I owned one of the first two Charter Bulldogs (3" tapered barrel) to hit my home town back when they first came out. Sure was a surprise the first time I fired one of Skeeter's pet loads out of it (250g 429421 over 7.5g Unique). That cylinder release took a chunk out of my thumb while it was bucking and jumping around. Dang!

Later owned a stainless Bulldog Pug, the one with the fat, solid 2.5" barrel. It used to dissemble its self while shooting. I made the mistake of chronographing several 200g loads out of that short barrel. Very disappointing.

Several years later I bought a 696. The HKS speed loader mentioned above was in the junk drawer from the Bulldog days so I tried it on the S&W. The spacing is not the same as the Charter and I had no end of trouble getting the thing to release. The previously mentioned Skeeter Skelton used to say the Bulldog's frame was the same size as the D-frame Colt...the Detective Special, which as you all know is a 6 shot 38 rather than the 5 shooter Smith makes in their J-frame.

I always wondered why Smith didn't offer the 696 as a M&P, meaning fixed sights and maybe an un-lugged barrel. Bet it would have sold a lot better than the "target" version they did release.

Just sayin',
Dave

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RSVN '69-'71
PCSD (Ret)