41 Magnum

[SLG]

Who uses 'em? Why? In what guns? Any favorite handloads?

[ACP230]

I went on a years-long .41 jag a while back.
Smith M57s, 657s and one M58 arrived. Also Ruger Redhawks, a Blackhawk,
and a Marlin 1894FG. Put a ghost ring peep sight on the Marlin and it shoots great.
Bought right, more or less, as all guns listed are less available and more expensive now.

I like the .41 because it is an oddball, not a .44 caliber which everybody has. I like the .357 but appreciate the
.41 more. It got my attention from the first gun mag articles on it back in the 1960s.

Used to shoot bowling pins at Second Chance with my first M57. Pins left the tables
in a shower of splinters. Much more impressive than the .45 ACP I was using before.
Also shot some steel plates with .41s. Clangs 'em real well, eh?

I've used 210, 215, 225 and 230 grain LSWCs in my various .41s.
Unique powder sufficient to reach 1,000 fps, give or take, works for what I do.
Got some Remington jacketed 210 grain hunting loads with one of the Rugers.
My guns liked them too. Also various Cor-Bon jacketed loads.

Made a few jacketed reloads too but not enough to have a favorite load.

[45dotACP]

I was given a set of 41 dies...so I got a Blackhawk in 41 😎

Sent from my VS876 using Tapatalk

[SLG]

Do you find that the 41 does anything "better" than an equivalently loaded 44? Is there a place for the 44 and the 41, other than just because?

[JHC]

It's a fantastic caliber and I wish it and the .44 magnum were reversed in their place of popularity. It delivers plenty of big revolver performance for a considerably less amount of recoil. In the early '80's when I was deep into .41 (6" Model 57 and an 8 3/8 for a short time; then two Model 58s) I reloaded a 215 hard cast SWC over . . . IIRC 18.5 grains of 2400 quite a bit. Good power, not bad recoil.

I don't have any .41 now sadly. I tried a Taurus .41 snub once I picked up cheap and it was very accurate but it would spin it's cyclinder in DA fire and that I was to understand was pretty much unfixable. It's just how they are.

[SLG]

How does it have less recoil? Same weight bullet at the same velocity, in the same gun should be pretty much the same, no?

[JHC]

How does it have less recoil? Same weight bullet at the same velocity, in the same gun should be pretty much the same, no?

215 grains at 1200 fps say, a good bit less than 250 gr cast at the same speed. I think there are charts about on that. Keith was good for 20 gr of 2400 and 18.5 is stuck in my head as my load but that seems higher than what charts for Alliant 2400 set. I didn't realize it wasn't Hercules powder any more.

I don't recall 250 gr plus slugs for the .41 way back then.

[SLG]

Gotcha, I was thinking an apples to apples comparison.

[Dagga Boy]

I was a long time .41 magnum geek. My first revolver was a full house 4" Magna port model 57. Shot my first police match with Roy Huntington when he was at San Diego PD and I was in college with that gun. There was no .41 special, so I shot with full loads against guys shooting anemic .38 gamer loads. Being I don't hunt,the .41 magnum appealed to me as a pure people hunting round. Later I got a great 4" model 58 former Sna Fransisco pD gun that was hard chromed and customized by a DEA agent who used it as a car gun. They are great guns and I love the cartridge as a police round.

The issue I had is that I have acquired a crap load of both .44 magnum guns and ammunition. Snubs, service size guns, single actions, .44 special snubs, etc. it simply got to be illogical to keep doing both, so I had a couple trade opportunities to dump my .41's for .44's and consolidated. If I was not an obsessed revolver whore and was looking at simple practicality, my first Magna Port 41 Magnum gun would still be a near perfect do everything general purpose revolver.

[SLG]

I'm pretty happy with the versatility of the 44, but I figure I should have a 41 in the collection. Definitely gets to be a pain to maintain a bunch of calibers.