I have examined a number of Charter Arms revolvers, and I do not own one. I agree about the overall lax quality control. That is somewhat a shame, because the Bulldog is kind of a good idea. You seem technically skilled as a gunsmith. Good luck with bringing yours up to par.

As to hostage situations, let the SWAT team snipers manage the headshots. The best you could do in a hostage situation is perhaps to keep the perp from leaving with a hostage; from cover.

Jeff Cooper's comment on the Bulldog was, "A brilliant concept, egregiously consummated."

Cool little gun, though, if you can make it work.

We inherited an old (original company) Charter Arms Undercover in .38 Special. It's my wife's backup gun, since she usually uses a Smith J-frame.
It is acceptably accurate at 15 yards, and it shoots to the sights. It's trigger is almost as smooth and light as the Smith's. We've added the new company's smallest-size rubber grips, and it's quite comfortable to shoot.
Problems? Once fired, it opens with difficulty because the cartridge heads and fired primers drag on its face plate. It has difficulty ejecting fired empties, which tend to stick in their chambers.
We would buy another original-company Charter Arms revolver, but only as a backup gun. It would never be our primary weapon.
It seems that the new company's guns are much, much worse.

I, too, recently purchased a stainless Charter Bulldog Pug. It, too, has a
few problems. I owned a Charter Arms Bulldog in the early 70's that was
a very good little gun that I wish I had not sold.

If I had not owned the original Bulldog, I probably would be considering
getting rid of this one. However, since I already know what a good gun
it can be, I'll keep it and fix it.

The barrel has chatter marks inside and the gun is not as accurate as I
would like. The other problem is the worst single action trigger pull I have
ever felt. It is actually a two stage trigger. I think I may be able to get a
local gunsmith to clean that up.

This barrel also has chatter marks inside on the rifling. I think I'll probably
have to send the gun back to Charter to fix the barrel. I'll have them
clean up the trigger while they have the gun.

Quality control is certainly suspect.

More later.

I have an old bulldog and it has been reliable shooter for me don't know anything about the new ones.