1979ish Charter Arms Undercover Snubnose Revolver in .38 Special

[1srelluc]

I found this one today....A 1979 ish CA Undercover in unfired condition.

They were hugely popular back in the 70s - 80s as they were a good quality 5-shot snub at a fair price.....I gave $150.00 for it but it's not worth more than maybe $275.00 or so even in it's great condition.

They are still a bargain even at that price these days.

The best ones made are those with serials starting at around 325K and ending at around 1 million.

 

[JGalt]

I found this one today....A 1979 ish CA Undercover in unfired condition.

View attachment 1033265

They were hugely popular back in the 70s - 80s as they were a good quality 5-shot snub at a fair price.....I gave $150.00 for it but it's not worth more than maybe $275.00 or so even in it's great condition.

They are still a bargain even at that price these days.

The best ones made are those with serials starting at around 325K and ending at around 1 million.

Good score for a measly $150.

 

[BULLDOG]

I found this one today....A 1979 ish CA Undercover in unfired condition.

View attachment 1033265

They were hugely popular back in the 70s - 80s as they were a good quality 5-shot snub at a fair price.....I gave $150.00 for it but it's not worth more than maybe $275.00 or so even in it's great condition.

They are still a bargain even at that price these days.

The best ones made are those with serials starting at around 325K and ending at around 1 million.

I got one that hasn't been fired more than a couple dozen times. The grip is so small till you need tiny hands to hold it comfortably.

 

[E. Pluribus]

I have a .22 revolver very similar and the wooden grips are a little slippery and not grippy.

 

[Zincwarrior]

A friend had a .44 special Bulldog. Even as a snub it was a big gun.

 

[JGalt]

I have a .22 revolver very similar and the wooden grips are a little slippery and not grippy.

You can find a pair of oversized Pachmayr rubber grips for most any model revolver on Ebay pretty cheap, those help a lot. I put a pair on a Colt Cobra .38 Spl. and it was a good improvement.

 

[Ringel05]

I got one that hasn't been fired more than a couple dozen times. The grip is so small till you need tiny hands to hold it comfortably.

I have a Taurus 856 that is like that and I've never shot it because of that.

 

[1srelluc]

You can find a pair of oversized Pachmayr rubber grips for most any model revolver on Ebay pretty cheap, those help a lot. I put a pair on a Colt Cobra .38 Spl. and it was a good improvement.

There are a shit-ton of stocks/grips for them, along with parts on eBay. Pachmayer made a couple of grips for them.

I got one that hasn't been fired more than a couple dozen times. The grip is so small till you need tiny hands to hold it comfortably.

They are roughly the same size as S&W J-Frame stocks. They also fit J-Frame holsters just fine.

I guess I'm used to those type of stocks but it could use a Tyler T-Grip or Pachmayer adaptor to fill it out a bit. I put them on all my J-Frames.

 

[1srelluc]

Good score for a measly $150.

Yeah, you don't get much in the handgun world these days for that.

I had forgot about the CA Pathfinder (.22 kit gun clone) till I was looking up stuff about the Undercover. I might have to be on the look-out for one of those.....I can't remember the last time I saw one.

Charter Arms was started in part by a guy who used to design pistols for High Standard and it was so much like the HS Sentinel in design that HS threatened to sue. They never did and were soon on their last legs.

 

[JGalt]

There are a shit-ton of stocks/grips for them, along with parts on eBay. Pachmayer made a couple of grips for them.



They are roughly the same size as S&W J-Frame stocks. They also fit J-Frame holsters just fine.

I guess I'm used to those type of stocks but it could use a Tyler T-Grip or Pachmayer adaptor to fill it out a bit. I put them on all my J-Frames.

There re lots of aftermarket grips for the small frame Colts, S&W, and others. The only problem is they make them a little harder to conceal. But at least they're no longer slippery.

 

[1srelluc]

There re lots of aftermarket grips for the small frame Colts, S&W, and others. The only problem is they make them a little harder to conceal. But at least they're no longer slippery.

They made checkered stocks of the same size.

All 1st gen ('63 - '91) grips, no matter the model, will interchange as they all used the same grip frame.

Sadly, I pulled a Tyler-T Grip off of one of my J-frames and it would not quite fit the Undercover.

I can't see where Tyler even made one for them but Pachmayer did, it's just a matter of finding one as they are long out of production.

Here's the problem with the oversized grips.

No thanks!

 

[BULLDOG]

A friend had a .44 special Bulldog. Even as a snub it was a big gun.

Good for your fiend. My Charter Arms 38 snub has tiny grips and is pretty awkward to hold with normal sized hands. My little finger doesn't even fit on the grip. It curls back into my palm under the grip. I bought it for my wife at the time before I knew how crazy she could be. Safety lesson #1. Never buy a gun for a crazy woman.

 

[JGalt]

They made checkered stocks of the same size.

All 1st gen ('63 - '91) grips, no matter the model, will interchange as they all used the same grip frame.

Sadly, I pulled a Tyler-T Grip off of one of my J-frames and it would not quite fit the Undercover.

I can't see where Tyler even made one for them but Pachmayer did, it's just a matter of finding one as they are long out of production.

Here's the problem with the oversized grips.

No thanks!

Hey, well it makes for a bigger club.

 

[1srelluc]

I found an old ad, in 1980 a CA Undercover was $85.00.....That's $325.00 in today's Biden bucks.

 

[Grumpyolman]

These snubbie .38 Specials are my current favorite firearms. I don't know why, I grew up in Arizona with .22s, .30-06s and 30-30 Winchesters. But now I live in California.
These snubbies fit in the glovebox. That explains it.
I have this weird ambition to shoot them at 25+ yards accurately. It's part of my childhood goals with guns. Not easy, though.
Shooting a Javelina pig with a .38 snubbie? Well crap, maybe all six rounds! Get closer, you dumb SOB pig!.

 

[JGalt]

These snubbie .38 Specials are my current favorite firearms. I don't know why, I grew up in Arizona with .22s, .30-06s and 30-30 Winchesters. But now I live in California.
These snubbies fit in the glovebox. That explains it.
I have this weird ambition to shoot them at 25+ yards accurately. It's part of my childhood goals with guns. Not easy, though.
Shooting a Javelina pig with a .38 snubbie? Well crap, maybe all six rounds! Get closer, you dumb SOB pig!.

They can be surprisingly accurate with a plain 158 grain round nose or SWC lead bullet. Most people tend to feed them the +P ammo which gives more velocity but less accuracy.

 

[1srelluc]

They can be surprisingly accurate with a plain 158 grain round nose or SWC lead bullet. Most people tend to feed them the +P ammo which gives more velocity but less accuracy.

This.

158gr Lead Semi-Wadcutter HPs (the old FBI snubby loading) is pretty much all I use.

LOL....They gave me six boxes of .38 special the other week at the shop and a couple boxes were 110gr HPs. I doubt if I'll ever shoot it....Much less the 40 rounds of snake shot I found in a partial box.

 

[1srelluc]

BTW....I was looking for another J-Frame holster for the Undercover in my "footlocker-o-holsters" and found this Bianchi 1612 Model 100 Professional (size 1) IWB holster.

I used it for years with a J-frame S&W Model 49 till I switched to a Colt Cobra. Easily the most comfortable IWB holster I ever used once broken-in. I have one for PPK sized autos too.

 

[August West]

Hey, well it makes for a bigger club.

Which is a substitute for what?