.41 Magnum / 41 Special Load Data Center

[Bucko]

This thread has been an interesting read. I’m new to this forum but have been a happy 41 Magnum owner and shooter since the late 70’s. My “Super14” Thompson Center Contender has killed lots of paper, rang lots of steel and put its fair share of critters in the freezer since I bought it new in 1978 or ‘79. It killed a few scopes right out of the gate too. 2 Bushnell magnum phantoms with in the first 100 rounds. To this day it still has the Leupold 2X scope that replaced them. It was a sad day for me when Speer stopped making their jacketed swc bullets. The 220 grain on top of 17 grains of 2400 would regularly group under 2” at 100 yards off a rest with the 2x Leupold scope if I did my part. In 2018 for a combination house warming and birthday gift to myself I purchased a new Ruger Super Redhawk 7.5” that was a Davidson’s distributor special run. It is a very nice revolver, but I haven’t shot it much yet. I want to start pouring my own bullets for these two fine firearms and would like some suggestions on a good bullet and mould to begin my journey with. Powders that I have on hand that are suitable include 2400, H110, Little Gun, Unique, and an old can of Herco.
Thanks
Bucko

[RJM52]

Welcome aboard Bucko...

..and yes it was a sad day when Speer discontinued the JSWC...I loved the 200 HP version myself...just have a couple boxes left...

As to molds...what weight range would you like?

[dangitgriff]

I’ve got a buddy in Tennessee that pours his own 265-grain Keith bullets, he’s taken at least one deer with them.
I have some of those semi-jacketed semi-wadcutters. I haven’t loaded any of them up yet. If I remember correctly they don’t have a crimp groove and I assume they get crimped at the top of the jacket...anyone familiar with loading them please educate me.

[RJM52]

...yes, they get crimped right over the shoulder of the jacket...

[dangitgriff]

Thank you, sir.
Now, what comparative advantage do they offer over full jacketed projectiles? They seem to combine the best of cast WC’s and jacketed attributes.

[onelight]

I liked the Speer 3/4 jacketed bullets , If I remember correctly they had a warnings to not use in light loads if the jacket separates from the core and sticks in the barrel you have a bore obstruction the next shot so I always loaded them in medium to hot loads . I saw no advantage to them over Keith bullets so did not shoot a lot of them.

[Crazy Carl]

Bought this beauty recently from a fine fellow on the single actions board.



I've got a small pile of .41 Special brass, Rimrock 240gr Keiths & a jug of Unique & hoping to get 'er to the range next week. I'm looking to shoot 240-250gr boolitz at 900-950fps with this'n & plan to load up a handful at 6.0, 6.5 & 7.0gr Unique.


And my slowly growing pile of .41 Magnums.



Don't have a bunch of time with the Henry, but it seems to shoot everything I've run through it well, from 215gr LSWC at plinking & barnburner velocities, to 210gr JHP commerical reloads to the Rimrock 240gr that runs 1300+ fps from the Bisley SBHH (clipped one of the support rods for the screens before I could chrono the Henry).

Both the Bisleys shoot the 240gr Keith very well over both 9.4gr Unique & 16.2gr 2400. The 2400 load is a hair over 100fps faster than the Unique, but seems to shoot "softer". Faster powder vs. slower? The 5.5"er is about to get a RDS & set up for/dedicated to the 240gr/2400 load. The Hunter likes that load a bunch as well, but I'm mounting a Leupy 2x on it & want to set it up as a long(ish) range hammer & push 265gr boolitz as hard as I can stand (& shoot well, natch).

The 6.5"er is miserable with anything warmer than the classic 7.0-8.0gr Unique under a 215gr LSWC. The XR3-RED grip frame chews up my palm something fierce with stout loads, so she's out to Bobby Tyler's to fit a SBHH grip frame, hammer, along with his accuracy package & some other work. I do well with the SBH grip frame with my screamer .357 Maximum loads, so I'm hoping she'll do well with my load for the 5.5" Bisley.

Haven't settled on a load for the Henry, but am hoping it will do well with one of the Bisleys' loads.

Kinda funny- I started reloading specifically because of the .41 & once we move to MO in the next few months, I'ma take up casting because of the little hotrod as well. Lol!

[RJM52]

Thank you, sir.
Now, what comparative advantage do they offer over full jacketed projectiles? They seem to combine the best of cast WC’s and jacketed attributes.

They were designed in the 1960s just after jacketed bullets became popular with handgun shooters. For all those years that line was made on the same machine. When I visited Alan Jones who was an old friend from Dallas in 2003 he was the editor of the SPEER RELOADING MANUAL and was working on #13 which was the last one before he retired. He showed me the machine and said it was on its last legs and when it could no longer be repaired that was the end of the 3/4 jacket line....and just a few years later it came to pass.

The bullet was very unique in that it was basically a jacketed Keith design and didn't really expand. The nose above the jacket would "melt" off and the little ashcan would just keep plowing ahead... Shot one of the 200 grain HPs through six jugs of water, then a 3/4" piece of concrete form plywood and it ended up buried up to the base in a 4x4 post behind the plywood. It had no nose above the top of the jacket but it could have been reloaded and shot again.

And yes, they needed to be kept above 900 fps or so or the jacket would stick to the barrel and the lead pop out the end...

Beautiful gun Carl... Is that stainless or hard chrome?

And yes, the standard Blackhawk gets real un-fun fast with heavy loads. I have a pair of Herrett's Shooting Star grips that came on an 80s vintage 6.5" that really make a difference in recoil control. That said I have enough heavies that I can use the BHs for shooting mid-range loads...

Bob

[Crazy Carl]

Bob- it's stainless. Can't wait to get 'er to the range & can't believe the PO never shot it. I was bummed to hear Clements wasn't doing the conversions any more, as I had really been wanting one of his .41 Special GP-100s & couldn't pass up this little midframe flat top when it fell into my lap.

[Bucko]

Thanks for the info on why Speer stopped manufacturing those bullets. I was particularly fond of the 220 grain because it shot tighter groups out of my 14” Contender than the other styles of jacketed soft points and hollow points. The 200 grain hollow points were very accurate also. I recently purchased some Rim Rock 215 and 240 grain swc’s and have shot both out of my Ruger SRH with pleasing results. If the weather cooperates this week I want to shoot them from the Contender before deciding what weight bullet to get my first mould for.
Bucko

[LeonardC]

I never shot the JHP-SWC or JSP-SWC .41 bullets; the Wife bought me a 657 too late for those. Speer #12 shows they used those bullets for recorded velocities for the .41.

I did shoot the JSP-SWC 160 grain in .357 as my bear load until I moved up to the .44. I was looking over the data for 158 grain bullets in the #12 and found this note for both the 146 JHP-SWC and the 160 JSP-SWC:

"Note: The .357" 160 gr. JSP-SWC may be used with these loads by reducing the maximum charges by one grain." By that information my old loads were HOT. They sure shot nice. I have 6 old loaded rounds I may run over the speed screens someday to see how fast they go.

Edit: Speer #10 showed my load well within their suggested range. The .41 loads were reduced as well from #10 to #12 for the SWC type jacketed bullets.

[dangitgriff]

Thanks, Bob, for the backstory on those Speers! I’ve got just a handful of them, hope to get a load developed for them some day soon and reserve them for the lever gun.
The last batch of cast .41’s I loaded were ladder loads for a powder-coated Keith 210-grain and I wasn’t getting good accuracy up to 18.8 grains of 2400. Tried H110, AA9...same. This is in my 20” Henry (1 in 18.75 twist). I’m attempting 2” at 50 yards with a scoped rifle. It should be capable of 2” at 75 yards all day long but I am struggling with it. It’s been well over a year ago...closer to two.
And that’s not all. My NMBH (6.5”) has been giving me light primer strikes. I have to address that before continuing load development there. I saw some primer seating depth inconsistencies on a few of my loaded rounds, correcting that will be step one. I’m using standard Tula brand LPP’s on all my .41’s. I’m sure a dedicated bench top priming tool would help...I use the handheld now.
I’m too stubborn to give up and view the .41 magnum as perfect for hunting deer and hogs here in the palmetto scrub in Florida.

[RJM52]

Loved those 146/160 grain JSWC Speer bullets also. After they were discontinued I contacted Corbin about having a die/punch made for them... They said no problem just send them a couple of bullets... Just decided to stay with casting instead of "one more thing"...

griff... I have found the same with the Marlin carbines...they seem to like heavier bullets. Have been shooting the no longer made Cast Performance 255 with 22.0 grains of H110. A mold very close to that one is the Accurate Molds 41-250L. I have ammo all loaded up but keep forgetting to run them in the lever guns to see how they shoot.

As to the primers... Have you put a mike on them yet to see if it is primer height inconsistency that may be causing the problem. I have shot thousands of rounds through Ruger SAs and can remember any light strikes ever...

[dangitgriff]

No, sir, I haven’t. I’ve been using fired brass primarily, so I will need to pick up new brass and load them, to eliminate the possibility of worn/out of spec primer pockets.
I will PM you whenever I get back to loading. I’m loving this thread and the info everyone is sharing. Thanks!

[obssd1958]

I just put primers in 500 brand new starline .41 mag cases. I also used the Tula LP primers and the Lee handheld priming tool. Primer depth inconsistency was a constant problem, and was noticeable by the amount of pressure necessary to seat the primers. I believe it is more an issue caused by the primers, than the brass or the tool used to seat the primers. After fighting 400 case/primer combos using the Tula primers, I switched to Winchester LP primers. They all seated easily, with no extra pressure needed for any of them.
If I get ambitious, I might actually measure the outside diameter of the Tula primers.

Just a thought...

[RJM52]

...that is what I suspected...

[obssd1958]

Since I posted it, I figured I better follow up. Understand, I am no machinist, or expert at measuring such small differences. And the sample sizes are probably insignificant as far as a true data set. But here is what I found using a Browne micrometer, and measuring 50 Tula LP primers, and 10 WLP.
Tula diameter = .2105 to .2111
WLP diameter = .2100 to .2105

I stopped at 10 of the WLP due to my experience seating them earlier, without even one being difficult to seat.

Not sure if this will help anyone, but there it is anyway!!

[ddixie884]

All of the original run of Star-Line .41spl brass has tight primer pockets. I run them thru a RCBS primer pocket swager and all is well............

[Minerat]

All of the original run of Star-Line .41spl brass has tight primer pockets. I run them thru a RCBS primer pocket swager and all is well............

Thanks for he heads up. I got 250 from the run a couple 3 years ago and cussed them. I still have about 175 that are new so Ill give your trick a go.

[RJM52]

Don't recall having any major difficulty seating primers in any of mine...and I have brass from Dixie's first run and the new stuff when it first came out... Just loaded 600 rounds a few weeks ago and all was smooth.This was with Federal LP primers.