Charter Arms .44 Bulldog

[Kilibreaux]

Just finished loading up a batch of .44 Special with Matt's 250 grain round nose hollow cavity bullet over 9.5 grains of Blue Dot and I feel compelled to say the little Charter is an absolutely wonderful little companion piece!
As much as I love my J-frames the 30% greater terminal impact of the .44 Special from a short barrel, in a compact revolver that weighs only 4.1 oz. more than a 642-1 makes the CA an amazing buy!

 

[jack the toad]

Kinda what I thought and is why I now own one.
Earlier this year, I found a nice used early Stratford model (3" blued) with factory wooden grips that fill the hand but are not too big at all. I think I paid $200 for it.
While not a S&W, it is pretty handy and carrys well. Also doesn't shoot bad either at typical SD range. I'm actually pretty fond of it.

 

[Duster340]

Hey Kilibreaux. Let us know how your loads work in the Bulldog. I absolutely love my Bulldog and it is officially my new "Summer, bumming around, hiking, playing outdoors weapon of choice." While they seem to get a bad rap, I have not met anyone that owns one and doesn't like it. Anyone that claims these little things aren't accurate needs to get out and try one. Being a handloader certainly makes feeding the dog a fun thing. I just loaded up a variety of test loads myself using varying combinations of Unique, BlueDot and RedDot over 240gr PFP and cast 214 gr Lee SWC's. Will share the results once I get to the range.

Be well,

 

[Kilibreaux]

Duster, your Bulldog looks just like mine! Except I took a dremel to the grips and ground away a lot of material behind the cylinder to clear speedloaders.

I'm working with what I would call non-traditional powders to find good loads for the .44 Spl thanks to the massive powder shortage. So, I've got the Blue Dot loads, plus today I got in an order of IMR 700-X so I put together some loads with 4.5 grains under that same Matt's 250 grain cast HP...use to be this would have been a Bullseye load but I've not had much luck finding that of late, however, if 700-X proves out, a 4.5-4.9 grain charge weight means a LOT of loads per pound, plus it's a fast burner which may yield optimal velocity from the short barrel .44...it may be one of my new favorites!
I'm also going to try some SR-4759 - not a powder normally thought of for the .44 Spl, but there is load data for it. I doubt it will best the 700-X or the Blue Dot for speed from a 2.5" barrel but we shall see.
As soon as I get some chronograph data for the loads I'll post them.

I think the little Bulldog's appeal it that it's not a full-size .44, yet it's not really a super-sub-compact like the J-frames. It's really very similar to what S&W figured out when they came out with a .44 Spl L-frame, except the Bulldog is much more compact. The Bulldog seems suitable to fill a wide variety of roles from deep concealment, to outback, super compact, big-bore blaster. With a good hard cast HP or broad meplat handload the little Bulldog is decent medicine for most social needs.

 

[Kilibreaux]

Kinda what I thought and is why I now own one.
Earlier this year, I found a nice used early Stratford model (3" blued) with factory wooden grips that fill the hand but are not too big at all. I think I paid $200 for it.
While not a S&W, it is pretty handy and carrys well. Also doesn't shoot bad either at typical SD range. I'm actually pretty fond of it.

I remember the 3" models with the tapered barrel...wish now I had bought one! One day they WILL BE a collectors item!

 

[steelslaver]

I love my CA 44 Bulldog. Small, simple, light easy to carry and conceal and it shoots a big heavy bullet. The only thing better would be a Smith alloy L frame in 45ACP. An ACP would be great because of cheap factory loadings and moon clips beat speed loaders.

 

[Maximumbob54]

I hope I'm not making this up but I would swear with these smaller framed .44 specials we were supposed to use 200gr bullets or pretty close so as to not rattle the frame and send the action out of time right away??? Am I guilty of falling for interwebz/gunstore BS???

 

[jimmyj]

Hi:
In a bygone era I carried a S&W M29 4" for a service revolver with an older Charter Arms Bulldog (exposed ejector rod) as my B/U. used W-W Silvertips .44spl ammo. This was a awesome package.

 

[Double-O-Dave]

I once knew a guy that absolutely loved the Charter Arms .44s, and he bought every one that he could find, and he stashed them (loaded, of course) all over his house and garage. His favorite joke was that the only reason that the "Son of Sam" shooter (David Berkowitz) only shot one person on each outing was that he had to go home and soak his sore shooting hand in epsom salts afterwards. I could never find a used Charter Arms .44 at a decent price, so I finally settled on a Rossi Model 720, which is, I think very similar to your Charter Arms revolver. My son and I always get a chuckle at it when we break open the cylinder and see the huge charge holes in what appears to be, an almost undersized cylinder.

Regards,

Dave

 

[jack the toad]

I could never find a used Charter Arms .44 at a decent price, so I finally settled on a Rossi Model 720, which is, I think very similar to your Charter Arms revolver.

Not to hijack but my very limited experience with the Rossi 720 was not bad at all. Wouldn't mind owning one.

 

[Mule Packer]

About thirty-five years ago, my brother picked up a Charter Arms Bulldog in .44 spl. What a sweet shooting little gun! I loved it.

When I asked him about it a few years back, he said he traded it to a guy for something else. Can't remember what he traded for, but it's my opinion that my brother got the short end of the stick. Anyway, I was sure ticked that he didn't give me first offer...and I told him so.

Would love to find another one of that vintage.

 

[tombstonegunsmith]

I have tried a few different handguns for my CCW and keep coming back to my CA .44 Bulldog because it's a perfect combination of size, weight and caliber. It's now my daily carry piece. The only mods that I have done was to replace the checkered wood grips with Pachmayrs and I removed the hammer spur. I took a checkering file to the top of the hammer just to have something for my thumb to grab onto in case I needed to cock it but I just use double action when I practice.

 

[LT4]

The charter .44 is an excellent carry piece.If you are only going to have 5 rounds they might as well be big ones.The Rossi 720 is a larger frame gun and soaks recoil up a bit more.

 

[NC NATIVE]

I own a Charter Arms Bulldog too. It is a part of my CCW rotation and
I love those big holes it punches with the .44 Special. I've had it for
about two years and there have been no issues with it. My self defense
load is Corbon JHP in 165 grain.

 

[Duster340]

Hey Kilibreaux,

My Bulldog seems to like Blue Dot too, in my case 8.5 gr behind a 240 PFP (As always, start low and work up). I'm looking forward to seeing how the variety of loads I worked up using 4.5 to 5.5 gr of Red Dot perform. Look forward to comparing notes with you.

Duster, your Bulldog looks just like mine! Except I took a dremel to the grips and ground away a lot of material behind the cylinder to clear speedloaders.

I'm working with what I would call non-traditional powders to find good loads for the .44 Spl thanks to the massive powder shortage. So, I've got the Blue Dot loads, plus today I got in an order of IMR 700-X so I put together some loads with 4.5 grains under that same Matt's 250 grain cast HP...use to be this would have been a Bullseye load but I've not had much luck finding that of late, however, if 700-X proves out, a 4.5-4.9 grain charge weight means a LOT of loads per pound, plus it's a fast burner which may yield optimal velocity from the short barrel .44...it may be one of my new favorites!
I'm also going to try some SR-4759 - not a powder normally thought of for the .44 Spl, but there is load data for it. I doubt it will best the 700-X or the Blue Dot for speed from a 2.5" barrel but we shall see.
As soon as I get some chronograph data for the loads I'll post them.

I think the little Bulldog's appeal it that it's not a full-size .44, yet it's not really a super-sub-compact like the J-frames. It's really very similar to what S&W figured out when they came out with a .44 Spl L-frame, except the Bulldog is much more compact. The Bulldog seems suitable to fill a wide variety of roles from deep concealment, to outback, super compact, big-bore blaster. With a good hard cast HP or broad meplat handload the little Bulldog is decent medicine for most social needs.

 

[wbraswell]

When the Bulldog came out, there were no 200gr loads. The only available ammo was the 246gr RNL.

 

[JimC]

I won this .44 Spl. BD in an IPSC match back in the '80's.
Sold it once and bought it back when the other buyer didn't want it any longer.
The original CA wood grips won't stay tight any longer so it wears Pachmayr grips now.

 

[CWH44300]

This thread cost me, I just put money down on a new stainless 44bulldog. Made some calls and found one, put money on it over the phone. Haven't seen it yet, was wondering how the quality is on these new ca guns. Any input would be appreciated.

 

[jimmyj]

Which era of Charter Arms "Bulldogs" are the best quality ?

 

[jack the toad]

This thread cost me, I just put money down on a new stainless 44bulldog. Made some calls and found one, put money on it over the phone. Haven't seen it yet, was wondering how the quality is on these new ca guns. Any input would be appreciated.

Not sure of the newer current guns but congrats on the purchase and let us know how it shoots... include pics.