Light .41 Magnum Loads

[Wally]

Has anyone tried a light load, say 6.0 grains of Bullseye with a 210 SWC bullet in the .41 Magnum....just wondering if it is a good plinking load. I plan to try some out but felt it wise to ask...

[AZ-Stew]

I've been shooting a .41 magnum at reduced velocity for over 30 years. I've never used Bullseye because I wanted a powder that came as near as possible to filling the case to the base of the seated boolit. Bullseye won't do it, neither will Unique. The best powder I've found for this cartridge is SR-7625. I use 6.7 grains with a 210-220 gr cast SWC, standard primer, for about 950 fps from my 6 inch Smith. When emptying the fired cases, most will simply fall out of the cylinder when the muzzle is tipped up.

That said, if you've found your 6 grains of Bullseye load in a reputable, published manual, it should be safe. Your testing will tell if it's accurate.

A word of caution: Don't try to drive jacketed bullets too slowly. One may stick in the bore. Firing the next round will cause a bulged or burst barrel. Cast boolits can be driven more slowly without sticking in the bore.

Regards,

Stew

[Wally]

Thank you---I have been shooting mine since 1980...

I have since found that I did try this load before and obtained 977 Avg MV with a 16.0 Std deviation..excellent for a revolver...however I bet the accuracy wasn't all that good. Will have to try it again. I used a Lee 200 SWC bullet that casts at 210 grains with WW metal.

Glad to see another .41 Magnum fan..there aren't many us us...

[Dollar Bill]

6 gns W231 behind a Lyman 410459 works just fine. About 850fps.

[bcarver]

I have a large amount of red dot powder.
I wanted to shoot Icore steel plates with 210 grain loads.
I found 5 grains of red dot worked well.

[Rocky Raab]

pssssssst...

http://www.reloadingroom.com/index_files/41%20Special.htm

(Don't use IE to view it, though.)

[GLynn41]

7 gr of Herco--7 gr 800x have been good to me and my .41s-- currently i own nothing but .41s
800x is very bulky- but you can go and get decent mvs

[HORNET]

Wally, There's more .41 owners on here than you'd think. Boolit casters tend to be a little 'different' so the .41, being a cartridge that's a little 'different', has a natural call.....

[acemedic13]

I have a matched set of .41's. That round is what got me into reloading. They aint cheap new!!! There a lot of dead bears and antelope because of those guns. It is hands down, My favorite pistol cartridge.

[kyle623]

I used 7 gr w231 under a 170 gr swc. shot pretty good in my contender with a super 14 bbl

[greg gremlin]

WELL!! And here I thought I was the maverick! Long ago, sold my 44 and went back to a 41 Mag and it does anything I need done. best, greg

[Larry Gibson]

I use a lot of Bulleye in light .41 magnum loads. I use 6 gr to be exact over the Lee TL410-210-SWC. They run 925 fps out of my 7 1/2" Ruger Bisley with very good accuracy considering the 6 cavity mould and little in the way of bullet selection other than a quick visual. I load them on my Dillon SDB.

Larry Gibson

[Wally]

Larry,

I tried that bullet with 7.0 grains of Bullseye--the Average velocity wa 1,100 FPS, but I obtained a high spread (109 FPS) and a 42 Std Deviation--it was not all that accurate either.

[Rocky Raab]

By way of only a slight digression, I firmly believe in "magic" velocities - bullet speeds that just seem to be highly accurate in whatever cartridge you fire. THE handgun accuracy speed is 900 fps.

Look through your own load logs and note how many loads at or very near 900 fps and have a little "ACCURATE!" note over in the remarks column. I did. It's amazing.

[epj]

I always liked 7-8 gr. of Unique with a 210 cast bullet. I'm going on very old memory here, so don't try that load without looking it up in a manual.

[runfiverun]

i use 5-6 grs titegroup.
the 900 fps thing is because it's right under the turbulent stage of speed of sound.
900 to bout 1050 fps is a very bad zone for accuracy.
get the boolits over that and keep them there for their journey or keep them under it.

[Larry Gibson]

Larry,

I tried that bullet with 7.0 grains of Bullseye--the Average velocity wa 1,100 FPS, but I obtained a high spread (109 FPS) and a 42 Std Deviation--it was not all that accurate either.

I never went above 6 gr with that Lee TL bullet. I cast them out of scrap range lead so they are only 8-10 BHN. I was looking for a plinking load that was accurate given the 6 cavity mould and SDB loading. 12 shots gave an ES of 42 fps with an SD of 11 FPS. Also I try to stay away from using SWCs between 1050 and 1150 fos because that is where it is tring to go transonnic. The buffetting the bullet gets most often results in not the best accuracy. Also the TL bullet cast soft doesn't like to be pushed much harder. Appears that 7 gr load of yours was a little much. Might be worth your while, if you want a plinking load, to drop back to 5.5 and 6 gr of Bullseye for a try.

Larry Gibson

[Wally]

Larry,

Thanks...all makes a lot of sense to me. The Lee TL bullets work well for me in other calibers. Using 8.0 W-231 I get 1,115 FPS average MV--with a Std Dev of 12.52, which is very good. I cast from pure WW metal & quench in a bucket of water, right from the mold.

[Bear4570]

7.0 grains of Unique under the 200gr WC custom buy we did a ways back it a wonderfully accurate, mild target load out of both of my Smiths and Ruger Blackhawk. I use 7.5 Under my Keith 220 Grain bullet with pretty much the same results. Both are in 950 fps range.

[Larry Gibson]

Larry,

Thanks...all makes a lot of sense to me. The Lee TL bullets work well for me in other calibers. Using 8.0 W-231 I get 1,115 FPS average MV--with a Std Dev of 12.52, which is very good. I cast from pure WW metal & quench in a bucket of water, right from the mold.

Wally

I've just not used the Lee TL mould for magnum type loads as I use the RCBS 41-210-KT for those. I got the 6 hole Lee mould strictly to cast a lot of bullets fast for plinking and general fun type shooting. It does work great for that. Can't recall if I've even cast any bullets with it using any harder alloy. I have cast some Lee TLs410-175-SWCs (no longer available I believe) out of #2 alloy and shot them up through 1300 fps with complete satisfaction. Once I got the RCBS mould I strickly use it for the magnum .41 loads.

Larry Gibson

[Wally]

Larry,

I also use the RCBS mold mentioned and like it---my favorite load with it is 8.5 W-231--I get 1,125 FPS with it and it is very consistent and accurate. I was trying to develop a milder load to use with my old Lee 205 SWC mold and though Bullseye woudl be ideal as I can use less powder.

[Wally]

I got the chance to test out the Lee 200 grain SWC bullet with 6.0 grains of Bullseye. It was not to accurate at all despite a beautiful 11.00 Std deviation. Such a shame. However the bullet works well with ~ 9 grains of W-231 or HP-38.

Using the 6.0 grains of Bullsye I had many wide flyers which is amazing as the .41 Mag is intrinsically accurate with just about any load.

[machinisttx]

You might email John Taffin, or check his website(sixguns.com IIRC) for info on the .41 Special.