Re: Any .41 mag fans?

kmittleman · Post by **kmittleman** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 12:58 pm

Hey Folks,

I've been thinking this may be the caliber to get for deer / hog hunting and woods carry. The Ruger BH in 6 1/2" looks pretty sweet and just right for Maryland Deer hunting laws. I'm drawn to this caliber because it seems to be just right in terms of power, recoil, and trajectory. Also, I reload and like the uniqueness of the caliber.

Any opinions welcomed.

-Kevin

Post by **Hobie** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 3:20 pm

Good cartridge. I think it shines in carbines, too. I do have an OM 4-5/8".

Rusty · Post by **Rusty** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 3:28 pm

Back in the 70's I carried one as a LEO. I liked the gun, it shot great, it shot through things great when you wanted it to and you could have any bullet you wanted as long as it weighed 210 grains.Soft point, hollow point, lead SWC were all 210 grains. I ended switching to a .44 as my preference and lived happily ever after.
Things have changed over the years, there is a wider selection in .41 but there's an even bigger selection for the .44. I can find .44's at Wally World if need be. Don't let that discourage you, it IS a great round I've just found the .44 to be much more versatile.

Don McDowell · Post by **Don McDowell** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 5:31 pm

I like my 41, but for the life of me can't quite tell where the "less" recoil than a 44 came from..

model55 · Post by **model55** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 6:22 pm

Love the 41 but then I'm into different or old calibers.Feel perfectly safe with the Ruger Black Hawk.Marlin 1894 fg not so much-pretty bad when my Italian 1892 works better.

Marlin32 · Post by **Marlin32** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 6:29 pm

Have always wanted one. Ruger would be fine by me. Carry a 45 colt now, and have no need for the 41...Yet.

bj94 · Post by **bj94** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 8:11 pm

I've always wondered "why do we need a .41", so I've never had one. I have however come up with some observations and some theories.

Theory 1:
A lot of our favorite cartridges have historical roots from a long time ago (.357mag, .44mag and .45Colt). A lot of production firearms suffer from problems with less than optimum bore diameter and cylinder throat diameters. I don't know if this is just due to manufacturers not knowing or not caring what is proper, or if they use certain diameters because they always have. So now we have the .41mag which was invented in modern times, so there is a chance for manufacturers to come up with proper diameters when they began production, and thus there is a better chance of any given .41mag handgun to have good accuracy. I have toyed with the idea of buying a S&W 57 just so I could test out this theory on my own.

Observation/theory 2:
In some guns the .44mag is at the level where it stresses guns a lot. For instance a steady diet of .44mag will harm a 29/629, some .44mag ammo will stress a 329 to the point where it will have extraction problems, and the .44mag is too much for the FA97. The .41mag is just enough smaller that it allows slightly thicker cylinder walls and works better in these gun platforms, while only giving up a small percentage of performance. In fact it seems to me that .41mag is just about ideal for the FA97 and the S&W 329.

Don McDowell · Post by **Don McDowell** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 8:17 pm

The 41 came about as a cartridge that had better stopping power and not as much recoil as the 44 mag for police work. Turned out the less recoil thing didn't really work out, and it took an N frame Smith to hold it so it lost the concealability of the J, and K frames.
Sportsmen played with it some, Sillouette shooters took a small liking to it.
The loads I carry the most in mine duplicate the 38wcf original ballistics and it serves well for most everything a handgun needs to do with those loads.

onegoodshot · Post by **onegoodshot** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 9:47 pm

41's
Marlin 1894, Ruger BH Hunter, RBH, Ruger Acusport Bisley w/ Octagon Clements barrel, and 2 Ruger Acusports.

stretch · Post by **stretch** » Fri Apr 22, 2011 8:10 am

The 41 magnum is a terrific cartridge - one of my favorites. The
fact that it's one of my favorites is not completely logical, however.
The 44 Magnum guns are more versatile, chambering 44 Mag,
44 Special, and 44 Russian cartridges. Any of that ammo is cheaper
and more readily available than the 41, with the possible exception of the
Russki.

On the plus side, it's VERY versatile. One can load it from
quite mild to really, really heavy. (See PACO's articles on this site.)

http://www.leverguns.com/articles/paco/41heavy.htm
http://www.leverguns.com/articles/paco/41magnum.htm

On the minus side, commercial ammunition availibility is quite limited,
and VERY expensive. Just last night in the Sportsman's Guide flyer I
got in the mail I saw 50 round boxes listed at $59 and change!!! 44 Mag
was listed at $29 and change. So if you want to shoot it a lot, yer gonna
have to roll your own.

There were two major reasons why the cartridge didn't succeed in law
enforcement. One was that the "N" frame revolvers it was chambered for
were too big for many police officer's hands. The other was confusion
between the 'law enforcement" load and the full-house hunting round.
The full-house round does, indeed, kick a bit. Some departments were
mistakenly issued this round, and the qualification results were as dismal
as those with the 44 Magnum. The law enforcement load - which I approximate
with 7.0 grains of WW231 pushing a 215 gr LSWC is a pussycat. I don't
perceive it as kicking much more than a 38 Special in the big revolvers, accuracy
is great, and I can happily shoot it all afternoon. Velocity, though I've not
yet chronographed my loads, is said to be around 1000 - 1100 fps.
http://www.leverguns.com/articles/41data.htm
Plenty for social work.

I haven't yet seen a 41 levergun in my neck of the woods, but if I do,
it's going home with me - even if I have to borrow money to get it!

You should DEFINTIELY get a revolver chambered fo it! Or two or three........

-Stretch

Ridgerunner · Post by **Ridgerunner** » Fri Apr 22, 2011 10:09 am

I have a 4" M57 & a 4" M58, would love to come across a Bisley Ruger. Another factor in the failure to excite in LEO circles, is that about the time that it came out, LE departments started to drift away from size standards for officers, to accomodate smaller males and females. Many griped about the weight and recoil of the guns. Kinda like the 10mm, but no one thought to make a .41 Special commerically. S&W came up with the .40 that bears their name and they sold like hot cakes. As much as I love my wheelguns, their sun is pretty much set. Younger shooters look at them even more puzzled than at the autos. Besides, in my first LEO job, my callsign was "41" and I had a M58 at the time, so there is nostalgia involved also....

stretch · Post by **stretch** » Fri Apr 22, 2011 6:23 pm

Yeah, Ridgerunner - I always thought a 41 Special would be really,
really cool.

But as you so accurately put it, the sun has pretty much
set on wheel guns as far as new cartridge development.

The 10mm you mention is another terrific round, and has not
taken off for many of the same reasons as the 41 Magnum. It's
another of my favorites. (So are the 38 Special and 357 Magnum,
lest anybody think that I like only cartridges on the brink of obsolescence.
Okay, okay - I'm a fan of the 35 Remington, too!)

-Stretch

M. M. Wright · Post by **M. M. Wright** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 12:44 pm

I've owned several S&W 41s. Models 58, 57 and the Ruger Blackhawk. Even had the Marlin levergun to go with them when I was playing sheriff's deputy. The biggest advantage the 41 has over the 44 or 45 is it shoots flatter. I always loaded 21 or 22 grains of H110/WW296 behind a 190 grain bullet. (be sure to back off a little and work up in your gun) The 38-40 was real popular with old time lawmen as was the 41 Long Colt. Both use the same bullets and barrels (just pull the base pin out of your Colt and look close at the bottom of the barrel and you will find a leetle bitty 41 stamped on both 38-40s and 41 LCs.

765x53 · Post by **765x53** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 1:08 pm

I will always believe that the .41 magnum exists because no one wanted to legitimize the Herter .401 Power-Mag. No one wanted to admit that George Herter was right about something.

Terry Murbach · Post by **Terry Murbach** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 1:31 pm

765x53 wrote:I will always believe that the .41 magnum exists because no one wanted to legitimize the Herter .401 Power-Mag. No one wanted to admit that George Herter was right about something.

THERE MAY BE MORE TRUTH THAT POETRY HERE THAN YOU MIGHT SUSPECT !!!

I DO KNOW THAT THE 401 CAME WITHIN AN EYELASH OF BEING RE-INTRODUCED WITH A NEW NAME LESS THAN TEN YEARS AGO IN A NEW LIGHTWEIGHT REVOLVER THAT WAS GONNA BE INTRODUCED AS A NEW " FISHING GUN ", THE LIGHTWEIGHT GUN YOU HAD ALONG TO PROTECT YOURSELF WHILE FISHING IN THE BEAR COUNTRY. I KNOW OF ONE BEING BUILT CHAMBERED FOR THE " 10mm MAGNUM " CARTRIDGE FOR WHICH STARLINE MADE BRASS. THAT CARTRIDGE IS NOTHING MORE THAN THE 410 WITHOUT IT'S RIM. IT WORKED GREAT THAT WAY AND WOULD HAVE BEEN A NEAT GUN USING THAT BRASS IN FULL-MOON CLIPS AND THE RIMMED 401 AS IS.
AND SO IT GOES...

Remington40x · Post by **Remington40x** » Mon Apr 25, 2011 1:20 pm

I have owned a bunch over the years including the S&W Model 57 and 58, two Ruger Bisleys, a Freedom Arms Model 97 and a Ruger Redhawk 5-1/2 inch blued finish. At this point I'm down to the Freedom Arms and the Redhawk. I use mid-range (210-215 grain cast at approximately 1000fps) in the FA and shoot full house loads in the Redhawk.

Great cartridge. Accurate to a fault, at least in every revolver I've ever owned for it. The mid-range loads seem almost self-directed.

I know it didn't get the press the .44 Magnum got and it got a bad rep as kicking too hard for the police N-frame revolvers, which were heavy for a belt gun to boot, but I doubt there's anything you should tackle with a handgun that you cannot handle with a .41 Magnum and a good hard cast SWC. I'd be happy to live with it as my only big bore revolver cartridge, if the need ever arose.