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After admittedly having no real interest in the Ruger Charger pistol platform (I remember my intial reaction to their introduction years ago was "What in the hell is that thing for??!!") until the desire for a .22 suppressor overcame me did I finally consider the Charger pistol as a host, liking the possible short barrel combinations and the ability to go back and forth from pistol to rifle and back to pistol configurations legally, so I decided to explore the many possibilities.
Ruger didn't make a configuration that I wanted, so instead of buying a Charger and changing out a number of it's components at x amount of dollars more I decided to start from scratch, with an aftermarket BRN-22R reciever from Brownells. This in combination with an OEM BX-25 trigger group, OEM Ruger bolt/recoil assembly/trigger group pins and buffer, a KIDD 6" blued and threaded bull barrel, and a used $20 take off OEM Charger polymer stock found at a local gunshow were the basis for the pistol.
The KIDD barrel tenons are manufactured oversize, which meant that either the barrel tenon dimension or the receiver bore dimension required modification, so I decided to open up the receiver bore instead of touching the KIDD barrel tenon; with the reciever bore opened up and polished to the point where the KIDD barrel tenon was approximately .001" larger than the receiver bore, it made for an eventual perfect interference fit between the two...
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After freezing the barrel for 6 hours and heating the receiver bore just prior to assembly with a heat gun, it was an easy barrel installation, done by hand, without the use or need of a soft hammer or any form of mechanical "persuation". I did have to heat the receiver bore area a second time as my first attempt at aligning the extractor slot with the bolt's extractor was a smidge off, but the second time went just as easily as the first, and when both parts were allowed to reach ambient temperature they were married together without any of the galling that can come about as the result of pounding an undersized aluminum receiver bore over a slighly oversize steel barrel tenon with a hammer, as is commonplace
But I just don't work that way...
Next was modifying the used polymer OEM Charger stock...it needed to be cut down in length and inletting performed in two areas...
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...to allow the .920" diameter KIDD barrel and the Nodak-Spud NDS-23 band style front sight to be free floating:
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With the addition of a now discontinued grip from Troy and an inexpensive but suprisingly good quality adjustable rear picatinny mount sight from UTG, it came together...
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...to form a nice clean and simple Charger clone:
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It cost me less $$ to build then if I'd purchased an OEM Charger, then removed what I didn't want then bought what I did want.
The photos don't really do it much justice, particularly regarding it's size...it measures only 14" in length
I of course could have purchased a stainless steel receiver, a color anodized aluminum trigger housing, a fancy shmancy Nancy DLC coated aftermarket bolt, a carbon fiber tensioned barrel, an aluminum billet chassis system, and other fancy accoutrements, but I honestly couldn't find any real advantage to doing so other than emptying my wallet.
So in the past if you thought that you'd never want a Charger pistol, perhaps you should give one another thought...you may just come up with a reason to own or even build one
Ruger didn't make a configuration that I wanted, so instead of buying a Charger and changing out a number of it's components at x amount of dollars more I decided to start from scratch, with an aftermarket BRN-22R reciever from Brownells. This in combination with an OEM BX-25 trigger group, OEM Ruger bolt/recoil assembly/trigger group pins and buffer, a KIDD 6" blued and threaded bull barrel, and a used $20 take off OEM Charger polymer stock found at a local gunshow were the basis for the pistol.
The KIDD barrel tenons are manufactured oversize, which meant that either the barrel tenon dimension or the receiver bore dimension required modification, so I decided to open up the receiver bore instead of touching the KIDD barrel tenon; with the reciever bore opened up and polished to the point where the KIDD barrel tenon was approximately .001" larger than the receiver bore, it made for an eventual perfect interference fit between the two...
After freezing the barrel for 6 hours and heating the receiver bore just prior to assembly with a heat gun, it was an easy barrel installation, done by hand, without the use or need of a soft hammer or any form of mechanical "persuation". I did have to heat the receiver bore area a second time as my first attempt at aligning the extractor slot with the bolt's extractor was a smidge off, but the second time went just as easily as the first, and when both parts were allowed to reach ambient temperature they were married together without any of the galling that can come about as the result of pounding an undersized aluminum receiver bore over a slighly oversize steel barrel tenon with a hammer, as is commonplace
But I just don't work that way...Next was modifying the used polymer OEM Charger stock...it needed to be cut down in length and inletting performed in two areas...
...to allow the .920" diameter KIDD barrel and the Nodak-Spud NDS-23 band style front sight to be free floating:
With the addition of a now discontinued grip from Troy and an inexpensive but suprisingly good quality adjustable rear picatinny mount sight from UTG, it came together...
...to form a nice clean and simple Charger clone:
It cost me less $$ to build then if I'd purchased an OEM Charger, then removed what I didn't want then bought what I did want.
The photos don't really do it much justice, particularly regarding it's size...it measures only 14" in length
I of course could have purchased a stainless steel receiver, a color anodized aluminum trigger housing, a fancy shmancy Nancy DLC coated aftermarket bolt, a carbon fiber tensioned barrel, an aluminum billet chassis system, and other fancy accoutrements, but I honestly couldn't find any real advantage to doing so other than emptying my wallet.
So in the past if you thought that you'd never want a Charger pistol, perhaps you should give one another thought...you may just come up with a reason to own or even build one
