
The very first Charter Arms Corporation production began in 1965 in BRIDGEPORT CONN - earliest pieces - mostly Undercover model will have either NO address on the right side of the barrel or will have BRIDGEPORT CONNĪround 1974, address was changed to STRATFORD CONN - all pieces made after mid 1974 will be marked with that address on the right side of the barrel and all will have CHARTER ARMS CORP. by Doug McClennahan - who designed the CA firearms - and previously had worked for COLT, HIGH STANDARD and S.RUGER as a firearms design engineer. NOTE: the tie between the original Charter Arms Corp and RUGER stems from the founding of CA Corp. Thanks, Jim Hauff Contributing Editor for H&R Firearms to "THE BLUE BOOK OF GUN VALUES" by S.
#Charter arms bulldog 44 special serial numbers serial number#
I also own 25 differenct 1st Gen pieces - hopefully, within a year or two I can acquire enough date to serial number data to confirm my current assumptions - and then I will update the CA section in the "Blue Book."ĪNY INFORMATION that is provided will be greatly appreciated and help with this research - please post. In any case, I'm attaching my current research findings, since this question and the responses obviously shows some interest in the various series. So far I have nearly 1000 data points (serial numbers) but very few verified dates. I began researching the 1st Generation Charter Arms about 4 years ago and am trying to build a data base to be able to date 1st Gen. In regards to the original question this book have no info on the recent production guns whatsoever. trying to find it and it's not available or priced for far more than I'd be willing to pay. It's long out of print and I periodically have trolled, ,, etc. Only book I am aware of that's been written on Charter Arms only covered the first encarnation I believe and was called "And Now Stainless" if I remember right. Military bought some snubbies but not very many in the scheme of things and don't think privately owned firearms were smuggled in by GIs to the same extent as WWII (plus military was much smaller and fewer troopies in the combat zones), especially after Gun Control Act of 1968. Especially with the snub noses that Charter was making.


I recall reading this, but am not sure rationally if there's any basis at all to it. Of course, perhaps the Security Six got introduced when old Bill Senior saw a niche due to scalper prices on Smith and Wessons he decided he'd fill. Original Charter snubbies might actually have pre-dated the Ruger Security Six although perhaps I'm all wet on that.

I heard Charter got started originally back in the days of VietNam when Smith and Wessons were in short supply supposedly. I'm aware of no relationship with Ruger and Charter Arms (which means little, I admit.)
