41 Long Colt vs 41 Rem Mag

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Edward429451

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I was given a bunch more reloading stuff the other day. Included in it were both 41 LC and 41 Mag dies, mould, brass, and bullets. I'm wondering if they take the same bullets ala' 44 Spec/44 Mag. I can find next to no info on the 41 LC, even in my older books. Anyone know?
 
.41 Long Colt actually uses bullets that are closer to .38 caliber. It's an OLD cartridge and has been obsolete for many, many years. It's seeing a tiny resurgency in the Cowboy Action Shooting community.

It started out as close to .41 caliber, but it used a "heeled" bullet (looked like a mushroom) like today's .22 Long Rifle.

At some point it its history it was changed to the kind of bullet we're familiar with now (entire bullet is uniform diameter), which is what led to the reduction in caliber.

In other words, no, the bullets are not even remotely related.
 
Aha, that also explains the other mystery. I got 8 moulds and identified all but one. A Lyman# 386178 mould which is unlike any mould I've ever seen. It has a little wooden knob with a rod thing on it that slips up into the mould from the bottom and locks in place so the bullets will be hollowbase!

This has to be the mould for the 41 LC. :) Wonder if the sizing die's in there somewhere...

Thanks Mike.

(Know any CAS shooters lookin for 41 LC stuff?)
 
They're aren't too many looking .....

But those who are want it very badly. I'd try an Internet auction.
 
Hummm - - - .41 Colt

I know a friend who has his grand dad's .41 Colt SAA, and he's hurting for ammo - - Elder Son and I got together and gave him box of the 1970's Winchester limited run ammo - - Man, that stuff is 'SPENSIVE!

Starline has begun producing brass, so it's not unreasonable to handload any more. The dies, while being produced by RCBS, are not a stock item, and my local dealers give NO discount on special order stuff.

Edward, if you want to put a price on the .41 Colt dies and possibly the other goodies, please drop me an e-mail. I don't have the revolver and don't care to get one, but I'd occasionally load up some for our pal . . . .

Best,
Johnny
 
Reportedly, you can just about exactly duplicate the 41LC by loading 200g LRNs in .38 Spl cases over a moderate charge. Sounds like the old Super Police load. Not a bad load, really.
 
I found one load for the 41 LC. Its 3.0g Bullseye behind a 195g bullet for 700 fps..

The dies are RCBS, in the old style box. I looked at the dies and they must be old style too, the decapping pin is not in the sizer die, its in the expander(?) die! Sizer is threaded in top so I thought they must be missing a piece, but a look into some of the other RCBS dies revealed the same set up. All the paperwork is with the dies and it shows the exact configuration of assembly that they're in. I'm not quite sure yet what they're doing for belling, it was late and I didn't spend a whole lot of time with them. The sizing die did not surface yet, ditto the shell holder, but that don't mean they're not there, just that I haven't put together the part numbers yet. There was a top punch in the mould box so I expect the sizing die to be there somewhere.

I never seen a cardboard Lyman mould box. No orange plastic. Black & grey & white cardboard! With all paperwork. This stuff was well cared for. Only one unboxed mould had a touch of surface rust on it. (Not the 41 mould, which looks "NIB")

I know this stuff is seriously antique and prolly worth a goodly bit, but I'd prolly have to sit on it for years to get the big ching ching out of it, and somehow that strikes me as a bit unfair. Somebody could use this stuff right now and make good use of it other than a dust catcher, so I think I'll try and find a good home for it. Guess what Johnnie, you're first in line for speakin up. Gimme a couple few days to get it all figured out and and segregated and we'll talk about it.

There's also a box of brass, didn't count it but it appears to be full. Western brass in a Western box. Its oxidized/dirty but in good lookin shape. Think I should go ahead and tumble it?
 
I've heard not to reload old ballon head cases. I've never seen one (that I know of) and I thought that ballon head cases was something that I could see from the outside of the case...I take it that is not the case here.

What am I looking for?
 
I have some Starline brass that isn't doing anything if anyone needs it, and I've got a Handloader magazine article that is pretty informative.


David
 
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