Charter Arms date of manufacture info?

[Tallbald]

Our family visited today and a great time was had by all. Wonderful day. We don't get to see our son-in-law as often as we would enjoy because of his job so it was a super special visit.
Son-in-law was pleased to show me a gift he received recently. It's a Charter Arms .38 Special that I think is one of the older vintage models. Looks to be a "sock drawer" gun, having only a faint turn ring and crisp, bright bore. I have no way to photograph it at this time, so I'm hoping my description will help somebody here give us a date of manufacture, approximate value and that sort of thing. No box or papers with it but it has a nice Bianchi thumb break meant for a S+W Chiefs Special, that's a little too big. I will be making him one of my pocket holsters for using the Charter Arms for EDC.

Blued finish (and very nice blue job I must say)
1 7/8 inch barrel
Walnut grips with checkering and Charter arms medallions. Seem to be oversized grips but factory original.
Serial number 2455XX
Right side of barrel "Charter Arms" and under that "Bridgeport, Conn."
Left side of barrel "Undercover .38 SPL"

Gun locks up snugly, and I'd give it a 95% overall condition.
Anyone know if this revolver is +P rated or not?
Anyone aware of a thinner set of grips available that would make it yet smaller for discrete carry?

As always, thank you everyone for any information that can be shared. I look forward to making my son-in-law a holster because a man of his broad talents seldom needs anything from a man like me. Don

 

[MedWheeler]

There is a user here (32Magnum or similar nick) who chronicles Charter Arms revolvers, but I don't know how active he is right now.

Charter Arms sells grips on their website; maybe the concealment grips offered might be of use.

The slimmest grips I'm aware of are the smooth wood ones offered on the original Undercover models back in the sixties. These can be frequently found on eBay and similar sites. I have two of the Undercover .38 versions. The one from 1966 has those grips, and they're pretty thin. The one from 1987 has slightly thicker, checkered wood grips.

Edit: found one of his contributions. Check post 21 in this thread:


http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?p=7241905#post7241905

 

[Tallbald]

Medwheeler thank you! Looks like his was made in the 1965 to 1974 time frame. And I'll look into the slimmer grips too. Thanks again. Don

 

[md2lgyk]

I used to have one of those Undercover .38s. Got it as a gift from the wife in 1977 or so. Pretty sure it was not +P rated, but don't know about the current version.

 

[MedWheeler]

Tallbald, with that serial number, it's probably right around the middle of that frame. My older one has a five-digit number beginning with 98, and my newer one has a seven digit number beginning with 100. The former dates from 1966, and the latter from 1987.

They're good little guns, marketed at the time as "a pound of protection". They were made with a few less moving parts and somewhat lighter materials than were the S&W models of that era. As you noticed, they're a tick slimmer also than those Smiths were.

Charter Arms has stated on their web site that all Undercover models can fire +P ammunition, but it is not recommended due to the burn rate of the powder not being fast enough to optimize bullet speed before the bullet leaves the short barrel (Speer's Short Barrel line of ammo is supposed to address this.)

Still, I'd refrain from all but the most-sparing use of +P ammunition in either of my guns, particularly the older one.

 

[Kymasabe]

Bridgeport and Stratford built Charter Arms are the good ones. She's a keeper for sure. Unless of course you just don't like it, in which case you should contact me ASAP as I'd be interested in buying it. I'm a fan of the older Charter Arms guns. Regarding +P, while the gun may handle it, you're not going to want to feed it a steady diet of +P. You can usually tell a Charter that had a little too much +P thru it as they tend to get a little loose. Personally, I don't shoot ANY +P thru mine, don't really see a need for it in a small framed .38.
Also, if you're looking for grip, check out the Charter Arms website. All current grips fit the older guns as the frame shape hasn't changed. You may want to check eBay as well for some of the original smooth wooden grips from the 60's and 70's as they're thin, narrow, comfortable and conceal pretty well. Good luck with it.

 

[lowercase]

Here's my Undercover (I actually have two Undercovers). Dates from around 1968 and was made in the Bridgeport factory.

Looks to have been a sock drawer gun because it's in almost perfect shape. I picked it up for 200 bucks at the local gun store.

This one wears the slim grips. Great little revolver and a great shooter.

 

[MedWheeler]

Lowercase, that's a handsome piece. It looks like the older of my two. My newer one (1987) was purchased the day I was sworn in as a LEO. Later, I reconnected with my father, whom I did no know while growing up. Turned out he had also done some time as a LEO, and had also used a Charter as an off-duty/backup gun. He still had it, and it became mine upon his death in 2010. It dates from 1966. Yours appears to have quite a bit less holster wear.

 

[Jaymo]

My Stratford Bulldog has a serial number starting with 5. Guess that puts it in the middle of the range, or a little earlier.
It appears to have been never fired, and only dropped once.

 

[Drail]

That is one of the good ones. Carry it a lot and shoot it a little and DO NOT feed it any type of +P light bullet high velocity rounds. Use 140 to 158 gr. standard velocity loads. +P loads will not blow up the gun but will SERIOUSLY shorten the service life. I have never been a fan of Pachmayr grips but for that gun they are the best grips I have found. I am still carrying a Charter from 1987 and it has held up very well.