I traded into a Charter Arms Bulldog. According to the paper work that came along with it, it was made in 2012. Seems like a decent pistol, except for the heavy, gritty, double action trigger, the single action on it is great. Does anybody know a gunsmith that works on the trigger of these guns?

Spray it out with brake cleaner, then dry fire it a thousand times

FWIW, several of my co-workers carried Charter Arms .38s as BUGs or off duty. They were reliable, tolerably accurate and seemed durable. That said, I never found one that had a trigger that was not awful.

A buddy bought one a few years back, and he really likes it. He's a big time revolver guy and owns a bunch of Smiths and Colts, so it's not like he has nothing else to compare it to. The trigger is bad, and there are a lot of unrefined sharp edges on the gun, but it's been reliable and gives him a gun that he can use and abuse in any conditions and not feel bad about it, which is what he was going for.

I'm not sure if anybody does work on them....sending it out would likely cost as much or more than the gun. I'd probably just get a parts diagram and carefuly go to work on the surfaces of the small parts with an oiled polishing stone (hand polish, NOT A DREMEL) and 1500-2000 grit sandpaper. I wouldn't touch the sear/trigger/hammer engagement surfaces at all unless absolutely necessary, because those tend to be easy to screw up (and like somebody else said you can typically improve those just by dry-firing it), but just about every part inside a revolver moves when you pull the trigger, and you can feel burrs or machining marks from numerous places inside the gun. On Smiths and Rugers I've found that cleaning up the head of the hammer strut where it engages the cup of the hammer can make a huge difference on some guns, and it's a relatively safe operation because the spring is going to maintain the relationship of the parts no matter how much you remove (within reason...I'm sure somebody could screw it up of they went totally crazy on it, but that would take some effort stoning it by hand).

If the inside of one of those things is as rough as the outside, I'd imagine there's a lot of room for improvement with a simple polish job. Just go slow and accept that perfect can be the enemy of "good enough". If you take it too far you can cut through the hardening on the outside of the parts and drastically reduce their service life. If you change the geometry, you'll mess up the timing. All you're looking to do is smooth out the edges of machining marks and remove any burrs and grit.

Warhorse
Where are you in Michigan?

Thanks everyone, I agree with the dry firing technique to smooth up the action a little.

gjgalligan, I live in the downriver area of metro Detroit.

I did the dry fire technique when I bought a NIB S&W M66 in the mid-to late-1980's, and it worked very well.

Starting with a large box of once-fires cases, I loaded 6 and dry fired about 100 times, then changed for another 6 once-fired cases, rinse and repeat until I got to about 1,500 times.

Several friends who tried the gun said it was the smoothest S&W trigger they had ever felt.

Just make sure you don't rush it, complete each trigger-pull and release.

I wanted to get a Charter Arms Bulldog when they came out, but I never got around to it. My loss!

Another quick question, is it okay to dry fire on an empty revolver cylinder, or are snap caps necessary?

With dry firing, you can speed up the process by applying graphite lubricant to the friction surfaces. It's messy, buy I have just squeezed (it comes in a tube) a glob in and started firing. When it's the way you like it, clean the graphite out and replace with your choice of lubricant.

quote:

Originally posted by Warhorse:
Another quick question, is it okay to dry fire on an empty revolver cylinder, or are snap caps necessary?

Opinions tend to differ on this, I'd strongly recommend snap caps or once-fired cases as I did. The hammer strut can strike the back of the frame if there's nothing preventing it from happening, and over time the unintended wear can damage the hammer strut, I'm told.

I had a .44 Bulldog years ago and it wasn't a bad gun. It was fairly accurate and the .44 Special rounds, from what I remember, weren't that bad to shoot but it was pricey. For the cost of it, I wouldn't send it out for any trigger work unless there is something wrong with it. I would get some snap caps and use it as is. They are cheap insurance and should prevent any parts breaking.

I recall reading about a professional shooter, might have been Cowboy Action, that when he got a new revolver he would put tooth paste in the action of the revolver and dry fire it thousands of time.
He seem to be very satisfied with the results.

quote:

Originally posted by newtoSig765:
I did the dry fire technique when I bought a NIB S&W M66 in the mid-to late-1980's, and it worked very well.

Starting with a large box of once-fires cases, I loaded 6 and dry fired about 100 times, then changed for another 6 once-fired cases, rinse and repeat until I got to about 1,500 times.

Several friends who tried the gun said it was the smoothest S&W trigger they had ever felt.

Just make sure you don't rush it, complete each trigger-pull and release.

I wanted to get a Charter Arms Bulldog when they came out, but I never got around to it. My loss!

Gallery of Guns has 7 listed. Average price is ~$450 out the door. If you can't find a used one, this is a viable solution at this price point.

Thanks, but no interest at this point. I still have the S&W I mentioned and a couple replica-types, but I've dropped revolvers in favor of semi-autos for all practical applications.

quote:

Originally posted by newtoSig765:
Thanks, but no interest at this point. I still have the S&W I mentioned and a couple replica-types, but I've dropped revolvers in favor of semi-autos for all practical applications.

Since buying a P365 almost 5 years ago, pretty much retired my S&W 638, but this thing is pretty cool!

The Bulldog in .44 Special was the original sidearm of the federal Sky Marshalls. When the program first started, a friend and I applied, but neither of us made it past the first written exam for some reason, I suspect it had to do with the high level of interest by already-working cops from other federal agencies.

I knew a cop from either Berwyn or Cicero, IL who carried one off-duty and loved it.