Charter Arms Undercover Review (2026): 400 Rounds Tested

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Table of Contents

Review: Charter Arms Undercover – The Cheapest Honest Snub Nose

Our Rating: 7.4/10

Everybody who has ever shopped for a first .38 snub has landed on this gun and then wondered what the catch is. It is a five shot, two inch, fixed sight revolver that costs a couple of hundred dollars less than the Smith and Wesson everybody recommends, and Charter builds it in America from American parts. We put 400 rounds through one, and we also pulled Charter’s entire product catalog apart, because the naming on these guns is a genuine trap.

Specifications: Undercover, stainless (SKU 73820)

• MSRP: $400.61
• Street Price: $235 to $350 depending on finish (Use our live pricing for the best up to date deal)
• Caliber: .38 Special
• Capacity: 5 rounds
• Action: Double action / single action, exposed hammer
• Barrel: 2 inches
• Overall Length: 6.25 inches
• Height: 4.25 inches
• Weight: 17 oz stainless, 14 oz aluminum
• Frame: Small, 416 stainless steel on the 7 and 6 prefix guns
• Finish: Traditional polish stainless
• Sights: Fixed
• Grip: Combat full rubber
• Trigger Guard: Polymer
• UPC: 6 78958 73820 9

Quick Take

The Undercover does the job. It goes bang five times, it fits in a pocket holster, it weighs about a pound, and it costs less than half what a Ruger LCR costs. The trigger is heavier and rougher than a Smith and Wesson, the finish will not win any prizes, and nobody is going to mistake it for a premium gun. None of that matters much at two hundred and thirty five dollars.

The part that does matter, and that nobody warns you about, is the naming. Charter sells two different revolvers both stamped UNDERCOVER. One is 17 ounces of stainless steel. The other is 14 ounces of aluminum, and Charter files it under a completely different series in its own catalog. You cannot tell them apart from the name on the barrel or from most retailer listings.

Best For: A first defensive revolver, a pocket gun, a nightstand gun, or a second gun you are not precious about. Not the right choice if you shoot a lot, because the trigger and the sights will frustrate you long before the gun wears out.

Two Guns Called Undercover, Three Ounces Apart

This is the single most useful thing in this review, so read it before you buy anything. We pulled Charter’s own product catalog, all 125 models of it, and compared what the guns are called against what they are actually made of.

SKU 73820 is called Undercover. Charter lists it as 416 stainless steel, 17 ounces, in the Undercover Series, at $400.61. SKU 13820 is also called Undercover. Charter lists it as 7075 aircraft grade aluminum, 14 ounces, at $378.88, and files it in the Undercover Lite Series despite the word Lite appearing nowhere on the gun or in its model name.

Both are 5 shot .38 Specials with a 2 inch barrel, 6.25 inches long and 4.25 inches tall. Every external dimension is identical. The only differences are three ounces, the frame material, and about twenty dollars. A retailer listing that says “Charter Arms Undercover .38 Special 2 inch 5rd” describes both of them equally well, and plenty of listings say exactly that and nothing more.

The SKU Decoder That Actually Works

We tested the first digit of the SKU against the frame material Charter publishes for all 125 models. Two of the prefixes are perfectly reliable and two are not, so here is the honest version.

SKU starts	Models	What it means	Reliable?
5	52	Anodized aluminum frame, stainless components	Yes, 52 of 52
6	10	416 stainless with a Blacknitride finish	Yes, 10 of 10
7	37	Bright or stainless look	Mostly, 28 of 37 are steel
1	16	Black finish, material varies	No, 9 steel and 7 aluminum

So if the listing gives you a SKU starting with 5 or 6 you know exactly what you are getting. If it starts with 1 or 7, ask the retailer for the weight before you pay. Seventeen ounces means steel. Fourteen means aluminum.

Every Undercover Charter Sells

Twenty four models carry the Undercover name across four series. These are the live in-stock street bands across the retailers we track.

The one worth knowing about is the Undercover Elite. Charter gives it a six shot cylinder in .38 Special on a 2.2 inch barrel at 16 ounces, with a LitePipe front sight. A six shot .38 snub at that weight is genuinely unusual, since almost everything in this class is a five shooter. Charter also does a six shot Police Undercover at 18 ounces. Both are large frame guns, so they will not fit a holster cut for the standard gun.

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Range Testing: 400 Rounds of .38 Special

Our test gun was a stainless Undercover, the 17 ounce one, shot across four sessions between January and March at 7, 10 and 15 yards. Temperatures ran from 29 to 58 degrees. Four hundred rounds total, which for a five shooter is eighty reloads and a sore thumb.

Reliability

No failures to fire in 400 rounds, and no light strikes, which is the thing that actually matters on a defensive revolver. What we did get was a cylinder that needed a deliberate push to close for the first hundred rounds or so, and an ejector rod that shortstroked twice when I was lazy about it. Both settled down. Neither would stop the gun working when it counted.

Accuracy

Off a rest at 15 yards, five shot groups with Federal American Eagle 130 grain averaged 4.1 inches, with the best at 3.4. Speer Gold Dot 135 grain +P short barrel shot a little tighter at around 3.6 inches average, which is a good sign given that is the load most people will actually carry. At 7 yards, offhand and double action, everything stayed inside a fist. That is what a two inch fixed sight revolver is for.

Point of impact was about two inches low at 15 yards with the 130 grain. There is nothing you can do about that, because the sights are a groove in the top strap and a ramp on the barrel. If you cannot live with a fixed sight, this is the wrong gun and no amount of money fixes it.

The Trigger

Here is where the money went. Double action measured 12 pounds 3 ounces on our gauge and it stacks noticeably in the last quarter inch, so the break arrives later than your finger expects. Single action was much better at 4 pounds 1 ounce and reasonably crisp. Compared side by side with a Smith and Wesson 642 the difference is obvious and it is not close. Dry fire it a few hundred times and it smooths out, but it never becomes a good trigger.

Recoil

Seventeen ounces makes standard pressure .38 pleasant enough for a full box. The rubber combat grip covers the backstrap properly, which is more than some snub nose grips manage. Move to +P and the picture changes: it is snappy, the grip starts twisting in the hand, and twenty rounds is plenty. Anyone tempted by the 14 ounce aluminum version should shoot the steel one with +P first and then think again.

Ammunition Log

• Federal American Eagle 130 gr FMJ: 200 rounds
• Remington UMC 130 gr FMJ: 100 rounds
• Speer Gold Dot 135 gr +P Short Barrel: 60 rounds
• Winchester 158 gr LSWCHP +P: 40 rounds

What This Means for You

• Reliability: It fires every time. Work the ejector rod fully and firmly and it will not tie up on you.
• Trigger: Dry fire it. A few hundred repetitions took most of the grit out of ours without touching a spring.
• Ammo: Buy the short barrel loads. A 135 grain designed for two inches beats a 158 grain designed for four.
• Sights: Zero is what it is. Learn the hold at your distance rather than fighting it.
• Frame: Buy the steel one. Three extra ounces is the difference between practising and flinching.

Technical Deep Dive

The Frame and Lockwork

Charter’s small frame is a simpler thing than a Smith and Wesson J frame, and the giveaway is the left side of the gun. There is no sideplate. The lockwork goes in from the bottom, so the frame is a single piece with no seam running down the side of it. That is why the gun looks unusually clean from the left, and it is also why an amateur cannot open one up on a kitchen table and start smoothing things. Fewer joints, fewer things to loosen, and much less scope for a gunsmith to make the trigger nicer than the factory left it.

The Polymer Trigger Guard

Charter lists the trigger guard as polymer on every model in the catalog, including the stainless guns. It is a cost decision and it is one of the reasons this revolver costs what it does. In practice it makes no difference to how the gun shoots and no difference to durability in any normal use. It does look and feel cheaper than the rest of the gun when you handle it next to a steel framed competitor, and you should know that before you are surprised in a shop.

Fit and Finish

This is where the price shows most. Ours had visible machining marks under the crane, a cylinder latch that sat very slightly proud, and a polish on the stainless that is more brushed than bright. None of it affects function. All of it is visible if you put the gun next to a Ruger. The fair summary is that it is clean where it matters and rough where it does not, and that Smith and Wesson charges more partly because it is neither.

Component	Specification	Why it matters
Frame	416 stainless or 7075 aluminum	Three ounces and a big change in recoil
Trigger guard	Polymer on every model	Where some of the price saving comes from
Barrel	2 inches, screwed and nutted	Simple to replace, harder to tune
Sights	Fixed groove and ramp	No adjustment, so learn the hold
Grip	Combat full rubber	Covers the backstrap, hides the frame size
Capacity	5 rounds, 6 on the Elite	The Elite is the outlier worth knowing

How It Compares

Smith & Wesson 642 ($492-$625)

The default recommendation, and it deserves to be. The 642 has a far better double action pull, a shrouded hammer that will not snag on a pocket, and finish quality the Charter cannot match. It also costs roughly $150 to $250 more for the same five rounds of .38 Special out of the same length of barrel. If the budget stretches, buy the Smith. If it does not, the Charter will not let you down, it will just annoy you more often.

Ruger LCR ($540-$609)

The LCR has the best double action trigger of anything here by a wide margin, thanks to a friction reducing cam that genuinely works. It is also the most expensive gun in this comparison, at more than double the Charter’s street price. The polymer fire control housing bothers traditionalists and should not. Buy the Ruger if the trigger is what matters to you and money is not the constraint.

Taurus 856 ($300-$330)

The closest rival on price and the one most people should actually cross shop. The 856 gives you six rounds instead of five for roughly the same money, in a gun that is barely any bigger. Taurus quality control has improved a great deal and the warranty is good. The Charter’s advantage is that it is made in America and that the exposed hammer models give you a usable single action pull. On value alone the Taurus wins the sixth round argument. Our Taurus 85FS review covers the older five shot version.

Verdict: the Charter is the cheapest way to a real .38 snub and the Taurus is the best value if you count rounds. The Smith and the Ruger are better guns and cost like it. For the wider field see our best .38 Special revolvers and best cheap concealed carry guns guides.

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Upgrades Worth Making

Upgrade	Recommended	Why it matters	Cost
Pocket holster	Any leather or suede snub pocket holster	Breaks up the outline and keeps lint out	$25 – $60
Speed strips	Tuff Products QuickStrip or a Bianchi Speed Strip	Flatter than a speed loader and it actually fits a pocket	$8 – $15
Grip	Hogue or Pachmayr for a Charter small frame	Changes reach and recoil more than anything else	$25 – $50
Front sight paint	Bright orange or white sight paint	Costs almost nothing and fixes the worst thing about it	$8 – $15

Common Problems and Fixes

• Cylinder hard to close when new: ours needed a firm push for the first hundred rounds. Clean the crane and the ejector star properly and it beds in. If it is still stiff at 300 rounds, that is a warranty call.
• Heavy, stacking double action pull: dry fire it several hundred times before you decide it is broken. It smooths out noticeably. Do not fit a lighter mainspring on a defensive gun.
• Cases sticking on ejection: the ejector rod is short, which is normal on a two inch gun. Point the barrel straight up and hit the rod once, hard, rather than easing it.
• You bought the wrong weight: the aluminum and steel guns share the Undercover name. Check the SKU or ask for the weight before you pay, because 14 ounces and 17 ounces are very different guns with +P.
• Holster does not fit: the Elite and Police Undercover are large frame six shooters. A holster cut for a standard Undercover will not take them.

Who Should NOT Buy This Gun

• The high volume shooter: the trigger and the fixed sights will wear you out long before the gun does. A Ruger LCRx or a used Smith and Wesson Model 10 is a far better range revolver.
• Anyone who wants six rounds: the standard gun holds five. A Taurus 856 gives you a sixth for the same money, and it is the single best argument against this revolver.
• The pocket carrier who wants no snag: the exposed hammer catches on a pocket seam. Buy the double action only version, or a Smith and Wesson 642, which is shrouded by design.
• The recoil sensitive buyer looking at the Lite: 14 ounces and +P is genuinely unpleasant. Take the 17 ounce steel gun, or step up to a Ruger LCR with its better grip and trigger.
• Anyone expecting premium fit and finish: it is a two hundred and thirty five dollar revolver and it looks like one up close. A Smith and Wesson 642 costs more precisely because it does not.

Final Verdict

The Undercover is an honest gun at an honest price. Four hundred rounds produced no failures to fire, the groups are what a two inch barrel gives you, and the whole package costs less than half a Ruger LCR. If your requirement is a reliable five shot .38 that lives in a pocket or a drawer and gets shot occasionally, this does that job and does not pretend to do any other.

What holds it back is the trigger, the finish, and the fact that Taurus will sell you a sixth round for the same money. What should worry you before you buy is the naming. Check the SKU and check the weight, because Charter sells a 14 ounce aluminum revolver and a 17 ounce steel one under the same word, and most listings will not tell you which is in the box. Buy the steel one, buy short barrel ammunition, and dry fire it until the trigger stops fighting you.

Model specifications, SKUs, weights, frame materials and MSRP figures come from the Charter Arms product catalog, covering all 125 current models. Prices are the live in-stock range across the retailers we track and will move.

Final Score: 7.4/10 – Does exactly one job, does it for two hundred dollars less than anyone else, and tells you almost nothing about which version you are buying.

FAQ: Charter Arms Undercover