charter arms

[Guest B J Elliott]

I am looking to buy a Charter Arms .38 revolver. The one I want is very small with wooden grips and a snubby. Not a new one. I know that aint much info but that's all I have. BJ

[VERO1]

I don't have a .38, but I do have a stainless in 44 spec NIB if interested.

[Guest looneeetunes]

i had an i think was a seventies model was made with no front sight.think it was called detective special. it was an ok gun i guess it went bang everytime but there are alot nicer versions of late.

[Oh Shoot]

Probably looks like this one of mine. This is from the 60's. The "Undercover" has been made in all 3 or 4 of Charter's "incarnations", beginning in 1964 or so. I don't really want to sell this, but they aren't worth but a couple hundred or so, I'm told. The older ones are really nice pistolas, but I don't shoot +p through it.

- OS

Edited October 30, 2008 by OhShoot

[Guest Astra900]

Isn't it an alloy frame? Seems like years ago my father in law wanted me to reblue his but I couldn't for that reason. That's a big reason to stay away from +P like Ohshoot said. They are dependable pistols, just don't expect any more than a very short range lead launcher. THe one my FIL has....you can't hit squat with past 7-10 yards.

[Oh Shoot]

Isn't it an alloy frame? Seems like years ago my father in law wanted me to reblue his but I couldn't for that reason. That's a big reason to stay away from +P like Ohshoot said. They are dependable pistols, just don't expect any more than a very short range lead launcher. THe one my FIL has....you can't hit squat with past 7-10 yards.

Well, it's possible it is an alloy, I don't know exactly how to know.

Gun is small, about 90% size of Ruger SP101, weighs 15.5 oz unloaded, while the Ruger weighs 25.3 oz unloaded. That's almost 10 oz diff, so I guess that would suggest that the Charter is indeed some sort of alloy. See pic below for size comparison to Ruger SP101 and also the Charter in Ruger sized Nemesis for pocket carry, very handy.

I don't know when +p loads even began to be made, but I'm pretty sure this predates them. Then again, I've read that standard loads in the 50's-70's used to be hotter than they are now, dunno. I've shot a few +p's through this ole baby, handles them okay, but of course pretty hard to hold onto with them. But I seemed to hear the gun saying, "gimme a break" when I did

Lot of folks think you shouldn't put a steady diet of +p through the modern Charter Arms revolvers either, even though they are all rated for them. Matter of fact, I had trouble finding a hollow point NON +p round to even put into a .38 for pocket carry. Finally ordered some Hornady 158 grain XTP JHP just for this gun.

To the 10 yards or so you mention, I seem to be about as accurate with this as with the Ruger (but I'm a so so shot in general); its main shooting drawback is the small grip, easy for it to slip in your hand a little on concussion. But didn't want to change it since it's so highly concealable the way it is.

- OS

[Shima]

Oh Shoot, I inherited a Charter Undercover just like yours yesterday from my Grandmother that passed away on Monday. My needs cleaned and oiled and then I'll go try it out and see how she shoots. I expect about the same as my J frame S&W.

[Oh Shoot]

Oh Shoot, I inherited a Charter Undercover just like yours yesterday from my Grandmother that passed away on Monday. My needs cleaned and oiled and then I'll go try it out and see how she shoots. I expect about the same as my J frame S&W.

B, Sorry about your grandmomma; a significant passing always and my sincere condolances.

I traded for this one a few years ago when I wound up with nothing but a couple of .22 pistols but wanted something bigger...I gave an old Browning Nomad .22 target pistol for it. Shot it a few times to make sure it worked, then hid it away.

Now that my shootin' history is revived, I've put maybe 75 rounds through it; it's a quite serviceable weapon, but I don't see a lot of reason to keep pouring rounds through it, what with having a Ruger, which is so much more robust. Just looking at the small diameter barrel on the Charter makes me think I might really could "wear it out". I just keep it as another hidden weapon within the adobe, with option of throwing it in the pocket should I want to (I have carried it some that way). It's actually a perfect BUG, better than having a puny .380/.32/.25, but I only carry one pistola at a time.

You really probably shouldn't run +p through it much at all, just to be safe.

Nice old addition to your arsenal!

edit: incidentally, Charter claims to have invented the "hammer block safety system", don't know if this is synonymous with "transfer bar" function or not, but looks like exactly same system to me.

- OS

Edited October 31, 2008 by OhShoot
add'l info

[Ghooge2008]

I have sent you a PM if your still on the market for a good charter wheel gun.

[towerclimber37]

Oh Shoot, I inherited a Charter Undercover just like yours yesterday from my Grandmother that passed away on Monday. My needs cleaned and oiled and then I'll go try it out and see how she shoots. I expect about the same as my J frame S&W.

I know this is off topic but, my condolences, BgNashima.

back ON topic, my wife has a really great Rossi CIA model. small handle, very accurate at short range. 38 caliber.

some folks say rossi made the original "saturday night special"..but Julie's is pretty dependable.

[Ghooge2008]

b j elliot here is mine before i re-blued it looks better now but havent gotten around to taking any pictures. if your still in the market for one. original charter arms undercover model .38 spl. still shoots and works fine, timing is good and can hit a milk jug at 5 yds.

Edited October 31, 2008 by Ghooge2008

[fizik]

Guys, this may be a tad of topic, but are those .38 rounds in the pictures? Especially in the second one they look quite long, even though they always seemed long to me. I had a S&W 638 a while back and just don't remember the cartridges being that long.

[Oh Shoot]

Guys, this may be a tad of topic, but are those .38 rounds in the pictures? Especially in the second one they look quite long, even though they always seemed long to me. I had a S&W 638 a while back and just don't remember the cartridges being that long.

Certainly are in mine, and look to be in Ghooge's also; although there must be a strange tilt to his or something, as a couple of those rounds do look longer than the others, but don't seem to be .357 either. Guess it's just a trick of perspective.

Mine are just lead round nose, though I've got JHP's in it now..

Guess they look so long 'cause gun is so short

- OS

[Guest coldblackwind]

Theres mine, charter 2000 undercover, stainless. Never had a malfunction out of it, and I can knock down 6 inch plates reliably at 25 yards with it. Dunno how close it would be on paper at that range. Its also one of my two primary carry guns (depending on my mood). Great little gun, and cost about $300 brand spankin new. Sidenote, my father has carried the same charter arms undercover for literally decades. Affectionately called "baby", there is no longer ANY finish left on the gun! Oh, and yes those are 38 specials in the picture.

[Ghooge2008]

you are correct those are .38spl rounds all 5 of them in my picture.

[Guest GLOCK.GUY]

60's-80's Charter arms 90's and up Charter 2000

[Guest coldblackwind]

60's-80's Charter arms 90's and up Charter 2000

Hey now! That charter 2000 I have shoots great!

[Oh Shoot]

60's-80's Charter arms 90's and up Charter 2000

Not quite that simple.

Many folks say the quality slumped between 1998 and 2002, then back to previous quality controls since.

I don't really know, but there are MANY more raves than disses on forums for CA, at least those made in the last 5 or 6 years. And of course, the old ones...

----------------------------

Charter Arms Time Line.

"For years Doug McClenehan was a gun designer with several prominent American gun companies. Using his strong engineering and inventive background he decided to go out on his own and in 1964 founded Charter Arms. McClenehan and David Ecker were lifelong friends and in 1967 Ecker became a 50/50 partner in Charter Arms.

• 1972: David Ecker made a buy out offer to Doug and Ecker became the sole owner of Charter Arms.
  
• 1984: Nick Ecker, David Ecker's son and the present owner of Charter Arms, joined the company and ultimately ran the manufacturing/production arm of the company.
  
• 1988: Through a complicated set of circumstances dealing with a somewhat related real estate deal, Jeff Williams, VP of finance for Charter Arms came into ownership of 100% of the stock of the firearm manufacturing and sales operation and renamed the company Charco. This stock transfer allowed David Ecker to work on the real estate deal. In order to ensure that the firearm portion of the company continued, Jeff Williams offered 20% of company stock to Nick Ecker to continue running production; Nick accepted.
  
• 1996: There was a dispute between Nick and Jeff and Nick left the company. Ultimately the production failed due to this loss of expertise and the company closed its doors for a short period in 998.
  
• 1998: Learning of the closing Nick Ecker brought on two partners and bought the company from Jeff Williams.
  
• 2000: Nick Ecker's two new partners had the name changed to Charter 2000 to coincide with the change of the millennium. Charter 2000 marked firearms were produced between 1999 and mid-2007.
  
• 2002: Due to excellent sales, Nick Ecker was able to buy out his two partners and changed the name back to Charter Arms. In mid-2007 Charter Arms was again stamped on the firearms and this mark continues to be stamped on Charter Arms revolvers to this day. Nick Ecker is now the sole proprietor of Charter Arms.
  
• October 2004 Founder, Doug McClenehan passed away and in March of 2005 David Ecker passed away.
  

Regardless of the changes and the 1998 financial blip (which most gun companies have experienced sometime in their history), and contrary to incorrect rumors (they usually are incorrect) of the company being sold or whatever, the Ecker's have been part of Charter Arms since 1967."

- OS

[Guest coldblackwind]

That could be. Mine was purchased in...'05 maybe? So that would follow with the post '02 comment.