Tip of the hat to Charter Arms

[Brett]

Back in November I purchased a 2nd hand Charter Arms Undercover as a Christmas present for my sweetie (she has her CCW).   It's a hammerless, stainless steal .38 snubby.  From day one I was not real happy with the fit of the ejection rod/crane interface.  The hole in the crane that the ejection rod passes threw seemed oversized and sloppy to me allowing the cylinder to wiggle a lot when the action was open and the ejection rod to bind when loading and unloading the revolver.  So right after Christmas I called CA to confirm that their Lifetime Warranty followed the gun and was not limited to the original owner.  They confirmed that the warranty did indeed followed the gun and to send it in for them to have a look at.  So I dutifully packed it up and brought it to my LGS to have it sent back to CA.  When he called CA to get their FFL/Manufactures number (required for his paperwork) so that he could ship the gun to them they said we'll do you one better, we'll arrange for a pick-up.  Which they did and received the gun on Jan. 2nd.  Well I'm happy to report that the gun came back today (less than 6 weeks door to door) with a new crane installed. The gun is now nice and tight and working perfectly.  No charge for repairs or for shipping in either direction. 

[Noreaster]

Good to hear. I'd consider buying one. I had a similar experience with Ruger. My IDPA buddies tell me S&W is great. I had  poor experience a german made top 3 gun.

[Doublebass73]

That's impressive, I hope Charter succeeds. When I had a problem with a fairly new (less than a year old) NAA revolver they made me pay for shipping back to them. I asked for a pickup and they wouldn't do it so it's good to hear that Charter did that for you.

[Brett]

I was originally a little leery about buying a Charter.  I had been looking for months for a hammerless j-frame sized.38 snubby for my wife. Used S&W's that fit that description were impossible to find,  I saw one used Taurus but it was way over priced and I didn't have the scratch to buy a new S&W and a new Taurus' were priced almost as high as the Smiths... that's if you could even find a distributor that had either in stock.

One day my LGS owner called and said he had a customer who had bought this Charter Arms snubby from him about three months ago and was wanting to trade it in toward a new AR and that he would let me have it for what he took it in for.  The gun fit my requirements and my budget so I figured I would take a chance on it.  It's fit and finish is not that of a good S&W's but it really is not bad at all and it cost less than half of what a Smith would have.  The real surprise came when I took it out to the range to test it out before giving it to my wife.  This thing is as accurate if not more so than my S&W M-60 shots ringing 8" plates @ 7 yards with ease.  The only thing that bugged me about the gun was the sloppy fit of the extractor in the crane and now that CA has taken care of that for me I can say I really like this gun.

Lft to Rt: S&W M-60 w/ FIST pancake holster and CA Undercover w/ Blackhawk pocket holster 

[cybin]

I didn't know that CA offered a lifetime warrenty--I thought that only High Point did--good to know.

cybin

[Dan Chamberlain]

I'm not a gun snob, so I'll admit to having owned a couple of Charters over the years.  I still have one.  It's a 1970s vintage .38 snub.  The reason I still own it, and not any of the half dozen S&W 38s I used to own, is because it locks up tighter than any Chief's Special I've ever held!  When it's locked in batter before firing, there is absolutely no cylinder play. 

Yes, a box of cartridges will loosen up the grip screws and I'll have to tightent things back up again, but everything else stays tight and ready to go.

Charter has a better sight picture than the S&W snub guns too.  This gun doesn't get fired a whole lot.  Mostly spends time being packed from here to there, but I simply cannot imagine letting it go.

Dan