New Old Snubbie - Charter Arms Undercover .38 cicra 1970

[Carl in CT]

Sold my Kahr cw380 even though I loved it. It was to be for my wife as well as occasional pocket gun for me. She never liked it (very stiff slide and not much to grip to rack it). So when my buddy said he wanted one really bad (after shooting mine) I decided to sell it to him since it wasn't working for my wife and I kinda needed a cash boost at the time.

My wife said she would prefer a revolver. Simpler, no slides to rack and everyone knows revolvers are super sexy. We stopped in our LGS last weekend just to see what revolvers might be a good future purchase. Was thinking a Ruger LCR would fit the bill but they were much bigger than I realized. Figured we would keep looking while we saved our pennies.

Then I noticed a little blue steel snubbie .38 special with a price tag of $195. It was a Charter Arms Undercover .38 cicra 1970. Obviously used but in good shape. A few scratches but functionally it was rock solid. Since I know the shop owner very well and it was Saturday so the day care next door was closed he handed me some standard pressure rounds and one +p, so the wife and I went outside to shoot a few.

We both really liked it (I shot the +p, a noticeable difference). I had her shoot it along with my cw9 with Federal 147 grain HST standard pressure loads. She liked the snubbie better. She said it had less muzzle flip, she felt the recoil was more straight back and easier for her to control. So for $195 we bought it. Juggled a few bills but with the money I got for the cw380 we got the snubbie and still had $150 to put in the bank. I think I did good on the price. Not a smokin' deal but more than fair and she has a gun she is more confident operating. Hoping to get to the range with her and our snubbie soon.

I read the bad reviews on some Charter Arms revolvers but they seem to be the CHARCO 2nd generation models when the company was in and out of business. The 1st generation models like this one are good little guns and the new ones are ok.

Here it is: