Charter's New .40S&W Revolver
The Charter Arms Pit Bull is a 5-shot .40 S&W revolver, compact, reliable and very affordable.
It’s been my experience dedicated sixgunners, especially those with more than a little gray in their beard, have several attributes in common. Of course, one is the fact we all appreciate fine handguns, with fine being defined as any sixgun or semi-auto which functions 100 percent reliably, always goes bang when the trigger is pulled, and shoots to point of aim. Fit and finish are definitely important, but can be overshadowed by function. Old sixgunners are also enthralled by fighter planes of World War II, classic cars of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, and dogs of virtually every description. When it comes to the latter, I’ve had everything from litter runts, to mutts of unknown heritage, and even purebreds. No matter what their ancestry, all dogs often put humans to disgrace when it comes to loyalty and unconditional love.
Like every boy growing up I had many dogs, and as I married and the kids came along, we made sure they also experienced the love of dogs. There is something inbred in dogs of every type which especially makes them protective of young kids and women.
I always wanted to have a pair of large purebred dogs and this goal was achieved in 1995 with Red and Wolf. We got them as 6-week-old Malamute puppies and they grew to be huge, lovable and gentle dogs — except when they were in their protective mode. The grandkids could do anything to those dogs, and my youngest granddaughter was especially attracted to them, with one usually being found on each side of her.
The .40 Pit Bull scores 5; Zombie Dog zero. Pesky Zombie dogs …
Other “Dogs”
Several other “dogs” have also been very important to our family for more than 40 years. Back in the mid-1960s, Charter Arms did something very radical; they introduced a 5-shot blued double-action revolver, aptly named Bulldog. Although it was not much larger than a Colt Detective Special, it was chambered in .44 Special. I had to have one simply because of the chambering, however it soon became a very important member of our family. In those days, we did a lot a camping and the .44 Bulldog went everywhere with since I could fit it into a pocket or in the top of my boot.
When the kids were in high school, we rented a motor home and traveled into a “Gun Free Zone,” however the .44 was stashed within easy reach in the motor home. Three times in my life the fact I had a gun defused a possibly dangerous situation, and two of those times were with my family, and it was the .44 Bulldog which protected us.
When Diamond Dot began fly fishing it was only natural for her to stash the .44 Bulldog in her vest. There was only one problem; she had
a propensity for being dunked in every Several other “dogs” have also been very important to our family for more than 40 years. Back in the mid-1960s, Charter Arms did something very radical; they introduced a 5-shot blued double-action revolver, aptly named Bulldog. Although it was not much larger than a Colt Detective Special, it was chambered in .44 Special. I had to have one simply because of the chambering, however it soon became a very important member of our family. In those days, we did a lot a camping and the .44 Bulldog went everywhere with since I could fit it into a pocket or in the top of my boot.
When the kids were in high school, we rented a motor home and traveled into a “Gun Free Zone,” however the .44 was stashed within easy reach in the motor home. Three times in my life the fact I had a gun defused a possibly dangerous situation, and two of those times were with my family, and it was the .44 Bulldog which protected us.
When Diamond Dot began fly fishing it was only natural for her to stash the .44 Bulldog in her vest. There was only one problem; she had
a propensity for being dunked in every stream she fished. One day this happened, and not only the .44 Bulldog went under the water, but she was carrying a role of Tums in the same pocket. B+W+T = OBM (Bulldog + Water + Tums = One Big Mess). After we got the .44 cleaned up and cleaned out it, was time to replace it with our second .44 Bulldog, this one in stainless steel. She could dunk it to her hearts content as it was impervious to such action.
The .40 Pit Bull (R) is virtually identical, other than chambering and ejection system,
to the .44 Special Pug and Bulldog.
House Gun
When Charter Arms downsized their original .44 Bulldog to the shorter-barreled Pug — a stainless steel version with an enclosed ejector rod — I acquired a test gun and subsequently purchased it. They are both on-duty as this is written, however not in the conventional sense. I often hear the term house gun and I assume this means a gun kept in the house for protection.
Now, unless one lives in a compact studio apartment what are the chances a gun will be in reach when needed? I have a very large house. Over the years, we have added a 16×32′ family/trophy room, a 16×25′ office, and a 12×16′ sewing room, in addition to the three bedrooms, two baths, and a double garage (converted into a loading room) we already had. Now just where would be the convenient place to have just one house gun? How would I know where I would be when trouble started?
No matter where I am in the house, if I am not wearing a gun at the time there is always a gun within easy reach. The two rooms where any of us are the most vulnerable are the bedroom and bathroom. Beside my bed there is a Remington 12 gauge, a .45 with a flashlight/laser attached rests in the headboard on my side, while a .357 Magnum is also within reach as well as a .38 on Diamond Dot’s side. The bathrooms, however, are Charter Arms .44 Special Bulldog territory. The medicine chest in the main bathroom has a stainless steel Pug while a .44 Bulldog, also stainless steel, is in the drawer in the bathroom off my loading room. Both being stainless steel there’s no worry about moisture. Both are loaded with CCI Blazer 200-grain .44 Special JHP loads, and even if I am dripping wet from the shower I won’t be caught unawares.
Targets fired at 7 yards with the .40 Pit Bull revealed good accuracy for self-defense.
The New Design
I believe it was at Shot Show 2009 Charter Arms “introduced” the latest versions of their Pit Bull to be offered in .45 ACP, 9mm and .40 S&W. These are all rimless semi-auto cartridges and normally require moon clips when used in double-action revolvers. Sometimes they will work without the clips, however depending on the type of crimp used on factory ammunition, combined with the particular revolver chamber, they may move forward in the chamber when the hammer hits the primer resulting in poor ignition or even a misfire.
Even if fired successfully, there is the problem of ejection since there is no rim for the star extractor to contact and empties must be punched out one at a time with a pencil or some similar object. Moon clips are quite handy, and can be carried loaded in the pocket for a reload, however then there is the operation needed to remove the empty cases from the moon clips.
Charter Arms has solved all these problems with a rimless cartridge extractor assembly. Each chamber has a spring located in the extractor. Cartridges are easily snapped in, however fired cases will not simply fall out of the chambers even if the gun is held with the cylinder open and the barrel pointed to the heavens. However, a sharp authoritative tap on the extractor easily releases all cartridges. As so often happens with new projects, it takes a while for them to actually become reality. The first example of the new Pit Bull is chambered in .40 S&W and it works perfectly.
The springs which hold the rimless cartridges in the .40 Pit Bull cylinder are barely discernible.
Affordable Defense
The new design is essentially a standard Charter small revolver, with the added feature of the innovative extraction design for rimless rounds. So if you can run a revolver, you can run the new Charter just fine.
Six different types of factory .40 S&W ammunition were tried, with no malfunctions whatsoever. This is not a target revolver by any means, sights are a traditional, non-adjustable hog-wallow rear mated up with a ramp front, and groups were fired at a “self-defense” distance of 7 yards. At that distance groups were way above adequate, with the average being just barely over 1″ for four shots. Velocities in such a short barrel are also quite impressive, with the lighter weight 155- and 165-grain jacketed hollowpoints averaging right at 1,050 fps, while the 180s from four different manufacturers were right in the 850-900 fps velocity neighborhood. Felt recoil from such a lightweight 20-ounce revolver is quite sharp since the .40 is a snappy round, making the rubber grips much appreciated.
Charter Arms puts a price tag on this 5-shot, 416 matte stainless steel, 2.3″-barreled revolver at a most reasonable $342. It will soon be followed by versions in .45 ACP and 9mm. We’ll be testing them as they are introduced.
