revolver question

[loadedp3at]

Which has more felt recoil? The Charter arms bulldog 44 special or a Smith snubnose 357 magnun? Looking at buying the 44 but wasn't sure how bad the recoil. HELP!!

[Garufa]

A very interesting question. Curious to know myself but I have a feeling the 357 snubby is far more brutal.

[TNWNGR]

S&W .357 snubby when loaded w/.357 Mag has a much sharper recoil that the .44 Bulldog. The .44 Bulldog tend's to have a different type of snap to it when loaded with Silvertip's but it's not to bad with normal load's. FWIW I'm not a huge fan of the Bulldog but have shot several of them over the year's.

Forgot to include the S&W 2.5" I shoot the most is a M19 which isn't to bad at all, the J frame M60 and Ruger SP101 aren't as fun to shoot.

Edited October 28, 2010 by TNWNGR

[I_Like_Pie]

TNWNGR hit it right on the head. Having owned both I agree. .357 is a MUCH higher pressure round than 44 special and it simply kicks harder. However if you are recoil sensitive...neither one are *****cats. I had a bulldog pug and I think it was 19 ounces. With 240 grainers it still kicked hard, but not the slap in the hand like the .357 - it is simply unpleasent to shoot.

edit...it ***** out the other word for "kitty cats" wasn't even obscene :-)

[Will Carry]

Didn't the "Son of Sam" murderer use a Bulldog 44? He said he had to soak his hand in Epson salts after he shot it. What a wuss!

The 44 special is a great round for self defense. It a big slow moving bullet. It would rate it as more effective than a .357 in a short barrel.

Only because it makes a bigger hole. The Bulldog 44 may not be much fun to shoot but it will stop a man. Shoot him in the pelvis and he'll drop like a sack a taters. Shatter the pelvis bone, biggest bone in the body. A man, even high on drugs, cannot stand up with a shattered pelvis.

The .357 comes in to it's glory with a 4" or longer barrel. I shot my GP-100 today using some Black Hills 125gr SJHPs. 625ft/lbs at the muzzle. Love that revolver!

[eapking]

Might want to consider confining your looking to S&W and Ruger.

[loadedp3at]

Is your criticism of the Charter about the new guns or the old ones? The difference in the price is so much and I am on a really tight budget right now. What specific negatives are wrong with the Charter or is just that they are not the elite guns? I rarely go into areas which are dangerous so I don't shoot lots of rounds but I don't want to worry over a gun either. I probably will take it horseriding the most so the light weight would be great.

[Guest Ae-35]

Had one of the old Bulldogs... kind of rough, mostly it was the poorly designed wood grips, with rubber not too bad !! Still it was hard to practice much, or enough to get really good with it. The old 240gn. loads were hotter, they tend to load most of them down now ,because of a lot of old 44sp. single actions. Charters tend to shoot their screws loose !!!

[Guest BEARMAN]

I've got one of the "new" Charter Bulldog Pugs in stainless w/ the factory Crimson Trace laser grips. It's a good, reliable carry revolver and doesn't seem to kick too bad, however, I am not recoil sensitive and I'm on the larger size to boot, so it doesn't bother me much.

As has been said; the .357 magnum will have more "felt" recoil.

I love the comfortable feeling of having a big 'ol hunk of lead, moving down range at slower speeds...less chance for over penetration in a self defense situation. fwiw

Edited October 28, 2010 by BEARMAN
error

[TNWNGR]

All of the Bulldog's, old and new, alway's felt good to me and handled well, they just didn't hold up as well as a S&W. If your asking for advice then buy a good used S&W M10 or M64 with a 2, 3 or 4" barrel, with the right set of grip''s they'll tuck away out of sight quite well. If you've never owned a .357 Mag than I'll confirm they're not for the faint of heart in short barrels, they have a horrible muzzle flash, are loud and expensive to shoot. I love the the .357 Mag an the .44 Spl and own numerous gun's in each, but none of mine happen to be Charter Arm's products.

[03clyde]

Any ranges nearby where you could rent each gun (or similar) and shoot them the same day and make your decision from a personal side by side comparison?

[mikegideon]

I've shot one 44 special in my life, many moons ago. It was a Charter snubby. As I recall, it shot softer than my K frame .357, but it could have just been the beer.

[DaveTN]

I guess we would need to define â€Snubbyâ€. To me a J-frame (Model 60 .357Mag) is not a snubby. A 2 ½†K or L frame (Model 19, 66, 686, etc) would a Snubby. There is a bunch of difference in a J-frame and a K-frame shooting the same round.

The Bulldog is closer to the size of the K-frame.

All of these short-barreled guns are “Belly Gunsâ€.

I carried a Bulldog stuck in my ballistic vest as a back-up gun on duty. I got it cheap and didn’t care if being soaked in sweat all the time ruined it. I wouldn’t want one for a primary carry.

I would recommend if you are looking at a J-frame in .357 mag; go with steel or stainless. The extra weight helps a lot with control. Stay away from Titanium, Aluminum, and Unknownium.

[mikegideon]

The one i shot was a Bulldog. Short barrel

[leroy]

....I would recommend if you are looking at a J-frame in .357 mag; go with steel or stainless. The extra weight helps a lot with control. Stay away from Titanium, Aluminum, and Unknownium ....

Good advice from Dave here. If ya load up the "j frame" all steel revolvers up to where they ought to be (....plus p 148 or 158 grain loads...); they will buck pretty hard.

The lightweighters are even worse. My hands are big; so i use the smallest pachmayr grips. Smaller hands can do ok with the original grips and a grip filler. My advice, shoot a model you like before you buy. It will help a lot to see what you really like.

Hope this helps.

Leroy

[gregintenn]

Never fired a Charter Arms, but I have fired various 44s and 357s. In my opinion, with a 357, you get a sharp rap for recoil, while the big bores tend to give a slower push. I can't quantify the difference in felt recoil, but there is a definite difference in the type of recoil.

[loadedp3at]

I don't have a range real close to shoot both. I am used to carrying about 29 oz all day so that doesn't bother me. I thought it might not be as bad when I carry all day on the horse and I don't think the sound would be near as loud with a big slow bullet.

[eapking]

Is your criticism of the Charter about the new guns or the old ones? The difference in the price is so much and I am on a really tight budget right now. What specific negatives are wrong with the Charter or is just that they are not the elite guns? I rarely go into areas which are dangerous so I don't shoot lots of rounds but I don't want to worry over a gun either. I probably will take it horseriding the most so the light weight would be great.

Ok, maybe I should have qualified this statement. If money is not a major factor...

Have heard some less than stellar things about Charter. And that's recent too. Of course, most of that was garnered from internet forums where we all know only the truth is told.