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Charter Arms Revolver in 9MM?

bnailon
Just got back from the gun show. One of the dealers had a Charter arms revolver in 9MM for $340 that he said was made in 1991. It looked like it was in good shape. That has to be very rare in that caliber. Anybody have any ideas on the rarity of this and the value assuming very good condition?

Thanks in advance.
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9 comments

Date Votes
  • nmyers
    Yes, they are pretty rare in that caliber.

    But, $340 is absolute top dollar for one NIB, if you happen to be a collector of crudely finished bargain-priced revolvers. In lesser condition, it's worth substantially less.

    Neal
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  • Anonymouse
    I read a gun mag article a few weeks ago that said Charter is going to start making them again. Ones in 40S&W and 45 ACP also.
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  • 32 Magnum
    That one is called the PitBull and is chambered for the now defunct 9mm Federal rimmed cartridge. That cartridge has the same external ballistics as the 9x19mm Luger/Para. It proved not to be very popular and died out when Charter Arms turned into Charco. I've seen and handled several of these - they are well made guns - top price in the gun auctions seems to be around $450 if ANIB. The First Generation Charter Arms revolvers (made from 1965 to around 1991 will have either Bridgeport or Stratford CONN barrel addresses) were/are strong, well made middle cost guns. Cosmetically they don't match the S&W - but for strength (chrome-moly ordnance steel frames and no side plate), accuracy (8 grove rifling instead of 5 or 6), weight (16 to 28 oz), and durability (unbreakable berylium-copper alloy firing pin and a patented transfer bar safety/ignition system) they are hard to beat for the current prices. Later 2nd Generation CHARCO pieces will be marked with Ansonia CONN and were made during a time of upheaval in the Charter heirarchy - these are hit and miss in quality.
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  • rufe-snow
    These revolvers were on the market for only a very short period of time. Charter and Federal ran into a lot of liability problems with the ammo, and it was pulled off the market really quickly. The ammo would chamber in the old black powder revolvers made in the 19th Century for the .38 S & W cartridge. Since the 9mm Federal was loaded to over 30,000 psi it turned these old clunkers into hand grenades. All the duffas's who got hurt either firing these old guns, or being hit by the shrapnel ran for the closest ambulance chaser, and that was the end of the 9mm Federal and the Charter Arms Company. There's nothing wrong with the Charter Arms revolver, it's a strong safe handgun. There is just no ammo available for it at a reasonable price.
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  • ElMuertoMonkey
    Charter's coming out with the CARR System line of revolvers that shoot rimless rounds in a revolver without requiring moonclips. They will be available in 9mm, .40 S&W, and .45 ACP.

    Here's a link:

    http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2008/11/20/new-charter-arms-rimless-revolver-carr/

    (I just found that on Google - it's not my blog or anything like that)
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  • beantownshootah
    quote:Originally posted by rufe-snow
    These revolvers were on the market for only a very short period of time. Charter and Federal ran into a lot of liability problems with the ammo, and it was pulled off the market really quickly. The ammo would chamber in the old black powder revolvers made in the 19th Century for the .38 S & W cartridge. Since the 9mm Federal was loaded to over 30,000 psi it turned these old clunkers into hand grenades. All the duffas's who got hurt either firing these old guns, or being hit by the shrapnel ran for the closest ambulance chaser, and that was the end of the 9mm Federal and the Charter Arms Company. There's nothing wrong with the Charter Arms revolver, it's a strong safe handgun. There is just no ammo available for it at a reasonable price.

    I believe that miscompatibility with .38SW ammo was only a small part of the problem here.

    EG, if you blow up your older Smith and Wesson revolver (and yourself) using Rimmed 9mm Federal ammo, that's not Charter Arms' problem, its Federal's problem.

    Federal literally only made the ammo for a short period of time (I've actually heard only one run), but then discontinued it for liability reasons. That left Charter (and its 9mm rimmed gun owners) stranded. For obvious reasons no other ammo manufacturer wanted to get in on this round after that.

    But apart from the .38SW compatibility issue, the main reason this round failed was just general lack of interest in the guns. "Ordinary" 9mm luger revolvers have been tried before, by Smith and Wesson and others, and have never been that popular with American shooters. Most shooters don't want to deal with moonclips, and the few clipless 9mm luger guns were never that popular.

    Why would you want a gun that requires bizarre rimmed 9mm Federal ammo, when otherwise identical revolvers are available in .38 special/.357 magnum giving you more flexibility?

    I can see wanting to have a revolver that takes ordinary 9mm luger ammo since its cheaper and more powerful than .38 special, plus compatible in your auto pistol. But 9mm ammo is cheap precisely because its so popular globally. The 9mm rimmed ammo was never that cheap to begin with.

    By the way, even though the 9mm rimmed Federal ammo is exceptionally scarce and expensive, apparently if you reload, its fairly easy to create functional 9mm rimmed brass just by re-sizing more readily available .38SW cases.
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  • jhimco
    I think you paid too much for a Charter Arms.
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  • m9777
    I seriously doubt the 9mm Fed will be re-born. Too much liability as a result of numb-nuts using it in old 38 S&W revolvers.
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  • m9777
    ...and another reason was FBI and BATF complained about them being used in crimes and THEIR inability to determine whether the projectile came from a semi-auto or revolver AT THE TIME THEY WERE BEING MARKETED.
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