I have or have read magazine articles that cover pretty much of the production life of the 1st Generation, and during that period (around late 1980, early 1981) it seems that CA attempted to capture more of the market by doing so, also in April of 1981, they introduced Stainless Steel revolvers into the mix, for the first time.
2007 Charter Arms/ MKSįrom the 26 pieces in my collection (all 1st Gen) and from dozens more that I've had the opportunity to observe and handle, I'd say that around s/n 600,000 the finish was made a lot finer - although the integrals (lock work, action) was at least as good as the earlier ones. Stratford CONN address - ~315,000 to ~1,090,000 1974 - ~1991Ģnd Generation - CHARCO, Ansonia Conn address - 1,090,000 to ? ~1991 - 1996?ģrd Generation - CHARTER 2000 - Shelton Conn - 0 to where ever they are today. CA company founded in 1964, first production pieces of the Undercover model produced in 1965īridgeport CONN address - ~13,500 to ~315,000 1967 - 1974 The earliest 1st Gen - ~0 to ~13,500 have NO barrel ADDRESS and s/n is on lower right corner on right side of frame.
WHAT IS A CHARTER ARMS UNDERCOVER 38 SPECIAL WORTH SERIAL NUMBER
This is the updated (6/11) serial number info that I have - based upon around 950 data points About a year and a half ago, the company re-reorganized under the direction of MKS Marketing and seems now to be if not flourishing at least it is progressing in quality and market share.įrom the limited data set that I have been able to assemble so far the following serialization seems to be valid: (NOTE: model name and caliber will be stamped on left side of barrel on all pieces)Ġ001 - 1,090,000 - ? 1991 - 2000? CHARCO over ANSONIA CONN- markingĠ00001 - to date 2000 - 2011 CHARTER ARMS 2000 over SHELTON CONN marking. Early production of this generation seems to have been spotty and reputation still lagged. All pieces made during this THIRD generation will be marked with the SHELTON address. In 2000, the company was again reorganized as CHARTER 2000 and relocated to SHELTON CONN. This is the SECOND generation and apparently the period which caused the most damage to the Charter name and reputation. All second generation pieces will be marked on the right side of the barrel with that name and address in two lines. This was the end of the FIRST GENERATION.Īround mid 1991 (may be as early as 1988?), the company was re-organized under new leadership and became known as Charter Arms Company - CHARCO, and was located in ANSONIA CONN.
The very first Charter Arms Corporation production began in 1965 in BRIDGEPORT CONN - earliest pieces - mostly Undercover model will have either NO address on the right side of the barrel or will have BRIDGEPORT CONNĪround 1974, address was changed to STRATFORD CONN - all pieces made after mid 1974 will be marked with that address on the right side of the barrel and all will have CHARTER ARMS CORP. I know virtually nothing about the MODERN Charter Arms firearms, so anything/gun made after 2000 will be a mystery to me: As promised above, here's my ROUGH notes based upon over 1000 data points (serial numbers to models, magazine articles, company literature and catalogues, etc.) Hope this helps sort things out a bit with the Charter Arms history time line.