Charter Arms...KUDOS!!!

[shoot-n-lead]

I came by this destroyed gun in a round about way. I was there when the bullet was loaded and fired, that caused it to be blown apart. It was a 7.0grs of Unique under a 215gr bullet. I saw the powder measured with my own eyes...it was 7.0grs of Unique. There was only 1 round loaded...just to try before loading more, to see if they would hit pretty close to POA. Not sure what went wrong...but something did...no doubt. This was a new gun with about 200rds through it...obviously, there had never been a similar incident in those rounds. A call was made to Charter and they said it was a reload and that voids any claim to warranty. Unfortunately, the owner had a salvage gun on his hands.

At any rate, since my son and I have several Charters...including this same model gun that I bought for him just this past Christmas, this was a good parts gun for us...there were still a lot of good parts that could be used or even sold. Anyway, I got to looking at it last week...still did not understand what caused the failure...I was there and saw it...but still didn't understand what happened. With this fresh on my mind again, I picked up the phone and called Charter and talked with the tech. I told him that it was a reload...gave him the details and asked if I paid to send the gun to them, if they could tell me what had happened to it...he said to send it. I carried it to my dealer the next morning for shipping...cheaper for them to ship than for me...$20. It was shipped and delivered to Charter on Friday,2/24/2017. I fully expected to have to call them at some point to move this along as I was sure that it would not be a priority with them. Well, I check my email on Friday, 3/3/2017 (8 days later) and discovered that my dealer had sent me an email that my gun was already back. So, I called my son and told him to stop and pick it up. Well, a couple of hours later he comes in with a BRAND NEW revolver...but, they did not include a report as to what they found. I don't know why they replaced that gun...but, I ain't gonna hassle them for an explanation.

I had to do the right thing...presented it to the guy...put a smile on his face.

Folks...that is GREAT customer service...I don't care what you say.

[Beerd]

OUCH!
My guess is you never found the rest of the cylinder?
..

[shoot-n-lead]

OUCH!
My guess is you never found the rest of the cylinder?
..

If it was ever found, I am not aware of it. I was standing close and did not see anything, so I assume it blew apart. If there had been more than one round in the cylinder, it might not have blown it completely apart...but IDK.

We were just thankful for no injury.

[bbailey7821]

I have owned several of those brand revolvers over the years. They are great packing guns and I have always gotten top-notch service from their customer services group.

[Guesser]

I got the same service from CA last year when my Target Patriot in 327 failed; cracked frame. The offered me a 357 or a 44. The 327 was out of production, I chose a Target Bulldog, great gun. The entire transaction took less than 3 weeks. CA is a standup organization.

[Ithaca Gunner]

Good to know there's another company that stands by their product.

[FergusonTO35]

Charter has excellent service, I've always been happy with them. Their current revolvers are quite well made too.

[bouncer50]

My 44 crack the cylinder but did blown up like yours. I send it back and they put a new cylinder in free of charge. I does make you think what was the cause. Bad steel or to thin of a cylinder to support the round.

[Triggernosis]

If they would just make their front sights interchangeable and not part of the barrel I'd probably have a pocketful of CA guns.

[Texas by God]

The original Charter Arms Bulldogs of the 1970s remain a favorite. They were quality made and a delight to carry. I'm glad they are backing their products. You did the right thing for your friend but I wonder if he will wonder- will it happen again?
Best, Thomas.

[Cold Trigger Finger]

This is interesting that I found this thread.
Yesterday , Sunday , March 5 , 2017 . I got home from church and wanted to blow off a cylinder full out of my C.A. Bulldog Pug . Charter 2000. I bought the gun brand new in 2007 In Wasilla @Chimo's Guns.
I've run somewhere around 200 rounds of ammo they it.
I had factory 44 Special ammo in it.
Put on the muffs. Walked out on the deck , cocked it , aimed and fired. Heard something hit the deck. Looked and it was 2 rounds of ammo . Looked at the gun and the cylinder and top strap were no where to be seen. I will say that I didn't get a mark on my . Which I greatly Thank God for.!!
I have it and the piece of the cylinder laying on the kitchen table.
I've examined it and don't like the look of the grain structure at the breaks in the frame and cylinder. However, not being a metalurgest I can't say what caused such a catastrophic failure.
Since I no longer have the box the ammo came in. There is no way to KNOW what brand the ammo was . And since photo bucket won't let me upload any pics to my album . I can't post any pics here.
I was thinking the gun was a total write off.
This box of ammo has had some (a cylinder full) shot thru a 629 Smith, as they were bought in town as a city (2 legged predator) load. And it is 44 Special ammo with a jacketed hollow point bullet .
Wasn't any problem with doing that.

[shoot-n-lead]

Cold Trigger Finger...I sent you some pics of the inside of the cylinder on this gun, by pm...you can compare it to yours.

[Cold Trigger Finger]

Thank you. I'll check them out.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

I had factory 44 Special ammo in it.

Since I no longer have the box the ammo came in. There is no way to KNOW what brand the ammo was .


If it was factory ammo, isn't there a headstamp on the case?

[Cold Trigger Finger]

Yes. It's nickel plated Starline brass.

[Guesser]

If memory serves.....Black Hills Ammunition did some nickel plated 44 Special some years back, don't remember the head stamp.

[Cold Trigger Finger]

It's embarrassing that I cant post pics . But I can't. Took lots tho.

[shoot-n-lead]

It's embarrassing that I cant post pics . But I can't. Took lots tho.

I use photobucket and it is not giving me any problem.

[Cold Trigger Finger]

No, it's not Photo Bucket. It's my phone. I don't have enough RAM. Pbuk is a big file to work with . And I have too much on my phone.

[shoot-n-lead]

Cold Trigger Finger...here's your pics...

189881 189882 189928 189883

[Cold Trigger Finger]

WOW, thank you . . !!!
As can be seen , it really came apart. The base pin and ejector stayed kind of in place . I sure am glad the 2 rounds that were on the bottom of the cylinder that I recovered from my deck didn't sympathetically discharge.
The frame is also kinda strained open and the front of the top strap started opening up, revealing some barrel threads . But is still there.
I don't see anything on the fired brass that would alert me to there being a high pressure situation. Even tho it was shot in a different revolver. Tho that isn't scientific.

[Cold Trigger Finger]

I'm going to give Charter a call tomorrow and talk to them . At this point I'm real glad I didn't have to rely on it in a life threatening event. Tho that is why I bought the gun.

[Cold Trigger Finger]

I called Charter Arms today. . Explained what happened and they said that it was warrenteed and to send it in. So hopefully something good will happen.

[shoot-n-lead]

I called Charter Arms today. . Explained what happened and they said that it was warrenteed and to send it in. So hopefully something good will happen.

Sounds great.

Let us know how it turns out.

[TCLouis]

Maybe I am glad mine won't fire consistently so was thrown into the back of the safe

[FergusonTO35]

What kind of Charter do you have?

[TCLouis]

FergusonTO35
Looking for another of my posts and stumbled on your question.

It is a Charter Bulldog

And yes, it is a dog.

I have owned 4 other Charter made guns and they were excellent and performed up to spec.

[CJR]

I found this thread interesting, being a Charter Arms 44 Special Bulldog fan, for the following reasons:
1. The Bulldog failed during the warranty period, i.e. short-cycle failure.
2. The one failure shown was a stainless steel Bulldog, i.e. most likely 416 stainless steel alloy.

I suspect Charter Arms made a material change to stainless alloy 416. Since cartridge firing weapons are not considered to be pressure vessels, they are not covered by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers' Pressure Vessel/Piping Code(ASME PV/P Code). However, the ASME Code is an excellent reference for material selection to be used in pressure vessels, since about 600-800 engineers/scientists are involved in extensive testing of pressure vessel materials and their approval. However, arms manufacturers are free to choose whatever materials they "like". Unfortunately, many manufacturers "like" 416 alloy because it "machines so wonderfully". But 416 has never been approved by the ASME for pressure vessels because it exhibits "short-cycle fatigue and catastrophic failure". In other words, after firing a few rounds the 416 alloy gun lets go. This is not a new phenomena to gun manufacturers. The biggest current law suit is against Savage for its ML short-cycle failures, which I presume were made of 416 alloy. Likewise, if I recall correctly Remington had some 416 rifles fail in the past as well.

Bottom-line? If the arms manufacturers don't get their act together on selecting proper alloys, they won't be in business very long. Successful law suits have a way of putting companies out of business, no matter how good their customer service is.

An example of an excellent stainless steel gun built to withstand pressures around 65,000 psi pressure is the Freedom Arms revolver. The Freedom Arms revolver is made of 17-4PH stainless steel alloy, an alloy approved by the ASME for pressure vessels.

Best regards,

CJR

[mtgrs737]

A few years back I bought a used Stainless Bulldog at a Pawn shop and even though I thought I checked it out well I found a problem when I got it home. On one of the cylinders it would fail to rotate far enough for the bolt to lock the chamber in alinement with the barrel if you slow cocked the hammer. I don't know if that slight misalinement would be enough to cause a pressure increase when the bullet struck the forcing cone off center or not. If I pulled the trigger to shoot it double action then the cylinder did have enough inertia to travel that little bit more and the bolt locked the cylinder. I called CA and they said send it in. I did, they sent it back with a new cylinder and a new pair of grips as I don't usually send in guns with the grips on them. The timing problem was fixed with the new cylinder and they charged me nothing and even paid me for the shipping cost to them. Now that is a company I can recommend for standing behind their product.