When the Old Fuff was an armorer they parceled out percussion caps, except for some darn-blasted, stuck-in-the-mud troops that insisted on chipping flints ... (Not a bad idea, they came free) ...
The .41 Magnum was originally pushed by Bill Jordan and Skeeter Skelton, both of whom were fine law enforcement officers with considerable experience. However they didn't get what they wanted. Both men visualized a true .401 diameter bullet, weighing around 180 to 200 grains, with a muzzle velocity around 1000 FPS. Smith & Wesson upped both the bullet size (to .410 diameter) and velocity 1400 FPS so that it would only work in their N-frame platform and competitors such as Colt and Ruger couldn't get into the act. The resulting cartridge had much merit, but not for law enforcement, which was supposed to be its intended market.
Elmer Keith's private opinion, as he expressed it to me, was that the .41 Magnum would fail, because he couldn't believe that people would buy a .41 when they could get a .44 in the same package. He was largely right, as was usually the case. On the other hand he fully supported what Skeeter and Bill were trying to get, and thought it would be superior to any .38 Special or .357 Magnum that it was intended to replace.
At approximately the same time Colt was experimenting with a cartridge that was identical to what the three gentlemen wanted, and tried it out in a converted Python. This cartridge was based on the old .41 Long Colt round, that was once offered in the Army Special. (That had a cylinder and frame similar to the Python, but with fixed sights.) But unfortunately Colt (again as usual) didn't go anywhere.