Company History
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Manufacturer: CHARTER ARMS Model: OFF DUTY Serial Number: 932XXX Caliber Info: 38 SPL Chambers: 5 Condition: GOOD Manufacture Date: 1984. See all listings by TACEQUIP Print this listing. Click Photo to Enlarge: Guns International #: 101100294. Category - Charter Arms Revolvers. Military Versions from 1912 to 1945. Manufacturer/Serial Number/Date Made. Beginning of M1911: 1) Colt: S/N 1 to 3190 = April 16, 1912 to May 31, 1912 2) Colt: S/N 3190 to 7501 = May 31, 1912 to Oct. Known for its rugged reliability and stopping power, Charter’s.44 Special is a versatile revolver for personal or home protection. With a barrel length of 2.5', the.44 Special is one of the larger revolvers to qualify for concealed carry. It has potent stopping power, while not being burdensome to carry. Serial 250XXX range which from my estimate would be around 1967. Barrel is marked CHARTER ARMS CORP BRIDGEPORT CONN on the right side and UNDERCOVER.38 SPL on the left side. I hear that the First Generations are about the best made of the Charter Arms Revolvers and this one is a good example of a nice clean Undercover model.
The company went through several name and address changes. The early guns (the first 13500 or so) did not display an address on the right side of the barrel, being marked only in capital sans-serif characters:
CHARTER ARMS CORP.
The early guns had a grip-medallion with a sketch of an oak tree (at least through serial number 23563). This was later changed to a scroll with the words “Charter Arms” on it, and “USA” in tiny letters at the top.
Starting in 1966, the guns, made in Bridgeport, Connecticut, were marked on the right side of the barrel in all capital sans-serif characters:
CHARTER ARMS CORP.
BRIDGEPORT, CONN.
Doug McClenahan moved the company to a newly-built plant in Stratford, Connecticut in April of 1976. Guns made in Stratford were marked on the right side of the barrel:
CHARTER ARMS CORP.
STRATFORD, CONN.
On 15 December 1978, due to health problems, Doug McClenahan retired and sold his share of the company to Dave Ecker. Ecker assumed the position of Chairman of the Board, as well as President. In 1984 Nick Ecker, David Ecker’s son, became part owner. Around 1988 the company was acquired by its vice president of finance, Jeff Williams, renamed Charco (Charter Arms Company), and moved to Ansonia, Connecticut. At some point Nick Ecker reacquired a 20% stake in the company. Apparently, quality control was not good in Charco, and the company had to close its doors in 1998. Nick Ecker and two other investors bought the company and reopened it in 2000, under the name Charter 2000 in Shelton, Connecticut. By 2002 Ecker had become sole owner, and in 2007 renamed the company Charter Arms again. The guns made since 2000 have had good quality control, and the company has regained its earlier reputation for quality and reliability.
Design of the Charter Arms Revolver
The Charter Arms revolver utilizes an investment-cast one-piece frame with no side plate. This means that it can be made lighter than a frame with a side plate and still retain the strength necessary to withstand relatively powerful ammunition (an early instruction book states that use of other than standard velocity ammunition will void the warranty, but the more modern guns are rated for +P). The trigger guard and grip frame are a separate piece made of aluminum alloy to save weight. The ejector rod is also aluminum. All other parts on the original Undercover revolver are made of steel. The Undercover is virtually identical in size and looks to the Smith & Wesson snubnose .38 (Model 36 or 37).
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From the first gun made, the Charter Arms Undercover revolver featured button rifling with eight grooves.
To my knowledge no one has ever commented on the similarity between the Charter revolvers and the early High Standard Sentinel. There are certainly design differences but the two guns have similar one-piece frames and a nearly identical number of parts. The original Sentinel uses an integral one-piece alloy frame, while the Undercover has a steel frame with a separate trigger guard and grip made of alloy. The Sentinel has a true hammer block that moves out of the way when the trigger is pulled, whereas the Charter has a transfer bar. The Ruger double action revolvers also have some interesting similarities with the Charter Arms.
The Charter revolvers have two frame sizes, which I will arbitrarily refer to as small and medium, though they are nearly identical when put side-by-side. The small frame was used for the original 5-shot Undercover .38, the Undercoverette .32, the Pathfinder .22, and later the Off Duty .38. The medium frame was used for the .44 Bulldog, .357 Bulldog, .38 Police Bulldog, the Police Undercover, etc. According to George C. Nonte, Jr., in the 1975 edition of Gun Digest, the length and width of the medium frame are the same as those of the small frame, but the height of the frame was increased by 0.170” and the barrel boss was increased by 0.095”. The recess for the cylinder was increased by 0.055” in length and 0.140” in height to accommodate the larger cylinder of the .44 Bulldog. These are very small differences.
Timetable of Charter Arms Products and Features
Extrapolating from the data given further down on this page, taken from back issues of Gun Digest and a few old catalogs, the likely initial production years of the various Charter Arms guns and their features is as follows:*
- 1965 - Undercover Revolver - .38 Special - 5 shot - available with 2”barrel
- 1967 - 3” barrel available
- 1968 - Bulldog grip available
- 1970 - Nickel finish available; 5th Anniversary edition available
- 1978 - .32 Smith & Wesson Long version available (Undercoverette name no longer used)
- 1980 - Stainless steel version available with a 2” barrel
- 1984 - Available in .32 H&R Magnum - 5 shot
1970 - Pathfinder Revolver (known as .22Pocket Target early on) - .22 long rifle - 6 shot - available with a 3” barrel, adjustable rear sightDecember 1970 Advertisement
- 1970 - Renamed to Pathfinder in September of 1970
- 1971 - Dual cylinder version available, known as the Dual Pathfinder - .22 long rifle & .22 WMR
- 1978 - Available with 6” barrel
- 1978 - Available with square butt grips
- 1980 - Stainless steel version available with a 3” barrel
- 1971 - Undercoverette Revolver - .32 Smith & Wesson Long - 6 shot - available with a 2” barrel
- 1979 - Renamed “Undercover .32”
- 1973 - Bulldog Revolver - .44 Special - available with a 3” barrel
- 1976 - Nickel finish available
- 1978 - .357 version available - 6” barrel
- 1979 - Milestone Edition .44 Bulldog - edition of 50, serialized from 500,000A to 500,000AY
- 1980 - Bulldog Tracker - .357 Magnum - 5 shot - 6” bull barrel (non-tapered barrel)
- 1982 - available with 4” or 6” bull barrel and adjustable sight
- 1983 - 2½”, 4”, and 6” bull barrels available
- 1981 - Stainless steel version of Bulldog available
- 1982 - pocket hammer and neoprene grips available - Law Enforcement Bulldog
- 1984 - Bulldog available with 2½” barrel and full-length ramp front sight
- 1986 - Bulldog Pug - 2½” barrel with ejector shroud and full-length ramp front sight - blue only - with bobbed hammer and neoprene grips or with spur hammer and walnut grips
- 1990? - At some point the Bulldog Pug available in stainless steel - exact date unknown
- 1975 - Police Bulldog Revolver - .38 Special - 6 shot - available with a 4” barrel with an ejector shroud, adjustable rear sight
- 1981 - 4” bull barrel available
- 1981 - 2” barrel available
- 1982 - Snubnose Police Bulldog - 2” bull barrel - pocket hammer - neoprene grips
- 1984 - sometime in this period all the 2” barrel 6 shot guns were renamed Police Undercover
- 1985 - available in .32 H&R Magnum under the name Police Undercover
- 1985 - .38 special version available with 6” barrel, pocket hammer or spur hammer, in blue or stainless steel
- 1989 - .32 H&R Magnum version dropped
- 1976 - Target Bulldog Revolver - .357 Magnum - 5 shot - 4” barrel with ejector shroud, adjustable rear sight - the barrel has a steel insert in an aluminum shroud
- 1978 - .44 Special version available
- 1978 - 4” or 6” barrel available
- 1980 - 4” barrel only available
- 1985 - not listed
- 1986 - reintroduced late in 1986
- 1990 - Target Bulldog available in stainless steel with 5½” vented rib barrel
- 1984 - Off Duty Revolver - .38 Special - 5 shot - identical to Undercover, but with a cheaper finish - available in flat black or stainless steel and 2” barrel
- 1985 - available with neoprene grips
- 1989 - Pit Bull - 9mm Luger - 5 shot - 2½” or 3½” barrel - blue or stainless steel
History and Evolution of the Charter Arms Revolver Line
The Charter Arms revolver was first listed in Gun Digest for 1965 (please note that Gun Digest is written and copyrighted the year before the date on the cover). I will quote the two short paragraphs:
New on the market this year are two 38 Special revolvers produced by Charter Arms Corp., 980 Mill Hill Rd., Southport, Conn. The Undercover 2 is a 5-shot 16 oz. double action with a 2” bbl. The Undercover 3 weighs 17½ oz. with a 3” bbl. Either can be had with interchangeable round or square butt smooth walnut grips.
Features include chrome-moly frames and swing-out cylinders; single-stroke ejection, wide trigger and hammer spur. Built-in hammer block prevents accidental discharge. Sights are fixed with a 18” ramp front and square notch rear. In polished blue, prices are the same for both models--$55.
The 1966 issue of Gun Digest (written in 1965) says, “...as far as we can learn, production of these Charter Arms guns has been practically nothing... They may not be around for some months.. .” The guns were, in fact, available in 1965, but in very limited quantities. Finally, in the 1967 issue the editor notes that he saw and fired an Undercover at an NRA meeting in April 1966. He reveals that the one-piece frame of the gun is made of chrome-moly steel, while the trigger guard/grip frame is made of lightweight alloy. The gun also features 8-groove rifling and a 55° hammer throw arc.
The 1969 issue of Gun Digest reports that the company’s only product remained the Undercover revolver, but they were offering a leather belt holster for the gun and custom engraving by the A.A. White Company. They had also begun offering an oversize “Bulldog” grip in checkered American Walnut. In this period the company changed its logo from an oak tree, based on Connecticut’s “Charter Oak,” to a parchment scroll with “Charter Arms” in antique lettering.
The 1970 issue of Gun Digest reproduces a picture of a cutaway Charter Arms revolver and points out various improvements the company had made, including improved polishing for better blueing; a spring loaded cylinder latch; a redesigned ejector return spring, washer, and bushing for smooth-stroke ejection; a nylon washer under the crane screw; a simplified trigger system for better reliability; a fire-hardened breech face; London oil finished walnut grips; and 8- groove rifling with a 1:17” twist. Clearly, the company was continuing to improve its lone product.
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The 1972 issue of Gun Digest lists the same gun as the .22 Pocket-Target, but it has been renamed the Pathfinder. A version was available with two cylinders, one in .22 Winchester Rimfire Magnum, known as the Dual Pathfinder. I do not know how long the Dual Pathfinder was manufactured, but I have never seen one. A third product was introduced for the first time: the Undercoverette, a 6-shot revolver in .32 Smith & Wesson Long, built on the Undercover frame and with a 2 inch barrel.
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It is in the 1974 issue of Gun Digest that the Charter Arms .44 Bulldog first appears, and in the 1975 issue there is a lengthy article about it by George C. Nonte, Jr. The frame of the Charter Bulldog had to be beefed up to accommodate the more powerful cartridge, but even so, it is hard to tell the difference between the two guns when placed side-by-side. Nonte says: “Even though the cylinder and frame are substantially smaller than anything previously chambered for the .44 Special, their strength is more than adequate.” Robert Dunlop echoes this sentiment in his gunsmithing video, stating that the one-piece frames are quite strong. Many of the parts for the Bulldog are interchangeable with the Undercover, including the trigger, the hammer, and the cylinder latch mechanism.
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The 1977 issue of Gun Digest lists a 5-shot Target Bulldog .357 Magnum revolver, featuring a 4-inch barrel, a full-length ejector rod, an enclosed ejector housing, square butt grips, and an adjustable rear sight, just like the Police Bulldog that appeared the year before. The barrel is a steel insert inside an aluminum shroud. Clearly Charter Arms was making use of its Bulldog frame to expand its offerings. The .44 Bulldog was offered in nickel for the first time.
The 1979 issue of Gun Digest shows the Target Bulldog being offered in .44 Special for the first time, and either caliber
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Also in 1979 the Mag-na-port company offered the Mag-na-port Backpacker in a limited edition of 250. These guns are in stainless steel and have a 1-7/8 inch Mag-na-ported bull barrel with no front sight, a factory bobbed spurless hammer, and Pachmayr grips. On the right side the barrel is marked CHARTER ARMS CORP. with no address, and on the left side it is marked .44 SPL. On the right side of the grip frame is engraved, on three lines, Mag-na-port / BACKPACKER / ###.
1981 was a signal year for Charter Arms. They announced several new products in 1980, which first appeared in 1981 or possibly as late as 1982. The 1981 issue of Gun Digest lists two guns in stainless steel for the first time: the Undercover (with a 2 inch barrel) and the Pathfinder (with a 3 inch barrel). Also, the Bulldog “Tracker” appeared for the first time: a .357 Bulldog with a 6 inch bull barrel, reported by Hal Swiggett as being 3/4 inch in diameter, giving the gun more heft. The Target Bulldog is only listed with a 4 inch barrel. In 1981 Charter Arms issued a pre -production stainless steel undercover, with special serial numbers in the PP### format, in a limited edition of 500.
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Charter Arms Ar-7 Serial Number Date
The 1982 issue of Gun Digest lists a 2 inch barrel for the Police Bulldog, as well as 4 inch bull barrel. The Bulldog is listed as available in stainless steel for the first time. The Police Bulldog is now available with a 4 inch bull barrel.The 1983 issue of Gun Digest announced a new snubnose Police Bulldog in .38 Special with a 2 inch bull barrel, factory pocket hammer, and neoprene grips with finger grooves (looking very much like they were made by Pachmayr, though that isn’t stated). The Bulldog is also available for the first time with a pocket hammer and neoprene grips (referred to in the text as the Law Enforcement Bulldog). The pocket hammer may not have been available yet in the stainless models. The Tracker is listed with a 4 or a 6 inch bull barrel and an adjustable rear sight.
In the 1984 issue of Gun Digest, the only thing new I can see is that the .357 Bulldog Tracker is now available in a 2½, 4, or 6 inch barrel.
In the 1985 issue of Gun Digest the first Charter Arms revolver chambered for the (then) new H&R .32 Magnum round was announced: a 6 shot Undercover. In the back of the issue it is more correctly identified as the Police Undercover, available with a 2 or 4 inch barrel. All of the 2” barrel guns were called the Police Undercover instead of Police Bulldog which at this point were 4” barrel only. The .44 Bulldog is announced as available in either a 2½ or 3 inch barrel, with a full-length ramp front sight for the 2½ inch barrel with ejector shroud. Finally, the new Off Duty revolver was announced--as I see it, it was a no-frills 5 shot 38 revolver with a 2 inch barrel, nearly identical with the Undercover but with a cheaper finish. It was available in either matte black or stainless steel and had a red dot on the front sight.
In the 1986 issue of Gun Digest the Police Bulldog is listed as available in 32 H&R Magnum for the first time. The Police Undercover is also still listed as available in 32 H&R Magnum, and now also available as a 6-shot .38 Special, with pocket hammer or spur hammer, in blue or stainless steel. The Off Duty is listed as available with neoprene grips.
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I don’t find any new products in the 1988 issue of Gun Digest, but Hal Swiggett notes that Charter Arms had announced a new lifetime maintenance policy for original owners of Charter Arms guns--the warranty covered everything except the frame, barrel, and finish (which would leave little more than the cylinder and lockwork covered). Likewise I don’t see much new in the 1989 issue, but a catalog from this period shows a Bulldog Pug in stainless steel, and marks the introduction of “Select-A-Grips” which are wooden grips in various colors, including ebony, blonde, rosewood, camo, oak, burnt-orange, golden brown, aqua, and scarlet.
Charter Arms Serial Number Database
In the 1990 issue of Gun Digest I note that the Police Undercover in 32 H&R Magnum has been dropped, and now they offer an Undercover Police Special (in .38 Special) with a 2.1” barrel, spurless hammer, full ejector rod shroud, and available in either blue or stainless steel. The “Bonnie” and “Clyde” revolvers were also announced. These are said to be similar to the Undercover Police Special, except they are available in blue only; one marked “Bonnie- .32 MAG”; the other one, marked “Clyde- .38 SPL”. They are available with Select-A-Grips. Charter Arms also introduced the Pit Bull, a 5-shot 9mm revolver with either a 2½” or 3½” barrel, in either blue or stainless steel. At this time, the Tracker appears to be only available with the 2½” bull barrel. The standard Bulldog has a 2½” bull barrel with no underlug.
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* Note: The author would like to collect and publish photographs of all the various early Charter Arms revolvers. Please email him if you can help.
Just picked this little ArmaLite AR-7 up yesterday and like everything I buy, I have to immediately learn everything about it.
Just like when I got my first AR-180, I find there is not much info to be had. That’s exactly what led me to start this sight. To put all the info in one place.
I took a few pictures and I am reaching out to you, my readers to help me fill in the blanks. I’m trying to find out when it was made and there is no database of serial numbers like others may have. The closest I have been able to come is the parts list indicates that California residents have to pay 4% sales tax. A little research reveals that only was true from 1962 to 1967. How cool would it be if this thing was made in my birth year, 1965.
What I know so far;
ArmaLite made these from 1959 to 1973.
The first models had brown stocks and butt pads.
The earliest models had serial numbers that were covered up when the stock was installed.
The second versions had swirled, multi colored stocks like mine.
I’m not sure if ArmaLite made the stocks in black before selling to Charter Arms in 1973.
Some stuff I ran across on the net (unverified);
Charter Arms Serial Number List
Brown stock models started with serial 50,000
Swirled stock models started with serial 70,000
I don’t see any reason that we can’t put together our own database of serial numbers with the features they include.
I would want to include things such as serial number and location, stock type, roll mark on receiver and the roll mark on the barrel.
If you have any information to contribute, I would appreciate it as well as the rest of my readership.
I found this awesome early model in a forum post here