.41 Magnum / 41 Special Load Data Center

[RJM52]

Ron...do you plan on trying some of those HB wadcutters as HP defensive loads in the .41 Special and Magnum?

[reed1911]

No, not at this time. With plentiful access to both cast and jacketed conventional HP bullets it seems superfluous to load the HBWC backward for such use. That being said there are lots of guys that do with mixed success and nothing wrong with pursuing it, just not something that is in the scope of the tests we are doing.

[RJM52]

For a self-defense round one thing you may want to consider is expansion vs. recoil. One can run one of these HP-WCs at only 900-1000 fps and get tremendous expansion and low recoil. Run a HP cast or jacketed at the same velocity and one gets very little reliable expansion.

There used to be a company in Scranton, Pa. (Personal Protection Services-Aaron Lipman I think) back in the 1980s who marketed a swaged .44 HP-WC bullet marketed mainly for use in the Charter Arms Bulldog and I think they also made .44 Special ammo. I bought several thousand of their bullets back when I was in the custom ammo business.

At very low velocity, like 800s, the bullet would turn into a big fat mushroom. These 190 grain .41 bullets at 1000 fps would do the same at the recoil level of the original 210 LSWC Police load...

Bob

[reed1911]

Since we make our own .41 cal bullets that we designed for the .41 SPL it makes it easy. I agree with you that the various bullets for the .41 Mag will not expand reliably at lower velocities which is why we went ahead and began making them in house that would perform the way we needed them to.

[RICHP]

Any big or small game fallen to the mighty .41 this season?

[ranchman]

Any big or small game fallen to the mighty .41 this season?

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...trieval-effort

In case you missed it in the Hunting section*

[corsair_001]

After running completely out, I'm doing load development on my 41mags. Not magnum velocities just my daily plinking/farm carry loads. Tried 231(which what all my loads have been to date), Red Dot, Unique, and Trail Boss. What amazed me was Unique produced the worst group across 4 Blackhawks. At 6.5 grains and a 212 cast SWC, Trail Boss produced 4 of 6 into one ragged hole!!! Anyone else have experence with Trail Boss? I'll post chrono results later.

[RJM52]

Funny but 8.0 grains of Unique with any 200-230 grain bullet is my go to load for target work... Runs 950+- fps from a 4" barrel.

I've also used 7.0 grains of 231 and it was just about as accurate...

Bob

[rking22]

Heads up, Titan has a few Lee PRO 1000 left in 41 mag for 99$ .

Never mind, all gone, ordered one for a friend , heck of a deal!

[pineknot]

Hello Gentlemen, Just joined tonight. Specifically for the 41 magnum information available here. I haven't had the time to read all 25 pages yet but I will. Great to know there are more folks out there that love the 41 as much as I do.

[pineknot]

I'm looking for a good mid-range load for a 200 gr. flat point hard cast from Hunter bullets. Every thing I find from the powder companies is full magnum loads. Somewhere around the 1000 fps. range is what I'd like.

[RJM52]

Welcome aboard!!!!

What kind of .41s do you have....

Depending on your barrel length 8.0 grains of Unique runs a 200-230 grain bullet in the 930-970 fps range from a 4" barrel.

Using a 220 grain Mehic Keith bullet from a 4" 57:
8.0: 950 fps
9.0: 1100 fps
10.0: 1180 fps

7.0 grains of Winchester 231 will run low 900s.

Bob

[pineknot]

Well Hello Bob, thank You for the welcome. At the moment I have 2 S&W 657's 6" barrels (how I ended up with 2 is a long story) and a Henry Big boy steel 20". In the near future I should have a Black hawk 6 1/2. Are You loading the Unique in magnum cases or the special cases. I didn't even know there was such a thing as a 41 special till I started reading the posts on this forum.

[ranchman]

6.5 unique with a 215swc will get you +/-1010fps, and the same 6.5 unique with a 230/240swc will give +/- 980fps out of 4,3/4" barrels
(Those charges are loaded in Special brass, not magnum) There actually seems to be a sweet spot between 975 & 1010 for real nice accuracy in Special brass regardless which bullet a guy shoots at that level. Makes a good all-arounder load for most jobs a person would require.

And for curiosity-sake, both those loads (according to a fellow who ran some numbers in his ballistics program for me) have chamber pressures someplace between 21,000 & 22,000psi* In magnum-guns that is irrelevant but in dedicated special guns being built on lighter platforms they're numbers some have to keep tabs on!

[azrednek]

I lost all my reloading notes in a house fire and haven't handloaded 41 in a few year. What I do recall Herco was my go to powder using the Lee 240 cast from straight clip-ons. Wish I could recall the charge but I tried various powders and Herco gave me the best results on paper.

[RJM52]

All those loads are in Magnum brass... 7.0 grains of Unique in Special brass gives right at the same velocity...

I have ended up with identical .41s several times...you may want to look for a 3 or 4" barrel on GunBroker or eBay and have one of them modified. Several come up for sale every year...

Bob

[saleen322]

I have tried most common powders and found Unique shoots okay but for mid-range loads, Power Pistol is more accurate in my revolver and contender and is much cleaner burning. From a 5.5" Redhawk, 7.9 grains of PP with a 210 cast yields 1079 fps with an extreme spread of 22 fps across 10 shots. This load has typical accuracy that groups under 2" @ 25 yards. Hope this helps.

[RICHP]

For those of us who like our .41 cal. Blackhawk,s in stainless steel, Davidsons has had Ruger produce a standard Blackhawk in stainless. A merry Christmas it is!

[corsair_001]

For those of us who like our .41 cal. Blackhawk,s in stainless steel, Davidsons has had Ruger produce a standard Blackhawk in stainless. A merry Christmas it is!

yipppppeeeeeee!!! Now a old model vaquero in 41 mag please!!!!

[azrednek]

FWIW, My 41 plinking load using a now discontinued Lee 170 full wadcutters was 5gr of Bullseye. Back then I had a steady hand and printed clusters at short ranges. About 10 or so yeas ago I got a 41 cal Lyman HBWC mold and it resulted in the most frustrating time I ever had casting.