Snidely. Your work is appreciated, but the caliber ls 41 Colt.
Sorry about that. I found this article:
http://harryo.sixshootercommunity.org/
Reloading the 41LC is actually pretty easy once you find all the components. After all, it is a straight-forward, straight-sided case. After loading several hundred rounds with the Ideal 310, my wife gave me a Redding 41LC die set for Christmas. These are much easier to use. The only problem is that no manufacturer currently makes a correctly sized 41LC shellholder for a press. Some list the .38 Special shellholder and some list the .45ACP shellholder for the 41LC. Neither is correct. The .38 Special size is a little too small and the .45ACP size is a little too big. I took a .38 Special shellholder and motodremeled it out slightly. You don’t have to remove much. The rims on 41LC cases are VERY small.
The reloading information I started with is from several pre-WWII reloading manuals. They list five smokeless powders, but only two of them are still used; Unique and Bullseye. I worked up to the maximum listed load of 5.0gr of Unique, but its accuracy was poor. That was surprising. Unique has always been "old reliable" for me. It was hard to keep them on the paper at 25 yards, so I moved in closer for testing. The best groups were about 3-1/2" to 4" at 15 yards offhand and were quite a bit high and a little to the left. I believe that Unique is too slow to expand the hollow base of the bullet quickly enough.
The maximum load of 3.5gr of Bullseye was better, with groups running between 2-1/2" and 3", and a little high on the black. Note that the oldest reloading manuals (intended for the Thunderer) stop at 3.0gr. Bullseye is faster than Unique, but not quite quick enough.
Then I tried FFFg black powder (BP). BP and magnum primers gave by far the best accuracy of any load tried with hollow-base bullets. BP’s best 5-shot groups were only 2" at 15 yards offhand and were centered in the black. I was also able to occasionally shoot groups as small as 1-1/4” to 1-1/2” at 15 yards from a sandbag rest. This load is with either the Rapine or Lyman hollow-base, soft-lead bullets, loaded in modern, solid-head, 1.132” long cases, with approximately 19gr of FFFg BP, a magnum primer, and SPG lube. The velocity is a little under 750fps. Although I can do better with my S&W K-38, I am satisfied with this level of accuracy in this gun. Keep in mind that I am not a competitive target shooter and I am sure that others could do better.
Goex BP leaves more fouling in the barrel than Swiss BP, but both are equally accurate. Tests with Pyrodex P powder showed that it was less accurate than BP, but cleaner. It was about as accurate as Bullseye, but dirtier. I have not tried any of the recent BP substitutes like Clear Shot or Clean Shot, so I cannot comment on them.