S&W Model 41 on the way

[Rembrandt]

Improving on the 41 would be akin to thinking a Wilson Combat Super Grade needed more tweeking.

 

[AustinTX]

Improving on the 41 would be akin to thinking a Wilson Combat Super Grade needed more tweeking.

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Super Grades generally could benefit from more tweaking, though (as could the 1911s from every other semi-custom shop), as could the Model 41. Not necessarily the tweaking performed by Bubba in his garage, however.

 

[sparkyv]

Ditto

The Model 41 is one pistol I’ve always liked... but never owned.

 

[Jim Watson]

I shuddered at the thought of Dremeling a new gun without even firing it, but it seems to have worked out ok.

Reliability and accuracy from a .22 call for trying different ammo, equivalent to ringing the changes on handholds for a centerfire. If you want to shoot the cheap stuff, you may have to accept lower results.

My M41 is reliable and as accurate as I can hold with CCI SV, no need for true match ammo. It is pretty good with Aquila SV. It has been a long time since I shot anything else in it, although it did ok with the old Winchester T22. (Which my High Standard was great with.)

Everything is improvable and the Model 41 "best target pistol in the world" is no exception.
When you get up to NRA Master and going for High Master, you will likely want to have your M41's barrel relined with a premium tube and a perfect chamber cut. The last one I read of had a Lothar Walther bore. Or trade it for a European gun, probably Hammerli or Pardini.

 

[Frankl03]

Improving on the 41 would be akin to thinking a Wilson Combat Super Grade needed more tweeking.

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Really pretty Model 41!!

I just got a line on some SV ammo. So hopefully that works out.

I'm glad my Model 41 runs great. If you read some of the posts by people over at Rimfire Central quite a few have problems with their Model 41s and complain about quality control at S&W especially newer guns. I little preventive maintenance could go along way. My 41 feeds copper hollow points no problem but the Lead round nose I have had to put a drop of oil on the first round and then no problem. I have not had any problem with ejection.

I have found that my 41 is very accurate with the ammo I used as in Fed Auto Match and it did well with Rem Golden bullet. Even though Rem GB is supposed to be HV, it may not actually be fully HV.

 

[PzGren]

Improving on the 41 would be akin to thinking a Wilson Combat Super Grade needed more tweeking.

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A Wilson Super Grade will be individually "tweaked", or rather adjusted, by very competent gun smiths, something that you cannot expect from a regular production gun and the S&W 41 is not the best example of a reliable target pistol out there. Adjusting the extractor is something that will be necessary at some point, as will be attention to the recoil spring with use. Attention to the springs is not just important with a S&W 41 but also on a Wilson Combat, High Standard, or a heavily used Hammerli International.

 

[Jim Watson]

I have had to put a drop of oil on the first round and then no problem.

This has become routine for me. There is a sweet spot after you have a little soot and bullet lube in the chamber to lubricate the incoming round that it is not necessary, but a very clean or very dirty "minimum match" chamber can use a little help.

 

[sugarmaker]

My brand new mid-80s 41 shot high with the rear sight at limit, the bore was visibly skewed on the 5.5 heavy barrel. Sent it off to SW, it arrived back with a bent barrel tang. I expressed dissatisfaction with this, was told that a scientific whack with a hammer was the fix for this issue, case closed. They don’t spend as much time and care with these as we would like to think. The gun went on to help earn high master, and yes, I did polish the ramp and deburr the chamber lip which was shaving lead. I acquired a 7 3/8 comp barrel which I keep irons on, the 5.5 started wearing an ultra dot shortly after SW fixed it. It’s a great gun, enjoy it, it’s meant to be shot.

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

My brand new mid-80s 41 shot high with the rear sight at limit, the bore was visibly skewed on the 5.5 heavy barrel. Sent it off to SW, it arrived back with a bent barrel tang. I expressed dissatisfaction with this, was told that a scientific whack with a hammer was the fix for this issue, case closed. They don’t spend as much time and care with these as we would like to think. The gun went on to help earn high master, and yes, I did polish the ramp and deburr the chamber lip which was shaving lead. I acquired a 7 3/8 comp barrel which I keep irons on, the 5.5 started wearing an ultra dot shortly after SW fixed it. It’s a great gun, enjoy it, it’s meant to be shot.

That is truly sad for me to hear.

Todd.

 

[barnetmill]

Got to the indoor range (at the gun club I belong to) this morning. I only had an hour as I had to get to work this morning. I think it went pretty good. I'm pleased the way the Model 41 ran. I took 4 different brands of 22lr.
I took Remington Golden Bullet, CCI Stingers, Blazer Lead Round nose and an older partial box of Federal Auto Match. I shot free hand or without a rest from 10 yards.

I had a couple failure to feeds that I believe were ammo related. I shot 4 mags only because of the time.

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The first was mag was the CCI Stingers i believe this is the fastest velocity ammo I shot and I had one failure to feed. I was please the way it grouped.

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The next mag was the Remington Golden Bullet. Every round fed and fired fine. Thought it grouped OK too.

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The next mags the federal Auto Match and I and I had 3-4 failures to feed. To be fair this was old ammo I had laying around the garage. It seemed like a couple of the rounds were under powered maybe cause of age and that when I had the failure to fee the next round.

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The last mag was the Blazer Lead Round nose. It had no failures. It didn't group as well but could have just been me.

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All in all very pleased the way the Model 41 shot. I really liked the trigger unlike a lot of guns that need work to get a good trigger. The 41 seemed easy to get and hold on target.

Thank you again for all the info!

I regularly shoot an informal bullseye match at my club. The model 41 is the most common gun on the line. Most of us shoot the more economical ammo.
The gun was never intendrf to shoot hyper velocity and the hotter high velocity. This can batter the gun over the years. Most 41's like the standard velocity CCI and mine does love it too. Due to economics I do shoot the nominally high velocity federal automatch because I purchased a bit of it after the last ammo crisis 4 years ago. I also installed a buffer in the gun that one can find on the internet to prevent slide battering. When federal auto match is used up, I will switch to my stash off CCI standard velocity. Aguila standard velocity is good quality that is used by several of the shooters, but it does not have sufficient recoil to function a 41 with factory springs. It will not function in mine. What others often do is on a loaded mag place a drop of lube of some sort to increase recoil. I think that is not a good idea.
Do not dremel a 41 unless you know what you are doing. Check out the magazine first. Make sure it is clean, not with dented feed lips, good mag spring and as a last resort send it to smith and wesson or to a qualified gun smith.

 

[barnetmill]

Really pretty Model 41!!

...... I have had to put a drop of oil on the first round and then no problem. I have not had any problem with ejection.

I have found that my 41 is very accurate with the ammo I used as in Fed Auto Match and it did well with Rem Golden bullet. Even though Rem GB is supposed to be HV, it may not actually be fully HV.

Some use a mixture of automatic transmission fluid mixed with cheapo gun cleaning solvent that has the banana oil smell to it. it is supposed to be self cleaning.
Recoil buffer that I use