By Jim Dickson | Contributing Writer
The Charter Arms Off Duty is one of the select few hammerless revolvers ever made.
These have the distinction of being the only true pocket revolvers ever made because they can be reliably fired from inside the pocket without worrying about an exposed hammer snagging the pocket lining and not being able to ignite the primer. The one caveat that must never be forgotten is to never fire unless the pocket is pushed clear of your body because the escaping powder gasses from the barrel/cylinder gap can cut like an acetylene torch.
Years ago my wife, Betty, and I shot up every old coats we could lay our hands on testing firing through pockets with a S&W hammerless snub nosed .357 Magnum. Every pocket was reduced to tangled rags with three equal sized holes. One at the muzzle and one at each side of the barrel/cylinder gap. Lining a pocket with leather didn’t help. The blast cut through the leather like it was butter. Heaven help you if your body was in the way of that jet. It would cut through your skin and deeply into the flesh underneath.
The hammerless action also permits drawing the gun without fear of a hammer spur snagging assuming there is time for that. In a crowded elevator or other tight space where assaults and robberies often happen, sometimes the best defense is to have your gun in your hand inside the pocket before trouble starts for at that range you may only have time to push it forward and fire.
Criminals like to close the distance to point blank range before revealing their intentions and attacking. The time honored ruse of asking “What time is it?’ to get you to divert your eyes off them for just an instant so they can make their move still works as do many other seemingly innocent requests. Asking for help to get you to move to a better place for them to attack or simply to divert your gaze long enough is also common. Sometimes it is better to be rude than helpful. The one thing to note here is the extreme close range of the set up. Your reaction will have to be exceedingly fast and it will all take place inside grappling range. This is the niche that the little .38 hammerless revolver in a coat or jacket pocket fills and it fills it very well.
Double-Action Advocate
Some people may complain about giving up the ability to fire single action. As I have written before many times, I believe double action revolvers should always be fired double action like they were designed to be fired. If you want to fire single action then buy a dedicated single action like the Colt Single Action Army. It is much more efficient at it than a double action revolver can ever be.
Charter Arms has tried hard to make the ultimate concealable .38 Special revolver. The gun weighs a mere 14 ounces thanks to its aluminum frame, so it certainly does not weigh you down. Extra weight can mean leaving it behind when you need to be carrying it as well as pulling the pocket out of shape.
It is 6.25 inches long, 4.25 inches high and 1.275 inches wide at its 5-shot cylinder, so it takes up a minimum of space. It fits easily into an inside the waistband holster from the Sticky Holster Company or in a fine leather El Paso Saddlery #88 Street Combat belt holster. The point is you won’t be tempted to leave it behind. That’s important.
I used to know a man who was shot by a robber that was fleeing his local convenience store in a good neighborhood. A quick errand close to home in a nice neighborhood and about the last place you would expect trouble yet he was shot just for being there. I also remember when home invaders targeted one of the best neighborhoods in the county and even robbed people in front of their homes.
Wearing the gun on your person at all times is the only way to have it in time when they kick in the door and burst into the house and the smart home owners did just that until the home invaders were caught. This scenario calls for fast draw and fire in one motion not scrambling to reach a gun somewhere in the house. Not everyone will wear a full size G.I. M1911A1 at all times despite it being the best fighting pistol ever made. Most will pack a 14 ounce compact snub nose .38 though. Remember the first rule of gunfighting is: “Have a gun.”
Don’t be surprised when crime spills over into supposedly nice safe neighborhoods. If you were a criminal would you target your victims in a poor ghetto where attacks are common enough to be anticipated or would you go after more affluent targets in a prosperous neighborhood where people don’t have their guard up? The ease with which a habitual criminal with a long arrest record can get a gun on the street even in places with the most draconian “Gun control” laws makes a mockery of anti-gun laws and carry permits.
Mitigating Recoil
Recoil in the 14 ounce gun is largely mitigated by the rubber grips. Making the gun in .38 Special instead of .357 Magnum means you can get off fast repeat shots instead of slow ones.
It takes a significant amount of time to recover from the muzzle jump of a .357 Magnum recoil in a light 5-shot revolver. That’s time you may not have if more than one assailant is shooting at you. This is a problem with magnums but it becomes far more pronounced when they are chambered in light weight pistols. The 2-inch barrel sports a LitePipe front sight to take advantage of whatever light is available. Like all Charter Arms revolvers the Off Duty is made of stainless steel but this one has a lightweight aluminum frame. Since aluminum can be anodized to any color you have a choice of six finishes: black/black passivate, anodized/stainless steel (like the test gun shown), black/stainless steel, black/high polish, and for the ladies: pink/stainless steel, and lavender/stainless steel.
Also, like all Charter Arms revolvers, it has a much lower MSRP than most revolvers of this quality being only a mere $419.62 for the gun tested. That’s a refreshing change as these days most guns seem to cost over $1,000 apiece.
Confident that this pistol would fill its niche better than most, I had Charter Arms send one for review to Reeves Ace Hardware in Clayton, Georgia where I could pick it up.
I was delighted to find a smooth trigger pull of just 9 pounds 2 ounces as measured by a Lyman mechanical trigger pull gage from Brownells Gunsmithing Supplies. I cannot overemphasize how important a good trigger pull is for good double action revolver shooting. This is especially so with a lightweight revolver. The grip was comfortable with the little finger resting beneath the grip for stability like the old top break .38 revolvers I grew up with. Thanks to good ergonomics, it points good and also has very good high visibility sights. The barrel was ported for reduced recoil and muzzle jump aiding in rapid fire from such a lightweight gun. Fit and finish was flawless and the gun exuded reliability.
Shooting Test
I had 1100 rounds of .38 special ammunition to test fire the Off Duty revolver with consisting of:
- 500 rounds of Black Hills Honeybadger, a 100-grain bullet at 1,200 FPS. The Honeybadger is a monolithic solid with flutes that force the blood and tissue out to the sides like a garden hose nozzle at a rate 30% faster than the bullet is traveling resulting in the wound channel of an expanding bullet while retaining the deep penetration of the solid. You have the best of both worlds with no compromises with this innovative slug.
- 500 rounds of Black Hills Cowboy Action, a 158-grain CLN bullet at 800 FPS. This is a pretty standard .38 Special load with a flat nose that leaves a broader wound channel than a round nose bullet.
- 100 rounds of Steinel 195-grain bullet at 1,035 FPS. This marks the return of the heavy bullet loading of the .38 Special long praised for its increased stopping power and penetration. Sadly, this was unavailable for many years as the trend towards lighter bullets took over. It’s return is greatly appreciated.
The Off Duty proved unusually accurate and pleasant to fire. Muzzle flip upon firing was almost nonexistent. Recoil was extremely soft. Of all the Charter Arms revolvers that I have reviewed I like this one the best. It surpassed my expectations and I was expecting a lot. It was exactly the pistol that Coby Nichols, the man shown firing it, needed and after I returned the gun to Charter Arms he bought it from Charter Arms.
Nothing praises more sincerely than a purchase. How many gun reviews do you read where the gun was actually purchased after test firing? Not many.
