best heavy .41 boolit?

[Rio Grande]

I've a got a new (to me) .41 mag Blackhawk and am thinking about boolits in the 240 to 260 weight range, to shoot at a moderate 900 to 1100 fps range.
What's the 'best' boolit, most accessable, inexpensive, non-gascheck? I prefer a flat nose and plain, non-beveled base.
Right now I'm not casting, so will have to buy 'em sized and lubedfrom a good caster.
A friend gave me some 290 grainers, look awesome, but I think they would require more velocity to get up to accuracy. Is that true?'

[GLynn41]

mount Baldy bullets has some Keiths one is a 220gr and the other is 275
Montana bullets has several you might like -- how the price is is well up to you
I have an SSK mold that will go about 285 but have not tried it at 900fps but it did just fine at 1100--if you want to cast there is a group for two kinds of keiths -- you might look at them one will probably weigh about 230 the other 210 ??? good luck

[Lloyd Smale]

ive got a 250 lbt lfngc mold that i got from frank at mt baldy years ago. Its old and tired but those bullets still shoot better then any other bullet in the 41s for me.

[spqrzilla]

Watch out for overall length with your 290 grainers, the Blackhawk cylinder length restricts the use of some of the longer heavier ones.

[Good Cheer]

If you find one of the old heavy Lee round nose or SWC's grab it!
An alternative I've been considering so that I can have a GC base is to have the Lyman 410610 altered.
If Richard Hoch was still around I'd get an elliptical nosed bore rider made like he made for my Security Six in 1981. Most accurate magnum pistol boolit I ever did see. It got preliminary alignment on the bore before the groove filling portion ever hit the barrel. One deep lube groove just in front of the gas check. Put as much lead as possible in the throat instead of the powder space. Maybe somebody these days could make one.

[Combat Diver]

I purchased a Ranch Dog 6 cav 411-255 TLC mold (made by Lee) last year for my Marlin. Haven't been home long enough to cast any. You may want to check out Beartooth Bullets for heavy .41 bullets, they are however Gas Checked (250/265/280/300gr)

http://www.beartoothbullets.com/bulletselect/index.htm

CD

[Rio Grande]

Thanks everybody for your input.
I'm especially pleased to see that a 285 gr. boolit can be accurate at 1100 fps.
That might be just the ticket on feral hogs, if I ever go hunting for them (my friends around here do).
Not much powder room though....with the need to keep overall length in check. Wonder what powder is best there?
I'm picking up some Keith 230 gr. this weekend and that will get me started...those are easy to load...but I'll have about 35 of those 290 gr. to experiment with when I get around to it.
I wonder why Keith didn't design his boolit at 260 or more weight? Did he figure the 230 was all that was needed?
Thanks for the tips on Mt. Baldy and Montana... and link to Beartooth - great bullets. Montana has a lot of different .41's available.

[475/480]

I have some heavy weight 41 moulds,weights are 255 WFNGC ,285 WFNGC, 295 WFNPB, 305 WFNGC , 325 WFNGC . All but 1 was made by mountainmolds ,the 255 gr is a Ballisti-cast mould.
If you can drive the HEAVY (285,305,325 ) bullets hard enough they will shoot good, the 305 and 325 gr boolits I shoot in a Ruger Maximum 41 GNR #2 (445 SuperMag necked down to 41) and a 410 GNR ( 454 Casull necked down to 41).
I have shot a few hogs with my 41"s and a 255 gr boolit will go thru the shoulders of ALL hogs. And I have taken a couple hogs with the 305gr boolit, NO difference compared to the 255gr.

Sean

[JudgeBAC]

Personally I do not believe you need anything heavier than 250 gr. in the .41 unless you intend to shoot Dinosaurs or cape buffalo. The LBT 250 gr. WFN shoots extremely well in my 657-5 using IMR 4227 and federal 150 primers. I tried some commercial 295 grainers but the extra recoil and extra bullet weight were wasted in my opinion.

[Glen]

My favorite .41 heavyweight is the 275 grain SSK bullet that is available from NEI (#225B, the .411-275-PB). For a GC bullet, the NEI #215F (.410-260-GC) is also a very accurate bullet. Both of these designs can be found on page 9 of their catalog:

http://www.neihandtools.com/catalog.html

[GLynn41]

My SSk mold will fit any six gun i have ever owned--Rugers & Smiths & DWA- what follows is my load in my gun but I got it from JDJones himself
DWA 6" 18 gr of 296-- 1130
I still use that bullet in a sabot in TC MZLoader-- I have found what 475/480 has my 255 gr Mountain Mold will shoot well and go deep _ I was shooting at 250# russian Boar-- I was below him at about 35 steps and hit the edge of the mountain in front of him-- the 255 then went through the flesh of his right leg into his lower chest and out through the left side ribs--mv was 1330 from a 5.5 41GNR-- the more normal 220/230gr or so will do very well too
the only cast .41 I have ever recovered went through about 8" or so of water before hitting the deer, even then it nearly exited -- -the bullet was a 236 gr LBT-- there are lots of bullets around to do what you want

[PacMan]

No expert by any means as i have only been shooting a 41 for about two months and working with diffrent loads. But i would say that you are about right on as to the 290 grain bullet needing to be pushed faster to maintain accuracy.
If penetration is one of your main goals there is something that you can keep in mind.In thoery and is most likely true.I have not tested. Given the exact same bullet weight , design and velocity the .41 bullet will out penetrate a 44,45 etc. bullet.
Having said that you can get away with a little less bullet weight than the others and have less recoil at the same time.
Dwight

[Markbo]

ive got a 250 lbt lfngc mold that i got from frank at mt baldy years ago. Its old and tired but those bullets still shoot better then any other bullet in the 41s for me.

Lloyd do you happen to know if that bullet will fit/function in an FA 97?

[Uncle Grinch]

I have quite a few 41 moulds and keep going back to my Lee 240 SWC. It has a short nose and therefore loads deep, but shoots very good in my BH and being a plain base, it's cheap and easy to load. It will not function in my Marlin '94 however and the only one I found that will feed in it is my Lyman 41028.

[bhn22]

My biggest problem with the 41 magnum was the barrel twist in my Redhawk. I bought a 265 gr LFN mould, and my Redhawk couldn't stabilize them. I must have tried every load there was. John Taffin finally told me about the twist issue. I could shoot hot 210 gr loads, but accuracy fell apart over 220 grains. Oddly, it's favorite load was with XMP5744 & Hornady 210 gr XTPs.

[felix]

Ruger's twist is typically 20 in the 41 Mag. Early FA was 20 as well, and possibly still is. That should be enough to do a 265, but maybe not because you have proof, at least for a LFN. Perhaps a WFN will work for short range, though, say 50 yards. Smith and Marlin guns are 18.75 twist, and it's possible Veral thought that is what you had when he made you the boolit. ... felix

[Lloyd Smale]

I use it in my clements converted old model 3 screw which has a cylinder about the same lenght but have to crimp it on the nose as crimping in the crimp grove makes it to long. It shoots real well in that gun crimped like that though. I would guess that veral would make you one with the crimp grove in the right spot though. I have to agree with some of the others that the optimum bullet weight for a 41 ends at about 250 grain and 265s would be the absolute max id fool with.
Lloyd do you happen to know if that bullet will fit/function in an FA 97?

[big dale]

My old model 4 5/8 inch Blackhawk got a steady diet of the Lee 240 grain boolits. No telling how many tons of lead I sent thru that gun... I do know it also went thru several kegs of Herco with that boolit.

Have fun with this stuff.

Big Dale

[GLynn41]

bhn22 I am surprised about accuracy problems out of your RHawk above 220 gr - I had two no problems with either of them out 100+ yards with 255LWNGC and down in weight --& the 255's have a big 33 meplat- each revolver is different though

[Good Cheer]

I have quite a few 41 moulds and keep going back to my Lee 240 SWC. It has a short nose and therefore loads deep, but shoots very good in my BH and being a plain base, it's cheap and easy to load. It will not function in my Marlin '94 however and the only one I found that will feed in it is my Lyman 41028.

Wow!
Makes me glad I decided to hold out for a single shot.