Charter Arms Undercover "tiger"

[45DAVID1]

Would you trust your life with a Charter Arms revolver? Aside from the heavy trigger pull and a few uneven lines my lil revolver seems to work just fine. I know many people do not like them although they have never owned one. For the owners of them out there what do you like/dislike about them?

[BillSWPA]

While I have no experience with recent production Charter Arms guns, the Undercover from the 1980's has one of the best front sights I have seen on a small frame .38. I do know knowledgeable people who carried them back then.

[warpigM-4]

My cousin has a 38 that she got in the 90's it is still going and shoots pretty good .
Not the best out there but her's is a good reliable shooter she still carries it to this day
about the only thing wrong with it was a little rust from not oiling it and just leaving it in her purse all the time

I am not sure about the current production models

[warpedcamshaft]

My personal policy after being exposed to many revolvers is thus:

S&W, Colt, or Ruger.

Lay down the extra money, and it will last your lifetime.

[Dave James]

If your budget restricts you to a Charter, there's not a damn thing wrong with them, as long as you understand they nay need to be smooth up, have done so for a few of my old Officers who carry them, and even those who have moved on to other wheel guns have kept the Charters as back up pieces

[SteveS]

It is not a target gun and any snubbies best use is up close and personal.

[Bubba FAL]

I've had a Charter .44 Bulldog for ~10 years now. Spent some time with crocus cloth smoothing the rough edges and had to modify the LH grip for speedloader clearance.

Can't recall any functional issues with it - I used to carry/shoot it a lot. It has killed a fair number of cottonmouths using shot loads.

[bigbang]

Shoot it. And if it is reliable then use it.

[c3006]

The KIA of revolvers,keep the cylinder latch tight and you may be all right .

[twistedcomrade]

My personal policy after being exposed to many revolvers is thus:

S&W, Colt, or Ruger.

Lay down the extra money, and it will last your lifetime.

There is much wisdom in those two sentences.

[Hizzie]

I have been a die hard S&W fan from day 1. That said I have my name on a list for a 9mm Pitbull at a LGS.

[FrankW]

Had a client come in last night with a Charter Arms 38... The trigger would lock up ever 10th shot to the rear... Brand new gun, never fired and probably needs to be broken in. She bought it at the gun show. I was naturally worried with the trigger locking up.

Might have to tell her to get a S&W....

[dlh2689]

I have a Charter Undercover and I don't really have anything negative to say about it. It's a good gun.

[ChicagoTex]

In the late 90s Charter Arms declared chapter 11 bankruptcy and was resurrected as Charter 2000 in 1999, though many (all?) of their currently sold firearms are labeled as Charter Arms.

The consensus from a lot of retired law enforcement gentlemen I've known on the job when the double-action revolver was king is that Charters were a little on the rough side, but generally reliable, good shooting revolvers. I know many who carried them at one point or another in their lives without issues or complaint.

Unfortunately, "were" is the operative word, post-bankruptcy Charters are unmitigated junk, in the same class as Taurus's current offerings, and are more likely than not to serve you poorly and for a short period of time. I have heard no small amount of anecdotes similar to FrankW's of guns exhibiting all manner of problems, usually within their first couple hundred rounds. While the materials are decent enough and I have no doubt that every once in a while a good one slips through, the QC simply isn't there.

In case you're shopping used, a good way to tell if an example is a pre or post bankruptcy gun is to look at the company's stamping:

Pre-bankruptcy examples should be stamped Stratford, Connecticut
Post-bankruptcy guns should be stamped Shelton, Connecticut and may also be stamped either "Charter Arms" or "Charter 2000"

Additionally, I don't know if this is an absolute rule (I'm hardly an expert on Charters), but every Charter revolver I've ever seen with a fully shrouded ejector rod was a post-bankruptcy model and every pre-bankruptcy gun I've seen had an exposed ejector rod - it's as good a method as any of discerning from a glance.