Anyone here Loading for .41 Colt Short or Extra Short Centerfire?

I hope to be loading for it soon, and am pondering on what to do for Boolits, as it ideally takes a somewhat lighter Bullet / Boolit, than the .41 Long Colt...

Viz -

https://media.fotki.com/2v2HkASkrx9J4Vm.jpgHosted on Fotki

This for an older Remington Revolver -

https://media.fotki.com/2v2HkASD8x9J4Vm.jpgHosted on Fotki

At present, I have one each of these rounds and both fit and would work fine, Cylinder rotates fine with the longer one, etc.

So, seems like I am good to go with either the 'Short' or the 'Extra Short'.

https://media.fotki.com/2v2HkASM2x9J4Vm.jpgHosted on Fotki

https://media.fotki.com/2v2HkASz3x9J4Vm.jpgHosted on Fotki

So if anyone here is loading for these, I'd sure love to share notes Boolits wise, how to crimp? etc.

I understand of course this is a Black Powder round...and I am good to go there with that part.

I have a bunch of .41 Long Colt Cases I can cut down, ream a little if need be, and use...they fit perfectly, just too long of course.

Man that’s a neat old revolver.

I handload for the 41 long colt and if I had that Remington I’d get on the horn to Old West Bullet Moulds and order their 160 grain 41 heeled based mould (I already have their 41LC crimp die) and go to town shortening some 41 LC brass.

https://oldwestbulletmoulds.com/shop...et-type-bullet

That old Remington would be an absolute hoot to shoot.

Looks like Buffalo Arms has got 41 short colt brass in stock for a Dollar or so a pop:

https://www.buffaloarms.com/41-short...ass-cases-41sc

What about this for that pocket rascal?

https://oldwestbulletmoulds.com/shop...e-cavity-mould

Yup, the case length plus the bullet length minus the heel is the total length of the cartridge. I have the Uberti 41 Colt and I shoot a Lee HB heeled boolit and have to trim the cases to get the whole thing to fit in my gun.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ATCDoktor

Man that’s a neat old revolver.

I handload for the 41 long colt and if I had that Remington I’d get on the horn to Old West Bullet Moulds and order their 160 grain 41 heeled based mould (I already have their 41LC crimp die) and go to town shortening some 41 LC brass.

https://oldwestbulletmoulds.com/shop...et-type-bullet

That old Remington would be an absolute hoot to shoot.

Looks like Buffalo Arms has got 41 short colt brass in stock for a Dollar or so a pop:

https://www.buffaloarms.com/41-short...ass-cases-41sc

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Thank you ATCDoktor!

Wow, "Bingo"..!

So glad I asked!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Claypipe

What about this for that pocket rascal?

https://oldwestbulletmoulds.com/shop...e-cavity-mould

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Those would work fine too!

Thanks!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wayne Smith

Yup, the case length plus the bullet length minus the heel is the total length of the cartridge. I have the Uberti 41 Colt and I shoot a Lee HB heeled boolit and have to trim the cases to get the whole thing to fit in my gun.

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Seems like most the old Revolvers I have, require me to load for them as individuals...one way or another..!

I used to have two Colt 'Army Specials' in .41 Long Colt, and after measuring Cylinder Bores and Barrel's Groove-to-Groove, I sat down and sighed, and, put them both on Gunbroker and waved Bye-Bye to them...eeeesh! What a mess! Cylinder Bores too small for Barrel's over-size Groove to Groove...the only good solution would be to convert to .41 Special, and then have .414 Bullets...

Still, I would love to have an 'Army Special' in .41 Special, just no easy way to measure Groove to Groove ( to find one tight enough for .410 or .411 Boolits ) with examples on Gunbroker, and local Gun Shows do not tend to have any Army Specials, or if they do, they are pretty beat and over priced and .38 Special...

At least the little Remington, Cylinder Bores and Barrel's Groove-to-Groove measure out as the same ( .406, best I can tell, )...and it is a no step Cylinder Chamber of course, so, it is very agreeable and nice compared to the later on Inside Lube .41 Long Colt situations of the early 1900s 'teens, and 'twenties.

At .22 Grains Powder and 165 Grain Bullet, the .41 Colt Short was actually just a little bit up from the later .38 Special in terms of having 1/2 a grain more Powder, and 7 Grains more Bullet Weigh, and being a little larger diameter, would have little better acceleration.

I am shooting a .409 round ball from a period civil war lemat mold in 41 short rim fire. It also produces a conical bullet but it isn’t a heel bullet. So the round ball presses onto the case that accept a crimped 22 blank and I use 1 grain additional of trail boss. I have fired this in both a colt number 3 derringer and a Remington 95 over under derringer. My Lyman 386177 heeled mold produces about a .409 diameter bullet and that conforms to both my 1902 bisley and 1911 army special in 41 colt. In my opinion, you may be able to simply make a round ball work in your “ project”. The ball is lightly tapped into the case. That holds it well enough. And it fits snug into the chambers of my derringers.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by smkummer

I am shooting a .409 round ball from a period civil war lemat mold in 41 short rim fire. It also produces a conical bullet but it isn’t a heel bullet. So the round ball presses onto the case that accept a crimped 22 blank and I use 1 grain additional of trail boss. I have fired this in both a colt number 3 derringer and a Remington 95 over under derringer. My Lyman 386177 heeled mold produces about a .409 diameter bullet and that conforms to both my 1902 bisley and 1911 army special in 41 colt. In my opinion, you may be able to simply make a round ball work in your “ project”. The ball is lightly tapped into the case. That holds it well enough. And it fits snug into the chambers of my derringers.

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Oh my!

Sounds like the old IDEAL and LYMAN Mold Numbers for Heeled Boolits, may be a little counter-intuitive...Lol...

Thank you smkummer!

I'll try some Round Ball as well...

I have a bunch of old .41 Short Center-fire Blanks on the way, and, given they are Blanks, I would not feel bad to iron out the little lip bend, and use the Cases then to re-Load.

I'll do some 'googles' later about Balls.

I love .41 Rimfire ( and I have a nice "Swamp Angel" ) but, the old $5.00-a-Box Days for the Navy Arms Cartridges, are long gone, and a full box now seems to be almost that much per round.

So when I saw this little Remington was .41 Center-fire, I thought "Oh boy!" - "I can Load for that!"

Reviving an old thread.

I've been making my own 32, 44, 46 and 50 cal reloadable rimfire cases by converting centerfire cases. But now I just picked up a new pistol to play with - Colt 3rd model derringer in .41 short rimfire. Searching brought me to this discussion. I want to make a few rounds of .41 short rimfire. .41 colt is seems to be the starting place. So I need to find a few cases to start out with. I see that round balls can be used. But Id like to get a few original style 125 gr conical heel bullets if possible. I see Bernie at OWM has a correct mold. That is an option, but doubt I'll shoot it enough to justify the mold.

Does anyone have a few extra 41 colt cases, and maybe the light heel bullets to spare. Id be glad to pay for them. Any other loading tips?
Thanks - Steve

A good friend is sending me a few .41 LC cases and bullets :-) I also ordered 5 cases and some bullets from hlebooks. They come from Europe, so shipping is painful. But Ive heard good things, so am glad to support them. We need more outfits to make reloadable rimfire cases like this.

But not being one to sit idle, I decided to try and make a suitable bullet. Digging through my stash, I found a few 370gr, .409" diameter bullets for my .40-70 sharps. They are about the correct diameter, but waaaay too big. So I started hacking away at it with an axe, lathe and file. I was able to get it from 370 to 142gr. Still a little heavy. The original bullet reportedly is about 125gr. But this it is pretty close for a crude first attempt. I just guessed at the heel diameter. I wont know that until I get cases.

Another issue - I don't have a die to size the case or bullet. Nominal size is .406". I looked all through my dies, but could find nothing that would work - drat. A while back I bought a 3' section of 7/8"-14 threaded rod just for this purpose. So a section was cut and set up in the lathe. .406 = 13/32", which I happen to have a sharp drill bit for. So one end was drilled about 3/4" deep with this, then from the other end a little larger. Then it was cleaned and polished. It came out at .4065". Im not a machinist, its good enough for me :-) Now I can size cases and bullets.

I am away from home now but I just bought 45 vintage 41 short colt center fire cartridges plus I bought lymans 386176 160 grain short colt heeled bullet mold from the estate of Bob Hurley. I was out bid on the pointed rim fire heel base mold though.

I have teh old Ideal bullet mold for the .41 Short Colt. If you are interested shoot me a PM. My old .41LC New Navy has been converted to a 38spl light.

I never could get the .41 Short Colt bullet to shoot worth a darn in the 41LC but it likely would do the trick in your gun. It is a heel based bullet. Sharpe's Complete Guide to Reloading lists 2.4 gr to 4 gr of Bullseye under the 160 gr bullet. Check out the book on like before using the loads.

Take Care

Bob

I'm loading and shooting .41 short rimfire.
https://youtu.be/R7x9cfqzEeQ