The weight of the gun feels very good in the hand, and it points very well. Plus it is easy to handload hotter rounds if you so desire. One slightly perplexing issue was the cylinder. Charter Arms made a name for itself with the introduction of a lightweight steel-frame revolver in the 1960s. Good guns were scarce, and the Charter Arms revolvers were available. I’ve had my Bulldog for several months now. There’s still a family resemblance, but the XL variant is noticeably swollen compared to its little brother. A nice addition on the Bulldog is the full-length lug underneath the barrel. The only gripe I had about the Bulldog was the black front sight. “With great power comes great responsibility” – This timeless adage perfectly sums up Charter Arms’ .44 Special Bulldog revolver. Over the years, the Bulldog .44 has changed, but the design is still recognizable and the model is still popular with shooters. I selected three brands of .44 Special cartridges to test fire in my Charter Bulldog Classic. The unusual construction of the Charter Arms Bulldog results in a lightweight gun. The ejector rod is exposed, which allows the user to pull forward on the rod or use the thumb latch to unlock the cylinder and swing it out on the crane. The frame, cylinder and barrel are all stainless steel, giving the Bulldog plenty of strength to handle as much shooting as you will likely do in a lifetime. The pricing on the Bulldogs is very affordable. The modern Bulldog chambered in .44 Special holds five rounds and sports a 2.5” barrel. Phase two of my test was to see what kind of accuracy potential the cartridges could produce in the Bulldog. I thought the velocities for the Black Hills and Federal loads were about what I’d expected, but I was shocked when the average velocity of the CorBon cartridges matched exactly the velocity printed on the box label! Every time I pressed the trigger, I got a bang. My pick for the Bulldog Classic was the Alessi Belt Slide holster. This will polish out with use, and had indeed noticeably smoothed by the end of the test, Until it does, it’s a reminder that this gun has an MSRP of $433 and street prices even lower than that.If you want a compact .45 Colt revolver, however, the Charter Arms Bulldog XL is currently the only game in town that doesn’t come with a cylinder distended to accept shotshells. Rarely did anybody feel like putting more than a cylinder or two through at one sitting. What I like about this revolver is its compact size and .44 Special caliber. At the range, my first order of business was to see what kind of velocity readings I’d get from the Bulldog’s 3-inch barrel using my .44 Special test cartridges. As recounted in a recent review on the Charter Arms Off Duty, my chronograph appears to be possessed by demons from the Brady Campaign, and is out of commission. Add in the special finish, and I think this is a superb handgun. Before we get into the features of the Charter Arms Bulldog XL, let's get a few background details out of the way. The pictures do not do the finish justice. Pick yours up today at your local Charter Arms Dealer! Made of two pieces of 8-ounce, russet leather, the back portion is slightly smaller than the front to provide a natural bend and to prevent binding during the draw. Although compact, it chambered big-bore cartridges like the .442 Webley and .450 Adams. The gun is compact enough for easy concealed carry on the belt or in a shoulder rig, but it is a little too large for ankle carry. The move to .451-inch bullets from .429-inch ones meant a larger cylinder, and that called for a slightly larger frame. From CorBon was a 165-grain JHP that had a velocity, as listed on the box, of 1,125 fps. Copyright BearingArms.com/Salem Media. The ejector rod also figures into the cylinder’s locking mechanism, as does the spring-loaded pin in the center of the “star,” which is acted on by the hand for cylinder rotation. The Belt Slide is precision molded to the gun, and on this model it partially covers the triggerguard, plus there’s an integral tab to cover the hammer spur. This open-top, high-ride holster has a forward cant for strong-side carry and comes in left- or right-hand versions in black or mahogany brown. “Street” prices run significantly less, with the blued Bulldog priced around $340 and the tiger version as low as $375. In 1872, Philip Webley & Son of Birmingham, England, introduced a small double-action (DA) revolver with a 2.5-inch barrel and a five-shot cylinder. Other ammunition companies quickly followed suit. All Rights Reserved. Charter Arms made a name for itself with the introduction of a lightweight steel-frame revolver in the 1960s. The Charter Arms Bulldog in .44 Special is a great revolver. Get the Shooting Illustrated Reloaded newsletter for at-a-glance access to industry news, gear, gun reviews, videos and more—delivered directly to your Inbox. Unless one reloads, .45 Colt is super expensive and at any rate, a hard-recoiling, compact, lightweight, defensive revolver like the Charter Arms Bulldog XL is unlikely to see thousands upon thousands of rounds fired in competition and classes. Good guns were scarce, and the Charter Arms revolvers were available. The Charter Arms Bulldog (http://www.charterfirearms.com/products/Charter_Bulldog_14420.html) is one of the handguns that I recall wanting in my early youth. I shot one-handed, strong-hand and support-hand-only from 3 yards with a reload in between. While the balance of the five-shooter had a polished blued finish, the cylinder was a matte blue that more closely resembled the anodized alloy grip frame and triggerguard. In 1973, it introduced the Bulldog revolver. Then, at 7 yards, I shot some double-taps with a reload after, shot five and six, then two more double-taps. Fortunately this did not occur at any point in our test. Both the Federal and Black Hills loads shot close to point of aim. E-mail your comments/questions about this site to:ShootingIllustrated@nrahq.orgFor questions/comments about Shooting Illustrated magazine, please e-mail:Publications@nrahq.orgYou can contact the NRA via phone at: NRA Member Programs1-800-672-3888, To advertise on Shooting Illustrated, visit nramediakit.com for more information. The gun only had one true functional issue: .45 Colt is known for its very narrow rims and demands good ejection habits in a double-action wheelgun to keep the ejector from popping over the rim and tying up the gun with a spent case under the star. I scrutinized the revolver and found that it was up to snuff in the fit-and-finish department. The beryllium copper firing pin is affixed inside the frame and the action has a transfer-bar safety to prevent a discharge if the revolver is dropped. This is a time-consuming manufacturing step that McLenahan avoided by having the lockwork fork up into the frame from below, secured in place by a removable separate one-piece trigger guard/gripframe assembly, in a manner reminiscent of the old single-action Colts.In addition to making manufacturing less expensive, this also meant that from the front of the frame where the barrel screwed in to the rear of the frame behind the hammer was all of a piece with no pocket machined away for the lockwork.In another departure from current practices by the older manufacturers, the Charter Arms Bulldog XL design has the crane, the swing arm that holds the cylinder, protected in front by the frame. 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RELATED STORY: Charter Arms’ 50th Anniversary Bulldog Revolver. The original featured a blued frame, wooden grips and a 3-inch barrel with an exposed ejector rod. I’ve never been a fan of the traditional Tiger Stripe pattern for camouflage clothing, but this spin of the design on the Bulldog looks really good. The hammer spur is serrated and the fairly wide trigger has a serrated face. These high-powered self-defense weapons offer incredible reliability paired with classic aesthetics all while inspiring true confidence. Women On Target® Instructional Shooting Clinics, Volunteer At The Great American Outdoor Show, Marion P. Hammer Women Of Distinction Award, Women's Wildlife Management / Conservation Scholarship, National Youth Shooting Sports Ambassadors, NRA Outstanding Achievement Youth Award Presented by Brownells, National Youth Shooting Sports Cooperative Program, 5 Reasons to Choose a 10 mm for Self Defense, I Carry: Taurus G3c Pistol in a Galco Holster, © 2020 National Rifle Association of America. RELATED STORY: Charter Arms’ New Pitbull Revolver in .45 ACP. I have read the Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, and Cookie Policy, and I hereby agree to those terms. The grips on the Charter Arms Bulldog are full-sized and fill the entire hand. FB: https://www.facebook.com/2ndAmendmentSupporters/. Lastly, I fired from behind a tree at 15 yards from left-side and right-side standing, then right-side kneeling. The 2.5-inch barreled Bulldog XL tipped my scale at 22 ounces empty and 26 ounces with a cylinder full of 225-grain Winchester Silvertips. Black Hills has a 200-grain JHP with a bullet that appears to be a “Gold Dot” type as produced by Speer, which is a very well-designed bullet. The SA pull is crisp at about 4.5 pounds. In my experience with smaller-framed, big-bore revolvers, they rarely play well with heavier bullets.Unlike tests where I put as much as a couple of cases of ammo through a gun, this one was finished up with 170 rounds fired. The finish uses green and black colors in a pattern similar to the Tiger Stripe pattern originally used by troops in the Vietnam War.
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