(from Guns America Magazine)
Affordable guns are one of the most important components of 2nd Amendment freedom, and since 1964 the Charters Arms name has been known for making guns that average working people can afford. The guns are reliable, and in this next era of Charter Arms, they carry a number of innovations that we don’t see in any other guns in the firearm community.

The Charter Arms Pitbull is a new rimless case revolver in .40S&W. It holds 5 rounds and is made from 416 stainless, weighing in at 20oz. empty. If you carry a .40S&W pistol as your main duty weapon, this is a handy backup that can shoot all those rounds in your extra mags should your pistol go down or get lost.

Going back to 2008 we have heard that the Charter Arms Bulldog revolver would be available for “rimless” cases in a model called the “Pitbull.” These calibers are the 9mm, .40S&W and .45ACP primarily, where the rim of the case is same width as the body of the case, so they are called rimless. This makes them suited perfectly for semi-auto pistols, but not revolvers. Revolvers generally don’t handle rimless cases very well because you have to use what are called “full moon” and “half moon” clips to hold them in the cylinder, and most people don’t want to deal with them. Ballistically, the.38 Special, that has an extended rim to hold the cases in the revolver cylinder, is sufficient for most people in a revolver, but there has always been a demand for revolvers that take the pistol calibers. The .38 Special, and it’s big brother, the .357 Magnum, are long cases, and the shorter, higher pressure auto-gun calibers make for a potentially shorter framed revolver, and this is the niche that Charter is hoping to fill.

 A fringe benefit of the design of this gun is that the rounds won't fall out should you have to reload in a gunfight with a bad case of tunnel vision. But you do have to get used to using the ejector to get out the empties. If you don't, the rim recess can "jump" the ejector and hang up the gun.

Due to patent and distribution issues apparently, the Charter rimless case guns haven’t come into the market much. The .40S&W has been available since August, but they are just now coming into the gun shops. We were able to shoot one at Media Day at the Range, SHOT Show 2012, and it handle really well, and even after what had to be thousands of rounds at the end of the day, the gun was covered in gun powder soot, but she was still running. Because the gun has been available in prototype since 2008, these are not new guns and the bugs have been worked out of them. Adding alloy guns, hammerless, and other calibers probably is more a matter of capitalization than ability. Once the gun gets a footing in the market others will follow.

The Southpaw series from Charter were also at the show. If you are looking for a left hand option in a concealed carry or backup gun, the .38 Special (+P) Bodyguard series is priced right and made for left hand shooters. They make them in the pink ones as well.

Look in the pictures and you will see the little nubs that hold the rimless case in place in the cylinder. They are held there by spring tension, so you pop the rounds in. Once they are in the cylinder you can hold it upside down and they don’t come out, a nice feature if you have to reload during a gunfight. But unlike many .38 Special and .357 Magnum revolvers, you have to use the cartridge ejector to get the empty shells out. This is a really important thing to train yourself to do if you are in the habit of knocking or plucking your empties out of your .38. If there is a weakness to the Pitbull, it is that the empties can “jump” the ejector, and make them hard to get out. But this isn’t a big weakness if you simply understand how the gun functions.

For now this gun is only available in .40S&W, stainless, with an exposed hammer and 2.3" barrel. It has been a long time coming to see these Charter revolvers in the market, and more will come as demand increases.

If you don’t know the Charter Arms guns, they are worth a look. The basic .38 Undercover has an MSRP of $352 and is generally in gunshops under $300. Even the Pink Lady you see here with the polished stainless and bright pink frame is generally under $400, as are the $465 MSRP Pitbull and lefty guns are also generally under $400. Charter Arms is a working man’s revolver, and a lot of value for what you pay. I have never heard of any reliability or consistency problems with their products, and googling around I found nothing but praise for their customer service. We hope to give Charter Arms some space in the GunsAmerica Blog this year if they are able to send us some guns to check out. They seem like a great value that gun people need to know about.

This is the factory pic of the Southpaw. It is a nifty little gun.



This is the pink version. If you click through to their website, you'll see that these guns come with a pink faux alligator case, and they are available both in a high polish and matte finish. Charter takes a lot of pride in bringing guns people love and can afford to the masses.



Hammerless double action only guns are the best carry option for most people and we hope to see the Pitbull in an alloy version this year, and we'll keep you posted. This Off-Duty model is a gun we'd love to feature on the GunsAmerica Blog, and we hope to see a lot more from Charter Arms this year.