Well all, I went to my usual gun shop and inquired about Charter Arms. He had nothing but good to say about them. He showed me one that he had in the display which was an "Undercover" model. I looked, but didn't touch. I told him that I wanted to trade in my Rossi, and order a Charter "Off Duty" with the concealed hammer. He looked it up and, in the process, confused me with models and names. I told him that I would be back in a couple of days with my Rossi and a printout from the Charter website showing the specific model. I wanted to call Charter and inquire about warranty, as well. This all took a couple of days.
Sometimes you get lucky.
I went back a couple of days later and reached into my bag to pull out the Rossi and the printout from the Charter site. As I was doing so, I noticed a new occupant in the display case. He had taken in a Smith & Wesson 442 less than 2 hours prior. He had it marked $289. I asked to handle the Charter UC sitting next to the Smith and was not overly impressed. It had sharp (fabric tearing) edges, the cylinder locking system could be described as "rickety", and the grip (wooden) felt like it was not made for a human hand, but perhaps some channel steel inserts for a Ransomes instead.
I was given 200 for my trade in. I thanked him for the "loan" of the gun, as I'd bought it from him in 1995 for that same amount, prior to putting a couple thousand rounds through it.
I got me a Smith -complete with a case and a nice holster.
