Question for the .41 Mag fans

Shot the 41 today. Felt a lot less of a punch like 357. Really liked it but I’ve never shot 44 or 45lc so not sure if there’s a big difference.
 
Lennyjoe said:
I’m a Reloader and think it would be fun to try different loads with this caliber. I’m enjoying building loads for my 10MM’s and .44 Mag.
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The .41 was the first centerfire pistol I ever shot... so it was natural that I would continue with it. Putting my money where my mouth is, the .41 is the only revolver cartridge I load for, now... I sold everything else.

If you are looking for validation over the .44 or 10mm, you're just fooling yourself. They are all 3 capable rounds, they all have their merits... and demerits. It's fun to load for, and certainly rewarding. It's interesting to have an obvious oddity to load for and shoot. It is not a cheap platform, however, although you can prolly say that about the .44 (although there are more pistols available for it...) or even the 10mm.

If you really want to have some fun, find a .41 rifle to go with your pistol...

Marlin 1894FG (converted to straight lever...) and the Dan Wesson 741V...

dfHAW5fl.jpg

Clockwise, L to R... Dan Wesson, S&W 58, S&W 57...

sj85v6Ul.jpg

The .41 always delivers...

PjPIjiTl.jpg

Shooting the 500yd steel off the sticks, up in Wyoming a few years ago. I was also hitting 6 for 6 at 500 with the 4" S&W57 later that day...

jp0Riptl.jpg
 
The model 58 in my avatar has a funny habit ...
It doesn't seem to be particular to any one cast bullet , powder or load when it comes to accuracy ,
Light target , mid-range and heavy hunting ... all of the bullets like to gather in nice tight groups .
15 rounds will make one ragged hole from 1 3/8" to 1 1/2" at 25 yards ... I realy like it not being picky about powder ... it seems to like :
700X , Bullseye , Acc #2 , Titegroup , Red Dot , W231 , HP38 , Unique , Acc #5 , Acc #7 and 2400 .
Every one of these powders just works ... in fact I haven't tried a proper powder yet that gave poor accuracy ... but I haven't tried a lot of powders on the market either !

I still have a nice supply of Alcan #5 ( circa 1978 ) and during a powder drought a few years ago ...used it in mid-range loads with excellant results !

Gary
 
gwpercle said:
It doesn't seem to be particular to any one cast bullet , powder or load when it comes to accuracy
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One of the merits of the .41 is a standardized bore size... or so it seems to me. I've never had any issues with poor accuracy or leading, even with commercially cast cheapo bevel-base bullets. A .41 is a .41 is a .41...
 
Comparing a 41 mag to a 44 mag you get 80% of the recoil with 95% of the performance, a great trade-off. Plus what Charlie98 just said, they all seem to be extremely accurate because it's a newer cartridge with standardized bore size. And personally, they just seem to be the perfect size to handle when reloading. My favorite cartridge.
 
Just to stir things a bit, I paid $81.00 new in the box for my model 58 and a box of shells.
However, that was in 1966 and the LGS owner was a staunch supporter of LE. and friend.
I’m pretty sure I got it at his cost. I paid $10.00 a month for the gun.

Back then a Combat Magnum/model 19 went for $125.00. I couldn’t afford that on a new cop’s salary.

I fired the box of factory ammo, it was hunting loads and brutal with magna grips.
I got reloading dies, used Elmer Keith's recipes for .41 Mags, and never fired another factory round.

I also destroyed the factory grips to get the hardware to make my version of of the more expensive/$12.00 target grips.

I spent an afternoon shooting with Bill Jordan. I learned a lot, and got pretty quick on the draw. It saved me more than once.
Mdl58.jpg

I drew and dry fired that old timer 10 times every day before going on duty for 13 years, and it shows.
 
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It’s a reloader’s cartridge, no doubt due to it not being ridiculously popular. I have two, a 6.5” 657 hunter and a desert eagle. Neither has fired a factory round since I’ve owned them. The comment about not being picky about the load is true in my case as well for the 657, the eagle is full power or nothing and it’s super accurate.

If you reload, grab one, you won’t be disappointed.
 
I am a .41 guy in a big way. But if you really like your .44, I do not know that you will gain anything with the .41. To me, the .44 mag was just slightly past the threshold of fun and into the "unpleasant" zone. The .41, even with hot loads, is not abusive to me and it can do almost everything the .44 can do, but with a more pleasant recoil impulse. For me, the .41 magnum is as big a beast as I care to shoot.
 
black mamba --- Are you saying that if you load a 210gr JHP in a .41mag and in a .44mag, both at 1200fps, the .41mag will have only 80% of the recoil
of a .44mag ?
 
Lennyjoe said:
not looking for validation at all, just the benefits of the .41 Mag should I decide to get one.
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Sorry... I didn't mean to come off snotty or anything, I meant that as a tongue-in-cheek comment. Truthfully, if you have a .44 and a 10mm already, it would be hard to 'justify' the .41... other than it's a fine cartridge in it's own right, but you could say that about the .45 Colt, or to a lesser extent, the .44SPC, both of which I have owned. After all of that... the .41 remains, the other's have gone.
 
nofendertom said:
black mamba --- Are you saying that if you load a 210gr JHP in a .41mag and in a .44mag, both at 1200fps, the .41mag will have only 80% of the recoil of a .44mag ?
Click to expand...

No, but I do say that if you load a 210 gr. .41 @ 1300 fps and a 240 gr. .44 @ 1300 fps, because of the lighter bullet, the lighter powder charge to drive it, plus the heavier gun (smaller holes mean heavier barrel and cylinder) you get about 80% of the recoil with about 95% of the performance. With a properly constructed bullet no game animal would know the difference if shot with either of the above loads. And the .41 would be slightly more accurate, on average.
 
DR505 said:
There were many conversions using the Model 28 as the base gun: .41 magnum, .44 special, .45 Colt, .45 ACP...back when 28's were cheap. You can see the difference in barrel profile on his 28.
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Interesting. I did note the barrel profile, BTW, that's why I was kind of thinking he got the nomenclature wrong. Actually looking at the pic closer now, the bluing is different between the frame, and the cylinder and barrel. Makes sense!
 
Charlie98 said:
You sure about that? The 28 is an N-frame .357...
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The S&W rep gave me the manufacture date of 1969 but was curious about the .41 marking on the barrel. I sent the photos below three weeks ago and have not heard back further. Guy at GS says they made a few like this, but I have no idea where he got his info as there is nothing on the web. The somewhat bad news is it has cylinder end play running from a tight 0.008" to a snug 0.012", so 0.004+ of movement for it to hammer the cylinder back every shot and those magnum loads probably will hammer it pretty good. Is it worth putting a 0.002 shim in it?
image (2).png
image (3).png
 
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