Are Charters weak?

Charter revolvers are fine. Maybe not built like a Ruger but they are fine. Could the ammo in question be loaded hotter than others? Never heard of an ammo mfr. Specifically calling out a certain brand of firearm.

ontarget said:

Never heard of an ammo mfr. Specifically calling out a certain brand of firearm.

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Its not unheard of with boutique manufacturers of "hot" loads. Garrett, buffalo bore, underwood and others warn against use with some loadings.although typically theyll list firearms that are suitable rather than ones that are not.

Sorry to not adress your original question.
I think the strength of the charter revolvers is on par with S&W, a lot of guys in the know love them. I have no experience however. My uncle was a LEO and pocket carried a 44 special charter for a very long time (he was 6'8" and thought it was a great pocket gun) . That being said i would stick with standard loadings and dont get too extreme, it should out last you from all reports ive heard.

It’s not necessarily weak, but it is a 20 oz. 44 special.

It's not at all weak considering the cartridges available when it was designed. Use of hot loads will shorten the service life of a Charter. But I have been shooting one with handloads since 87 and it's held up very well. Just use 200 to 240 medium velocity loads. Forget about all of the ultra fast ultra light "self defense" loads on the market. They are totally unnecessary with a big bore snub.

Shot my Bulldog Pug "clackity clack" loose within about 200 rnds of 240gr handloads running 800-850fps. If you want it to last, use lighter bullets at moderate velocities.

Blue Brick said:

Are Charters a weak design?

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Compared to Ruger, yes.

Charter produces a 357 mag , 45acp ,40S&W and a 41 mag all above are built on two different frame sizes ... One being a Colt D size frame the other ever so slightly bigger but still below the K size frame...

Zendude said:

It’s not necessarily weak, but it is a 20 oz. 44 special.

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This is the biggest factor. The weight of the gun is so light that the recoil can't be mitigated, so the internals are greatly stressed and the steels that Charter uses aren't top of the line. Heck, the grip grame is aluminum and they can get loose.

Overall tho, the Charter's are pretty strong for their price point and low weight, they're just not gonna feel like a quality revolver from 30+ years ago out of the box or 1000 rounds later.

I am not an expert, but since they feel pretty light to me, I only shoot milder loads through my CA revolvers. I've had the 44 Bulldog for about five years now and have had no problems with it. That is after shooting a box of mild reloads through it every few months or so. YMMV.

I've owned bulldogs since the 80's, never had any issues with them. But then again I understand they weren't made/designed with countless hours of range time with heavy 20,000+ psi loads in mind.

The last round of tests I did with a 2 1/2" bbl'd bulldog, all loads are in the +/- 18,000psi range.


I prefer the bulldogs with the lower/longer front sights. They tend to shoot to the poa with bullets in the 200gr/220gr weight range doing +/- 1000fps from 7yds to 50ft.

I just took delivery of a large-framed Pitbull in .45 ACP. Haven’t shot it yet but I am pleasantly surprised by the trigger in both double and single action. I like the ergonomics a lot.

I have the 45lc. I'm comfortable that it will last longer than I will. But I do wonder if the large frame 45acp cylinder would fit without to much trouble. Wouldn't mind a dual caliber.

Oh yeah! 15.5 to 16.0 gr. of 2400 is a really great load in a .44 Spl. snub. MUCH better than Buffalo Bore loads if you plan on shooting the gun for a long time. They won't blow it up but it won't last as long.

Blue Brick said:

I thought they were over built like Rugers, then I saw this....



This was on the Buffalo Bore website. Are Charters a weak design?

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https://www.buffalobore.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=282

No charter arms aren't any weaker than colts S&W's taurus or rossi's. But they were never designed for low end 44 Magnum loads

And 900 FPS with a 200 grain slug is nothing to sneeze at.

Blue Brick said:

Are Charters a weak design?

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IMO, they are on the weak end of the build/design-strength (as well as fit&finish) spectrum, yes.

I have a pair of Bulldogs that I bought Summer'14 and I like them very much ... but ...

... I realized early-on that if I shot a steady diet of heavy loads thru them the only question would be whether the revolver or I shot loose first.

I have a nice, "mild" (<800fps) 250gr hollow cavity lead load that I consider to be an adequate SD/HD load ... and I think that it should take a long time to shoot loose either of us.

EDIT:
Here is a pic of the load & bullet (a Matt's, btw) that I mentioned. The bullets were fired into loose, dry, clay/sand mix from ~7yds with (IIRC) my 3" 629.