Originally Posted by
megasupermagnum
Sorry if I wasn't clear, this gun was purchased brand new in box, but I should have purchased an old one. The barrel is garbage, plain and simple, and needs to be replaced. I just hope I don't get the run around from S&W. It seems like you have to spend $2000 just to have a working handgun anymore.
I've had the cylinder throats reamed uniformly by a professional. I've tried to the slug the bore, but I can't do it accurately. Pushed all the way through, it measured .408, and I'm guessing there is a constriction. Normally 41 mags are .410" and don't vary much from that beyond normal tolerances. I've tried two cast bullets, both SWC's, sized .411" and .412" (just under throat diameter), as well as a remington 210 grain JSP and XTP hollow point. I've tried all kinds of powders, 700X, Blue dot, H110, AA #9, HS6, even blackpowder. Oddly, FFg blackpowder with a SWC probably gave the best groups of anything at about 4". All shooting done off sandbags. I'm not a great handgun shooter, but 1 1/2" at 25 yards is no problem at all with any other of my handguns.
Not to sound like a ding dong, but Alliant has had that warning about blue dot for at least 10 years now, and when questioned, they have never been able to reproduce any of the problems in the lab. They just got so many reports of problems, they decided to put out the warning. The only cold weather spiking I have heard about happened when it was -30F or lower, and I'm not even sure how credible the source is. I've personally ran these over the chronograph over the winter in -10F, and while the velocity had dropped, they were still very consistent.