Charter .41, .44 & .45

[Good Cheer]

Been looking around at possibles for a stainless bed side snubby.
Charter has always been reliable and I regret letting get away from me the .357 carried in the Unitas.
So Charter has a nice selection these days; .41 Mag, .44 Special and .45 Colt.
That's a pretty tough bunch to choose between.
Any of you guys have experience with one of those?
The .41 with HBWC's loaded backwards seems the most attractive but I haven't run tests on loads in a .41 snubby either.

[mac60]

I have a .44 spl. Bulldog. With an upper end .44 spl. load, it's a handful for me. I couldn't imagine shooting a .41 mag. load in the same gun. I do have experience with .41 mag., as I have a mod. 657 S&W. I like the .44 spl. Bulldog - I've had it for many years and have never had a single problem with it.

[Love Life]

I didn’t know Charter Arms made a 45 Colt! Thanks for the heads up!

[Buzz Krumhunger]

I believe the .45 and .41 Magnums are built on a somewhat larger and heavier frame. I think I’d prefer the .45 Colt to the .41. More readily available ammunition and brass. And factory .41 mag ammo would be pretty unpleasant to shoot in the Charter, I’ll bet.

[Good Cheer]

I'd definitely tailor .41's to the piece.
A heavy HBWC loaded backwards has some good "points" in being heavy enough to keep moving, has the gasket punch effect on clothing, behaves as a wide flat nose until it expands and if it does expand so much the better.

If the .41 would let enough FPS be developed and hit anything on the 2nd shot.
If the boolit was stable enough.

Then again, wouldn't it be something if #410426 was unstable like a 358430.

Oh, Love Life, yeah, 45 Colt is always hard to turn away from!

[Buzz Krumhunger]

All my experiments (40 years ago) with HBWCs loaded backwards in .38 Spl revolvers resulted in keyholing and I gave up on the concept.

[LUCKYDAWG13]

I see they make a 9mm too

[Tom W.]

Just a question..... At up close and personal range would it matter if your boolit keyholes?

[Eddie Southgate]

Buy the .44 Special in the 4" stainless . I shoot he Keith bullet with 7.5 grains of Unique , yup it sets back in your hand but you wont likely notice that in a self defence situation . I have arthritis in my hands so if i can handle it I'll bet you can with no trouble . I'd stay away from the magnums in the Charter due to the weight (too light) .

[Loiterer]

The caliber you want is the one to get. Any of the three is able to be up to snuff, you just need to figure how much messing around you want to do with it. (that is part of the fun).

I am satisfied with my .44 Bulldog for around the house use.

[pettypace]

So Charter has a nice selection these days; .41 Mag, .44 Special and .45 Colt.
That's a pretty tough bunch to choose between.
Any of you guys have experience with one of those?

I've never owned a Charter Arms. But that's going to change ASAP. A friend recently bought a .44 Bulldog and now I need one of my own. Here's why:

Attachment 250372

That's a five shot gel test of a two-projectile load I worked up for my friend's Bulldog. The bullets are 150 grain wadcutters from an NOE mould.

Velocity: 610, 626, 632, 636, 637 ==> AVG: 628 f/s
Penetration: 16.25, 16.75, 17, 18, 18.5, 18.5, 19.5, 20.25, 21.5 ==> AVG: 18.5" (one bullet escaped)

OK, so they penetrate. But will they shoot?



This five-shot target was fired by another friend -- a new shooter who just got his pistol permit and has yet to own his own gun. The target was fired at 7 yards, deliberate double action with a two-handed hold. In the close-up, the two-projectile "pairs" are obvious.

In Massachusetts we don't have to worry about which caliber to buy -- only the .44 is "Mass Compliant." But you shouldn't worry either. Get the .44. Both the .41 and .45 have slightly bigger cylinders in slightly bigger frames, so they're slightly harder to put in your pocket. And what do you gain? The .41 has nothing going for it. And the .45 has a longer case with a smaller rim. It will be harder to eject your empties and there's more chance an empty case gets stuck under the ejector star.

Of course, you don't need two-projectile loads to make the .44 Bulldog bark and bite. On youtube, "Loads of Bacon" has some gel tests of his .44 Bulldog with cast lead HPs and Gold Dots. Pretty impressive.

Either way, I'm thinking the .44 Bulldog may be the ultimate pocket pistol. All it needs is the double action only hammer and the smaller rubber grips from the .38 Undercover.

[pietro]

The caliber you want is the one to get.

Any of the three is able to be up to snuff, you just need to figure how much messing around you want to do with it. (that is part of the fun).

I am satisfied with my .44 Bulldog for around the house use.

+1

Mine's a .44

[Winger Ed.]

[QUOTE= (one bullet escaped).[/QUOTE]

They do that sometimes. I think they also drag off their wounded.


Charter Arms stuff won't win very many beauty contests, but they are affordable, and work.

The wife has a 5 shot Alum. frame one in .38Spec. Its also PINK!
I like shooting it too, but only do so when no one else is at the range.

[charlie b]

I always thought about one in .44spl after I tried shooting a friend's. Great little gun. I'd go with the .44spl too.

[rkrcpa]

Seems like the 41 is just begging for 41 Spl loads.

[mattw]

Love my .41. I also own the .40 and 9mm. The 41 is a little unpleasant with full house loads and with the tiny barrel, they just are not needed!

[RJM52]

Friend of mine had a very large collection of .45 ACP revolvers. He sold all of them off two years ago and only kept two...a Ruger Vaquero Birdshead and a Charter Arms Pitbull in .45 ACP.

As much as I love the .41 Magnum, this gun as said above, begs for a .41 Special loading...

That said, the round for this gun is the .45 ACP...no moon clips needed..

https://charterfirearms.com/products...5-acp-revolver.

https://www.personaldefenseworld.com...ver-in-45-acp/

Nice big bullet with a short case for easy ejection...and lots factory ammo a lot cheaper than any of the others...

Bob

[LUCKYDAWG13]

Now that would make a good H/D bedside gun

[Up North]

I really like my ca 44 bulldog. Nice size and weight for carrying. Recoil not bad at all. I load 240 swc over 6.3g unique. Nice trigger single and double action shoots to point of aim

[Good Cheer]

For .41, absolutely you'd be better off tailoring the loads to the piece. If you were shooting factory loads, well, you'd probably hurt yourself.

Thinking about this in a little different way...
The .41, the .44 and the .45 have an overlap in bullet weights. If I look at it as a comparison between them with maybe what, oh, perhaps a 230 grainer?
Which one would provide "better" performance at:
1. Penetration through heavy clothing and perp.
2. Expansion.
3. Energy dump.
4. What else?

Dangit if I could say I know which one would be "better".
I suspect the .41 would have the edge on penetration, expansion and energy dumping but somebody would have a lot of testing to do for shooter friendliness along with those other characteristics to make me agree as to which was "better".

If they'd make 4" barrels I'd already have one. Of each!