At every shot the cylinder latch gouged big divots out of the knuckle of my thumb, and the sharp rear corner of the cylinder sliced the ball of my thumb. I was a bullseye shooter and shot revolvers bullseye-style with a high thumb lying alongside the frame and hammer. I expected that, and, being experienced and competent with the. My reloads containing a 7.5 grains of Unique and a 240 grain hard cast bullet gave the little gun a ferocious kick. 44 Bull Dogs in 1973, and it was a traumatic experience. I was able to obtain one of the very first Charter Arms. Have you fired the Charter Arms Bulldog Classic? Did you experience match the author’s? Share your answers in the comment section. Performance: Charter Arms Bulldog Classic The Bulldog is a compact, accurate, and inexpensive defensive revolver that offers excellent concealability for a revolver chamber in. I used a holster designed for a S&W J-frame to tote the Charter Arms around and found the size and weight of the Bulldog was comfortable and comforting. Bullet weight measured in grains, velocity in fps, and average accuracy in inches for best five-shot groups at 15 yards. Fixed sight revolvers can be an issue requiring the shooter to resort to Kentucky Windage. One thing Charter Arms got right was the point of aim. There are plenty of aftermarket grips for the Bulldog if you want to go in that direction. As much as felt good in hand, this could be a liability, so I’d take a Dremel tool to the factory wood grip and fix it. Not a show stopper since this snub nose is more of a get away weapon, allowing you the fire at close range and get to safety so a fast reload may not be required. I found that when ejecting empties, if I pressed the ejector rod fully out, one of the empty cases would get trapped by the edge of the grip. Note the purplish hue of the Bulldog Classic (top) compared the matte black finish of a Charter Arms Pitbull (bottom). On larger vermin, the rounds would not have the desired killing effect. We would use the CCI shot loads only on snakes and perhaps rats. Moving farther away, the pattern grew increasingly larger, so much so that at twice the distance at 12 feet the pattern was not very dense.
That is about as close as you would want to get to a copperhead or cottonmouth, and found I could get a pattern of about 8-inches across-about the size of a paper dinner plate. To add versatility to the Bulldog, I fired some CCI 1/4-ounce, #9 shot cartridges at six feet. Charter Arms Bulldog Classic, Model 34431, 44 Special, MSRP $436.00 Remember, this is lightweight revolver, so there is not much weight to help absorb recoil.
WOOD GRIPS FOR CHARTER ARMS REVOLVERS FULL
The full and slightly fatter grip made the Bulldog pleasant to shoot. That was excellent considering the revolver was compact and had fixed sights.Īt closer ranges, I was able to get some excellent groups. With the Hornady Classic 180-grain XTP round, I was able to shoot a 2.2-inch, 5-shot group using a rest. The 15-yard accuracy test is much farther than the distance you would typically be expected to use this revolver, but I wanted to push the limits of this iconic snub nose. Using a rest at 15 yards, I was pleasantly surprised to get on average 3-inch groups with 5-rounds with all ammo. This system prevents the hammer from striking the firing pin, unless the trigger is pulled fully to the rear.Īt the range, the Bulldog felt surprising small and compact to hold five chubby. This increased reload time.Ī safety feature on the revolver was a safety transfer bar. Note the empty case is hung up on the outer edge of the wood grip. The checkering was fine and offered a secure grip. The wood grip was just large enough to help dissipate recoil into the palm of our hand, yet still be very concealable. The rest of the revolver has a nice polished look. The nicely shaped wood grip goes well with the Charter Arm medallion.
38 Special except for the fatter cylinder which holds five rounds of. In hand, the Classic is lightweight and feels a lot like a. The Classic had a bit of a purple hue to it from the get go, when I placed is against a matte black Charter Arms Pitbull.
It turns a purplish color while the barrel and cylinder stayed a dark blue. This is because the finish of older revolvers changes over time due to the alloy frame. If you have ever seen one of the old school Bulldog revolvers you may have noticed the color of the finish was a purplish blue. The Bulldog was compact and offered just enough grip for controllability. What I like about this revolver is its compact size and. It looks old school with the tapered 3-inch barrel, exposed ejector rod, and checkered walnut grips. The Bulldog Classic is Charter Arms’ iconic revolver that was first manufactured in 1973.