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I've always loved guns of every type, shape or form. This Group is very informative, and in my opinion, Better Than Sliced Bread, when it come to guns, and I'm proud to be a small part of it.

I'm always looking for another gun, I like a diverse collection. How about the .41 magnum? The .44 Mag has just plain too much kick for me, so I started reading about the '41'.

Any thoughts from anyone?

Why not go to Ask Master Guns and inquire?

.41 Magnum

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The .41 Magnum is a firearms cartridge introduced in 1964 by Remington.

Development

In 1963, Elmer Keith and Bill Jordan petitioned Smith & Wesson, Remington, and Norma to produce a revolver and cartridge in this caliber to overcome perceived shortcomings in the extant .357 Magnum and .44 Magnum caliber cartridges.

At the time, jacketed hollow point bullets were not commonly available in .357 Magnum cartridges; most were of the soft lead variety. The .44 Magnum had too much recoil and the revolvers chambered for it were considered too large and bulky for police use.

As originally envisioned, there were to be two loadings of the .41 Magnum, a full-power load and a reduced police load.

However, the police load as delivered was regarded as overpowered by most police agencies, many of which were still using .38 Special revolvers. The initial .41 Magnum police load fired a 210 grain semi-wadcutter bullet with a muzzle velocity of 1,100 feet per second (340 m/s), while the original specification was for a 200 grain bullet traveling at 950 feet per second (290 m/s).

Additionally, Smith and Wesson developed their revolvers for the new cartridge using their large N-frame, which did not address size and weight concerns. The law-enforcement targeted Smith & Wesson Model 58, introduced on January 10, 1964, weighed 41 ounces, compared with 34 ounces for Smith & Wesson's Model 10 in .38 Special.

These combined factors mostly eliminated the .41 Magnum from consideration for its intended market as a law enforcement weapon, although it continued to be touted as such and did find a place in some law enforcement agencies.

Smith & Wesson's other revolver in the .41 Magnum caliber, the model 57, was almost identical to .44 Magnum-chambered model 29.

The .41 Magnum has never had the success of either the .357 or .44 Magnum cartridges, but was still prized by some handgunners as a hunting cartridge. For the largest game, though, a .44 Magnum with its ability to use a heavier bullet is still preferred.

The .41 Magnum is a good caliber and often overlooked. It's more than the .357 Magnum and less than the .44 Magnum. The .41 comes into its own with handloads of different velocities and bullets. The standard commercial loadings are powerful but don't really capture the .41's true capabilities.

Of the three calibers: (1) .357 Mag, (2) .41 Mag, and (3) .44 Mag, the .41 comes in a distant third. Your choice should be tempered by several things (aside from purchase price). The .357 Mag is the most popular of calibers and you can fire the .38 Special cartridge in these guns. The .44 Mag can also fire the .44 S&W Special round. There is currently no other cartridge compatible with the .41 Mag however.

I have one .357 Mag, a Colt Trooper Mk III with a long 7-1/2 inch barrel. This gun shoots like a rifle and is just fine for me. I've shot the .44 Mag in a 4-inch barrel and my feelings at the time were: "When you put wheels on this cannon, come back and see me." I haven't shot the .41 Mag, so I won't comment on it.

One more thing, if you're going to go with a magnum of any kind, then to get the maximum out of it, you have to have a long barrel. The reason is called "sight radius." The longer the barrel, the longer the sight radius from rear to front and the more accurate it is likely to be. Of course, you can mount an optical sight on your pistol for greater accuracy. Be aware that the longer the barrel the more weight you have on the end and the more ungainly the pistol may be for you to shoot. However, it really comes down to what you want to do with the pistol.

Wish I knew this discussion was taking place, last night. I saw that Ruger has made a .41 Mag. on the Blackhawk frame. I woulda paid more attention to it had I know you guys were jawin' about it.

About the Single Action Ruger vs. the Double Action S&W and Colt in .41 Mag, some shooters prefer the single action grip design of the Ruger over the DA desing of the Colt and S&W. This is true of heavy loads. The SA design tends to rock back and pivot in the hand helping tame the recoil. The DA's don't seem to do this. While it might be not as important in the .41 Mag, it does make a difference to the .44 Mag shooters. Many of them like the Ruger .44 Mag because of this bit of trivia. Don't worry about missing one pistol. There are other .41 Mags looking for good homes. If you preferences run to that caliber, one of them will eventually pop-up on your radar screen and you'll just have to have it. (I know about these things. Trust me on this.)

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