A .41 Magnum kinda thing

I just took these pics in response to a PM. I have almost finished the sight painting (I need to trim the excess and sand it to a matte finish). But I thought I'd share these with you guys.

Charlie98 said:

There is quite a bit of load data available online, I have someone's compiled spreadsheet on it, I can scan it and send it to you, just PM me. I downloaded it mostly for the cast bullet data, but it has a lot of everything. Even Hodgdon's online data has data for bullet weights up to 265grn... so it's out there.

Another good powder for the .41 is Unique... but you probably already knew that.

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I appreciate that Charlie! I think I'm going to stick to 210-220gr bullets, at least for now, so I can set and forget the sights. But I'll try to remember that you have that heavy bullet data, just in case. Though honestly, the .44 mags might see that as their territory.

RANGE REPORT:

Today I loaded up 50 new Starline cartridges with 210gr XTPs over 15.0grs of 2400 and CCI 300 Large Pistol primers. 16.0gr is the suggested starting load, but I know 2400 has a wide safe range of use as far as pressure goes, and I assumed I needed to zero the sights. I also loaded 50 rounds of Acme coated 215gr LSWC with the same brass, primers and powder, also at 15.0grs.

I shot the XTPs first so I could check for leading with the Acme bullets. I had a minor issue with the coating when seating the bullets. But I will address that in the ."41 Magnum Association" thread.

I set the target out at 10yds and fired a few XTPs, then did some sight adjustments. Lather, rinse, repeat. Then out a little further to 15yds and did the same a little more.

Side Note: I was sitting, benched, with a rubber rest. But was still not feeling confident in my abilities to rest any part of the gun on the rest directly, which has not worked out well in the past. So instead I lay my dominant forearm on the rest, and use a two handed grip. This is not entirely stable, but usually yields more consistent results than anything else I've tried so far.

Then, with 20 rounds left, I shot 4 groups on 4 targets at 25yds, whilst adjusting the sights between each group. The groups were all 5 shots. Although the other 3 weren't too much worse, this is the best one of the session. At 2-1/8" including the one at bottom left:



I know. Just dancing around that bullseye!

I then tried the same shooting with the lead. I may have been tired by that point, but the groups were not nearly as good. So I used most of that batch for off-hand and "rapid" fire, which was much more fun anyway!

I had a great time! Everything fired first time, despite my concerns about the reduced power 18# main spring. The gun ran smoothly except for the ejector, which seems to be a rough edge on the housing, that never the less did not create a function issue. And the SBH hammer felt good, cocking either strong hand or support hand. Overall a very pleasing range trip with this gun.

Iroquois said:

Looks like it’s shooting pretty good. Would like to see what it does at 50 and 100. Thanks for sharing.

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One day I'll start shooting further. But the indoor range is just so convenient.