Revolvers chambered for semi-automatic pistol cartridges have their advantages.
First, most semi-auto cartridges like .380 ACP, 9mm Luger, and .45 ACP are more in demand and cheaper to buy, making practice less painful on the wallet. Second, you gain the benefits of a revolver while sharing ammunition with your existing pistol, be it your duty pistol or concealed carry handgun. Lastly, revolvers like these generally use moon-clips, which can speed up the reload compared to conventional revolver cartridges and speedloaders.
The concept is not new. Colt and Smith & Wesson chambered their large-framed revolvers in .45 ACP to make the M1917 for the US Army during the Great War. 9mm revolvers have since made the rounds in competition guns and small snub-nosed revolvers like the Ruger LCR and Smith & Wesson Centennial.
But what about .380 ACP? Enter the Charter Arms Coyote.
The Coyote is not the very first revolver chambered in .380, but it is the latest from Charter Arms, a firm that is no stranger to the concept. In this review, we will go through the why behind having a .380 in a revolver and how well the Coyote addresses it under fire.
How Low Can You Go? 380 in a Revolver
If you were going for a backup gun in the same caliber as your duty pistol, or simply looking to simplify ammunition woes, a 9mm revolver makes the most sense. There are plenty of them and the 9mm Luger outclasses .38 Special in energy without being as stout as .357 Magnum.
The drawback is more recoil in that smaller package. .380 ACP is often touted as a cartridge to go to if 9mm has too much recoil and muzzle flip, particularly with new shooters and with smaller handguns. The problem with .380 is that most handguns chambered in it are even smaller than their 9mm versions, so the recoil issue is simply passed on.
It also does not help that .380 pistols tend to be less reliable due to their small size relative to fallible human hands. On a mechanical level, straight-walled .380 is less reliable at higher round counts than tapered 9mm ammo.
But chambering a revolver in .380 mitigates some of these issues and provides a few benefits. As long as you can pull the trigger, the maintained revolver will cycle regardless of how well or how poorly you get a hold on it.
In an equivalent package, it is somewhat less powerful than standard pressure .38 Special and boasts lower recoil in a package with more to hang on to than a typical single-stack .380. Since .380 ACP is a rimless cartridge, you can use moon clips to achieve a rapid reload and clean ejection, where the short ejector rod on a snub nose revolver will struggle to kick longer .38 cases out. .380 is also cheaper by the box.
The concept of the .380 revolver was first tried with the Taurus M380 Mini Revolver, but Charter Arms has taken it and the concept of rimless revolver ammo to the next level.
For a company that tends to stick with its decades-old .38 and .44 caliber designs, the arrival of the Charter Pitbull in 9mm, .40, and .45 was a change of pace. It featured an ejector star and cylinder assembly that could headspace and eject rimless ammo without needing a moon clip.
Charter later introduced a .380 version of the concept. In the 2010s, Charter Arms devised an ejector star and cylinder assembly that can eject rimless cases without needing moon clips. The new Charter Arms Coyote returns to the moon clip concept, but with additional porting for better recoil control.
Charter Arms Coyote: The Fruit and the Features
Charter Arms has been producing economical revolvers in Sheldon, Connecticut, since 1964. On the surface, the Coyote is little different from their old Undercover lineup of .38 Special revolvers. That is because it is. At least, it is based on the aluminum-framed Undercover Lite.
It continues the heritage of its predecessor with a solid anodized aluminum frame with no side plates and a transfer bar safety. The revolver has a one-piece stainless steel 2-inch barrel with a full shroud over the ejector rod.
It is a conventional double-action/single-action revolver with an exposed hammer. The hammer can be thumbed back for a lighter trigger pull. Alternatively, you can simply press the trigger all the way through. It has a conventional cylinder release that unlocks the cylinder by pushing it forward with your thumb. As shocking as it might seem in the era of the RDO, the Coyote features a small ramped front sight and a square notch rear in the top strap of the frame.
Unlike the Undercover models, the Coyote is chambered in .380 ACP and comes with two TK Customs moon clips to feed the revolver. As the .380 round has no exposed rim, the extractor star cannot contact the brass like the rimmed .38. The moon clips allow for easy extraction and serve as a speed loader all in one unit. But the .380 ACP does headspace against the mouth of its case and will fire in the revolver. You would need a rod to remove the empties from the cylinder, though.
At customer request, Charter Arms lightened the underlug with diamond cuts to reduce weight and allow any accumulated debris to exit. The Coyote also comes with porting right from the factory. The barrel has a single long port on either side of the front sight.
Given its pedigree and proximity in size to other small snub-nosed revolvers, the Coyote will fit laser grips and holsters meant for the Charter Arms Undercover. It will also fit in leather J-frame holsters as well.
At its introduction, the Coyote comes in two different configurations. The first features a polymer grip frame, over molded rubber grips, and a clear anodized frame. The latter option that I chose comes with pink and high polished chrome accents, checkered walnut stocks, and an aluminum grip frame. As with other options in the Charter lineup, different configurations are in the pipeline.
Charter Arms Coyote Quick Specs
- Caliber: .380 ACP
- Capacity: 5
- Barrel Length: 2.0 inches
- Overall Length: 6.5 inches
- Width: 1.25 inches
- Weight: 15.8 ounces (loaded)
First impressions
Charter Arms was gracious to send along the Coyote .380 for testing but I had no idea what to expect until that very first range session. I have personally owned two Charter Arms revolvers in the past—one that I loved and another I was lukewarm on. I am certainly not keen on pink guns, but the .380 revolver concept and how Charter would execute it made me take the leap.
On first inspection, I thought the Coyote looked and felt like something beyond its modest price point. It is well finished without missed spots or mill marks. The chrome shines beautifully and the subdued pink frame offsets it smartly. Although I would hate to admit it, the pink frame contrasts the front sight so as to make it jump out into view.
Mechanically, the Coyote locks up tight like a Colt revolver on the trigger press. The trigger is smooth and predictable. In double action, it stacks evenly to eight pounds before the final tactile break. I measured the single action pull at 3.5 lbs., with no creep or overtravel.
The grips are small enough to not interfere with dropping in a moon clip of ammunition, but they still afforded a commanding three-finger hold. The backstrap is exposed and I was worried about a high spot where the grip frame meets the cylinder frame, but this spot is smoothed over and there were no sharp edges to be found anywhere. I was confident of a good shoot, so long as no one saw me shooting.
On the Range with the Charter Arms Coyote
Although I like the idea of a .380 revolver, the idea is only good when compared to an alternative. During my range sessions and drills, I paired the Coyote with my venerable Ruger LCP. That pistol weighs as much as the Coyote, and it defined the single-stack .380 pocket pistol, carrying the same baggage of the type. Although mine has been very reliable through a high round count, its small size and snappy recoil make it hard to shoot reliably in a hurry. And since we are giving up an extra round or two of capacity by going to the revolver, I had to wonder how well it would perform, if it would perform at all.
I began by putting the Coyote on paper at a distance of 10 yards just to see where the sights were hitting.
Loading the Coyote is a simple and quick proposition. The moon clips themselves are loaded by snapping the recessed rim groove into its place. Repeat until all five rounds have been loaded. The two TK customs clips are easy to load and hold the rounds somewhat loosely. With loaded clips in hand, open the cylinder by pushing forward on the cylinder release and rolling the cylinder out of the frame. Drop the rounds directly in and close the cylinder.
I started by thumb cocking the hammer and shooting in single action for my first five rounds of Winchester 95 grain FMJ. All five rounds clustered into a respectable two-inch group, but slightly low and three inches to the right. I switched to Hornady Black 90 grain hollow points and Underwood 90 grain XTP +P loads.
Recoil and muzzle flip were minimal, which took me by surprise. The porting did its job well. Ejection of the empty clips was effortless with the short throw of the ejector rod. Unfortunately, the fixed sights were shooting three inches to the right. Although it is close for its intended purpose, I would prefer it to be closer.
In double action, I tended to pull my shots a little wider but I could keep all the rounds into a four-inch pattern when firing semi-rapidly. With the LCP, I had to be more deliberate and put more into recoil control to achieve the same results.
In terms of reliability, the LCP had no issues. The Charter Arms had the misfortune of cycling some old Aguila FMJ that featured weak rounds and one overpowered round that blew out the case. The revolver fired all ammunition perfectly, but that overpowered round locked up the cylinder and prevented me from opening it until I drew the hammer back slightly to spin the cylinder. From there, the cylinder opened.
After those initial 100 rounds, I took the Coyote out to shoot up the last hundred rounds of .380 ammunition in my stash. As I started up for some bullseye work at seven and 25 yards, I decided to set out my Caldwell Chronograph to collect some velocity data.
Although the Coyote has a ported 2-inch barrel and a cylinder gap to work with, the bullet travels from the longer cylinder and the barrel combined is more of a journey than a typical pocket .380 like the LCP. The results are five-shot averages taken from a distance of 10 feet. They are as follows:
I was surprised to learn that the average velocities from the Coyote are, in fact, higher than a comparable autoloader like the LCP. The differences are, perhaps, enough to make a particularly underperforming .380 load into a viable one.
The Coyote got through its first hundred rounds with one ammunition failure and its second hundred with no problems at all. It is also distinctive because I can get through 100 rounds of .380 ammo. I am about ready to put my LCP down after one box, let alone two. Picking up and shooting the Coyote did not feel like taking medicine. I blazed through at seven yards and took my last shots out to 25 at a paper silhouette. I was able to get five for five every time in double action, and the propensity for the revolver to shoot to the right now tended closer to the center.
At the end of the day, I did not mind being seen with a pink revolver.
The Charter Coyote: Color me surprised
Although it does not quite match the .38 Special in overall power, the .380 ACP is a capable medium-powered round, provided that it is in a shootable platform.
Unfortunately, when we think of a .380 it is likely in the flavor of a single-stack pocket pistol that isn’t any easier to shoot than a technically more powerful platform like a micro-compact 9mm. Where the .380 shines is in slightly larger handguns as a lighter recoil option and, as the Charter Arms Coyote demonstrates, in a small revolver where some of the disadvantages of the pocket .380 are mitigated.
The Coyote is the easiest snubnosed revolver and easiest .380 I have ever shot.
The use of shorter .380 rounds and moon clips allow for a quick reload and clean ejection. The action is deliberate but smooth and the porting did its job well to contain felt recoil. The added cylinder and barrel length gave more power than the alternatives. Best of all, the revolver cycled fired all ammunition, no matter the type of ammo or the grip I managed.
Although I may not hang onto this pretty in pink masterpiece, I would welcome another version in my holster.
