island. He tended to favor the larger bores.

I've had a couple of them, about '77 and '82 and both of the 3" blue configuration. They were both good, trouble free guns and shot to the sights with 200-246 grain loads out to 25 yards. I beat that first one pretty hard with Skeeter loads. They are decent snubs but I wouldn't expect them to hold up under 2500 heavy loads per year. They will stand enough shooting to gain and maintain proficiency. I was looking pretty hard at another one but I tripped over a S&W used 637 for less than a new Bulldog and went with that.

Yep. I’ve shot some Skeeter Skelton type reloads in mine over the years. Sure wouldn’t want to feed them a steady diet of those loads.

Cool revolver, definitely wouldn't mind finding one of those.