[Ole1830]

Bought it last week, but picked her up today from the FFL.

Charter Arms Bulldog pug in .44 special.

A few more pics.

It's a tiny bit bigger than a SW J frame. Weighs 21 ounces unloaded. I'd say it's maybe a tad smaller/lighter than a Ruger SP101. I could have gotten a smaller gun, but it would have been in .38, and I prefer shooting bigger bullets.

This one shoots 180's around 1000fps, or 240-250 cast bullets around 800 fps.

I'm happy with it so far. Hopefully the rain will stop here so I can shoot it next weekend.

Matt

 

[andy]

Definitely lighter than a SP 101, probably just a tiny bit larger (not enough to matter). I find the Charter Bulldogs fascinating (and the S&W 696). Hope you enjoy it!!
Andy

 

[Combat Diver]

Looks like you got yourself a good one there. I've got an older 80s made CA 3" Bulldog that one of these days I'll get back to Texas and pick it up from my BIL. I do miss it. Great for rattlers and copperheads when load with shotshells.

CD

 

[slim 60]

good is as good does.. be sure an give us a report on how you like it in a week or so of shooting..
i heard good an bad about the charter ..so give us a full report. thanks slim

 

[jodum]

Ole, you have acquired one fine handgun there. I had one for a number of years and loved it. Planning on buying another one. I love the 44 special round. If you reload, try some Power Pistol powder. I get 900+ fps with a 250 gr LSWC bullet and still stay under standard pressure.

 

[Ole1830]

Well I made it out to shoot it today.

I'm happy with my purchase.

The kick isn't bad. It's a snappy/fast kick. If I had to guess I'd say it kicks no worse than a full .357 load in a service sized 4" pistol. That said, the muzzle blast wasn't nearly as bad as a full house .357 load. I'm sure I could make it kick worse if I punched up the loads, but all i'm looking for is 180-200 grain bullets around 900-1000 and 240 grain bullets around 700. This isn't really a hot rod gun, and I already have a .44 Magnum if I want to shoot something big and fast.

I made 6 different loads for it and they all seemed to shoot ok. I was hitting a pop can hanging in a shrub @ 15-20 yards standing i'd say 3 times out of 5. Towards the end of the day, I was running out of pop cans, so I set up a small cardboard box at that same distance and put 5 rounds within a 3-4" group.

It's not in the same league as my GP100 for accuracy, but I'm very confident it will get the job done for a CCW weapon.

Another plus is the loads I tried ranged from 180 wadcutters all the way up to 270 grain Ranch Dog bullets and they all seemed to have about the same POI. I was expecting the light bullets to hit low, but this wasn't the case today.

 

[Ole1830]

Almost forgot to add:

Shooting 44 special rounds in a 7 1/2" Ruger Redhawk is like shooting a .22. LOL

 

[Ohio Rusty]

Nice pistol - Plenty of knockdown. I had one of the blue/black finish ones. I shot 165 grain Corbons from the gun as my defense load. The Charter grips that come on the gun won't let you use a speedloader. Pachmayar makes a compact rubber grip for that Charter gun that has the cut out on the left side that lets you fit a speedloader. The grips are kinda hard to find, but a dilligent internet search will find them for you. Highly recommended you get a pair of them.
The reason I let go of my pistol was I was looking for a lighter weight pistol. It was a good shooter and I never felt undergunned for sure.
If you get into reloading for that gun, I have a mould that I cast 180 Grain Full flat face wad cutters. Very accurate wadcutter from a .44, and that massive flat face meplat would make a top notch defensive round. It would be like hitting a bad guy with a sledge hammer !! They look like a big dum-dum round.
If you are interested in trying some of the cast bullets ...PM me and I'll cast a few and send you some .....
Ohio Rusty ><>

 

[Ole1830]

UPDATE:

Bought some new grips last week, and shot it today. The grips I got make a good bit of difference in how this pistol shoots.

Original grips for comparison:

They are a tiny bit bigger, but I think the ease of shooting makes it worth the slight size increase.

 

[mattsbox99]

I have some HKS speedloaders for that revolver you can have for the shipping cost if you PM me your address.