In my opinion, this is pretty neat, and would make for a nice carry and/or backup if you usually carry 9mm. However, it would have more recoil than a semi-auto and it would be slow to load due to the design and lack of ability to use moon clips of some kind. However, it's American made and if it is decent quality I might consider getting one once it's really available. Since it's a six-shot, it might be a little less compact for better concealment. It would also be a nice thing to add to a survival battery.

 

Charter Arms Introduces 9mm Rimless Revolver PITBULL

Hmm. Charter Arms? Pass.

I can say that I've been interested in this for years... it's a neat concept.

Hmm. Charter Arms? Pass.

 

Maybe, but it is made in America (whatever that means) and has a lifetime warranty and might be at a good price point. And, it might pay for itself if you like shooting revolvers, as 9mm is cheaper than .38, .357.

S&W discontinued their 940 revolver, which was 9mm. Taurus makes a 9mm revolver too.

 

Ray Ray had a couple of charter arms pistols - both were crap. I'll stay away.

I had some more thoughts on this, but I didn't have the time to knock them out this morning. I think that the 9mm Pit Bull will be come their best selling gun, and there is a very simple reason why.

 

I've always had a thing for "Innovative" guns. The PX4 Compact was innovative (dual slide release and a rotating barrel). FiveseveN was Innovative (capacity and cartridge). The Beretta Nano and Sig P250 are innovative (modularity).

 

I like this because this gun shoots 9mm in a very innovative way.

 

Now the only person I've ever really heard review this gun was Jeff Quinn from Gunblast. And he is hardly impartial. He has never met a gun he didn't like.

 

If you want to get into why this gun is important, we have to talk about revolvers in general:

 

Why does someone choose a revolver? Well, they may choose it because it looks nice, or because of a mechanical satisfaction that they find lacking in semi-autos. They may want the reliability of a revolver, or it just fits their hand well. The only real downside of a revolver is its limited capacity, speed of reloading, and cost of ammunition.

 

.38 Special ammunition is more expensive than 9mm ammunition. There are a number of reasons for this, from the amount of copper in the case to the diminished popularity of .38 Special cartridge.

 

You could say that one of the major disadvantages of a .38 Special is the .38 Special cartridge. With the 9mm, you are getting a little bit more velocity for roughly the same bullet diameter.

 

Previous 9mm revolvers used moon clips - which were a pain because they broke or bent, and you hurt your fingers getting the cartridges into the moon clips. But this revolver allows you to load your Pit Bull the same way you load any other revolver. This is a very innovative way of doing things. Now you can get a more effective and less expensive cartridge than a .38 Special in the same platform that is normally chambered in .38 Special. It is the best of both worlds.

 

Best of all, if you have been reluctant to buy a revolver because you don't want to carry another caliber, but want a revolver for your collection, this revolver scratches the itch without forcing you to make more room in your safe for a new kind of ammo.

 

I think Charter could have a hit, and I plan to buy one as soon as it comes out.

Well summarized Mcbethr. I guess I'm a bit of a gun snob though and would want this

to say S&W on the side. I wonder if this will spark other companies to bring back their

9mm revolver models. I believe the Ruger SP101 at one point also came in 9mm. That

would be awesome.

I think the SP101 and the Smith used moon clips. Although I have heard of a Smith revolver that headspaced on the mouth of the cartridge. These were bought by Israel for the Palistinian police because they wanted them to have commonality of ammunition with the Israeli Army (who was supplying the ammo and training) but also wanted them to have a less effective weapon than the Israelis (who I believe used the HiPower at the time).

 

I found a link about this:

http://vintagepistols.com/range_report_S&W_547.html

Waiting for the name to be bastardized from PitBull to Sh**Bull.

NOPE!!! NOPE NOPE NOPE!!! I don't get it. 9mm is just NOT a revolver round. Gimme dat big fat double charge of powder in .357. REALLY close diameter, giant leap in whoopazz. Again, what's the point?

NOPE!!! NOPE NOPE NOPE!!! I don't get it. 9mm is just NOT a revolver round. Gimme dat big fat double charge of powder in .357. REALLY close diameter, giant leap in whoopazz. Again, what's the point?

 

The point? Many

First, if you already have a bunch of ammo that's 9mm then your good to go. No need to stock up on another caliber. Second, some police departments only allow their officers to carry 9mm pistols. Third, it's cheap to shoot!

Here is a Ruger Speed Six in 9mm with moon clips in all of its glory! Anyone that shoots 9mm regularly and loves revolvers should find one, but it commands a premium price, now. It has a 2.75" barrel, It is built like a tank, fast to load and unload with moon clips, can handle any 9mm round it finds, and easy to load those clips with a tool, and it has fabulous revolver ergonomics (just feels good in the hand, esp. w/ Hogue grips). Oh, did I say it feels amazing in one's hand (It is in between an SP101 and GP100 in size and has six and not five round payload. Ruger stopped making it and replaced it with the GP100 because the GP100 was "inferior" and cheaper to make. It's heft makes it more than manageable with hot 9mms. I would not pass up on one of these in .357 or 9mm if it could be had at a good price. No, it is not a Smith, but it is definitely awesome and the full moon clips can be found. I wouldn't mess with the BS half moon one's though.

 

If the Charter Arms is half as good it would be a steal at the price being offered. And its not made of blasted polymer. However, if you wanted to conceal carry, you would lose reloading speed with the Charter Arms. And, with the Charter Arms you would not risk carrying a somewhat rare firearm. The SP101 can also be found in 9mm, but other than a smaller (and hence more concealable) cylinder and an easier and shorter grip to conceal, it lacks the payload and full-size grip of the Speed Six.

I really want one! Like, bad. I had seen the announcement made on another forum about it and I really like the idea. I mean, what's not to like.

 

Cheap, abundant, fun to shoot ammo. Inexpensive firearm that's U.S.A. made. Apparently there were some QC issues in the past, but the principals of the company have changed again and brought the company back around. I think it'll be their best seller.

 

I really want one!

 

C

Oh, that.

I can say that I've been interested in this for years... it's a neat concept.

I think the SP101 and the Smith used moon clips. Although I have heard of a Smith revolver that headspaced on the mouth of the cartridge. These were bought by Israel for the Palistinian police because they wanted them to have commonality of ammunition with the Israeli Army (who was supplying the ammo and training) but also wanted them to have a less effective weapon than the Israelis (who I believe used the HiPower at the time).

 

I found a link about this:

http://vintagepistols.com/range_report_S&W_547.html

 

This idea came and went in the 1980s and early 90s. It died due to lack of interest which is why you don't see other people making them. The quoted link shows an extractor star that would catch the groove on the brass. IIRC correctly the Ruger system used what looked like a round wire spring to do the same thing. There were apparently issues that made both manufacturers go t moon clips later on. I think the SP101 was only made in moon clips. The Charter uses what appears to be a very thick extractor star configured similar to S&Ws to accomplish extraction on the 9mm and 40 revolvers.

 

BTW a 1917 S&W will headspace a cartridge in the cylinder without a clip but you then have an extraction problem.

 

This is not Charter's first foray into 9mm revolvers. They made one for the 9mm Federal cartridge in the late 80s. This was a rimmed 9mm parabellum cartridge. The fact that this was the only gun made in this caliber and is no longer made speaks for itself.

 

S&W made their J frame 9mms to sometime in the 90s. There are several reasons they weren't successful. They were no more compact than their 38 counterparts. 9mm parabellum offered no ballistics advantage over 38 in a short barrel. 38 has a variety of power loadings OTC that 9mm doesn't. Then there were other factors.

 

Manufacturers made a lot of money converting most agencies to high capacity 9mms in the 80s. These were commonly referred to as wondernines. LE agencies found a easy answer to budget, training, and liabilty concerns. That was the S&W compact 9mm. The 69 series (469, 669, 6906, etc and the variants in other calibers) were large enough to shoot well yet small enough to conceal easily. Buy one gun for your uniform and plainclothes people. A gun they can carry on and off duty.

 

Then the Federal AWB of 94 came along. The only good (yes I said good) result of that is it forced manufacturers to develop sub compact pistols like the S&W Chief Special, Glock 26, and others. If you were limited to 10 rds and you wanted to market something new why not make something that will appeal to both LE and civilian buyers. Who wanted to have a 5 or 6 shot 9mm revolver when you can have a 10 shot semi auto that was flat and considered to be easier to carry. This trend continues with offerings from Ruger, Beretta, and others.

 

Charter quality has a reputation for being iffy. I have had a couple and their quality ranged from very good to excellent to not so good. They never made any headway into the LE market because of this. Acceptance by LE and/or the military translates into success in the civilian market. This coupled with the fact the 9mm revolver was tried and failed doesn't make it look that it would succeed now. The market wasn't there then and isn't here now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...First, if you already have a bunch of ammo that's 9mm then your good to go. No need to stock up on another caliber. ... Third, it's cheap to shoot!

 

This. A big goal of mine is not to have a proliferation of different calibers and ammo for the firearms that I own - K.I.S.S. I'm already at 4 calibers - .22LR, 9mm, .223/5.56 and 12 gauge. That's quite enough, thanks.

 

Been very interested in a 9mm revolver for a while, haven't liked the previously available options. Charter has a reputation for poor quality, we'll see if this offering disproves it.

Oh, by the way, I still wouldn't buy a Charter Arms though.

This is a different time than in earlier on when the 9mm revolvers were released. That was back when .38/.357s were the thing to have, and, because police were still using them ammo was plentiful and cheap. And, there was a lot of versatility with being able to shoot both .38s and .357s. Nowadays revolvers are still popular, but they don't command the market share that they once had because they are not polymer and striker fired. Additionally, the price of ammunition is going up. For someone that shoots 9mms due to recoil/cost, etc., it isn't that practical to stock another round of ammunition, and more expensive to boot. Additionally, there is a survival mentality out there because of the things that have been happening and having a 9mm that can shoot anything and has a certain type of niche in the concealed carry and backup gun market would be a pretty good thing. And, there are people that just enjoy shooting revolvers and it makes sense to standardize the ammunition and get the benefits of a revolver and the trigger control, etc. that it brings to the table. And, all of this coupled with the fact that this will be a competitively priced revolver in one of the most popular calibers. As long as it is of decent quality and functions well, it should have a lot of interest in the private firearms market. I'd certainly like to check one out.

This is a different time than in earlier on when the 9mm revolvers were released. That was back when .38/.357s were the thing to have, and, because police were still using them ammo was plentiful and cheap. And, there was a lot of versatility with being able to shoot both .38s and .357s. Nowadays revolvers are still popular, but they don't command the market share that they once had because they are not polymer and striker fired. Additionally, the price of ammunition is going up. For someone that shoots 9mms due to recoil/cost, etc., it isn't that practical to stock another round of ammunition, and more expensive to boot. Additionally, there is a survival mentality out there because of the things that have been happening and having a 9mm that can shoot anything and has a certain type of niche in the concealed carry and backup gun market would be a pretty good thing. And, there are people that just enjoy shooting revolvers and it makes sense to standardize the ammunition and get the benefits of a revolver and the trigger control, etc. that it brings to the table. And, all of this coupled with the fact that this will be a competitively priced revolver in one of the most popular calibers. As long as it is of decent quality and functions well, it should have a lot of interest in the private firearms market. I'd certainly like to check one out.

 

Patriot, I respect your opinion but still feel you won't see 9mm revolvers making a comeback. I guess we'll just have to wait a couple of years and see who's right.

Patriot, I respect your opinion but still feel you won't see 9mm revolvers making a comeback. I guess we'll just have to wait a couple of years and see who's right.

 

I would agree that I doubt that it will become extremely popular, especially given the Charter Arms tag. I think it will do better than you would consider, though. The biggest consideration, though, is why would anyone spend $400 plus, when a used Glock, M&P, CZ, Springfield Armory, etc. can be had for roughly the same price and would make a lot more sense as a 9mm. There are more practical guns out there that would better, specifically, against multiple attackers that are lighter, have a higher capacity, have a lot of upgrade potential, can be faster to load, and probably have better ergonomics. Still a 9mm revolver has a certain niche.

 

If I was able to conceal carry and wanted to carry a small, steel revolver for the benefits that that brings to the table, I would want it to be in 9mm or .40S&W, especially if I had quality moon clips to go with it. The inability to use them does detract some from the Charter Arms, but the ability not to have to have them is also attractive. Would I rather have the Charter Arms or a Glock 26 or M&P Shield, I would get the Shield or Glock first.