Charter arms bulldog 44 special review

The following is a special guest review submitted by KJ.

The Charter Arms Bulldog .44 Special revolver is one of those guns that finds some space in the back of your brain and pitches a tent there. A .44 that fits in your pocket? The appeal is obvious.

On the other hand, Charter Arms has an uneven reputation for quality. This may be due to the numerous changes in ownership that the company has experienced over the decades. So, I would wager a guess that more people spend years thinking about buying a Bulldog than actually buy one.

Gun details

The specific gun I am reviewing is model number 74420, a stainless 5-round revolver with a 2.5” barrel and fixed sights. The barrel and cylinder are stainless, the frame is aluminum painted to match. It has a rubber grip.

It’s nearly identical in size to a short-barreled SP101, though the grip is a bit shorter (and a bit less comfortable). It is a little bigger than a Smith & Wesson J-frame, like a 640. The cylinder release is Smith-type (push toward cylinder to release), but the cylinder turns clockwise, like a Colt. Appearance is straightforward and no-frills, but there are no issues or cosmetic problems that would reduce confidence in the gun.

Double-action trigger pull is ok. Single-action trigger pull is definitely not as nice as an SP101, but it’s fine to bust stationary clay pigeons at 15 yards, which is what I was doing when I tested the gun.

The only problem I experienced with the Bulldog was that when I shot just one round one time, and had four empty chambers and one chamber with spent brass in it, the cylinder didn’t freely swing open. I had to wack it with my palm. But no big deal.

And now, the part you’ve been waiting for: discussion of the .44 Special round in the Bulldog. This is what makes the gun interesting, because nobody else offers a big-bore revolver in this size class.

The round

.44 Special was developed before World War I and was falling out of popularity by the 1950s. It was renowned for its accuracy, but as a low-pressure round, it was long ago surpassed on lists of “man-stopper cartridges” by the likes of .357 Magnum, .45 ACP and .44 Magnum.

The cartridge is to .44 Magnum as .38 Special is to .357 Magnum. The round will chamber and shoot in a .44 Magnum gun. The brass is shorter, and maximum pressures are lower, meaning velocity is lower when using the same bullet weight.

The original .44 Special loads used 246-grain bullets, but these days, most loads use the same 240-grain bullets that show up in .44 Magnum rounds. A typical modern load will push a 240-grain bullet at around 700 to 800 feet per second. In comparison with a .45 ACP, .44 Special will typically feature a slightly heavier bullet, moving slightly slower. Conventional wisdom (and my own opinion) is that this means .44 Special should perform similarly to .45 ACP in defensive uses.

Blowing up bottles

Along with blowing up pigeons, my test involved shooting 2-liter soda bottles that I had filled with water. This is not scientific (sample size one) and in any case, it would be fair to question what it means (most people are not attacked by 2-liter soda bottles). Those caveats stated, this is what I saw.

• .380 ACP: Bullet punctured the bottle pretty cleanly and knocked the bottle over. The water drained out while the bottle lay on the ground.
• .38 Special: Same as .380.
• .357 Magnum: Bullet created a clean entry hole. The exit hole included a rupture in the plastic, two or three inches in length. The bottle fell on the ground more violently, and water gushed out faster.
• .44 Special: Same as .357 Magnum.
• .50 AE from a Desert Eagle: The bottle exploded, with a huge rupture nearly the height of the bottle. To be fair, this wasn’t really part of my test, I just wanted to blow up a bottle.

In all cases except the Desert Eagle, the test guns were concealed carry-size with short barrels. I used a Colt Government for the .380, an SP101 with 2.25” barrel for both .38 and .357, and the Bulldog for the .44 Special. All ammunition for those four was standard FMJ.

In inspecting the bottles later, I couldn’t tell a difference between the .357 bottle and the .44 bottle, other than the size of the actual entry and exit holes. The split in the bottle near the exit wound was about the same, and anecdotally, the bottles behaved about the same when hit.

So, does this convince you that .44 Special is an effective round? Maybe more effective than most other options you’re considering? And therefore, this gun makes sense to buy?

One problem, though …

I’m not going to try to talk you out of it, but I do want to mention one thing. The reason you aren’t getting an SP101 chambered in .357 Magnum is presumably that you don’t want to deal with the recoil. Unfortunately, recoil of .44 Special in a Bulldog and recoil of an SP101 in .357 Magnum are not that different. In my opinion, the Bulldog recoil was a little less. But my testing partner actually thought the Bulldog had a little more recoil.

The SP101 is a few ounces heavier due to its steel frame. If the guns were the same weight, the SP101 would almost certainly have more recoil. Then again, I think the SP101 grip is a little better designed.

There are still reasons to pick .44 over .357. It’s always subsonic; it isn’t as loud; there won’t be as much muzzle flash; it may have less risk of overpenetration; it’s .429” instead of .357” before expansion; a slow 240-grain bullet may smash through heavier bone than a fast 125gr bullet; it starts with the number “4”; you can more enthusiastically sing a Howlin’ Wolf song about wearing your .44 so long it makes your shoulder sore.

But, significantly lower recoil is not one of the reasons. If it’s less, it’s not much less. So if that is your main rationale, I think you’ll be disappointed.

Personally, I carry a semi-auto 9mm, for the capacity. But if I did carry a revolver, I think I’d go with the Bulldog, despite the recoil. Why? Move up two paragraphs and re-read.

Final: Like

Is the 44 Bulldog a good gun?

How powerful is a 44 Bulldog?

Who makes the Bulldog 44 Special?

What is the difference between 44 mag and 44 special?