Smith & Wesson Model 41

[Onmilo]

The pre-Woodsman came out in 1915, the Woodsman in 1927. The first high velocity .22 LR came out in 1930, and Colt changed the mainspring housing for use with H-V in 1931. They also made a new mainspring housing sold separately to let owners convert the older guns to handle the new ammunition. There are few of the old guns on the market today; most that survive are in collections and rarely if ever fired. Just in case, the older MSH has an oval checkered area at the takedown spot; the newer one has horizontal lines.

All Woodsman pistols made after 1931, and all Woodman variations made after WWII with the longer MSH are capable of handling H-V ammo with no problems.

Jim

As is every Model 41 ever made.
Including the .22 Short variations.

 

[Bullseye57]

Maybe someone here knows the answer to something I used to wonder about. My gun (and most others I have seen) has a 7" barrel. I know it also was available with a 5" barrel, and I know of one gun set up that way.

What might the reasons be for selecting one over the other? Is the short barrel to make it easier to carry around, or because of some competition rule? I would have thought the longer barrel would improve accuracy, even if only because of the increased distance between front and rear sights. To me, a longer barrel seems like something useful if all you're concerned about is accuracy.

There are actually three barrel configurations for the Model 41; 7", 5.5" Bull Target, and a 5" Field barrel. The 5" field barrel has the same width and girth as the 7" barrel, and some of the field barrels were actually factory cut-downs of the 7" blanks. Since these were primarily target guns, the longer sight radius of the 7" barrel made it better for Rimfire Bullseye competition, and some of the early Model 41's came with barrel weights for better recoil control management. The heavier 5.5" bull barrel also was designed for Rimfire competition and eliminated the need for barrel weights due to the heavier nature of the barrel. The 5" Field Model was designed for folks to carry and not primarily made for competition, although some of these barrels came with an extendable front sight, just in case one wanted to use it for target shooting.

R,
Bullseye

 

[Wil Terry]

I have had three M41 S&W pistols, two 5 1/2" and one 7 1/2". ALL were pickier than a million dollar hooker as to their diet. ALL were eventually dumped as none ever shot any better than any of the MKI/MKII pistol I ever had and still have. I still have a pile of magazines for the damn things somewhere.
And so it goes...